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.
There’s been a lot of talk here at BlogHer about Gardasil, over the past year or so. I wrote about it a year ago, trying to articulate my feelings on it as a mom to a daughter who would soon be eligible for vaccination. Catherine Morgan has kept her finger on the pulse of the matter with multiple posts, including pointing out that several young girls have died within hours of receiving the vaccination.
My initial optimism was, perhaps, premature.
In the meantime, various states have been discussing mandating the vaccine, or trying to, with varying levels of success. (Check out Vaccine Awakening for a good explanation of what recently happened in the Virginia legislature.)
The number of overweight children in the United States is growing at a very alarming rate. Kids are spending much less time being active, and much more time sitting in front of a TV, computer, or video-game. For this reason we are seeing an increase in children developing diseases (such as Type 2 Diabetes) that are normally associated with overweight adults. This is very troubling, especially considering that it is preventable.
Preventing your children from becoming overweight means adapting the way you and your family eat and exercise and the way you spend time together. Helping your children lead healthy lifestyles begins with you, the parent, and leading by example. — read full article
A recent study also finds that children with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop kidney disease…
Children and teens diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are five times more likely to develop kidney disease later in life than those who develop diabetes as adults, a recent study found.
The findings underscore the importance of preventing — or at least delaying — the onset of type 2 diabetes, doctors say. — read full article
Tina at Public Spark has some tips for preventing childhood obesity…
I am not a nutritionist therefore cannot give you the 411 on diet, but I thought it would be interesting to take a psychological perspective on it. Obesity is a major problem that exists in our society today. If we can stop it early on, I believe that that we can decrease the problem later on. My boyfriend and I came up with some techniques that we would like to use when we have children. — read full post
Bev from That’s Fit has some tips from Bob Greene on childhood obesity…
Exercise physiologist Bob Greene, Oprah’s fitness trainer, had a few things to say about combating childhood obesity while in Toronto last week. He believes parents can make a significant difference. — read full post
The nation’s teen birth rate has risen for the first time in 14 years, according to a new government report.
The birth rate had been dropping since 1991. The decline had slowed in recent years, but government statisticians said Wednesday it jumped 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.
“It took us by surprise,” said Stephanie Ventura of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a co-author of the report. — see full article here
It seems to me that this latest report proves that abstinence-only programs are not working.
Ideology, not science, has been driving America’s response to the twin epidemics of teen pregnancy and STD/HIV infections. Funding for abstinence-only censorship programs is dramatically increasing. All told, abstinence-only programs have received over half a billion dollars in federal funds since 1997, and the Bush administration requested yet another sharp increase to $204 million for fiscal year 2007. By 2009, President Bush proposes that funding for abstinence-only programs reach $270 million.
This huge investment of taxpayer funds in abstinence-only programs conflicts with scientific and medical research: abstinence-only programs are not proven effective and may in fact result in riskier behavior by teenagers. Responsible sex education programs, on the other hand, have demonstrated positive results such as delayed initiation of sex, reduced frequency of sex, and increased contraceptive use. — read full article here
I would love to know how these programs have spent over half a billion dollars of taxpayer money teaching abstinence? I would also like to know what the current presidential candidates will do when elected to lower the rate of teen pregnancy in this country?
A man purposefully puts RU-486 in a woman’s drink, causing her to miscarry, not just once but twice (CNN News clip).
This is truly a heinous crime and an affront to a woman’s right to choose. A woman’s reproductive rights are sacred, and just as no man should be aloud to force a woman to have a child if she is not ready, no man should be able to force her to lose a child if she is choosing to keep it.
This man (and I use that term lightly) should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, sending a clear message to any man or woman who would consider poisoning a pregnant woman for the purpose of having her miscarry.
Since Wisconson is one of 37 states that has a fetal homicide law, one of many charges this [sorry excuse for a] man will face is attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child.
However, I think the main focus of this case should be the violation of the woman, although I have no problem with this man being charged with murder since the state already has a law that allows for that. Since there are many other charges as well as murder here, I would leave it up to the judge or jury to decide the extent of this person’s punishment. Regardless of the charges, I would hope that this case be treated very seriously, and have serious consequences.
It seems odd to me, but many are taking this clear criminal violation of a woman, and turning it into a debate over abortion. For example…If a woman has the right to terminate her own pregnancy…Why shouldn’t a man be able to secretly and maliciously terminate a woman’s pregnancy if that’s what he wants to do? No, I’m not making this stuff up…
More problems associated with vaccines, this time the controversy is with the Chicken Pox vaccine. I haven’t been silent about my distrust with the pharmaceutical industry, and most recently with the collaboration between this industry and our government…specifically the rush to make the HPV vaccine mandatory for 9 to 12 year old girls. As much as I have a problem with *some* vaccines, I have a much larger problem with our government forcing parents to vaccinate for viruses such as Chicken Pox and HPV.
