Month: March 2018

Do Salt Rooms Really Work? Here’s The Research You Need To Review Before You Try Halotherapy

Post author By Sian Ferguson
Post date March 21, 2018

My grandmother always used to say that salty sea air could cure nearly any ailment. Those who frequent salt rooms would likely agree with her.
Because salt is a natural disinfectant with preserving and antibacterial properties, it has been used in medical practices for hundreds of years according to a review published in the Environmental Engineering and Management Journal. Even today, you probably participate in some form of wet salt therapy without knowing it. Whenever you gargle with salt water, use saline to clean your nose, or exfoliate with a salt scrub, you’re engaging in a form of wet salt therapy.
Dry salt therapy, which is also known as halotherapy, is a little less common—and less understood. It typically involves dispersing small particles of salt into the air, allowing people to breathe it in. The most common forms of halotherapy involve salt beds and salt rooms.
But why is halotherapy so popular? And is it even effective?

Where It All Began

Centuries ago, according to the same piece in the Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, people believed that natural salt caves in Eastern Europe had healing properties. Salt rooms first appeared in Eastern European countries and Russia where they were designed to serve as simulations of these salt caves. Over the past decade salt rooms (and salt therapy treatments), have been popping up in other parts of the world.
Salt rooms often feature salted floors, pretty salt crystals, and ambient lighting, but according to the Salt Therapy Association—a nonprofit that promotes salt therapy use, research, and standards—the real healing possibilities come from machines called halogenerators. Halogenerators crush salt into micro-particles and disperse them into the air, replicating the air quality and conditions of a natural salt cave.
You might come across salt rooms that don’t include halogenerators, though. These rooms may be decorated with Himalayan salts or Dead Sea salts. While these rooms are often relaxing and beautiful to the eye, many of the physical health benefits associated with dry salt therapy require halogenerators.
The bottom line: Salt rooms with halogenerators are more effective if you want to reap the full benefits of halotherapy.

Are the health claims legitimate?

Salt rooms are allegedly useful in treating a range of respiratory and skin conditions. This can include acne, eczema, psoriasis, asthma, allergies, persistent coughs, sinus issues, and lung diseases like emphysema and pneumonia.
That said, many people—including medical professionals—are skeptical about whether salt rooms are truly beneficial for people’s health. Although there’s controversy surrounding the evidence that supports the validity of salt therapy, there are a few studies that have shown promising results.
One study looked at the effects of halotherapy on patients with various respiratory diseases. It found that most participants’ symptoms improved after 10 to 20 one-hour salt therapy treatments. Another study suggests halotherapy can help those with chronic bronchitis, and another suggests it can help asthmatics who struggle with their symptoms during the night. A 2017 study noted that halotherapy seemed to help asthmatic children between the ages of 5 and 13, although the researchers also noted that more long-term studies would be helpful. Most of the studies indicate that benefits are only seen after multiple salt therapy sessions.
According to the Salt Therapy Association (STA), salt rooms are safe for children, but those who are pregnant or nursing should consult their doctors before trying halotherapy. The STA website also doesn’t recommend halotherapy for those who have “contagious diseases, fever, open wounds, cancer, severe hypertension, mental disorders [or] active tuberculosis.” That said, the available research doesn’t indicate that there are many side-effects associated with halotherapy.
Remember that salt therapy is meant to be a complementary practice. It’s not meant to replace medicine or medical attention, so if you’re trying to treat a specific condition it’s always best to talk to your doctor directly.

What to Know Before Your First Salt Therapy Session

If you’re keen to try out salt therapy, there are a number of wellness spas that offer salt rooms or salt beds.
Salt rooms include other participants while salt beds are private. Salt beds are specifically recommended for those who want to treat skin conditions, especially because you can strip down to your swimsuit, allowing the salt to come into contact with your skin. If you’re entering a salt room, comfortable clothes are ideal. While you’re usually not allowed to wear shoes in the salt room, you will be encouraged to wear socks or foot covers.
The price depends on the spa you visit, but most single sessions cost between $35 and $60. Many spas offer bundle packages for multiple therapy sessions.
Since the relaxation aspect of the salt rooms are often emphasized, participants are discouraged from bringing cellphones into the room. Most spas also prohibit you from bringing any food or water into the salt room, but you could keep a bottle of water in your backpack for hydration after the session.
During the session, you might sit back and relax in a comfortable chair. You’re encouraged to breathe deeply or meditate during this time. Some spas even offer meditation or yoga classes in their salt rooms.
Salt has been used by humans for a range of ailments for centuries, so it’s no surprise that we’d want to be surrounded by beautiful and potentially healing salt crystals. While more research into halotherapy is needed, it’s definitely a trend worth trying.

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Happy x Mindful Wellbeing

How We Pick Up Our Parents' Problems (And How To Break The Chain)

Post author By Gretchen Bossio
Post date March 21, 2018

I see it, she sees it, others see it. From mannerisms to physical appearance to the way we structure our days, I’m just like my mom. It was noticeable when I was young, but when I became a mom, our similarities skyrocketed.
In many ways, I feel myself yearning to be more like her. She was, and still is, a wonderful mother, and I find myself hoping I can be a tenth of the mother she was. Yet I unfortunately share some of her faults. They seem inherent and something I can’t really escape.
But am I like her because I want to be? Or did I watch her battle her demons and somehow take them on through osmosis? Or did nature and nurture collided at some point and made me a mini of my mom?

Some sons grow to be like their fathers, and some daughters find themselves embodying their mothers. Other daughters grow to be like their fathers, sons their mothers. This isn’t always the case, but there is a strong likelihood that the problems our parents face will resurface in our own lives—unless we work hard to chart a new path.

The Family Projection Process

Therapy is a pretty new division within the medical community. In fact, 100 or so years ago, it was virtually unheard of. Then, bright minds like Murray Bowen came onto the scene. Bowen was a psychiatrist and a professor at Georgetown University throughout the latter half of the 20th century. He is considered a pioneer in family therapy, a founder of systemic therapy, and the first to describe the family projection process: “the primary way parents transmit their emotional problems to a child.”

“The idea is relatively straightforward,” says Matthew Mutchler, PhD, a psychology professor and licensed marriage and family therapist. “Every person has anxiety about themselves—what we wish was different about us, what we like, what we don’t, what triggers us … When we become parents, the way we raise our children reflects these anxieties—we’re trying to raise them not to have them. Unfortunately, they usually pick them up anyway, if in slightly different ways. So when those children grow up, they have similar anxieties about themselves that their parents did and end up parenting in a similar way.”
https://twitter.com/Emma_Jessica1/status/890407605549633538
It’s not something we necessarily aim to do—perhaps it’s something we’re actually aiming not to do—but it still happens. As described by the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, parents worry that their young children have something wrong with them, perceive that they do, then treat them differently as a result. Eventually, the child “grows to embody their fears and perceptions.” It happens so seamlessly that without an intentional break in the cycle, the cycle persists through generations.

For example, I am not a strong swimmer. To be completely honest, I’m probably considered more of a sinker. My mom also isn’t a pro in the water. She never liked this about herself, and she actually put me in private lessons for quite some time, but it never caught on. I learned to swim, yet I never learned to be confident in my abilities. Her anxiety passed to me, and now I’m in the boat of trying to break a generational pattern with my own children.

Pressure to Follow in Your Parents’ Footsteps

At an early age, we are compelled to be like our family. Being like them makes us fit in—and fitting in is something everyone yearns for. That sense of belonging is crucial to our confidence and our ability to pursue brave steps in becoming who we hope to be.

The pressure we feel to be like our parents is at odds with another subject Bowen taught called differentiation of self. The concept refers to a person’s ability to separate their own thoughts and emotions from their family’s.
“When a child starts to become more independent in their teenage and young adult years, families may overtly or covertly punish them—withdrawal of attention, finances, approval—for being different,” says Mutchler. “There are several predictable ways people respond to this. One, they give in and act/become ‘more like’ the family; two, they have a lot of conflict, often dramatic, with the family; and three, they cut off—emotionally, physically, or both—from the family.”

Regarding Mutchler’s first example: We see many children choose the same or very similar careers as their parents. Police officers have children who admire their service role in the community and choose to become police officers, firefighters, or EMTs. Teachers birth teachers. Entrepreneurs, you guessed it, raise little dreamers and innovators. Subconsciously, children feel pressure to please their parents, and parents sometimes encourage values that reflect their own.
In the second example, it seems like the argumentative child is differentiating, but Mutchler says this conflict “creates what we call the ‘illusion of difference.’ Because of the way our culture views conflict in families, the assumption made by all is that by fighting, we are different, and the more I fight, the more I am asserting my difference. However, we are engaging our family members in the same way they are engaging us. Thus, even in our act of trying to fight it, we are becoming like them.”

In the third example, it is assumed that by creating distance—emotionally or physically—difference is established, but really it’s just a fruition of the family projection process. That is, the parents’ problems have been reflected so strongly upon the child that the child finds it necessary to completely separate themselves from that influence.
“The more intense the family projection process has been, the more intense the adolescent rebellion,” according to Bowen Center for the Study of the Family.

DON’T TOUCH ME! lol. My daughter man, her attitude is just like her mothers😌😈 pic.twitter.com/1zajHiS0aB

— guåhusisus (@theemrsaguero) March 19, 2018

Bowen’s theories point out that the individual that cuts off their parental relationship often transfers the issues they experienced with their parents to other relationships.: “… the more a man cuts off from his family of origin, the more he looks to his spouse, children, and friends to meet his needs.”

A Parent’s Role

It’s practically impossible to live in an environment and not adopt what we see. We witness this so often with young children as they learn to speak, walk, and gesture. They absorb and mimic everything around them: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“It’s impossible not to be [shaped] by our parents—after all, that’s the entire definition of parenting, to shape and grow your child until (and perhaps even after, for better or worse) adulthood,” says Lauren Drago, a licensed mental health counselor.
https://twitter.com/I_Am_ErikaG/status/751933871831261184
According to Drago, whether intentional or not, our ideas of relationships, communication, emotions, worth, and scarcity mindset all come from our parents.
“Could you imagine spending 18 years with one thing daily and not being immensely, life-alteringly changed by it?” she asks. “It would be impossible. And that’s exactly why we end up picking up the habits, mindsets, and mentalities of our parents, despite our best efforts.”
But what’s the layer beneath all of it? You often hear the question of nature or nurture, but there is a third component to consider: culture.
Let’s face it, genetics are wild. I have three sons, and when I look at my husband’s baby and childhood photos, I see my boys. They are like their dad in so many ways. Similarly, my husband resembles his dad down to details like his hairline and muscular calves. Add in the nurture component, and it’s no surprise that my boys are loud, boisterous, and sensitive, with a love for the outdoors…just like their dad and grandpa.

“What we know is that we’re all some perfect combination of our biological predispositions and the qualities that have been honed over time through our environmental influences,” says Drago.
Our parents are perhaps our greatest environmental influence—they definitely are in our youth. They’re the ones who put in the hours to shape and nurture us. But as we mature, culture begins to share that load with our parents. No longer are our parents the only ones planting ideas, speaking truth (and lies), and guiding us to develop habits. This is where you’ll see a conservative parent and a liberal child or a rural couple with children concentrated in the big city. Nature and nurture are the foundation, but at some point, culture sweeps in and creates a trifecta of influence that begins to explain who we are.

