Category: health
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Operation (de-)Dust Mite a Success
3 comments on Operation (de-)Dust Mite a SuccessThe quest to cut down dust mites in our bedroom was a success. I woke up Monday morning without a headache and without needing to blow my nose. I hadn’t noticed these symptoms much until they were gone, but they were. Even better, I seemed better able to handle other asthma triggers the rest of […]
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Operation de-Dust Mite
In October I noticed I was having more anxiety about the whole “going to the doctor” thing. I ended up calling the asthma specialist I’d been referred to at least six months previously and going in on Monday. This was stressful in many ways. I’m freak-folks-the-hell-out fat. I’ve got the whole mental “You mean it’s asthma, […]
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Reducing Heart Attacks
A Minnesota county reduced heart attacks by 33%. Was it due to a county weight loss campaign? A “Let’s Move” push? A trans-fat ban? Nope. The research, carried out by scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found a 33 percent drop in heart attack rates in one Minnesota county after public smoking […]
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Medical Things
Those following along on twitter know that I went to the Urgent Care near work to deal with a UTI. This, of course, brought up the “Seeing the doctor issues”. Fortunately the actual appointment went well, with no weight fight. Then it was off to the pharmacy. The nice part was that the UTI pain […]
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Interesting Results, or, Fat Not Fatal
Not so interesting in terms of finding that being fat, alone, doesn’t make you die sooner. But the data on how fat interacts with other conditions is interesting. Results: In analyses not adjusted for diabetes or hypertension, only severe obesity was associated with mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.00–1.59). After adjusting for diabetes […]
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QOTD: Health
The debate about what exactly health means goes back to ancient Greece. Does health just mean living a long time? Does it mean feeling strong? Are athletes the epitomy of health? In fact, athletes suffer more injuries and illnesses than the rest of the population because they push themselves so hard. So who represents health? What about spiritual health? […]
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What does it say about our society
… that my reaction to feeling low-energy and blah in the morning is “drink coffee” not “eat breakfast”? (And yes, I spent my teen years either on a weight-loss diet or expected to be on a weight-loss diet.)
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Big Fat Sleep
No, it’s not news that lack of sleep is tied to fat. What sleep researcher Dr. Orfeu Buxton found is more information on how this occurs. The resting metabolic rate of the volunteers by the end of the five weeks was 8% lower than where they had started. […] That could explain why night shift workers tend to gain […]
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Ending Gender Discrimination in US Health Insurance
These maps from FuseWashington make a point about the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare”. Right now, most states allow insurers to charge women more for insurance than men. The Affordable Care Act will ban this practice in 2014. It will also prevent insurers from refusing to insure those with pre-existing conditions like asthma. And, y’know, “obesity” is […]
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Fat People Die Sooner, Right?
Reading Michelle’s post on death (cached here if you can’t read it on her site) got me thinking. How else on earth could you explain a doctor expressing anger and blame at someone for accidentally dying? And to then vent that anger on his grieving wife? You couldn’t. There was no other explanation but the fear of death, […]
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Not News
The website Fark makes fun of news stories that are not, actually, news. Example: Students Discover Desks Have More Germs Than Toilets Why isn’t it news? Well, it’s a common story that pops up once a year or two, and relies on people not thinking about which is more likely to get janitorial attention. Today […]
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Five Things Makes a Post
New job! I have a new job. The place I was temping hired me in late December. I’m not doing exactly the same job, which is both “new and scary” and “cool and interesting”. It’s also been interesting to note that the things I was looking forward to ending with the contract (the commute, […]
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Asthma Not-Fun
I would like to realize I’m wheezing before someone stops me at work and asks, with a look of deep concern, “Are you alright?” Really. It’s bad enough to have someone ask me, with a look of deep concern, “Are you alright?” while I’m setting up mics and speakers for a concert. Or walking around […]
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Vitamin B12 in the news
I’ve written about my vitamin B12 absorption problem before. The NY Times recently posted a good primer on B12 deficiencies, including those at risk: Natural plant sources are meager at best in B12, and the vitamin is poorly absorbed from them. […C]hronic users of acid-suppressing drugs like Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium, as well as ulcer […]
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“Peaceful” and “relaxing”?
From today’s Between Friends comic by Sandra Bell-Lundy comes this exchange…. Maeve: How’s your walking regimen? Susan: Actually, I’m enjoying it. Susan: Every evening I walk around the neighborhood … it’s such a peaceful, relaxing way to end the day. Maeve, shocked: “Peaceful” and “relaxing”? Maeve, accusing: I thought you were trying to improve your […]
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Proper Treatment
Knowing intellectually that people can die of asthma is a bit scary. Reading that a friend of a friend died of an asthma attack is another. Death from asthma is a relatively uncommon event, and most asthma deaths are preventable. It is very rare for a person who is receiving proper treatment to die of asthma. However, […]
Living ~400lbs 