I am not someone who is against childhood vaccinations, as a nurse I fully understand the necessity for vaccinating children against polio, measles, mumps, and rubella. However, vaccinating against these diseases was begun for the sole purpose of saving the lives of children, that can not be said for most of the newer vaccines (Flu, HPV, Chicken Pox, Hepatitis, etc). The sole purpose for pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines today, is for one purpose and one purpose only…money (and a lot of it). I wont be able to go into each one in detail for this post (maybe in a future one), but here are a few statistics to just give you an idea of what I am talking about.
But now, let me talk specifically about the Chicken Pox vaccine and this latest controversy.
In Maryland parents are being threatened with fines and jail if they do not comply with vaccinating their children for chicken pox. Does anyone NOT see how insane that sounds? What the bleepidy-bleep is going on????
Speaking as one of the lucky ones, who lived through “The Great Chicken Pock Pandemic” of the 1970’s…oh wait, there was no pandemic and everyone I knew got the chicken pox and a couple days off from school, and actually lived to tell the tale. For those of us old enough to remember having the chicken pox…The memories are horrifying…the pustules, the itch, the dreaded calamine lotion. If you haven’t been through it yourself, you can not begin to imagine what we suffered with for those never ending couple of days. [My attempt as sarcasm…I know, don’t quit my day job.]
Seriously now. When my children were born (and at that time the vaccine was not yet mandatory), the pediatrician told me about it, and I decided that if my children weren’t exposed to the virus before they would be attending school, then I would consider it. [CHOICE…it’s a beautiful thing, but becoming more and more rare in our society.] My reservations had nothing to do with a possible adverse reaction to the vaccine…It was the fact that, getting chicken pox as a child is not serious, and getting the virus actually gives a life-long immunity (the vaccine does not). I also wondered why anyone would consider this vaccine, when there was already an anti-viral medication available, that reduced the severity of the symptoms and cut the duration of the illness?
Breast Cancer Treatment…What Is Your Life Worth? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)
Revolutionary new cancer drugs offer hope where there was none. But the price tag may be too high for some to bear.
Many Americans are already having to decide between food on the table and their prescription medications. The health care crisis is hitting hard, and the cost of prescription drugs is sky-rocketing. But what happens when you have to decide between expensive breast cancer treatments to save your life, and paying the mortgage on your house? How much could you afford to spend, to save your life? It’s not even a fair question to ask, but many cancer patients are being forced to answer it.
This is an excerpt from a recent article in SELF magazine…
Seven months after being diagnosed with stage IIIB inflammatory breast cancer, 37-year-old Diekmeyer had spent nearly 100 days in doctors’ offices or the hospital near her Ohio home. She’d had five surgeries, with another scheduled for September; slogged through more than three months of grisly chemotherapy; suffered the indignities of baldness and violent nausea. After all that, she still didn’t know if she’d survive the year. But Diekmeyer had another, more immediate, fear keeping her up nights. Because of mounting medical bills, she was worried she might lose her home.
Marianna took a look at “What is your life worth?” — Marianna is a military veteran with over 16 years of service, and is a college graduate with degrees in political science and human resource. This is what she thinks…
Ever the advocate for women’s health and the pursuit of advancing women’s issues in medical science, I was reading Self Magazine’s article bought today while flipping through the stacks of magazines to buy while contemplating what to make for dinner (okay I digress……) in regards to the journey of several women plagued with cancer and the expensive drugs out there being sold to save their lives. — read her full post here
As a nurse working on an oncology unit many years ago, I would sometimes think about whether or not I would choose to have debilitating chemo treatments if I were ever diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Not that I wouldn’t want to live, I just sometimes wondered, if I were faced with the dilemma of quality vs. quantity, what would I choose? I never thought back then, that I (or anyone else for that matter) might someday be faced with not even having a choice. But that is exactly what is happening today.
The Right To Reproductive Health: Why don’t all women have it? - by Catherine Morgan
See this video of a local woman that support the Planned Parenthood Clinic…
Depending on where you live in this country, you may or may not have the right to the services provided by Planned Parenthood, and every women deserves the right to quality reproductive health care. Women’s rights should not be denied anywhere in this country. That is why it is so important that a Chicago court allow the Aurora Planned Parenthood to open and serve it’s surrounding communities.
I touched on this issue in a previous post, and now Planned Parenthood is at a Federal Court in Chicago, in an attempt to open their Aurora location. You can read LIVE BLOGGING of this hearing at Planned Parenthood Aurora.