If you pause and assess yourself, it’s pretty obvious to see how a combination of nature, nurture, and culture have shaped who you are. Since our parents are influenced by the same trio, it makes sense that who they are filters into the next generation.

But, at the end of the day, is it bad to be like your mom or dad?

“It’s important to consider that it might not be negative to be like our parents,” says Mutchler. “No family is perfect, but most have strengths that can be helpful for us.”

Assessing the benefits and drawbacks of being like our parents is an exercise in self-awareness—it provokes complex questions and thus calls for time and attention. Looking inward, I’m sure you’ll find similarities between you and your parents—some you’ll like, and some you’ll want to change. In the latter case, Mutchler advises that you determine what trait you want instead and practice that new habit diligently.

Even though odds says you will turn out to be much like your parents, don’t discount your willpower to overcome great hardships, thanks to self-reflection and professional counseling. If you set your mind to it, you can turn out to be the opposite of your parents, if you so choose.
But in your reflection, be sure to note how you are your own distinct person, too. You’re not a carbon-copy, despite the influence nature, nurture, and culture had on your life.

Tags 50038191, hemingway, mind, social

Health x Body Wellbeing

7 Signs Of Liver Damage You Shouldn't Ignore

Post author By Mary Sauer
Post date March 21, 2018

“Liver damage” encompasses a wide variety of liver problems.
In rare cases, liver damage can be a result of genetics. Wilson’s disease, for instance, is a rare genetic condition that results in the buildup of copper in the vital organs, including the liver.
Lifestyle choices, though, are the most common cause of liver damage. For some time now, liver disease has been associated with excessive drinking and hepatitis. More, recently, however, fatty liver disease caused by obesity, not drinking, has risen as the leading cause of liver damage in the United States. It is believed that as much as 30 percent of the western world has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to research published by the World Journal of Hepatology.

Children also experience liver damage. Obesity rates in children have made an alarming jump in the western world, and the health complications that come with that are worrisome. In 2010, it was estimated that as much as 9.6 percent of children in the United States have NAFLD, according to research published in the journal Hepatology.

Risk Factors for Liver Damage

There are certain things that can put you at further risk for liver damage. For starters, if either of your parents have genetic liver conditions, you are definitely at risk. But again, these conditions are very rare in the general population. Wilson’s disease, for instance, is believed to exist in one out of every 30,000 individuals, according to research published in the journal GeneReviews. If you know that this condition runs in your family, it’s best to consult your doctor.

Outside of genetics, lifestyle choices can play a huge role in putting a person at risk of developing liver damage. For starters, heavy drinking is a huge risk factor for the development of liver damage. Regularly drinking or binge drinking can result in three different kinds of liver damage: fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis.
Fatty liver is experienced by most people who drink heavily, and it is characterized by fat accumulation in liver cells, according to the American Liver Foundation. Roughly 35 percent of heavy drinkers will also develop alcoholic hepatitis: swelling and damage of liver cells caused by excessive drinking. Individuals who have been drinking heavily for ten years or more are at risk of developing cirrhosis, which is the development of scar tissue in the liver. This disease is experienced by 10 to 20 percent of heavy drinkers.
“The other cause of liver damage that is slowly becoming the common cause in the United States is related to obesity and fatty liver disease,” explains Anton Bilchik, MD, PhD, the chief of gastrointestinal research at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California.

The prevalence of liver damage has risen significantly as the obesity rates in the United States have risen. In the United States alone, one out of every four individuals have fatty liver disease. Having diabetes and high cholesterol are risk factors for developing NAFLD, according to the American Liver Foundation.
Acetaminophen, the common over-the-counter pain reliever (brand name Tylenol) and active ingredient in many prescription pain medications, can cause liver damage if taken irresponsibly. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) considers acetaminophen-containing medications safe when taken as directed, but they warn that it can cause serious liver damage if over-consumed. For those who drink regularly or have preexisting liver disease, the FDA wrote, “taking acetaminophen puts you at greater risk of getting liver damage, even when taking acetaminophen at the recommended dose.”

Lastly, baby boomers are also at risk for liver damage caused by hepatitis C, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is actually a fivefold increase in the risk of hepatitis C in this generation. Since many people have hepatitis C without knowing it, it’s generally recommended that anyone born between the years of 1945 and 1965 be tested. There are effective medical treatments for hepatitis C, which can prevent development of further complications, like “liver damage, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer.”

The Signs of Liver Damage

In the early stages, liver damage is often discovered in the doctor’s office, according to Tyson Collazo, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Stony Brook School of Medicine. Through routine physicals or thorough testing in at-risk populations, many people discover the development of liver damage long before they notice their symptoms.
“You know, when physicians look at liver damage, they’re often finding things on routine blood work or they’ll order some liver tests and then find that things are just mildly abnormal,” says Collazo. “Usually people like that will have no symptoms at all.”

That being said, it is never a bad idea to know what to look out for. There are symptoms that can pop up as the damage progresses, so those who are at most at risk should watch for signs. The symptoms of liver damage are often subtle, but they are also unique. Here’s what you should be looking for:

Yellowed Skin

Your liver’s job includes breaking down old red blood cells. This process creates bilirubin, a yellow-orange substance in your blood, which your liver then stabilizes. But if the liver is damaged, it may not metabolize bilirubin properly, and this causes jaundice, or the yellowing of the skin.

Yellowed Whites of Eyes

“Before people get this … yellow discoloration of the skin … the whites of the eyes get a yellowish discoloration,” explains Collazo. “That’s probably one of the majors signs of some liver damage going on.”

Yellowing of the whites of the eyes is also caused by the presence of bilirubin. It’s just one more sign that the liver isn’t able to do its job properly.

Extreme Fatigue

Excessive fatigue can be a symptom of a damaged liver, according to Bilchik. If you are are dealing with unexplained exhaustion and you’re a part of a population who is at risk for liver disease, it might be time to talk your doctor about your symptoms.

Swelling

“When the liver is not working properly, it tends to push fluid out into the abdomen and into the legs,” explains Bilchik.

Excess fluid in the body is called edema when it’s experienced in the limbs and ascites when it occurs in the abdomen. The accumulation of this fluid can cause noticeable swelling in the trunk of the body, legs, and ankles.

Itchiness

One lesser known symptom of liver damage is itchy skin, which is medically referred to as pruritus. What sets this symptom apart from dry skin is that it is experienced all over the body. In an interview with Gastroenterologist & Hepatology, Nora V. Bergasa, MD, described the situation: “Cholestasis is defined as impaired secretion of bile. It is a complication of almost all types of liver diseases, in both acute and chronic phases,” she said.
“Pruritus is defined as an unpleasant sensation that triggers the need to scratch. Chronic pruritus, or itch, is one of the most common symptoms associated with cholestasis.”

The chemicals that make you itch are created in the liver and excreted through bile, so when liver damage prevents bile from being processed, those itch-inducing components spread through your body in bodily fluids like plasma.
“Pruritus can be the first manifestation of cholestatic liver disease,” said Bergasa, “and can precede the diagnosis of liver disease by years.”

Pain in the Right Side of Your Abdomen

Some liver damage has an acute onset, meaning it happens pretty quickly, according to Collazo. This type of liver damage is more likely to come with noticeable pain on the right side of the abdomen than liver damage that has slowly progressed over time.

Difficulty Sleeping

People experiencing liver damage my struggle to sleep well. However, since this is a symptom so commonly associated with more common health concerns and typically only develops in those who have already been experiencing liver problems, Collazo does not see it as a good sole indicator of liver damage. If noticed in conjunction with any of the above symptoms, though, difficulty sleeping could be a result of a damaged liver.

Prevention of Liver Damage

Depending on the extent of the damage, liver damage can be difficult to treat. For instance, there is no medication that address NAFLD. However, the risk factors for liver disease can be addressed through prevention. The most effective way to prevent liver damage is by making changes to your lifestyle and addressing any underlying health conditions that may cause liver damage.
The aforementioned hepatitis C, one of the major causes of damage, is treatable, so it is important to be tested if you are a part of the at-risk population so that you can be prescribed the appropriate medication.

Lifestyle changes, despite being incredibly difficult to make, can make a huge difference in the future of your health.
“Liver damage caused by hepatitis, cirrhosis, or obesity can all lead to liver cancer,” explains Bilchik. “And those [diseases] of the liver can be prevented through better nutrition and physical exercise.”
Those who are struggling with alcoholism need to give up drinking or learn to drink in moderation to mitigate their risk of liver damage. In many cases, this might require outside help like rehabilitation or joining a support group.

For those who are concerned about the risks of living with obesity, start by talking with your doctor. They can recommend lifestyle changes and set you up with specialized practitioners, like nutritionists, who can help you lower your risk of liver damage through healthy living.
Ultimately, anyone who has concerns about the health of their liver should be seeing a doctor right away. Liver damage can be very serious, and even fatal, if it is allowed to develop without intervention.

Tags social

Healthy Pregnancy Motherhood

8 Nausea Remedies For When Morning Sickness Has You Down

Post author By Kelly Burch
Post date March 21, 2018

When those two pink lines appeared on your pregnancy test you were absolutely thrilled. You imagined cuddling with your baby and even got excited about the big, round belly that was coming your way. You started shopping and dreaming up the perfect name.
Then you started throwing up. And thus the quest to find nausea remedies became an essential part of your day.
Pregnancy is a beautiful time, but there is nothing that can put a damper on the excitement of the impending new arrival as much as morning sickness. (For starters, it must have been a man who coined that term, because any woman who has been pregnant knows that pregnancy nausea can last all day or creep up suddenly when you least expect it.)
To make matters worse, nausea usually peaks in the first trimester, when you might be opting to keep your news private. Trying to work or even just function while constantly feeling sick adds another level of emotional depletion to pregnancy when emotions are already running high, so finding nausea remedies that work for you is critical to feeling better.
While morning sickness is often short lived compared to the 40 weeks of pregnancy, that still means dealing with unending nausea for weeks. Who, besides moms-to-be, would be able to endure that?
Fortunately, if you’re spending your days puking in flower pots, running to the bathroom at work, or just feeling constantly queasy, there are some nausea remedies that can alleviate and prevent morning sickness. You can take advantage of these nausea remedies until the second trimester rolls around and brings sweet relief.
Here’s everything you should know about morning sickness—and the nausea remedies that can keep it at bay.

What causes morning sickness, anyway?

