-
I Thought I Knew About the Dangers of Summer Heat
Read More: I Thought I Knew About the Dangers of Summer HeatI knew better. Living in Arizona for 17 years, Iโd gotten used to the blazing temperatures of summer. Days, and yes, nights, over 100 degrees for weeks on end are typical, and really not much of an issue unless your A/C goes out. Even on those handful of days that are over 110, I only…
-
After Half a Century, Iโm Finally Free From Hepatitis C
Read More: After Half a Century, Iโm Finally Free From Hepatitis CAs told to Erica Rimlinger First graders have a lot of energy, and their teachers need to keep pace. I could keep up in those days, the 1960s through the โ80s, but thatโs about all I could do in one day. After teaching, Iโd come home and sleep, soundly and deeply, until my husband got…
-
As an Adult, Iโve Finally Made Peace With My ADHD
Read More: As an Adult, Iโve Finally Made Peace With My ADHDMy fifth-grade teacher was fed up. Every time it was my turn to read, I was, she announced to the class, โoff in Ericaville.โ She took a roll of string from her desk, tied one end to my wrist and handed the other end to the boy sitting next to me. โWhen itโs her turn,…
-
Breast cancer, Breast cancer survivor, Breast health, cancer, Cancer survivor, COVID-19, Medical tests, Prevention, Real women real stories
I Thought My Swollen Lymph Nodes Were Side Effects From the Covid-19 Vaccine
Read More: I Thought My Swollen Lymph Nodes Were Side Effects From the Covid-19 VaccineAs told to Erica Rimlinger When I got my Covid-19 vaccine, I was told I might have side effects after the shot. Everyoneโs immune system is different, so the list of side effects was long. Iโd heard people say they were tired afterward or their arm hurt, but I guessed which side effects Iโd get:…
-
Getting Help for Your Mental Health Is Not a Weakness, but Try Telling My Asian Parents That
Read More: Getting Help for Your Mental Health Is Not a Weakness, but Try Telling My Asian Parents ThatJuly is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. As told to Erica Rimlinger I was a preteen the first time I visited the doctor by myself. It was in Chinatown, so the doctor I saw spoke my native language, Cantonese. He handed me some paperwork to fill out, and on the back page there was…
-
Keeping My HIV Diagnosis a Secret for a Year Taught Me a Lot About Peopleโs Stereotypes
Read More: Keeping My HIV Diagnosis a Secret for a Year Taught Me a Lot About Peopleโs StereotypesAs told to Megan Margulies I drove up my driveway and put my car in park. I was finally alone, so I screamed. I had just been diagnosed with HIV. I was 36 years old, in my prime, moving and shaking with my marketing career. My next thought was, โWhoโs going to marry someone whoโs…
-
Fighting a Cancer That Rarely Targets Black Women Has Made Me a Braver Human
Read More: Fighting a Cancer That Rarely Targets Black Women Has Made Me a Braver HumanAs told to Nicole Audrey Spector Itโs probably just a sinus infection. Thatโs what my doctor thought when I came in a year ago with an earache, swollen lymph nodes, difficulty swallowing and congestion. I was examined and sent home with antibiotics. The swelling of my lymph nodes went down, but all my other symptoms…
-
My Husband and I Talked About Almost Everything. I Wish Weโd Known to Talk About Death
Read More: My Husband and I Talked About Almost Everything. I Wish Weโd Known to Talk About DeathAs told to Kimberly Rex From the first time we met, Joe and I had great conversations. A southern gentleman with long, brown hair and striking blue eyes, Joe held my attention with witty dialogue way beyond small talk. That night, we shared stories and talked about our mutual passion for television and movie writing.…
-
15 minutes with, Breast cancer, Breast cancer survivor, Breast health, caregiving, Hpv, Real women real stories, Vaccines
15 Minutes With: Jaclyn Smith Talks to HealthyWoman on the 20th Anniversary of Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Read More: 15 Minutes With: Jaclyn Smith Talks to HealthyWoman on the 20th Anniversary of Her Breast Cancer DiagnosisJaclyn Smith, one of the original Charlieโs Angels, is an award-winning actress and entrepreneur who played Kelly Garret on the popular TV show for five years, among many other accomplishments. In 1985, Smith introduced a fashion line in K-Mart, becoming one of the first celebrities to develop her own brand. She has since gone on…
-
Black Women Have Many Risks to Their Mental Health. For Me, Juneteenth Is a Day of Healing.
