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FAQs about Lupus
Read More: FAQs about LupusAnyone who’s a fan of the hit TV series “House,” starring Hugh Laurie, knows lupus inevitably came up as a possible diagnosis for the mystery condition of the episode (and they were always wrong, except for that one time). The show is right about one thing — lupus has a wide variety of symptoms, shows…
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FAQs About MS
Read More: FAQs About MSMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic health condition that typically affects people who are 20 to 40 years old. And women are twice as likely to have the disease as men. If you have MS, it can be a sometimes scary and uncertain diagnosis, but with the right treatment, you can help control symptoms. Here…
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Tech Solutions for Chronic Pain
Read More: Tech Solutions for Chronic PainBrittany Barreto, Ph.D., is a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and a molecular and human geneticist. (In other words, she’s really smart.) Read her column here each month to learn about what’s happening in the world of technology and innovation in women’s health. For years I thought I had weak wrists. Sure, pushups and downward-facing dogs were…
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What You Need to Know About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Read More: What You Need to Know About Chronic Fatigue SyndromeJessie Voigts was 27 when she started to feel tired all the time. Yet she just couldn’t sleep. Soon, she experienced brain fog and body pain so intense, it felt like she’d been hit by a truck and dragged for blocks while fighting the flu. It was difficult to move, breathe or simply be. Jessie…
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Hair Loss in Women
Read More: Hair Loss in WomenIt was the winter of 1989 when I went bald. And though I knew in advance I’d lose my hair from the chemotherapy to treat my breast cancer, nothing prepared me for the feeling of being stripped completely bare of a significant share of my identity. The chemotherapy rendered every last strand of my hair…
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How Psoriasis Affects Your Overall Well-Being
Read More: How Psoriasis Affects Your Overall Well-BeingMore than 7.5 million people in the United States live with psoriasis, a skin disease that causes scaly red patches all over the body — including on the face, hands, elbows and knees. Almost 6 out of 10 people with psoriasis have mental health issues such as depression and anxiety related to their disease. One…
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Hair Loss Affects Many Aspects of Life
Read More: Hair Loss Affects Many Aspects of LifeStephanie Yuen was just your average teenager trying to make it through middle school — when she was diagnosed with alopecia at age 13. Terrified and unsure where to turn for help, she quickly withdrew from the world. “I still went to school, but I locked myself in my room every day,” Yuen said. “I…
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How Psoriasis Changes as Women Age
Read More: How Psoriasis Changes as Women Age+ Infographic text The effects of psoriasis change throughout a woman’s lifespan. Many experts think hormones trigger immune system changes in the skin of women with psoriasis, so symptoms may get worse or better at certain times in your life. Here’s what you can expect. Puberty Around ages 7-13, your body starts making sex hormones,…
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Multiple Sclerosis and Cognitive Function
Read More: Multiple Sclerosis and Cognitive FunctionMost people know multiple sclerosis (MS) as a disease that affects you physically. But many don’t know that it can also impact your memory and cognition (learning and processing). Tara Kent, a 39-year-old mother of 12-year-old twins, was diagnosed with the disease seven years ago. She knows the emotional effect these mental issues can have…
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¿Conoces a alguien que tiene cáncer? Aquí encontrarás cómo puedes ayudar.
