My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, and inspirational thoughts. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor.
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Find out all the places I blog at Catherine Blogs.
Today is March Forth For Child Care and Head Start day, and you can help make a difference by calling or emailing your members of Congress. All day today, advocates for children will be joining-in to voice their support of an increase in funding for the Head Start program. This is such an important issue, and I hope you will consider taking action to support our children.
Head Start is one of the most cost-effective programs we have in this country. We need more Head Start, and we need full day Head Start programs (much of the funding only pays for a few hours of services) so that low income working parents can take advantage of the enormous benefits Head Start offers children and families. It is a comprehensive early learning program that supports the total well-being of children.
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Further, study after study shows that quality early childhood programs like Head Start significantly reduce the incidences of teen pregnancy, juvenile crime, being held back in school, and other social ills that develop later in life. Every $1 we invest today in these programs saves taxpayers somewhere between $7 and $17 in future costs due to negative consequences of poverty.
Today, all across the country, thousands of advocates are joining together to March Forth in support of increased funding for child care and Head Start by calling or e-mailing their Members of Congress.
We are joining together because our children deserve a better and brighter future. Under the President’s budget, 200,000 low-income children and their families will lose child care assistance, and 14,000 children will lose Head Start.
Please add your voice by calling or e-mailing your Members of Congress today.
Here is how you can take action and help…
To call your representatives, use the script below and dial toll-free at 1-888-460-0813. The operator who answers the phone will ask which Senator or Representative you would like to speak to. To find out who your Senators and Representative are, search our directory before you call.
Tell the staffers who answer the phone in your representatives’ offices:
Hi, my name is (INSERT NAME.) I’m a constituent. (If you are also a parent, child care provider, community leader, etc., feel free to mention that as well.)
I am calling because I believe that child care and Head Start are essential programs for children and families. I urge Senator/ Representative (INSERT NAME) to support an increase of $874 million for child care and $1 billion for Head Start in this year’s budget.
And he cited the committee’s own calculations from last fall that showed that the money spent on the war each day is enough to enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start for a year,
The national Head Start program, which was a legacy of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” offers preschool to families unable to afford a private program. We don’t know how it functions elsewhere in the country, but in Morris County, Head Start is as refreshingly bipartisan as can be. Republicans and Democrats are on its board, and Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, long has been a supporter.
It’s the last day of 2007, and I thought I would do this post on some of the hot topics from BlogHer Health and Wellness. So, in no particular order, here is what I think are the top ten. — read the full post at BlogHer.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last ten days, you have more than likely heard about MRSA, a drug resistant form of Staph Infection (see one of the many news reports here).
This is by no means a new problem. What is new though, is that we are hearing about it affecting and sometimes killing children that are picking up this infection at their schools. Very scary. We’ve been hearing about sick kids, and schools closing for top to bottom hazmat style cleanings.
But before you panic…The best medicine is knowledge. Knowing the signs and symptoms of what to look for is the most important aspect of this story. Panicking is an option, but not a productive one. And like we’ve talked about before, MRSA is another one of those illnesses that may be caused by the overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial cleaners.
Invisible Toxins In Everyday Products Are Making You And Your Family Sick — by Catherine Morgan
Are You Unknowingly Making Your Child Sick? Moms need to know what invisible toxins are in the everyday products they provide to their children.
A disturbing story came to light this week, from CNN’s Planet In Peril series. Our children are being exposed to such high levels of industrial chemicals, that studies are showing many of them to have up to seven times greater levels in their blood than their parents. Think about that for a minute. If their levels are this high now…How high do you think they will be by the time they are adults?
With so many cancers and chronic illnesses being blamed on environmental causes…How sick do you think these children might be by the time they are parents? How many might be unable to be parents? We are talking about chemicals that are known carcinogens, and known to be in products we and our children are using every day. It’s a much larger problem than I had ever realized…especially for our children.
Of course, we can not be sure how these exposures will affect our children’s future health, only time will tell. But, if these studies are any indication, the future is very troubling.
With all the attention breast cancer gets this month, it’s easy to forget that there are many other diseases that are also recognized in October. Next week, October 21st -27nd is Respiratory Care week, so I decided to devote this post to Lung Disease awareness, and some of the bloggers that are giving it to us.