If you’re like most pregnant women, you’ve probably wondered why you’re feeling your worst when your body needs to be healthier than ever to support a pregnancy.
The answer is those pesky hormones. In particularly you can blame human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that is produced in the placenta and helps your fetus develop. This hormone first becomes detectable in your system about 11 days after you ovulate, and some women might need nausea remedies beginning right then. The hormone peaks around weeks 8 to 11 of pregnancy, according to the American Pregnancy Association. Not coincidentally, this is also when pregnancy nausea is at its worst and women are most in need of nausea remedies.
“We think there may be a relationship between high pregnancy hormone levels like human chorionic gonadotropin, estrogen, and morning sickness,” says Patricia Lo, an OB-GYN at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. “Women with twins or triplets have higher levels of hCG and generally have worse symptoms.”
The small silver lining to feeling sick is that it is likely a sign of a healthy pregnancy. Low hCG levels can indicate an impending miscarriage, so higher hormone levels—and the nausea that accompanies them—are generally a good sign that your body is doing what it needs to to help your baby grow.
“Women with mild nausea and vomiting during pregnancy experience fewer miscarriages and stillbirths than women without these symptoms,” says Sherry Ross, an OB-GYN and women’s health expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “So, for me, when a woman is really nauseous and has occasional vomiting, I know she is probably carrying a healthy pregnancy!”
Of course the peace of mind is great, but it does little to alleviate the physical symptoms you’re experiencing, so experimenting with different nausea remedies that work for you is still important.
If you’re prone to nausea in general or have had morning sickness with a previous pregnancy, you’re more likely to experience it again, Lo says. Some people say that women who are carrying female fetuses are more likely to experience nausea, but experts disagree about whether this is true or merely an old wives’ tale.
And if you’re feeling frustrated that your sickness lasts all day, you’re not alone.
“Unfortunately, for most women, nausea and vomiting can persist throughout the day. For these women, the term pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting may be a better term” than morning sickness, Lo says.
Lo points out that nausea isn’t the only symptom of morning sickness—some women will experience dizziness or lightheadedness or have increased saliva. Although all of that is entirely normal, it certainly isn’t pleasant! Hang in there.

Study your triggers and you might not need nausea remedies.

Since pregnancy nausea differs from woman to woman, the most effective thing you can do to keep nausea at bay is to study your own symptoms and figure out what nausea remedies work best for them. Learn what triggers your morning sickness, and stay away from those things.
“Avoid anything that makes you nauseous,” says Lo. “This can include foods with strong odors, stuffy rooms, hot places, and loud noises.”
This step requires some patience, but it is ultimately very effective.
“It may take some trial and error before you find out what your triggers are,” Lo explains.

Figuring Out Which Nausea Remedies Work

The American Pregnancy Association says that half of pregnant women experience morning sickness, and the experts we spoke to put the number closer to 80 percent. That leaves a lot of women looking for nausea remedies just so they can go on completing their everyday tasks.
Fortunately, there are lots of available nausea remedies for morning sickness, ranging from lifestyle adjustments to dietary changes. Medically, there are over-the-counter and prescription medications that are available if you need them.
“Treatment for morning sickness is often necessary and is usually in the form of dietary adjustments and medications available over the counter,” says Michael Nageotte, MD, a perinatologist and associate chief medical officer at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, California.
Treating and preventing morning sickness can be a matter of trial and error, so the nausea remedies here are arranged from the least invasive treatments to the most medical. However, all of these nausea remedies are safe and available if you need them.

Nausea Remedies That Can Help You Get Through the Day

1. Take your vitamins.

Preventing morning sickness can start before you need any nausea remedies. In fact, it can start before you’re even pregnant.
“Women who take multivitamins when they are first trying to get pregnant generally have less morning sickness,” Lo says.
Of course, that info might be useful for the future, but it’s no help if you’re already pregnant and trying to find nausea remedies that will give you a bit of relief. Taking your prenatals is still important even if you’re feeling sick, though, yet many women feel that the vitamins make them more likely to feel nauseated. If you find that to be the case for yourself, try taking them at a different time of day, like before bed, or with a meal.
When I was expecting, even that didn’t work, so my midwife suggested taking two Flintstones chewable vitamins until I could get back to my prenatals without feeling sick. It worked well and was much more fun!
2. Eat more often.

If you’re feeling sick, snacking is the last thing you want to do, but eating is one of the most important nausea remedies during pregnancy. Having smaller, more frequent meals is one of the best ways to keep pregnancy nausea at bay, according to Lo.
“Often, women avoid eating when they start having symptoms and an empty stomach can actually make their symptoms worse,” she says. Instead of avoiding meals, Lo recommends eating small meals every hour or two to keep your stomach settled. Sipping a drink can also help quell nausea.
3. Become a picky eater.

In addition to eating more often, it’s time to seriously consider what you’re eating if you’re trying to discover nausea remedies that work. Many women love simple carbs for keeping nausea at bay, and reaching for protein is another great option. Try to take note about which foods help settle your morning sickness and which do you more harm than good.
“Ideally, eat foods high in carbohydrates and low in fat,” says Ross. “Avoid foods that are spicy, salty, or high in protein.”
The BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast) is a great remedy for nausea, she says.
4. Go for ginger, one of the oldest nausea remedies in the book.

Many women turn to traditional natural nausea remedies for relief from pregnancy nausea.
“Natural remedies are often of value and it is unclear as to why they work,” says Nageotte.
Fortunately, most moms-to-be are more interested in whether nausea remedies work than they are in discovering how those remedies work. Ginger is one of the most commonly recommended natural nausea remedies. You can sip ginger tea, suck lozenges, or eat fresh ginger.
“It’s thought that ginger helps relax gastrointestinal muscles, relieving symptoms associated with morning sickness,” Ross says.
Treats like ginger ale and ginger snap cookies are less effective because they don’t contain a large amount of ginger, but if they make you feel better, incorporate those into your diet every once in a while—surely the baby will appreciate the occasional cookie!
5. Give acupuncture a try.

Many women find that acupuncture and acupressure (pressing on certain points) are effective nausea remedies.
“Acupuncture and acupressure are easy and safe alternatives to help the woes of morning sickness,” Ross says.
The P-6 pressure point has been shown to help relieve mild nausea and vomiting. To activate this point, press into the middle of your forearm three fingers lengths down from where your wrist meets your hand. Certain nausea-relief bands also activate this point.
6. Take vitamin B6.

You’re already taking prenatals (right?), but many healthcare providers tell women experiencing pregnancy nausea to take vitamin B6. Taking 25 milligrams three times a day can keep you from feeling ill.
“It’s not clear how it works, but has a great track record,” Ross says.
If that doesn’t do the trick, you might want to talk to your doctor about Diclegis, a prescription drug that combines vitamin B6 and an antihistamine to treat morning sickness.
7. Try prescription nausea remedies.

If you’ve tried everything else and are still having severe morning sickness, your doctor may recommend more serious prescription nausea remedies, such as promethazine (brand name: Phenergan) and metoclopramide (brand name: Reglan).
Women with severe pregnancy nausea may have to take ondansetron, more commonly known by the brand name Zofran. It’s important to be aware that there is a small increased risk of heart defect in the babies of mothers who take this medicine during the first trimester, Lo cautions. Because of this, it’s important to discuss the side effects of all nausea remedies—particularly prescription medications—with your doctor to weigh the risks and benefits.
8. A change in mindset can be a powerful nausea remedy. Really.

Morning sickness is absolutely miserable. There’s no denying that. But when you’re feeling overwhelmed and no nausea remedies are providing relief, try to remember that it will all be worth it in the end.
“Feeling miserable the first 12 weeks can be a soft sign to your health care provider that all systems are working normally,” Ross said. “Reassuring women who don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel is important so they understand morning sickness is common, it’s short lasting, and it suggests your pregnancy is off to a healthy start.”

Understanding more about morning sickness might also help you get through those long weeks of feeling ill.

When should I get concerned if nausea remedies aren’t working?

In most cases, pregnancy-related nausea is a normal pregnancy symptom that will peak around the ninth week of pregnancy, Lo says. Although you should certainly speak to your doctor if you are concerned, most women can keep themselves and their baby healthy by using the nausea remedies listed above.
However, for some people, morning sickness becomes much more serious. The Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton) brought the condition hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) into the public eye when she was pregnant with her first child, Prince George, in 2012. The duchess was so ill during the beginning of her pregnancy that she had to be hospitalized and receive intravenous fluids, which isn’t an uncommon nausea remedy for women with this rare and serious form of prenatal nausea.
“Hyperemesis gravidarum is severe nausea and vomiting associated with weight loss, dehydration, and often electrolyte abnormalities,” says Nageotte. “Patients are usually unable to tolerate anything orally for several days to weeks.”
Women who have HG vomit nearly constantly and will have other signs of dehydration, including dark urine. Unfortunately, normal nausea remedies aren’t very effective at treating HG. This condition is diagnosed based on symptoms, Lo says, and doctors may run additional tests to make sure that there isn’t another cause for your illness, such as a virus.
Because dehydration can be dangerous for both mother and baby, it’s important to talk to your doctor if you are at all concerned about the extent of your pregnancy nausea or if the nausea remedies listed above aren’t giving you relief.
Although morning sickness is common in pregnancy, you don’t have to just suffer through it. Experiment with different nausea remedies to find the one that works for you, and keep in mind that it won’t last forever. You’ve got this, mama!

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Health x Body Wellbeing

Breast Pain Isn't Always A Sign Of Cancer; Here's What Could Be Causing Your Discomfort

Post author By Abigail Rasminsky
Post date March 20, 2018

We can all admit that some bodily pains are more worrisome than others. A stabbing sensation in your foot? Meh. It’ll probably go away. But breast pain? Most of us will be sent into a panic, especially if it doesn’t go away quickly. We are here to tell you that you do not need to have an anxiety attack.
There are, as you’ll see, a gazillion reasons for breast pain, and most are totally benign. The most important thing you can do for your breasts is to keep an eye on them by performing regular breast exams and scheduling your yearly trips to the gynecologist for a comprehensive checkup. A good rule of thumb is to start scheduling annual mammograms as soon as your doctor says it’s time (usually around 40). You should always schedule an appointment if you think something feels (or looks) off. You know your body better than anyone, so take charge of your own health and get it checked out—it could save your life.

How common is breast pain?

Pretty common, and it can vary wildly in intensity. Some women feel mild discomfort—swelling, a little lumpiness, or tenderness—before or during their periods, and some feel it quite acutely. Anywhere between 50 and 70 percent of women experience breast pain, usually related to the changing hormone levels associated with their menstrual cycles. If you’re concerned about pain in your breasts, begin by tracking when and where the pain occurs. If it seems to come and go with your menstrual cycle, this is generally normal.

Why do I have breast pain?

“There are 900 reasons you can have breast pain,” explains Kerry Price, MD, an OB-GYN in Laguna Hills, California. “There are so many layers of tissue in and around the breasts—skin, glands, muscle, cartilage, rib. Right behind your breasts are internal organs and tons of nerves and lymph nodes.” In other words: There’s a lot going on around there, and it is not necessarily your boob that’s hurting you. The most important thing to remember, though, is that the vast majority of breast pain is totally benign.
Some common reasons for breast pain?

PMS or Menstruation

Changes in hormone levels impact how the breasts feel. Swelling, pain, and lumpiness are the most common sensations before and during your period. These should abate when your period actually begins or very soon after it starts. Note that this type of breast pain tends to increase as you age.

Pregnancy, Especially During the First Trimester when Breasts Are Growing and Changing at a Rapid Rate

First trimester breasts are no joke—the pain is only rivaled by the pain of growing breasts during puberty.

Breastfeeding

This deserves its own category because breastfeeding pain—especially in the first few weeks—is real, often horrendous, and usually a sign that something is wrong, whether it be the baby’s latch or a sign of infection. (In other words: breastfeeding, when done properly, should not hurt.) Most breast pain from breastfeeding, however, is concentrated on the nipple, or associated with engorgement or blocked ducts. Which leads us to…

Mastitis

This is an infection that can develop during breastfeeding. It most commonly occurs in the first six to 12 weeks, but can occur later and in rare cases can happen unrelated to breastfeeding. The breast becomes red, swollen, hot, and painful. Many women report feeling like they have the flu.