Read More: Black Women Have Many Risks to Their Mental Health. For Me, Juneteenth Is a Day of Healing.The temperature climbed past 80 degrees as my children and I followed the marked route between historic dwellings in a suburban downtown district just minutes from our home. Their breath grew labored, their pace slowed in the early afternoon heat, and they were thankful for the breaks each time we stopped to listen to a…
-
As a Breastfeeding Mom Who Also Worked as a Lactation Consultant, I Thought My Breast Lump Was a Clogged Milk Duct
Read More: As a Breastfeeding Mom Who Also Worked as a Lactation Consultant, I Thought My Breast Lump Was a Clogged Milk DuctAs told to Erica Rimlinger My three children and I had an easy time breastfeeding, and I nursed my children for as long as possible. Friends teased, โThose babies are old enough to ask for a soda,โ but I didnโt care. Iโm an insurance agent by trade and a health advocate by passion. I taught…
-
A Misdiagnosed Ectopic Pregnancy Nearly Sent Me Into Septic Shock
Read More: A Misdiagnosed Ectopic Pregnancy Nearly Sent Me Into Septic ShockAs told to Liz Sauchelli The blinding pain in my lower abdomen hit me when I was in the shower, causing me to double over. I knew I needed to go to the emergency room. I got out of the shower immediately, throwing on whatever clothes I could find, and rushed to my car. One…
-
Copy of From Shame to Advocacy: My Decades-Long Journey Living โ and Thriving โ With HIV
Read More: Copy of From Shame to Advocacy: My Decades-Long Journey Living โ and Thriving โ With HIVAs told to Nicole Audrey Spector The year was 1986. I was 39 years old and newly wed to the love of my life, with whom I bought my first house. My three daughters and stepdaughter were both grown, married and doing well. I loved my job in the finance industry. My life was good…
-
My Quest for Uninterrupted Sleep
Read More: My Quest for Uninterrupted SleepIt usually happens slowly. Like the corner of a shade being lifted in a blackened room, letting in a sliver of light, thoughts about what I need to get done and my children away at college creep into the edge of my sleeping brain. I can feel them as little shards of light poking at…
-
The Truth About Being a Cancer Warrior
Read More: The Truth About Being a Cancer WarriorWhen I found out I had breast cancer, I decided to be open about my diagnosis. I wanted my interactions with people, even those on the outer rungs of my social circle, to be authentic โ a quality I didnโt think Iโd convey with an undisclosed elephant-sized cancer diagnosis in the room. Messages of support…
-
I Contracted a Superbug Thatโs a Top Public Health Threat โ And Itโs More Common Than You Think
Read More: I Contracted a Superbug Thatโs a Top Public Health Threat โ And Itโs More Common Than You ThinkEight years ago, I was a healthy 54-year-old woman. I often joked that I was too healthy โ I rarely had a cold and never had the flu. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the term for germs that no longer respond to medication so medications become ineffective, wasnโt really on my radar even though I was a…
-
cancer, Cancer survivor, Colon cancer, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories
My Symptoms Were Dismissed as Hemorrhoids, but I Had Colon Cancer
Read More: My Symptoms Were Dismissed as Hemorrhoids, but I Had Colon CancerAs told to Liz Sauchelli The day I got my colon cancer diagnosis, my husband and I bought a bottle of champagne. We were driving home from the hospital crying and I just said, โBabe, we need to stop and get a bottle of champagne because weโre going to toast to kicking cancerโs butt and…
-
Chemo Day Is Always Better With Costumes, Wigs and Props
Read More: Chemo Day Is Always Better With Costumes, Wigs and PropsAs told to Erica Rimlinger The chemotherapy treatment center has a subdued, sterile energy. Since Iโm fighting metastatic breast cancer, I spend a lot of time there. My friends and family have loaded me up with books, tea mugs and quilts to help me while away the hours during my chemo treatments. But Iโve never…
-
I Made a Promise to My Son
Read More: I Made a Promise to My SonAs told to Jaimie Seaton When our son Aidan was in pre-K, the teachers wanted to put him in a gifted school. But I felt like he was still a baby, and I wanted him to have a normal childhood and not be overwhelmed with schoolwork, so my husband and I opted to keep him…
-
Birth control, Contraception, Family planning, Fertility, Infertility, mental health, Real women real stories, Self-Care
The Unicorn in the Room: My Infertility Journey Led to an Unexpected Discovery
Read More: The Unicorn in the Room: My Infertility Journey Led to an Unexpected DiscoveryAs told to Nicole Audrey Spector April 24-30 is National Infertility Awareness Week. Why donโt we just give it a try and see what happens? That was the attitude with which my husband, Luis, and I began our journey to make a baby. I was 32 and didnโt feel in a rush. I was also…
-
Medical tests, Parenting, Parenting teens, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories, Teen health, Vaccinations, Vaccines
A Thanksgiving Nightmare Ends in Gratitude
Read More: A Thanksgiving Nightmare Ends in GratitudeAs told to Erica Rimlinger That Thanksgiving, a stomach virus was going around. My son Jackson, a freshman at Bucknell University, returned to our home in Colorado a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday in 2017, perfectly healthy. But two nights before Thanksgiving, he started throwing up and spiked a fever. Wednesday night, he seemed…
-
cancer, Cancer survivor, Colon cancer, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories
When I was 32, I Was Getting Ready to Marry and Have Kids. Then I Was Diagnosed With Colorectal Cancer.