New Study: Dieting Linked To Smoking In Teenage Girls — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenage girls who start dieting are nearly two times more likely to also take up smoking regularly, compared with teenage girls who are not dieting.
Not surprising at all…According to this research study, teenage girls who are on diets are twice as likely to begin smoking than their non-smoking counterparts. The study is published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.
This is just another grim example of how badly teenage girls want to be thin; so much so, that they are willing to risk dying of lung cancer or heart disease, rather than to be fat. What does that say about our society? Between eating disorders, lung cancer, heart disease, and other related illnesses…Could a poor body image become the leading cause of death among women? Could it already be???
Britney Spears Performance Spurs Body Image Debate: What is Fat? Who Says? — by Catherine Morgan
I had the unfortunate opportunity of watching the MTV Music Video Awards this past Sunday. Personally, I think the entire show was horribly produced, and it was almost painful to watch. The same is true with the Britney Spears “train wreck” on the same show. Her performance, was just about the worst “so-called” entertainment I have ever seen.
There was basically nothing good you could say about the Britney performance. However, I was surprised to read the next day, that so much focus was being put on her weight. Now, the outfit she wore was hideous, but there is no way you can say she is “fat”. If Britney Spears is considered “fat”, then I must be considered “morbidly obese” and in need of a stomach stapling. There were plenty of reasons to criticize Britney Spears that night, but her weight wasn’t one of them.
But, this post isn’t about Britney Spears…It’s about the continuing, and seemingly never ending, Body Image Debate. When are we going to learn to love our bodies for all of our shapes and sizes? Why does there have to be some cookie cutter image that every women needs to be upheld to?
This is a war, a war on women, and a war on young girls. It’s a war we can not afford to lose.
Pro-Life or Pro-Choice…You must agree that criminalizing miscarriage is wrong. — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)
I didn’t have something specific to blog about for todays post, I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my daughter this week (I’ll tell you more at the end of this post, if you’re interested), so I decided to Google women’s health for ideas.
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.
The other day my mother received a phone call from her friend, “Louise.” She said to my mother, “Have you heard?”
“No. Heard what?”
“I have a lover!” she unabashedly announced.
All this might not be so shocking, except for the fact that Louise is 94 years old!
She went on to explain how after moving into her assisted living community, she met a 90 year old man, who we’ll call “Leonard.” Leonard is twice widowed and Louise is widowed after 60 years of marriage.
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.
From The Associated Press CHICAGO - A deadly gene’s path can hide in a family tree when a woman has few aunts and older sisters, making it appear that her breast cancer struck out of nowhere when it really came from Dad.A new study suggests thousands of young women with breast cancer — an estimated 8,000 a year in the U.S. — aren’t offered testing to identify faulty genes and clarify their medical decisions.
Guidelines used by insurance companies to decide coverage for genetic testing should change to reflect the findings, said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel of City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. Testing can cost more than $3,000.
“Interestingly, it’s about Dad,” Weitzel said. Half of genetic breast cancers are inherited from a woman’s father, not her mother. But unless Dad has female relatives with breast cancer, the faulty gene may have been passed down silently, without causing cancer. (Men can get genetic breast cancer, too, but it’s not common.)
Weitzel said doctors often overlook the genetic risk from the father’s side of the family. — read full article
Since my original post on the controversy surrounding the Gardasil vaccine, I have already added three updates. Recently I was made aware of new information released by the FDA regarding the more serious adverse reactions to this vaccine. Most upseting is the fact that at least three young girls have died within hours of receiving this controversial vaccine.
(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. Three deaths were related to the vaccine. One physician’s assistant reported that a female patient “died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine.” Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting. — read full article
As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities.
Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures. — – read full article
What troubles me the most about this is; Parents understand that with all vaccines there will be a very small percent of people (in this case young girls) that will have an adverse reaction ending in death. The major difference is that vaccines like the MMR vaccines (given to our children to prevent Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) are essential in saving many lives from these highly contagious and often fatal diseases. So, the benefits of these vaccines most definitely outweigh the risks…(the small percent of serious adverse reactions with MMR vaccine is still only a tiny fraction of the amount of deaths we would see without this vaccine).
Unfortunately this is not the case with the HPV vaccine. I think if a parent thought that their daughter might die from a vaccine that has limited protection against a treatable (non life-threatening) virus, they might not see a benefit that outweighs that risk.
I think one of the best things about the age of the Internet, is how easy it is for us to make a difference when it comes to issues in politics. Contacting our state representatives, signing petitions, and having our voices heard has never been easier than it is NOW.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is helping women Take Action on important political issues. It’s as easy as point and click.
Let me tell you a little about some of the issues facing women today, that need your attention and action. — full post at BlogHer.