Read More: ¿Conoces a alguien que tiene cáncer? Aquí encontrarás cómo puedes ayudar.El cáncer es una enfermedad grave: Su diagnóstico afecta a todo y a todos. Se estima que en 2022, 1.9 millones de personas recibieron diagnóstico de cáncer en Estados Unidos y es probable que conozcas a alguien que tiene o tuvo esta enfermedad. Eso me pasó hace cinco años. Me diagnosticaron cáncer de mama de…
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Like Millions of Women, I Live With Chronic Pain — and I’ve Had to Learn to Advocate for Myself
Read More: Like Millions of Women, I Live With Chronic Pain — and I’ve Had to Learn to Advocate for MyselfFor more than 15 years, I’ve struggled to get treatment for multiple types of chronic pain. This journey has taught me how it feels to have my pain dismissed or ignored by the healthcare system and the hard lesson that I must be my own advocate with my medical team. Even though I grew up…
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Obesity Is a Complex Disease With a Variety of Treatments
Read More: Obesity Is a Complex Disease With a Variety of TreatmentsMedically reviewed by Dr. Holly Lofton
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Autoimmune Diseases 101
Read More: Autoimmune Diseases 101It’s probably not surprising that heart disease and cancer are the two most common categories of disease in the United States, but would you believe autoimmune disease comes in at number three? About 8% of Americans have an autoimmune disease, and nearly 80% of them are women. With autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part…
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Living With Lupus
Read More: Living With LupusMarisa Maese, 40, has been dealing with health problems since her mid-20s. They started with her first pregnancy, when she experienced complications from fibroids, was placed on bed rest and gave birth prematurely. “Since then, my life has never really been the same,” she said. Maese experienced a series of reproductive health issues, along with…
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Botox and Migraine: What You Need to Know
Read More: Botox and Migraine: What You Need to KnowJune is National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month.Medically reviewed by Dr. Rashmi B. Halker Singh You’ve heard of Botox as a cosmetic procedure — but did you know that Botox is also used as a treatment for several medical conditions, including migraine disease? We wanted to learn more about how Botox can help with this…
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Can Migraine Attacks Be Triggered?
Read More: Can Migraine Attacks Be Triggered?Medically reviewed by Dr. Rashmi B. Halker Singh June is National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month.
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How Multiple Sclerosis Affects the Central Nervous System
Read More: How Multiple Sclerosis Affects the Central Nervous SystemMedically reviewed by Dr. Deborah Friedman This resource was created with support from Bristol Myers Squibb.
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Beer and Spirits Have More Detrimental Effects on the Waistline and on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Than Red or White Wine
Read More: Beer and Spirits Have More Detrimental Effects on the Waistline and on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Than Red or White WineBy Brittany Larsen, Iowa State University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Drinking beer and spirits is linked to elevated levels of visceral fat – the harmful type of fat that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other health complications –…
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Why I’m Speaking Up About Toxic Beauty Standards
Read More: Why I’m Speaking Up About Toxic Beauty StandardsI recently started re-reading some of my old journals. I like to do this from time to time because I usually find myself seeing my past in a new light that teaches me something, especially as I get older. Each night, I’d read several entries; some were a mere recounting of the day’s events while…
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Obesity Among Black Women: Fighting the Disease Through Community
Read More: Obesity Among Black Women: Fighting the Disease Through CommunityApril is National Minority Health Month. For Michele Tedder, fighting obesity has been a lifelong journey. Despite years of trying numerous diets and exercise fads, Tedder’s weight continued to rise, surpassing 300 pounds on her 5-foot-1 frame. After developing high blood pressure, joint pain and Type 2 diabetes, she decided to pursue weight loss surgery.…
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What Is Alopecia? It’s No Laughing Matter for Millions of Black American Women
Read More: What Is Alopecia? It’s No Laughing Matter for Millions of Black American WomenBy Danita Peoples, Wayne State University The Oscar slap that overshadowed the Academy Awards ceremony was sparked by a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair – with husband Will Smith objecting violently to comedian Chris Rock mocking the actress’s shaved head. Away from the recriminations over what could be perceived as a mean-spirited…
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Is Your Teen Anemic?