Read More: When I was 32, I Was Getting Ready to Marry and Have Kids. Then I Was Diagnosed With Colorectal Cancer.As told to Erica Rimlinger After photographing weddings for 10 years, I was preparing to put my camera down and pick up a bridal bouquet for my own wedding day. I was excited to see all my family and friends at my upcoming bridal shower, and I was really excited to marry my wonderful fiancรฉ.…
-
It Took 3 Decades for Me to Receive an Endometriosis Diagnosis
Read More: It Took 3 Decades for Me to Receive an Endometriosis DiagnosisAs told to Marnie Goodfriend Growing up in a strict, religious household, there was never a conversation around menstruation. I was 10 years old when I first got my period and was left in the dark wondering what was happening to my body. At age 13, girls and boys were split up for a half-day…
-
Access, Endometriosis, Health disparities, Health insurance, Racial disparities, Racism, Real women real stories, Women’s rights
I Was Bleeding to Death on the Bathroom Floor โ While the Medics Insisted I Couldnโt Afford the Ambulance Ride
Read More: I Was Bleeding to Death on the Bathroom Floor โ While the Medics Insisted I Couldnโt Afford the Ambulance RideAs told to Erica Rimlinger One evening during my senior year of college in Texas, I was hanging out at my boyfriend’s apartment when a vicious, blinding pain seized my abdomen. It was like Iโd been shot, but the pain wasnโt localized: it was everywhere in my torso. I started bleeding like I had my…
-
I was searching for a miracle cure for my breast cancer. I found hope instead.
Read More: I was searching for a miracle cure for my breast cancer. I found hope instead.Medical mayhem struck my life when I was 38. I found a rapidly growing, brittle breast lump during a breast self-exam in the shower. Then, a visit to the breast surgeon confirmed the lump was triple-negative breast cancer, which led to a mastectomy, eight months of chemotherapy and reconstruction. Even after that, the mayhem still…
-
Childcare, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn’s, Crohn’s disease, Digestive disorders, Ibd, Inflammatory bowel disease, Parenting, Real women real stories
It Feels Surreal When Covid Hits โ but Itโs Very Real
Read More: It Feels Surreal When Covid Hits โ but Itโs Very RealLast New Yearโs Eve, I walked into my parentโs house after running errands and heard news Iโll never forget. My mom stood by the Christmas tree, tears flowing down her cheeks. โHeโs positive. Dad just tested positive for Covid.โ It felt surreal. It couldnโt be. My family of five had just spent two days hanging…
-
Iโm an Optometrist, but That Didnโt Make It Any Easier to Tell My Grandmother She Has Macular Degeneration
Read More: Iโm an Optometrist, but That Didnโt Make It Any Easier to Tell My Grandmother She Has Macular DegenerationAs told to Jackie Froeber February is Age-Related Macular Degeneration Awareness Month. Imagine looking across the table at your loved one, but you canโt see their face. Instead, a large black blind spot takes over the center of your vision. No matter how hard you blink or rub your eyes, the blind spot stays. This…
-
Breast cancer, Breast cancer survivor, Breast health, Medical tests, Prevention, Preventive health, Real women real stories
A Preventive Double Mastectomy Helped Me Fight Breast Cancer Before It Could Attack
Read More: A Preventive Double Mastectomy Helped Me Fight Breast Cancer Before It Could AttackAs told to Nicole Audrey Spector February is National Cancer Prevention Month. I was 18 years old when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Iโll never forget the way the doctor broke the news in the stark fluorescence of an ER exam room. He spoke to my father, as though my mother โ the…
-
Bystander CPR Saved My Husbandโs Life
Read More: Bystander CPR Saved My Husbandโs LifeFebruary is American Heart Month. Fifteen years ago in February, the month our nation dedicates to cardiovascular health for American Heart Month, my 34-year-old husband had a cardiac arrest in front of me. Two months earlier, just before Christmas, our first son had been born. We’d been navigating the upside-down days and nights of new…
-
I Was Stalked for 2 Decades Before It Was a Crime
Read More: I Was Stalked for 2 Decades Before It Was a CrimeAs told to Marnie Goodfriend During my Thanksgiving break from college in 1982, I received a strange phone call from a person I didnโt know. He asked me if I was still driving a yellow Capri and dating my last high school boyfriend. I told him I didnโt know who he was, and he hung…
-
Hashimotoโs Disease Brought the Curtain Down on My Career As a Soloist in the NYC Ballet