Medications

Birth control pills, fertility drugs, and some SSRIs and antidepressants list breast pain among their side effects.

Too Much Caffeine

According to Michelle Brunnabend, DO, MPH, at the Mercy Clinic in Oklahoma City, some women can experience breast pain with caffeine consumption, so if you’re drinking loads of coffee, cut back and see how your boobs feel after a week or two.

Cysts

Small pockets of fluid that can be seen on an ultrasound may cause discomfort.

Breast Surgery

Occasionally, scars on your breasts can cause pain even after you’ve healed from breast surgery.

Why do I only have breast pain on one side?

“Breasts are kind of like hands and feet,” Price explains. “They are always a tiny bit different.” Unlike many parts of the body, though, breasts are composed of muscle and granular tissue and respond to how you move. So let’s say you’re a softball pitcher: You might have more pain on your dominant side. Or conversely, you might have pain on the side that’s less active. Start paying attention to your daily activities and whether you can trace any relationship between your breast pain and how you’re moving your body.

What’s the difference between concerning and non-concerning breast pain? (And when do I see a doctor?)

This is sometimes also referred to as “clinical” and “non-clinical” breast pain, but Price prefers the terms “concerning” and “non-concerning.” Non-concerning breast pain comes and goes on its own, is infrequent, and is associated with a particular activity. For example, if your breast pain crops up every time you play softball, or comes and goes with your menstrual cycles, Price would categorize it as non-concerning.
Concerning breast pain is persistent. It doesn’t get better with anything you try, and it is not associated with your menstrual cycle. It might be getting worse with time, and it is always present.
“Breast pain in the absence of a mass or skin changes is rarely of concern,” says Brunnabend. “Know your own breasts and feel them consistently at the same time during your cycles so that you will know if a change occurs.”
Symptoms that are concerning? Along with pain, you are experiencing bloody or clear discharge from your nipple; a new lump that doesn’t go away after your period; local redness, pus or a fever; dimpling, or nipple inversion.
Remember: Breast cancer is usually not painful, so even if you’re experiencing concerning symptoms accompanied by breast pain, you aren’t necessarily experiencing the symptoms of breast cancer. If you have concerning breast pain, though, it is definitely worth seeing your doctor.

Are there certain age ranges in which breast pain is more common?

Brunnabend say this is variable, but it most often occurs in women in their childbearing years.

Where does breast pain typically occur?

It most commonly occurs in the outer quadrants of the breast and armpit region.

What are fibrocystic breasts?

Fibrocystic breasts are very common. According to Price, up to 40 percent of women have them. These breasts have more glands, so the tissue is more granular and more hormonally sensitive. The little lumps women might feel in their breasts are fluid-filled cysts rather than a mass of cells. During pregnancy and the postpartum period, these cysts can feel more tender.
The good news? The fibrocystic nature of the breast does not mean women with fibrocystic breasts are more susceptible to breast cancer, it just means that breast exams can be harder to do, so these women really need to get to know their breasts, getting to know what feels normal and what’s new or unusual.
Which brings us to…

How do I conduct a breast self-exam?

Breast exams are vital, whether you have breast pain or not. They are your primary way of monitoring what’s happening with your boobs and whether any unexpected changes are occurring. And more importantly, it’s a way for you to get to know the unique feel and consistency of your breasts. This is how you will really know if something new seems to have appeared that wasn’t there before.
“There is no one correct way to do an exam,” explains Brunnabend, “but you should be consistent each time. You should be looking for lumps, bumps, skin texture, or color changes.”
Pick a system and stick with it: in the shower, lying down with a pillow under your shoulder, or in front of a mirror. If you’re examining the left breast, the left arm should be overhead. Use the pads of your right fingers to palpate around the whole breast, from the outside to the center in a circular motion. You’re looking for anything hard or unfamiliar, and you can use a fair amount of pressure to really get in there. When you’re done, squeeze the nipple to check for discharge. If you’re breastfeeding, you will eject milk, so don’t worry about that.
If you feel anything unusual, schedule an appointment with you doctor. But don’t freak out: According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, eight out of 10 lumps are not cancerous.

How often should I perform a breast self-exam?

“You should definitely do a breast exam at least once a month,” Price says. The best time? Right after your period, because right before your period your breasts can be very tender. “Stick to the same time of your cycle, not the same day on the calendar, so you can establish a true baseline.” In other words: Do it the second or third day after your period ends, not on the second or third day of the month.

How can I relieve the pain?

The most important thing to do with breast pain that will not go away is to see your doctor ASAP. Here are some smaller changes that can possibly make a difference for non-concerning breast pain (or between now and your doctor’s appointment):

Reduce your salt intake and increase water consumption.
Wear a supportive bra, even to bed (your most comfortable option is likely a sports bra!).
Increase your intake of fruits and veggies, and try to stick to a lower fat diet.
Reduce your caffeine intake.
Exercise regularly.
Take Tylenol or ibuprofen.
Take calcium supplements.

We know that breast pain can be frightening, but it is usually nothing to be too concerned about. And remember: If something seems suspicious, call your doctor and ask them what’s going on. They’re your breasts. Take good care of them.

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Happy x Mindful Wellbeing

How Breathing Exercises Can Help You Cope With Stress, Anxiety, And Even Insomnia

Post author By Abigail Rasminsky
Post date March 20, 2018

Take a deep breath.
How many times has someone said this to you when you were feeling stressed? When you’re stuck in a traffic jam, prepping for a high-stakes presentation, or in the midst of a passionate argument with your SO, there is a lot to be said for simply…taking a breath.
Why is breathing so effective at calming us down or at least helping us come back to our bodies? And why are breathing exercises at the root of almost any meditation or relaxation practice?
“The widely advertised reason why we pay attention to breath during meditation is because it’s constantly changing,” explains Mark Miller, PsyD, master of public health, clinical psychologist, and mindfulness teacher at the University of Southern California. “We have a consistent target, so we can pay attention to something that’s changing and learn to tolerate that.”
The less commonly advertised reason, however, is much more profound.
“When we pay attention during meditation, we notice that we don’t have control over the breath—and in fact over anything!” explains Miller, “…what we think, what emotions we are feeling, what stories we are playing out in our minds…”
So we sit, breathe, and tolerate letting the breath do what it does. This, in turn, is excellent practice for tolerating all the other things in our lives that are out of our control.

Breathing exercises help us return to the now.

“The breath is happening in the here and now,” explains Jennifer Brilliant, a certified yoga teacher, therapist, and medical exercise specialist who has been teaching yoga for more than 30 years. “We have bummer feelings about the past and anxious feelings about the future, but of course none of those are happening right now.”
It’s hard to tell our minds to stop thinking, but if you engage the breath, you can get some relief.
“Even taking a couple of breaths can ground you in the present moment,” says Brilliant.
When we get stressed, most of us have a fight or flight response, which shortens our breath and prepares us for battle. This is useful in the moment, but it starts to wear on us if we stay in this state over time. According to a resource hosted by Harvard Health Publishing, stress leads to everything from lowered immune responses to anxiety and depression to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor strongly associated with heart disease.
Instead of taking a pill, we can tap into our built-in calming device: the breath.

The Nervous System in a Nutshell

The sympathetic nervous system is for emergencies, Miller explains. The parasympathetic nervous system helps us to relax and move toward equilibrium.
“When we have an adrenaline rush from a worried thought, our breathing increases and our body is mobilizing to take action related to the fantasy,” says Miller. “We are at the whim of our breath. The sympathetic nervous system gets engaged all the time—from tiny squirts of adrenaline all the way to a panic attack.”
These worried thoughts can come from anywhere. Will I get home on time? Will I get the job? Is my partner mad at me? When these thoughts occur, the parasympathetic nervous system can help us cope.
How do we the engage the parasympathetic nervous system? Miller suggests we should become “fascinated with the symptoms of our anxiety in our distress.” In other words, using a meditation or mindfulness practice, we can take an interest in the breath that will help us experience the sensations in our bodies without running away.
“During a panic attack, you can move toward the sensations in the body, not toward the scenario or thoughts,” he says. “If you can become familiar with sensation”—shortness of breath, heart racing—“the more it happens, the less afraid you’ll be. It becomes an old friend who [you] don’t want to visit often, but you can say, ‘I know this. There it is!’ Instead of resisting you can allow it to play out.”
Sitting with the breath, as it is, is a way to practice sitting through all sorts of discomfort in our lives.

A Note on Breathing Exercises

More prescriptive breath practices like pranayama should always be attempted with a teacher first. What we are sharing here are simple exercises you can do almost any place or any time to give yourself a little relief.

Simply pay attention.

How often do you pay attention to your breath—actually pay attention? Obviously, you’re already breathing, but can you put your awareness on your breath without changing anything?
“With total newbies, I usually work on breath awareness,” Brilliant says. “Where do you feel your breath in your body? Do you feel it coming into your nostrils? If you breathe in, it feels cool. When you breathe out, it feels warmer.”
Another way of tapping into the breath and your body is to notice what’s happening in the space around you—and within you. Listen to sounds in and out of the room you’re in, Brilliant suggests. Can you hear airplanes, cars, birds, dogs barking? Is your stomach growling? Are your ears ringing? Can you feel your heartbeat? The breath can help you tune in to the present moment both inside and outside of your own physical being.
This can also be extremely useful if you’re feeling anxious.
“In the midst of a panic attack, we tend to judge the panic,” explains Carly Goldstein, PhD, assistant professor at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and research scientist at the Miriam Hospital. “If you can focus on your breath, accept that it’s faster and not what you want, you can eventually calm down. I think of breathing as a way to hijack the nervous system.”
Miller notes that trying to change the breath or creating a scenario around the panic (“My heart is beating so fast that I must be having a heart attack!”) only increases the panic.
“When we control panicked breathing by trying to slow it down, it causes more intense panicked breathing,” he explains. “If you are successful in slowing it down, you end up having chest pain. When we fight that uncomfortable breathing, our throat constricts, our shoulders go up, [and] we cause more panic.”
The answer is to leave the breath open and allow yourself time and space to experience it as it is. This is an exercise in familiarizing yourself with your breath.

Try it

Lie down on flat on your back. Put your hands on your chest and breathe a few times without changing anything. Can you feel your chest move as you breathe? Move your hands down to your ribs. Do your ribs move? Your side ribs? Your belly? Don’t force it or ask it to change. You’re just observing the breath here.

Tip

When you’re lying on the floor, your body should have sufficient space to breathe. In other words, there should be air between your upper arm and torso (in your armpit), and your legs shouldn’t be touching each other.

Scan your body with breathing.

During her internship and residency, Goldstein worked in a hospital setting, often with patients who were critically ill. As anyone who has been in the hospital knows, it can be incredibly stressful. Doctors have little time, and patients sometimes have difficulty advocating for themselves.
“When the team was coming by for rounds, I’d do breathing with the patient beforehand to clear her mind and get her thoughts in order,” Goldstein says. “Then when the medical team arrived, the patient could present her interests and advocate for herself.”
The breathing exercise Goldstein would most commonly use in this setting was a body scan with breathing. This exercise can be seen as the follow-up to just paying attention.
Here you’re asked to draw your mind to one body part at a time while you breathe. Part of its benefit is the way it can focus the mind. Instead of allowing yourself to spin out of control, your task is to place your attention on a specific part of your body—such as your toes, your heels, or your ankles—and to feel the breath move through. (Obviously, you don’t have breath in your toes! But the idea is that you can relax each inch of your body to calm down.)