Read More: Is Your Teen Anemic?Medically reviewed by Dr. Sharon D. Allison-Ottey
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Long Covid Leaves Newly Disabled People Facing Old Barriers — a Sociologist Explains
Read More: Long Covid Leaves Newly Disabled People Facing Old Barriers — a Sociologist ExplainsBy Laura Mauldin, University of Connecticut Up to one-third of COVID-19 survivors will acquire the condition known as long or long-haul COVID-19. The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation estimates that long COVID will add as many as 22 million individuals to the U.S. population of disabled people. I am a sociologist and researcher…
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Despite Its Disastrous Effects, Covid-19 Offers Some Gifts to Medicine — an Immunology Expert Explains What It Can Teach Us About Autoimmune Disease
Read More: Despite Its Disastrous Effects, Covid-19 Offers Some Gifts to Medicine — an Immunology Expert Explains What It Can Teach Us About Autoimmune DiseaseBy Dario Ghersi, University of Nebraska Omaha For all the misery that the pandemic has wrought, it has also opened up a vast storehouse of knowledge about medical issues beyond COVID-19. While it’s still too early to draw conclusions, evidence is emerging of links between autoimmune disorders and the virus that causes COVID-19. As a…
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Esclerosis múltiple: Qué esperar desde el diagnóstico hasta el tratamiento
Read More: Esclerosis múltiple: Qué esperar desde el diagnóstico hasta el tratamientoCandice Morgan pensó que sus episodios de mareo se debían a hambre o cansancio. Esta profesional de informática de Detroit, Michigan, se hizo una prueba de embarazo, aunque sabía que no estaba embarazada. Diez días después, fue al hospital, donde los médicos le hicieron una tomografía computarizada y la mantuvieron durante la noche en observación.…
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Multiple Sclerosis: What to Expect From Diagnosis to Treatment
Read More: Multiple Sclerosis: What to Expect From Diagnosis to TreatmentEspañol Candice Morgan blamed her bouts of dizziness on hunger or being tired. The Detroit, Michigan-based IT professional took a pregnancy test, even though she knew she wasn’t pregnant. Ten days later, she went to the hospital, where doctors took a CT scan and kept her overnight for observation. The next day, doctors ordered an…
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Can You Hear Me and Other People With Disabilities?
Read More: Can You Hear Me and Other People With Disabilities?December 3 is the International Day of Persons With Disabilities. On this year’s International Day of Persons With Disabilities, I look back on a pivotal day in my childhood that transformed how I saw myself and my cerebral palsy. Saturdays were special. As a kid growing up in the suburbs of New York, Saturdays meant…
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Más allá de lo físico: Cómo la artritis psoriásica puede afectar tu salud mental y sexual
Read More: Más allá de lo físico: Cómo la artritis psoriásica puede afectar tu salud mental y sexualTodos los días, durante todo el día, Cynthia Covert tiene que pensar sobre cuánto dolor le causará cada actividad. “¿Vale la pena? ¿Qué puedo hacer para minimizar el dolor?” son preguntas que debe hacerse a sí misma antes de realizar actividades que la mayoría de nosotros damos por sentado. Esto se debe a que vive…
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La artritis psoriásica aumenta el riesgo de sufrir otros problemas de salud
Read More: La artritis psoriásica aumenta el riesgo de sufrir otros problemas de saludAl igual que muchas estrellas de programas de televisión antes que ella, Meg Maley, concursante en el programa El Gran Hermano 2015, guardaba un secreto. Cuando los espectadores se preguntaban por qué una joven aparentemente sana tenía tan mal desempeño durante las pruebas físicas y en ocasiones se la veía tomar medicamentos, Maley no comentó…
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Obesity and Other Health Conditions
Read More: Obesity and Other Health ConditionsDesign: Megan Schofield Medically reviewed by Dr. Alexandra Sowa
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Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your HCP About Psoriatic Arthritis
Read More: Clinically Speaking: Questions to Ask Your HCP About Psoriatic ArthritisMedically reviewed by Dr. Stuart Kaplan Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic disease of the joints, and it can be a tricky illness to navigate. But it’s extremely important to get it under control because living with chronic pain can feel devastating and cause long-term damage. Although early diagnosis matters for treatment, people don’t always…
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Psoriatic Arthritis Can Put You at Risk for Other Health Problems
Read More: Psoriatic Arthritis Can Put You at Risk for Other Health ProblemsLike many reality TV stars before her, 2015 Big Brother contestant Meg Maley was keeping a secret. When viewers wondered why a seemingly healthy young woman did so poorly during physical competitions and was sometimes seen taking pills, Maley kept silent. It wasn’t until after her season of the show ended that Maley revealed her…
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Fast Facts: What You Need to Know About Vaginismus
Read More: Fast Facts: What You Need to Know About VaginismusMedically reviewed by Dr. Robin Faye Do you ever feel like you’re “hitting a wall” when you try to insert something into your vagina? If so, you’re not put together wrong. You may just have vaginismus, a condition that causes the vaginal muscles to automatically tighten in anticipation of vaginal penetration. Vaginismus can be frustrating,…