There are many different types of lung disease…COPD, Asthma, Lung Cancer, TB, Cystic Fibrosis, Sleep Apnea, to name a few. All of these conditions can range from mild symptoms to severe, and even if you don’t suffer from one of them, it’s very likely you know someone who does.
I decided to post on some of the interesting health and wellness issues that have been in the news this week…
Starting with the Autism Speaks website…They now have video examples of children with autism, compared to children without, in the hopes of helping parents recognize early signs of the disease. Also, a new study shows that the United States is lagging behind in maternal health, and the House urges health agencies to expand research into Postpartum Depression.
With 1 in every 150 children having some degree of Autism, knowing the symptoms and being diagnosed early is critical. This week Autism Speaks is helping parents learn what is common behavior for most children, as compared to what is common in an Autistic child, with the use of videos.
Please keep in mind that there are many presenting features associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that are depicted in the video clips you are about to see. However, most children do not show all of the features all of the time. Instead, many children have some of the features some of the time. Awareness of these common presenting features may help to heighten your index of suspicion. Individually, they may not indicate a problem; however, in combination, they may indicate a need to conduct a screening or a diagnostic evaluation. Not all signs and features need be present for ASD to be diagnosed.
By viewing these videos of symptoms found in Autism, parents can help recognize a potential problem early, and bring it to the attention of their child’s pediatrician.
As always, there are critics of this idea who believe that these videos may cause unnecessary worry for parents. However, as both a nurse and a mother, I would say that the potential benefits to parents viewing these videos, far outweighs any potential risk of undue worry.
In spite of all the controversy over the treatment and the politics of Autism, I think one thing everyone can agree on, is the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. With such a short amount of time that a child will actually spend with their doctor, parents are the first line of defense when it comes to recognizing the symptoms their children are exhibiting.
Then there is a new study showing that the United States is lagging behind in maternal health, this also happens to be a topic that is being addressed by the BlogHer community, through BlogHer Acts. I found the statistics on this quite disturbing, and shocking. We do still live in the richest country in the world, right?
The United States has a far higher death rate than the European average, the report shows, with one in 4,800 U.S. women dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth, the same as Belarus and just slightly better than Serbia’s rate of one in 4,500.
Just one out of 47,600 women in Ireland die during or just after childbirth, the report found. Bosnia had the second-lowest rate, with 1 in 29,000 women dying during pregnancy and childbirth. — read full article here
The United States is ranked 41st in the world for maternal mortality, with 1 in 4,800 women dying from pregnancy complications.This is what they are saying at Chrone Speaks…
While the BBC article uses a graph from the Lancet, showing the rise or drop in maternal mortality around the world, I’d like to point out that the US is lumped in with other developing nations.
Causes of the rising maternal mortality rates for the US can be listed in a few short words:
abstinence only education
closing women’s clinics
laws restricting (safe) abortions
I hope the anti-abortionist take note of this — they are the principle reason why women are dying untimely deaths — the rate of unsafe abortions has not changed since 1995.
They make a pretty good point…Look what is happening in Aurora, with the attempt to stop the opening of a Planned Parenthood there. If one truly cares about life, then one should care about all life, including women and mothers. It seems to me there is a degree of rational thought that is sometimes being excluded from many people’s biblical interpretation of life. And ignoring that only results in more lives lost…When will the Pro-Life Movement start being Pro-”All Life”???
Also in the news…The House urges health agencies to expand research into postpartum depression. This is another issue that the BlogHer community is passionate about. This cause is being led by Katherine Stone…
Katherine Stone suffered postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder with the birth of her son in 2001. She is now an advocate for women with postpartum mood disorders, primarily through her blog Postpartum Progress, the most widely-read blog in the United States on these illnesses, which include postpartum depression, postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis. — read more about Katherine here
The bill cites studies that up to 80 percent of new mothers experience “baby blues,” characterized by mood swings, feelings of being overwhelmed and irritability.
It said more serious postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, which can occur during pregnancy and anytime within the first year of the infant’s birth, impair between 10 and 20 percent of new mothers.
Postpartum psychosis, striking one in 1,000 new mothers, may entail losing touch with reality, delusions, auditory hallucinations, paranoia and hyperactivity.
It notes that while the causes of postpartum depression are unknown, theories include a steep and rapid drop in hormone levels after childbirth, difficulty during labor or pregnancy and external factors such as a lack of support from one’s spouse, stressful events such as the death of a loved one or a previous history of depression.