Try it

Depending on how much time you have, this can be done with bigger body parts (e.g., legs, belly, chest) or on an almost infinitesimal level (first knuckle of the thumb, second knuckle, and so on).
Begin by breathing normally. Scan from the top down, sending healing, warm energy to each part of the body. Take stock of what that part of the body feels like. (Is your head tight? Tingling? Pounding? Is there no sensation at all?) Then inhale and exhale through five breath cycles for each body part.
“You can use imagery,” explains Goldstein, “a light, a feeling of fuzziness, running through or on top of [your] body, regulating the breath to be even and slow. Picture warmth, comfort, relaxation.”

TIP

With each exhale, relax a little more. If you ever feel your breath getting forced, just go back to breathing totally normally.

To calm down (or even lose weight) elongate your exhale.

Breathing exercises can serve as a pause button, slowing down the chaos of our everyday lives. In her clinical practice, Goldstein works with weight-loss patients and finds that breathing techniques can help when someone is overwhelmed by a craving. These exercises short-circuit the “need-to-have-it, limited-resource” mentality, she explains.
When we can breathe deeply again (instead of, say, grabbing the bag of chips), we can reconnect to our values and what’s most important to us (in Goldstein’s patients’ cases, to lose weight). And then it will be easier to make good decisions.
Of course, this doesn’t just apply to weight loss! Deep breathing slows the chaos for all of us in moments of panic, and extending the exhale in particular is calming because “the heart rate is naturally slower on the exhalation,” Brilliant explains.

Try It

This is good to practice if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep or if you’re stuck in traffic and need to calm down.
Begin by breathing in for three seconds and out for three seconds. Then you can start extending the exhalation slowly: three in, four out, without strain. Eventually you can work up to breathing in for five seconds and out for 10.

Tip

This should not be forced. If you feel yourself getting anxious or agitated, go back to regular breathing.

Try a three-part breath.

The three parts of this breathing exercise are low belly, ribs, and chest. Starting in the low belly, the breath fills the body one section at a time. In other words, you’re taking in more air than in some of the preceding exercises. This is an excellent technique to help you find some calm.

Try It

Sit in a chair or lie on the floor and place your hands on your low belly. Fill the low belly with air. Without exhaling, move your palms to your middle ribs and fill that area with air. Bring your hands to your upper chest and take a last sip of air. Exhale all the air out. If you’re doing this in bed, imagine you’re falling into the mattress.

Tip

If it’s too much to do the full three parts right away, you can inhale into the low belly and exhale, middle belly and exhale, etcetera, until you build up the stamina to draw in more air.

Get app support.

A teacher is always the best guide to breathing exercises, but there are plenty of apps that can help you along the way. Here are some to try:

Headspace offers both basic meditation techniques and more advanced specific guided meditations (for self-esteem, productivity, depression, and more).
Calm is specifically geared to help you…calm down.
Buddhify offers meditation on the go.
Pacifica offers guided meditation and relaxation techniques. Pacifica can also connect you to a therapist who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy.

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Wellbeing

Living With Alzheimer's: How I Cared For My Father As He Lost His Memory

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date March 20, 2018

When a loved one starts losing their memory, the world feels like it’s falling apart.
Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and by some estimates, five million Americans are currently living with the disease. It’s an incredibly difficult diagnosis, both for the patient and the caregiver. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 35 percent of caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s (or other dementias) say that their care responsibilities have negatively affected their health.

We spoke with author Leslie Breslin, who cared for her father as he struggled with Alzheimer’s. He passed away in 2007. She detailed the harsh realities of dementia—and provided a few words of advice for staying healthy while facing an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
[Editorial note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
HEALTHYWAY: You’ve got a pretty amazing story of when you first noticed your father’s symptoms. It was Alzheimer’s, correct?
LESLIE BRESLIN: That’s what they concluded. But, you know, 10 years ago, many dementias were diagnosed as Alzheimer’s. Since then, I’ve realized there’s many different forms of dementia, so was it true Alzheimer’s? I don’t know.
Could you briefly tell the story of the moment when you realized things might not be okay?
Well, my birthday is September 12, and I’m an only child. My dad was very into current events.
This was 2001, and I did not hear from my dad when everything happened in New York. Considering that I was born in NY, and we had friends and family in New York, not hearing from my dad was weird.

I let it go for a week, and I called him basically to give him a hard time for not calling me. And pretty much the first sentence freaked me out, and I knew something was wrong. I asked him, “Did you see all the stuff that’s going on in New York?” And his response was, “Yeah, I saw those bodies falling out of the sky, and those planes crashing into each other.” He said it like he was there.
I said, “Dad, were you in New York on Tuesday?” And he said, “No, I was sitting at the bar.” He was in Florida at the time. That’s when I knew.
[Editorial note: The Alzheimer’s Association provides a list of 10 symptoms of Alzheimer’s, which we’re linking here for any readers interested in recognizing the early warning signs. Remember, only a trained physician can make a diagnosis.]
How long after that was there a diagnosis? Or did he go to the doctor after that?
No, I finally got him to the doctor. It took four months before I finally got him to a doctor and got him an official diagnosis. He was living with me at the time.

But within about three weeks of that phone call, he called me one day…I had gone to see him, and I knew. Good lord. The way he was living.
I knew he couldn’t stay by himself. And at that same time—he was taking care of his mother with dementia for 10 years, and he told me that he had recently put her in a nursing home.

Well, I spoke to the nursing home people, and I spoke to Adult Protective Services in Florida, and they told me that he had not put her in a nursing home. That they had taken her away for her own safety, because he was being so erratic. They thought he was [an] addict.
How old was he at that point?
He was 63. But, when all was said and done, and I looked back on things that he had been doing, I realized he was probably suffering from age 50.

How did other members of your family react to the diagnosis and the changing behavior?
Well, nobody really saw him but me. As far as their reactions—they didn’t care. It was mostly, “Well, what are you going to do with your Grandma’s stuff?”
None of the family did anything. Nobody did anything to help me.
So after the diagnosis, you’re pretty much on your own, trying to care for your father as he’s facing this horrible disease.
I became caregiver for him in my house. In the midst of all that, I figured out my mom’s dad was suffering, and he wanted to come live with me as well. And it was like, “No, I can’t.” So I called my aunt, and she ultimately ended up moving in with him and taking care of him until he passed.

Your grandfather had dementia as well?
Yes.
Were his symptoms very similar, or did his dementia manifest in a different way?
I did not see him, but I spoke to him. I was the one who figured it out, in talking to him on the phone. For the life of me, I can’t remember exactly what he said, but he said something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I immediately called my aunt and said, “Grandpa’s got Alzheimer’s.”
They at first diagnosed him with a stroke because he’d had a stroke before. But I kept telling everybody, “No, it’s dementia.”

And they finally diagnosed him after—he lived in the Bronx and had a girlfriend, and he used to take her to and from work, which was about two blocks away. And one night he went to pick her up from work at 9 p.m., and they found him at 3 a.m. in Jersey.
We spoke with a psychologist who mentioned that that’s kind of the first sign for a lot of people. When people have to go somewhere as a matter of routine, they get confused and don’t go to the right place.

At that point, you’re living with your father. Could you tell me what it was like?
Well, I got post-traumatic stress disorder, having my dad live with me. I also had a 3-year old, an 8-year old, and a husband who was bipolar with schizophrenic tendencies and wouldn’t take his meds. So, yeah, that was a little insane. The sundowning was the worst part. He would go into his bedroom at night and all hell would break loose, and all hell would break loose when he would come back out.
[Editorial note: Sundowning refers to increases in behavioral problems and sleep issues, beginning at dusk and sometimes continuing late into the night. People with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia often experience sundowning, and may become agitated, confused, or anxious late in the day.]

I would wake up and he would be standing naked at the foot of my bed. Or he’d be coming out of my bathroom, which was in my bedroom. He constantly insisted that we had 13 bathrooms and we were moving them at night. We had a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, and the bathroom was across the hall from his room.
[pullquote align=”center”]”Well, you have to—and this is hardest thing for anybody to do, me included—you have to not take anything they say or do personally. And keep telling yourself, ‘It’s not them, it’s the disease.'”
—Leslie Breslin on Alzheimer’s[/pullquote]
I had to do laundry every single day because of that. And the reason why I eventually ended up tricking him into taking himself into a psych ward was because he threatened to kill my children.
He was also running away every day. And one of the days, he ran away after threatening my kids, my husband went and got an actual outside door lock, and we put it on the kid’s bedroom doors, so that to get into the kids room, from the outside, you had to have a key. And when we put them to bed at night, we told them, “You have to lock the door from here, and do not open the door for anybody but me, your dad, the police, or the fire department.”
Did he have any sort of violent tendencies before the diagnosis?
Yes. My dad was abusive to my mom, his girlfriends, me. I have scars to this day. And his mother was violent as well. And the strange thing is, when she got the dementia, she became the grandmother I always wanted.
My grandmother and I hated each other until she got dementia, and then she became a sweet little old lady. She just didn’t know who I was. My dad stayed violent.

So, as you mentioned, humor is one of the coping mechanism you’re using. What are some other coping mechanism you have?
Well, you have to—and this is hardest thing for anybody to do, me included—you have to not take anything they say or do personally. And keep telling yourself, “It’s not them, it’s the disease.”

And that’s the hardest thing to do.
There are those moments where their “old selves”come back, and I imagine that’s incredibly difficult. How do you reconcile that when they’re doing something negative?
You don’t. You don’t. You can’t. Because you start to be all over the place emotionally because they’re all over the place emotionally.
And they can slip from who they really are to the disease, in the blink of an eye. And sometimes you don’t even realize [what] you were dealing with until later, until you reflect.
That’s especially true once they get from moderate to more of the advanced stages of the disease.
There was a moment with my dad that broke my heart, and it was after he was already in the nursing home. He had fallen and hurt himself, and they took him to the hospital. And when I got there, the doctor said, “Well, he’s non-communicative.”
And I said, “No he’s not, he talks all the time. He talks to me everyday when I go see him.”

He talked to me, but he wouldn’t talk to the doctors. I don’t know what he was seeing—I’m assuming he was hallucinating—but I was able to get some verbalization from him, but obviously I couldn’t get like, answers or anything from him that the doctors needed.
But after everybody left, I was just kind of talking to him out loud and crying, and I said, “Dad, I’m so sorry, I’m going to do whatever I can to get you out of this nursing home.”
He was behind me, so I wasn’t even looking at him, I was just kind of talking. And he said, “You will? You’ll do that for me?”
And I looked at him, and said, “Yeah, dad, of course.”
And he said, “Thank you.” And then he went away.
What do you mean he went away?
Like, he went back to inside of his head. And he was gone again.

Did you get him out of the nursing home?
Yes, I did. I got him into a different nursing home.
[Editorial note: The Alzheimer’s Association provides this page to help family members find capable residential care facilities. The organization also provides resources for families who prefer in-home care.]
And what was that like?
It was better, because the place he was in—it was horrible. The next one was a very nice environment. Everybody was really sweet.
For a while, I tried to get him back home once he became docile, and I did get him back home for one day. But my husband, at the time, was out of town, and I was home alone with my kids and my dad. The day that they brought him home was the day that he stopped walking.

I couldn’t handle him by myself. So I got him for a day, and then I had to take him back to the nursing home the next day.
What were his symptoms at that point? Was he pretty much non-communicative?
Yes, he was non-communicative most of the time. He would speak, but it was nonsensical. By then, he had a feeding tube. Like I said, he stopped walking. He was just—he was a shell.
When did he pass away?
It took me another two months to fight them to get the feeding tube out. He died 48 hours after they took out the feeding tube.
What year was that?
2007.
I mean, all of this in the course of—
Five years.
That must have been incredibly difficult. What advice would you have for someone who’s just starting to go through this, that just received a diagnosis?
Get their finances in order as quickly as possible or it’s a nightmare. Get them to a doctor as quickly as possible to get an official diagnosis or it’s a nightmare. Because if you don’t have an official diagnosis, you can’t do anything.

These people are grown adults. At the beginning, they’re in that stage where they can bluff, and to people who don’t know them, they sound rational. But if you do know them, you know that what they’re saying isn’t true or non-nonsensical. So get a diagnosis, officially, as quickly as possible, and then gather as much support as you possibly can around you.
Because it’s rough. And you will end up being ill yourself if you try to do it yourself.
Have you thought about getting some regular testing for dementia?
For myself?
Yes.
I’ve worried about me, so I have gotten testing. So far, I’m fine. But I do worry.
I don’t know how to phrase this. I’m just thinking of the people who suffer from this and how we should treat it as a society. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Stop vilifying the family members that tell you that their family members have this. Believe people…I kept getting advice like, “Well, he’s a grown man, let him do what he wants. If he wants to drink, let him drink.”
Okay, he’s out of his mind. I can’t just let him do what he wants to do.
So help people. Don’t overburden them.

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Health x Body Wellbeing

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Practical Solutions To Thinning Hair In Women

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date March 19, 2018

For women, thinning hair can be downright devastating.
According to the American Hair Loss Association, women make up about 40 percent of American hair loss sufferers. While hair loss (also known as alopecia) isn’t easy for anyone, women face an especially heavy social stigma when dealing with this difficult—and complex—problem.

“This is one of those subjects that’s really complicated,” Sharon Keene, MD, president and medical director of Physician’s Hair Institute, tells HealthyWay. “There is not one diagnosis that fits all.”
We spoke with Keene to find out what women should know about alopecia. For starters…

Don’t assume that your hair is thinning “naturally.”

As your hair starts to thin or your hairline begins to change, you might assume that there’s nothing you can do about it. After all, to some extent, hair loss is a normal part of aging, right?
To a degree, yes, but Keene says that can be a dangerous assumption.
“It’s a complex diagnosis, because hair loss can occur due to metabolic disturbances, thyroid disease, parathyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, hyperandrogenism, malnutrition, or for other reasons,” Keene says.

Some of those conditions are potentially dangerous. Polycystic ovary syndrome has long-term complications that include type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
“If we can identify [women with polycystic ovary syndrome] earlier, that’s very helpful to them,” Keene says.
When nutritional deficiencies cause hair loss, treatment is vital since the deficiencies can prevent the body from functioning normally. However, there’s rarely a simple solution; physicians need to take a complete patient history and perform clinical tests before offering treatment options.

“I’ll ask questions, like: Is the hair loss sudden? …Has it been happening over time? Is there a family history?” Keene says. “There is not one diagnosis that fits all. Typically, when women come into my office, we have them fill out a medical history form, and we do a physical examination, because all of the variables that go into hair loss can make it complicated to get the correct diagnosis.”

First things first: Get rid of stress.

Stress can push hair follicles into their “resting” phase, temporarily preventing new hairs from growing over certain parts of the scalp. It can also cause trichotillomania, the “irresistible urge to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows, or other areas of your body.”
“Anything that causes either physical or emotional stress on the body can contribute to hair loss,” Keene says. “That type of hair loss would be self-limited and will usually correct itself.”

Fortunately, treatment for stress-induced hair loss is fairly straightforward: Learn to handle emotional stress with techniques like meditation, and if possible, remove the stressors from your life.
Physical stressors can also cause alopecia. Although hormonal changes during pregnancy sometimes result in shinier, healthier-looking hair, women often experience some thinning after delivery, according to the American Pregnancy Association. “During pregnancy,” they wrote, “an increased number of hairs go into the resting phase …”
Certain hair care habits can also prompt or exacerbate hair loss.

“Tight ponytails, braids, or cornrows can damage the scalp over a long enough period of time,” Keene says, noting that some women can wear tight ponytails for decades without any ill effects.
“But anyone who’s doing that needs to be aware of it. We never know how sensitive their hair could be.”

If your diet is badly imbalanced, get it back on track.

Various nutritional deficiencies can cause or contribute to alopecia. Zinc, iron, niacin, selenium, fatty acids, folic acid, amino acids, biotin, protein, and vitamins D, A, and E all play a role in your hair’s health.
That’s quite a list. If your doctor finds a deficiency with one or more of the nutrients listed above, correcting your diet might reverse the hair loss.

“Women with heavy menstrual cycles are especially likely to have iron deficiencies,” Keene says. “Vegans are also at risk. There’s also an interesting thing about tea drinkers—tea will help to prevent iron absorption, so women have to be careful about drinking too much, especially if they’re already prone to iron deficiency.”
Research in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition suggests that tea’s hindering of iron absorption can be counteracted by ingesting sufficient amounts of “iron absorption enhancers” like ascorbic acid, meat, fish, and poultry.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in women, and while it’s usually easy to treat—the human body naturally produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight—some patients run into an unusual problem.

“A lot of patients use sunscreen, so they’re not absorbing those rays that convert to vitamin D and cause the normal reaction that allows us to absorb vitamin D,” Keene says.
To be clear, Keene isn’t recommending walking around outdoors for hours at a time without sunblock. She’s simply highlighting how a single habit could contribute to a nutritional deficiency.

“For instance, excessive ingestion of raw egg whites can inhibit biotin absorption,” Keene says. “I don’t know who would want to do that, but people do it.”

Supplements can help—but they can also do a lot of damage.

Let’s say that you’re fairly sure you’ve got one or more of the vitamin deficiencies we just listed. You should start taking a supplement, right?

Not quite.
“It’s really important not to take supplements you don’t need. Especially minerals and micronutrients,” Keene explains. “Patients have to be careful that they’re not self-treating without diagnosis. …Supplements can contribute to toxicity that can actually cause hair loss.”
Here’s the problem: Supplements are unregulated, and many contain massive amounts of nutrients. That sounds like a good thing, but when those nutrients build up, they can actually harm your body. A 2017 paper published in the journal Dermatological Practical & Conceptual found that supplement research is limited, at best, and that “some supplements carry the risk of worsening hair loss or the risk of toxicity.”

What about biotin, the B vitamin most commonly associated with hair and nail health? Keene says it can be a useful supplement for some patients, and because B vitamins are water-soluble, women can safely take them without risking side effects due to toxicity (in other words, if you take too much biotin, the excess amount will pass harmlessly out of your body through your urine).
However, Keene says that while biotin supplements won’t hurt, they probably won’t help.
“What biotin can do is prolong the hair’s growth cycle,” she says. “What it can’t do is prevent androgen-mediated hair loss, or prevent hair loss from any of the other causes … and most patients aren’t biotin deficient.”

Don’t immediately rush toward surgery.

While hair loss surgery has come a long way, it’s a last resort, not a first measure. Unfortunately, Keene says that many not-so-reputable clinics promote transplant surgeries to every client, regardless of circumstances.

“There are a lot of people who bought a machine and they’re offering surgery, but they don’t really know about the various causes and the methods of evaluating it,” Keene says. “You don’t want someone who isn’t qualified, someone who promotes surgery as a first course of action. After all, when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.”
“A lot of female patients are not good candidates for surgery, or they’d benefit from medical treatment before being considered for surgery,” she says.

Another reason to seek out a real hair specialist: Physicians who don’t study hair loss might not understand the gravity of the issue.
“If they don’t have an interest in hair, they may not be very attentive to a patient who’s full of anxiety because they’re losing their hair,” Keene says. “A lot of physicians think it’s just a superficial thing. For the patient, it’s quite serious. It can affect your quality of life.”

Know when to see a physician.

If you noticed hair loss after a major life event or if you’ve been battling nutritional issues, you may be able to address the problem on your own. However, a physician can make the process much easier—and in some cases, medical intervention is downright necessary.
“One of the things I’d really like to make a point about for your readers is that I do think that unless your hair loss came [to be due to] a specific event, it’s time to see a hair loss specialist,” Keene says.
https://twitter.com/CBCalamity/status/974932117800005632
Your specialist can look at your family history, perform a physical examination, and look at other factors that may be contributing to the problem. Even if your alopecia has a clear genetic component, you’ll have plenty of treatment options. Minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine and other over-the-counter hair loss treatments, can be very effective.
“[Minoxidil] won’t work for everybody,” Keene says, “but it’s effective for some women. You have to have enough of a certain enzyme, which allows your body to convert minoxidil into minoxidil sulfate.”

Keene says that various other medications can make a difference, and for some patients, treatment is a matter of finding and eliminating triggers. She also says that recent medical breakthroughs could change alopecia treatment over the next decade or so. Oral minoxidil treatments, for instance, might be more effective than topical treatments, according to recent research.
In order to take advantage of those treatments, however, women need to take the first step, even if the idea of treating hair loss brings on feelings of anxiety.
“I have female hair loss in my own family,” Keene says. “Luckily, I haven’t had to deal too much with it, but every time I go through a shedding phase, I get anxious. …Sometimes, seeking treatment is about getting reassurance. Find out about the options—there’s no reason to ignore it. It’s not a purely cosmetic issue.”

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Uncategorized

Obstetric Violence And Maternal Malpractice: How One Mom Got $16 Million For Her Labor Nightmare

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date March 19, 2018

Caroline Malatesta is a mother of four who lives in Alabama.
For her fourth child, she had a very specific birth plan in place. She wanted a natural birth—a departure for Malatesta, who had epidurals and episiotomies while delivering her three other children.
The mother decided she wanted to give birth in a more natural way; she wanted to forgo the medicine and avoid laying on her back. Her birth plan was unconventional by modern standards, so she chose to have the baby at Brookwood Health Center, which explicitly advertised that they would follow any birth plan.

“They were using phrases like ‘personalized birth plan,’ ‘It’s about that birthing plan…whatever you want out of your birthing plan,'” Malatesta wrote later for the advocacy blog BirthMonopoly.
“No other hospital in town so much as mentioned such progressive concepts (and it should be noted that assisted out-of-hospital births aren’t legal here in Alabama).”
The Brookwood facility offered “autonomy,” according to advertisements, and even had birthing tubs on hand to accommodate mothers’ wishes. Malatesta spoke to the doctors at the medical facility who assured her that they would do everything possible to meet her needs. It seemed like the perfect place to bring a new child into the world.

Yahoo.com — Brookwood Women’s Center via Yahoo

Malatesta’s out-of-state friends introduced her to the concept of natural birth, and she was fascinated by the idea of being able to move about the room during labor, avoid drugs during the birth, and use a traditional birthing position rather than lying on her back with her feet in stirrups.
She made up her mind: She’d switch hospitals and give birth in a more natural way.
“I carefully made a birth plan based on best medical research, approved by my doctor,” Malatesta wrote in her BirthMonopoly piece. “I was ready!”