Rush said 90 percent of depression cases are treatable, but that only 15 percent of women with postpartum depression receive treatment.
So these are some of the health issues in the news this week…Are you or your family being affected by any of these issues?
TUESDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) — New research is bolstering the theory that obesity may stem, a least in part, from a common virus — one that helps create new, heftier fat cells.
Abusive Relationships: Are you or someone you know in one? How can you tell? What can you do? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)How do you know if you are in an abusive relationship? Do you know someone who is? What warning signs can you look for?
Since nearly one third of American women have been in some sort of abusive relationship, chances are that one of these women may be you or someone you know. So, what do you do? How do you help? I think having as much information as possible is a good place to start.
August is National Immunization Awareness Month and I was honored to be invited to participate in a phone conference sponsored by Revolution Health last week, for a discussion between other women health bloggers and an expert on immunizations. You can listen to the one hour conference here.
Three Signs You Need To Know That Could Save Your Life — by Catherine Morgan (and cross-posted at BlogHer.org)
I received an email from a fellow BlogHer Nina Burokas yesterday, she suggested that I consider a post on stroke, and the three simple signs that we all should be aware of. Noticing one or more of these signs, and getting someone appropriate medical attention, could be the difference between recovery and death. I agree with Nina that this is very important information, and the more that it is blogged about, the more people that might be saved from understanding these signs of a stroke.
More proof that women are attempting to live up to a standard that doesn’t exits. SHAME ON YOU REDBOOK.
How can women and young girls ever feel good about their own appearance, when magazines like this are continuing to perpetuate a false image for them?
This is just WRONG! REDBOOK disrespects it’s readers and women everywhere with this type of action and attempt at deception. Women are beautiful…What REDBOOK has done is UGLY.
NEWS FLASH to REDBOOK: Women have curves, women have freckles, women have laugh lines, and women are beautiful just the way they are! STOP THE DECEPTION!!!!
YOU CAN SEE THE COMPARISON PICTURE AT JEZEBEL, THEY DID A GREAT JOB WITH IT.
I hate mosquitoes, doesn’t everyone? These buggers can really get big too, and I’m pretty sure they are bigger here in Florida than they were in Pennsylvania.
Last year one got in my house that was the size of a small bird…yuck, yuck, yuck. Bugs really creep me out. O.k. - before I give myself a bug anxiety attack, let me get to the point of this post. West Nile virus and how to prevent it.
West Nile virus is mainly transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Skin Cancer Prevention — The Facts and the Controversy (cross posted at BlogHer.org - by Catherine Morgan
A post on skin cancer prevention…That’s easy enough; avoid sunburns, use sunscreen, and check your skin for unusual sores or changing moles. O.K. all done. Well, it turns out it’s a little more complicated than all that. So, let’s take some time to understand the facts and the controversy surrounding skin cancer prevention. Yes, I said controversy. Surprised? You shouldn’t be…Isn’t there a controversy surrounding just about every issue now a days? You’re shaking your head right now aren’t you? Because you know it’s true.
But seriously, here are some of the facts about skin cancer…
“Every day people are posting problems with this pill and the pharmacists keep giving the same response. ‘Alli works in the gut; it is non-systemically acting and will not interact with your prescriptions.’ A good majority of these concerns have not even had replies posted to. I contacted Alli and expressed the problems I was having. They informed me that I had the stomach flu (which I don’t) and they would not refund me any money,” she wrote.
“I am not just some person irritated with a product that didn’t work. I could care less about the monetary refund. I’m concerned that this is yet another pill that has not been fully tested and they are trying to sell as many as they can before they actually admit there is a problem. They seem to treat any question raised about this pill as silly because it has been through ‘clinical studies’ and dismiss everyone’s concerns.” — read full article from Chicago Tribune
I’m not going to try to sugar coat it, I’m an opinionated person. Back at the end of May when I saw an article about an over the counter diet pill being approved by the FDA, and peddled by a pharmaceutical company, my skepticism antenna went into overdrive.
The result was a post I did the same day on why you should just say no to diet pills, which included several links of other recent drugs the FDA and pharmaceutical companies had claimed to be safe, and later were taken off the market. In my opinion this happens much too often. And the main thing that sets me off is, it seems to be all about money. (Shocking! Not so much.) The FDA takes money from the pharmaceutical companies to “study” and approve their drugs, then the pharmaceutical companies make millions (even billions) off the American people, then voila, the drug that was once “safe” is no longer safe. It’s a very interesting phenomena.