But when the time came to deliver the baby, the experience was a nightmare, Malatesta said.

Nurses immediately put her in a hospital gown and forced her onto her back, contrary to her wishes, she said; she’d wanted to walk around during her contractions, wearing her own clothes. When she tried to change positions, one nurse physically restrained her, according to a blog post by Malatesta’s lawyers.
“Caroline had no freedom of movement,” the post reads. “Instead, she was restrained, sometimes forcibly. Caroline was offered no choice; it was the nurses’ way or no way.”

When Malatesta voiced her concerns or objections, she alleged that the nurses simply ignored her. She claimed the nurses actually seemed annoyed that she would object to their instructions, despite the fact that she’d gone over a specific birth plan with her doctor.
Then, the situation somehow got worse; the baby began crowning, but the doctor wasn’t there. The nurses reportedly began physically holding the baby in place, preventing Malatesta from pushing the baby out. This struggle lasted for six minutes until the doctor finally arrived.
The medical records showed Malatesta’s struggle.

“Unfortunately, the patient was not able to [behave] in a controlled manner,” the records read, as reported in Malatesta’s piece on BirthMonopoly. “She was pretty much all over the bed.”
The baby’s head immediately came out and her son, Jack, was born a minute later. Fortunately, Jack was perfectly healthy, but Malatesta certainly doesn’t credit the medical staff for that positive outcome.

“I kept asking, “Why? Why?” but the nurse wasn’t answering me,” Malatesta wrote. “She ignored me, acting almost annoyed with me. As we went back and forth—me asking questions and telling her this was more painful for me, and her getting increasingly irritated—it became very clear that this wasn’t about health or safety. It was a power struggle.”
But unfortunately, Malatesta continued to suffer. She says that the ordeal left her permanently injured, suffering from a chronic pain condition called pudendal neuralgia. The main symptom of this condition is permanent pelvic pain, which she says ruined her family life.
About eight months after giving birth, Malatesta tried to work with the hospital for compensation for this painful condition. The hospital wasn’t interested in negotiating, Malatesta claimed. In fact, they didn’t even provide the answers that she asked for.
“I grew up in a medical family,” she wrote in a piece published by Cosmopolitan. “My dad is a doctor; my granddad was a doctor. Litigation, medical malpractice—it’s not something we take lightly. When the nerve injury really revealed itself, I wasn’t planning to file a lawsuit. I just wanted answers.”
Soon, however, Malatesta was reconsidering that stance. She filed a lawsuit against the hospital, and two years after filing, she went to court. Even during the lawsuit, Malatesta’s pain affected her; she wasn’t able to sit for more than a few hours a day, so she couldn’t spend much time in the courtroom.
But something incredible happened: Other women began to come forward with other stories of obstetric violence.

#BirthRights and the hidden threat of #ObstetricViolence.

Right to informed consent/refusal of tests treatments & procedures & #BodilyAutonomy are key. Sadly, relevant in #IrishMatExp as well.#8thref #repealthe8th #everypregnancy #repeal4betterbirth https://t.co/WJDiMDcpii pic.twitter.com/nxmaabl6KD

— Meghan Rice Cunningham (@MeghanJRice) March 14, 2018

“I became acutely aware that this wasn’t just about me,” Malatesta wrote in Cosmopolitan. “This became a cause for me, almost. To bring the truth out on behalf of so many other women. I was surprised how much it meant to these other women that I was filing a lawsuit.”
The suit, filed in 2014, took two years to litigate. A jury deliberated for nine hours, then returned a stunning verdict, awarding the Malatesta family $10 million in compensatory damages, $5 million in punitive damages for “reckless fraud,” and $1 million for loss of consortium.

While the jury’s decision will go a long way towards holding the perpetrators of obstetric violence accountable, Malatesta says that she’ll likely live with horrific pain for her entire life. She hopes that her struggle will help to prevent this type of scenario from playing out the same way in the future. The good news? Malatesta is not alone in this mission.

Taking on Obstetric Violence

Obstetric violence, which took such a terrible toll on Malatesta’s health, lies at the intersection of institutional violence and violence against women, says the advocacy group Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights. The mistreatment affects women who are pregnant, in labor, actively giving birth, or in the postpartum stage. Women may be denied treatments, have their requests ignored, endure verbal humiliation, and receive forced, coerced medical treatments. They may even experience physical violence, invasive practices, and other dehumanizing, humiliating treatments.
Women face this abuse at the hands of the healthcare industry far too often, says Jamie Yates, a seasoned New York City doula and childbirth educator.

“Unfortunately, these types of situations are all too common in hospitals,” she tells HealthyWay. “Most incidents of dissatisfaction go unreported because women are guilted into believing that because they have a healthy baby, that they should be happy, even thankful, that unnecessary procedures were performed on them.”
[pullquote align=”center”]“The absolute most important decision every pregnant person must make is who they choose to be their care provider.”
—Jamie Yates[/pullquote]
This seems to be a uniquely American problem, Yates explains.
“Our current maternal care system ranges from the deeply flawed to downright dangerous for moms and babies,” she says. “The U.S. has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and the maternal mortality rate is four times higher for black women.”
(Actually, Yates is the slightest bit off here. The U.S. doesn’t have one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world—it has the absolute worst, by a wide margin. She’s close enough on the racial disparity though; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked a mortality rate of 12.7 perI a 100,000 live births among white women in the years 2011 through 2013. During that same period, black mothers passed away during childbirth at a rate of 43.5 per 100,000.)

Ending the Epidemic of Violence

The solution to obstetric violence isn’t simple, but it starts with women being in charge of their bodies and their choices during pregnancy, says Yates.
“The absolute most important decision every pregnant person must make is who they choose to be their care provider,” she says. “Most low-risk women would be better served by a midwife. Midwives, on average, spend more time with their patients and have a greater understanding and acceptance of a pregnant person’s ability to birth their own babies. If, for whatever reason, a midwife isn’t an option, it’s important to choose an obstetrician who listens and is willing to answer questions from the beginning.”
[pullquote align=”center”]Plans can change, but there should be one constant throughout the experience—respect. Birthing people deserve to be participants in their own labor and, most of all, deserve all of the information so they can have true informed consent or refusal of intervention.”
—Jamie Yates[/pullquote]
Of course, the luxury of multiple health care options isn’t always possible. Regardless, women should be on the lookout for red flags. Some doctors won’t even discuss birth questions until the last trimester—that’s not good, says Yates.
“If your doctor is unwilling to have conversations about options and provide clear evidence-based information at your appointments, switch providers,” she advises. “If they are unwilling to listen prenatally, they are unlikely to respect your needs during labor.”
Even with a supportive doctor or partner, navigating hospital policies can be overwhelming. This is where Yates suggests enlisting the help of a doula.

“While a doula can’t ‘save’ a person’s birth, a good doula can help them get the information they need in order to make informed choices about their birth,” she says. “Doulas can be the eyes and ears in the labor room along with helping the laboring person and their partner feel supported.”
It’s also important to realize while having a great support system and a rock solid plan is a great start, anything can change in an instant once labor begins. Being flexible is just as important.

“Plans can change, but there should be one constant throughout the experience—respect,” says Yates. “Birthing people deserve to be participants in their own labor and, most of all, deserve all of the information so they can have true informed consent or refusal of intervention.”
Malatesta, it’s clear, paid the price for an unresponsive health care team. By speaking out, she’s helping to ensure that the next mother won’t face the same tragic experience.

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Life x Culture Lifestyle

A Step-By-Step Guide To Planning A Simple, Sustainable Wedding

Post author By Abigail Rasminsky
Post date March 19, 2018

You recycle and compost. You keep A/C use to a minimum and barely drive. You’re a sustainable kind of woman—but now you’re wedding planning. (Congrats, by the way!)
You imagine a celebration with zero paper goods, reclaimed wood tables, a sustainable dress, herb centerpieces plucked from your garden, locally grown flowers…maybe something out in the woods? But how do you honor your environmental ideals while wedding planning—especially if you want a big one?
“Sustainability can mean a lot of things in the real world,” says Sasha Pollock, a climate policy consultant in Portland who had an eco-friendly wedding. “You have to consider it on a financial and personal level, too. How are we being environmentally sustainable while not making ourselves crazy and not spending a ridiculous amount of money?”
Her biggest wedding planning advice? Eliminate things that don’t matter to you. “Having a bunch of lavish flowers wasn’t a big deal for me. Neither was having a huge group of people who are all wearing the same dress, but having delicious food and really good drinks was a big deal, so that’s what we focused on financially.”
Kelsey Motes-Conners, a wedding designer and the founder and owner of Field: A Wedding Design Studio in Montana, agrees. She advises couples to work with one guiding principle: Decide what is really of value to you.
If you’re committed to a sustainable, eco-friendly wedding, wonderful! This might mean choosing a location that doesn’t force every person you know to fly 1,000 miles across the country; it might mean choosing locally sourced organic food that then gets donated to a homeless shelter; it might mean zero paper.
Unless you have an unlimited budget, you’ll have to make choices about where you want to put the bulk of your energy and finances, so sitting down and having numerous heart-to-hearts with your beloved (and perhaps a wedding planner!) will really help guide your choices.

Wedding Planning Step 1: Getting Started

If you want a giant guest list and party and have the means for it, go ahead, but there’s no need to go into massive debt while wedding planning.

Set a budget.

“One of the things that’s really difficult about setting a wedding budget is that people generally haven’t planned a wedding before,” explains Motes-Conners. It is not uncommon to find that the photographer who did your fantastic family portraits for a totally affordable price charges way more for wedding photography.
Motes-Conners says there are two ways to work within a budget while wedding planning, and only one is really effective: “Some people come to me before they’ve planned anything and say, ‘My budget is $20K.’ We can work within those parameters! But some fall in love with a space or launch into plans and book a venue before projecting all vendor costs.”
What happens then? Often there isn’t enough money left for…food. This is a particularly important part of sustainable wedding planning—some things will cost more (like food), but you might be able to save a bunch on other things (like going paperless or favor-less).
Pro Tip: If you know you want to work with a wedding planner, book her first, and have a transparent conversation about your vision, your budget, and what planning services will cost. Yes, this is an additional fee, but it might come out in the wash because of all the insider knowledge and the work they will take off your plate: “Planners have the best pulse on what venues and vendors will cost in their region.”
Don’t want a wedding planning expert by your side? That’s fine, but downloading a wedding planning calculator from your favorite wedding planning website might not be of much use. “Prices vary from place to place and venue to venue, so you need to get actual costs associated with particular vendors to set your budget.”
Bonus Pro Tip: “Your sanity is part of sustainability,” Pollock says. “If you lose it, it’s all for nothing.” Throughout the odyssey that is wedding planning, keep the marriage in mind, instead of laser-focusing on every small detail.

Use an app.

Wedding planning involves a lot of moving parts, so keeping all the information in one place (especially if you don’t have a planner) is key. Motes-Conners recommends Aisle Planner. She also suggests using websites that are local to your area instead of a giant well-known website, which are straight-down-the-rabbit hole fun. Not only will the finances be more accurate, but the advertisers on the site will probably also be local.

Create a wedding website.

This is an easy-as-pie way to keep people in the loop without having to send a gazillion follow-up emails or using a smidge of paper! (More on that later.) SquareSpace has a lovely template. Zola also provides clear, functional designs. And, of course, there are always the experts at The Knot!

Don’t forget about your mental health.

Has anyone told you wedding planning is stressful? Kidding! Everyone knows this!
A lot of the stress comes from—you guessed it—finances, and it can drive you to the brink. “The question of who is going to pay for what is more fluid now than it was 50 years ago,” Motes-Conners explains, “so often it comes with a different set of expectations.” In other words, when the father of the bride once paid for the whole thing, he had a lot of say. No more.
Pro Tip: It’s important to be clear about why you’re making these kinds of wedding planning choices—with yourself, with your partner, and with those contributing financially, especially if being sustainable is your top wedding planning priority.
“I always tell my clients to ask themselves, Why? Why this wedding for you?” This helps when you feel like you have to justify certain costs and decisions to those who might be helping you foot the bill. You want to be able to go to your parents, in-laws, or grandparents and say, This is why we’re doing it this way, This is what’s meaningful to us, This is what we want our day to be about. “That can soften the blow when your mom wants you to have four-tier lemon cake and you want a raspberry tart made by your best friend,” Motes-Conners explains. “You can frame it in larger context of what’s meaningful to you.”

Wedding Planning Step 2: Picking Your Vibe and Vendors

Even your venue will affect how environmentally friendly your wedding is. From multiple vendors coming to set up in the hours or even days ahead to guests who might be traveling across town or across country, all of it has an environmental impact.

Picking the Location

“Consider the guests’ air and car travel,” Motes-Conners says. “What might that carbon footprint look like?” It’s lovely to plan a low-key wedding with recycled paper, organic food, and few guests in the Bahamas, but what kind of environmental cost will it be for everyone to fly there? Is there a more central place that would be more environmentally responsible?
Then think about what the venue will require. Heating and cooling costs might come to around the same amount—a wedding in New York City in July or in January might amount to the same fees in A/C or heating bills!—but planning an outdoor wedding at least saves you some of that environmental impact.
That said, it’s not that simple. If you have a simple backyard wedding, you may not be heating an entire hall (hooray!), but you might be throwing away hundreds of paper plates, napkins, and even more plastic utensils and cups. You’ll have to weigh the cost and ease of using disposable supplies versus glass and china and choose the option that makes the most sense to you.
Pro Tip: In contemplating a venue, you want to consider where your guests will be staying. Can they stay on site or nearby to avoid driving to and from venue? Some weddings—at, say, a resort or a summer camp—are set up in such a way that most (if not all) guests stay on the premises. This obviously cuts down a lot on travel time and on fossil fuels!

Picking the Caterer

You want the food to be good. For a lot of couples, this is a non-negotiable, and other areas can be cut back on to grow the food budget. But there are other food requirements to consider when it comes to eco-friendly wedding planning.
You can work with a caterer who sources locally and organically and who only uses produce that’s in season. A great eco-friendly caterer will help you shape a menu that’s seasonal to your chosen location. “These days, a lot of caterers are working with local farms and ranches and do a good job of focusing on more sustainable agriculture,” Motes-Conners explains. The same goes for local breweries and wineries.
“We made sure our caterer used non-disposable plates and glasses and the food was locally sourced,” Pollock says. “In some people’s minds, having a vegan wedding might be better. We had chicken and bacon, but it was sustainably grown.”
Be sure to ask the caterers what they do with the leftover food. Some will donate it to a homeless shelter or local food bank. Some will pack it up and give it to guests to have for lunch the next day. (But again: What is it being packed up in?) Some may even compost it. The bottom line: You don’t want all that extra stuff to end up in a landfill.
And if you aren’t into wedding cake? A few options: If you’re going really local, consider ordering various cakes, pies, donuts, or cupcakes from your favorite local bakeries. This way you have a variety! If you have friends who are wonderful bakers, ask if they will bake a cake or pie (or two!) as their gifts (you’ll have to ask a few baking friends). This can be an extremely meaningful contribution to the day.

Picking the Flowers

How “green” you can be when ordering wedding flowers depends entirely on where you are in the country and what time of year it is. If you’re looking at a January wedding in North Dakota, it might sadly be hard to find local flowers! “If you’re in New York, Seattle, or Los Angeles, for example, where you have access to a flower market, it will be much easier to be flexible about flowers in the way that you have to be if you want seasonal, locally grown flowers,” Motes-Conners explains.
The seasonality and availability of specific flowers naturally depends on moisture and weather in your area. If you have your heart set on something very specific as you’re wedding planning, your florist’s job is to make that happen, but that might mean flying it in from South America or the Netherlands, which will cast a large carbon footprint.
According to Motes-Conners, farmer florists are gaining momentum. In places with longer growing seasons, florists are branching out into farming so they can raise and grow flowers to design with. This is sustainable and gives back to local economy. But it comes with a different mentality—your priority is getting something local rather than the exact bouquet you want.

Wedding Planning Step 3: Choosing Your Crew

It is such an honor to be a bridesmaid—and sometimes, it is a royal pain in the you-know-what. Bridezillas. Money flying out of your bank account. Travel to various ends of the earth. Party after party—all of which you’re supposed to plan!
Generally your besties will be honored to help you with every step of wedding planning. They’ll probably look forward to celebrating you, helping you find a dress or pantsuit, and standing by you as you say your vows to your beloved. But not if you ask too much of them.
“Be really conscious of your expectations,” Motes-Conners says. “What are you asking people to do? Honoring people you love is wonderful, but there seems to be a trend of really overblown financial expectations—fly to the Bahamas for the bachelorette party, fly to Portland for the bridal shower, fly somewhere else for the wedding.” Most people in their twenties and thirties simply cannot afford this, and even if they can, they might not want to spend their hard-earned cash this way.
A few suggestions:

Go first tier only. This might sound terrible, but only ask your very, very, very closest friends, and keep the number small—like three or four. Especially if you’ve all known each other for decades, it will likely create an intimate planning atmosphere.
Forget about bridesmaids! This might seem radical, but I did it and it was wonderful. This isn’t to say that I didn’t have my sister and best friends supporting me, but I found it too difficult to choose and didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Instead I offered people honors that suited their personalities and skills: Read a poem, Hold a leg of the Chuppah, Read a blessing, Sing a song, Sign the Ketubah. Bonus: No one had to wear matching dresses.
Ask your siblings! All of them—brothers and sisters alike. In theory, they will be there anyway, and there’s no logical reason why your sibling of a different gender shouldn’t stand up there with you.
Only have a maid/man of honor. One person: your sibling or best friend. Simple.

Pro Tip: Don’t ask friends to be in your wedding party too early, especially if you’ll have a long engagement. What if you have a fight and the relationship deteriorates? You might have to ask her to “resign.” Yikes!

Wedding Planning Step 4: Getting the Gowns (and Tuxes)

This is the part many women love most during wedding planning: buying the dress. The most sustainable thing you can do is wear vintage, but there are plenty of sustainable wedding dress designers, and it’s great to put your money where your ethics lie. First and foremost, you need to choose what’s important to you. For instance, Pollock bought a new wedding dress, but her attendants wore dresses they already owned.
Everyone loves a wedding dress. Nobody likes the wedding dress prices. Let’s talk about other options:

No carbon footprint option: The most sustainable (and cheapest) option? Let your bridesmaids wear dresses they already own. You can choose a color palette (say, fall colors) and let them go hog wild. If they want to buy something new, great! But it’s their choice.
Renting: You can look into renting bridesmaid dresses from Rent the Runway or Vow to be Chic. Dresses that sell for hundreds or thousands can be rented for under $100.
Menswear: Men can rent tuxes from Nordstrom’s The Black Tux. No need to spend money and cloth on something you’ll only wear once.
Sustainable Materials: More and more dresses are being made from eco-friendly fabrics. A good place to start is Reformation, but H&M now has an eco-conscious wedding collection, too!
Go Vintage: Wear something that’s already been worn! Cut up your mom’s old wedding dress, or dive into consignment or vintage stores.

Pro Tip: Beyond renting and buying used, it’s nice to think about small design houses and local designers, ateliers, or shops. In terms of carbon footprint, that probably has a smaller impact than renting because even when you’re renting a wedding dress, it’s probably being shipped back and forth for fittings and for the return, so it’s not as eco-friendly as you might think.

Wedding Planning Step 5: Sharing The News

Invites, RSVP cards, ceremony program, seating chart, menu—how much of this crap do you really need? Especially if you’re thinking about all that paper.
As with all things related to wedding planning, focus on your priorities. If you think you don’t need paper, beautiful place cards, or menus printed, don’t do it! Paperless Post has gorgeous invites (and people don’t have to send anything back in the mail!). You can put the seating chart and/or the menu on a big chalkboard.
That said, these things can be lovely if the aesthetic is something you’re drawn to, and you can go with 100 percent recycled products. “I’m a printmaker by training,” Motes-Conners says, “so I love to feeling of paper, love printing texture. And by and large, there’s not a giant amount of paper.”
Pro Tip: For the love of all things holy, do not include seeds in the invitation (or in anything else). You don’t always know what kinds of seeds you’re getting and whether they will be safe in a different kind of soil. It could be an invasive species not meant to grow there, and actually cause environmental harm!

Wedding Planning Step 6: The Big Day

Putting Your Face On

You made it! The big day is here! After focusing so much on sustainability, don’t forget about what’s going on your face. To keep the theme going, opt for eco-friendly beauty brands that are ethically produced (no animal testing!). We recommend Tarte: Their products are never tested on animals and their expansive vegan-friendly line uses plant-based ingredients chock full of minerals, vitamins, and essential oils for a glow you can feel good about.

Giving Out Favors

The only favors that are universally appreciated? Edible ones! Remember that your guests are often traveling by plane so it’s sort of, let’s say, inconsiderate to give them creams, gels, or liquids—so as nice as it is to get locally sourced honey or maple syrup, you have to think about how they’ll get it home. Edibles (I’m talking cookies, chocolate, tea, or coffee) also don’t leave a lot of plastic behind, and probably won’t end up in the trash.
Pollock made wedding crackers—by saving toilet paper rolls for six months! One night she and her fiance had friends over, and in three hours they assembled over 100. Inside they inserted a recipe for old fashioneds—their favorite drink. It took more planning time, but was totally worth it to them.

Wedding Planning Step 7: Finding Your Focus

In the midst of all this wedding planning, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the most important thing: your marriage!
For most couples, the wedding planning and the ceremony only marks the beginning of your partnership. “If the idea of having all these people that you love get together and witness the fact that you’re actually getting married is important to you, then it’s worthwhile to invest yourself emotionally—not just financially!— in your wedding,” says Motes-Conners. “Use it as an opportunity to connect with people in your life who mean something to you and your partner, and have it be a galvanizing moment amidst the chaos of all those people in one space. You get to determine how meaningful your wedding is and what it means.”
There is something unspeakably powerful about the people you love being there to witness you moving into this next phase of your life and knowing they will be there when things get tough. The onus is on you to set the tone as you’re wedding planning. The guests are making a major investment to celebrate you and it’s vital that you honor their commitment. “Your marriage and wedding are, in most respects, two different things, but where they intersect is up to you.”

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