Glaxo’s Avandia Fuels Arguments For Tougher Drug Laws — The study, released May 21, showed that Avandia, the world’s best-selling diabetes pill, increased the risk of a heart attack 43 percent. Members of Congress are questioning the Food and Drug Administration’s handling of evidence of side effects since the drug won U.S. approval in 1999.
The Avandia report has reignited complaints by Congress that the FDA is too lax in monitoring drug complications after a product is on the market. The agency previously was criticized for failing to act on heart dangers linked to Merck & Co.’s Vioxx painkiller before it was withdrawn in 2004, and for missing suicide risks linked to antidepressants. — read full article
Call me crazy, but it is troubling to me that the FDA considers a drug that basically induces diarrhea as a safe and effective means of weight loss. Sure, you can argue that the drug is blocking fat from being absorbed and a side effect of that is causing diarrhea…but really…semantics. Right? Don’t we consider people that are using drugs to induce diarrhea as suffering from Bulimia, and in need of medical and psychological help? What about this…Lets say that a pharmaceutical company came out with a drug that induced vomiting, does that mean if the person is not sticking their finger down their throat they are not sick, they are just dieting? If that’s the case, maybe someone should consider repackaging Ipecac into pill form, and marketing it as the newest diet plan. Is it really that much of a stretch from where we are now???
Not too long ago, I did a post on BlogHers living, coping and blogging with chronic illness. At that time I hadn’t included BlogHers blogging with cancer, although I do agree that cancer is becoming more and more a chronic illness.
Cancer is in the news a lot these days. Elizabeth Edwards’ breast cancer, Fred Thompson’s lymphoma, Tony Snow’s prostate cancer are a few that made the headlines. But what’s most interesting about these reports is that they all are about cancer survivorship and not about cancer deaths. Cancer has become a chronic illness and in most cases the diagnosis is no longer a notice of imminent death. Rather it is the beginning of a long-term treatment process with remissions and exacerbations over many years. And with new treatments being developed with novel mechanisms of action, the odds are that this trend towards chronicity will continue. More cancers will become chronic illnesses and those that are chronic will take longer and longer to show their worst sides. — read full article
Many of our BlogHers are blogging about how they are living with the diagnosis of cancer. Below are a few that I came across while surfing through the BlogHer Health & Wellness Blogrolls.
IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO FOLLOW OUR DREAMS? — by Catherine Morgan
With the pressures of daily life, do any of us really have time to think about our dreams? Do we even know what our dreams are? Kids know what their dreams are, just ask them…What do you want to be when you grow up? It is always such an easy answer for them. But once we do grow up, then what? Is is too late for us?
For decades, there has been compelling evidence that biological sex differences are responsible for tremendous differences in the incidence, presentation, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This goes far beyond reproductive health, the areas of most obvious difference between the sexes. It affects cancer, heart disease, mental health, obesity – just about every major area of health. — read full post from Well Soul
This was a great opportunity for each of us to address questions about women’s health issues important to our readers.
I personally asked about how bloggers can convey information to their readers, such as on hormone therapy, when what is “right” seems to change constantly, and about priorities for research and how level or decreased funding at the National Institutes of Health will affect those priorities across the board. — read full post by Rachel at Women’s Health News
Some of the topics discussed with Dr. Sherry Marts were; medications prescribed to women that have not necessarily been tested on women, the confusion over hormone therapy, the connection between a woman’s menstrual cycle and chronic pain, government funding for women’s health, the HPV vaccine, and HIV medications for women. A lot of ground was covered under the direction of Cynthia Samuels, who did such a great job organizing this event for Revolution Health.
My first question was about women being prescribed medications that may not (probably not) have been tested ON women before they were approved. It wasn’t until like 1993 that the FDA mandated drugs be tested ON women. So those drugs you’re taking… well… you figure it out. read Denise’s full post
These are the questions I was interested in getting more insight on from Dr. Marts…
Sure, you can argue that the drug is blocking fat from being absorbed and a side effect of that is causing diarrhea…but really…semantics. Right? Don’t we consider people that are using drugs to induce diarrhea as suffering from 