Read More: Hashimotoโs Disease Brought the Curtain Down on My Career As a Soloist in the NYC BalletAs told to Erica Rimlinger January is Thyroid Awareness Month. From my first ballet class at the age of 3, the only thing I wanted to do was to dance. My parents tried to entice me into a well-rounded program of childhood athletics with soccer and gymnastics, but I only wanted to leap, twirl, pliรฉ…
-
Love Conquers All: My Journey as the Mother of a Transgender Daughter
Read More: Love Conquers All: My Journey as the Mother of a Transgender DaughterAs told to The Human Rights Campaign You might be interested inTransgender Childrenโs Rights Are Under AttackRemoving Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening for the LGBTQ CommunityThe Other Side of the RainbowDanica Roem Is Transcending Gender
-
Adoption, Anxiety, Chronic conditions, Endometriosis, Family, mental health, Migraine, Real women real stories
Finding My Birth Mother Changed My Life โ and the Way I Manage My Health Care
Read More: Finding My Birth Mother Changed My Life โ and the Way I Manage My Health CareWhen I was a child, my stepmother told me I had another pair of parents who lived up a beanstalk. My mother had tried to plant her seeds in the soil, but a baby never grew, so my dad and mom climbed the stalk and asked my parents if they could spare a child. โCan…
-
My Breast Reduction Gave Me My Life Back
Read More: My Breast Reduction Gave Me My Life BackAs told to Shannon Shelton Miller When I was about 11 or 12, I started developing breasts like many girls my age. Unlike them, though, mine just kept growing. One could say I was โblessedโ with large breasts pretty early on. My family and I were all surprised by this โ no one in our…
-
Chronic conditions, exercise, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Obesity, Real women real stories, Weight Loss, Weight management
I Fought Generational Obesity by Creating My Own Road Map to a Healthier, Happier Life
Read More: I Fought Generational Obesity by Creating My Own Road Map to a Healthier, Happier LifeAs told to Marnie Goodfriend I canโt recall a single childhood memory that wasnโt affected by obesity. As a 101-pound kindergartener, I remember my mom being upset when my school sent home one of those little school pictures with my weight underneath it, and I was the only child whose weight had three digits in…
-
I Took a DNA Test to Learn More About My Identity. I Gained a Father in the Process.
Read More: I Took a DNA Test to Learn More About My Identity. I Gained a Father in the Process.As told to Shannon Shelton Miller I’d heard about DNA test kits for close to 10 years before a sale finally prompted me to buy one in early 2019. I figured it was time to learn more about my heritage and close a chapter in my life. I’d never known my father. My mother suffered…
-
I Struggled With Obesity. Then I Lost the Weight โฆ and Nearly Died From Anorexia and Bulimia.
Read More: I Struggled With Obesity. Then I Lost the Weight โฆ and Nearly Died From Anorexia and Bulimia.As told to Erica Rimlinger The first part of my journey was with obesity, starting at the age of 2 1/2. I first understood, from my mother’s words and actions, that I was “fat” and “fat” was not good, even cause for alarm. Therefore I was not good, or good enough. The message I repeatedly…
-
Anxiety, Bone joint health, Chronic conditions, Depression, mental health, Real women real stories, Skin, Skin health, Stress
Listen to Healthcare Providers, but Trust Your Body and Yourself
Read More: Listen to Healthcare Providers, but Trust Your Body and YourselfAs told to Liz Sauchelli When I was 30, I woke up one morning unable to move a single joint in my body. I’d gone to sleep the night before feeling unwell, but I didn’t think much of it. I was still recovering from the birth of my third child, and it had been a…
-
Bone joint health, Chronic conditions, Nutrition, Real women real stories, Skin, Skin health, Stress
Living with Psoriasis My Entire Life, I Knew I Could Develop Psoriatic Arthritis
Read More: Living with Psoriasis My Entire Life, I Knew I Could Develop Psoriatic ArthritisAs told to Erica Rimlinger My grandmother had psoriasis, an auto-immune condition that affects the skin. Although it can be inherited, none of her children have it, none of my 10 cousins have it, and none of my three brothers and sisters have it. But I do. In fact, I’ve been living with it for…
-
Thanksgiving Will Always Be Difficult For Me. Hereโs How I Cope.
Read More: Thanksgiving Will Always Be Difficult For Me. Hereโs How I Cope.As told to Vidya Rao The following article contains specific descriptions of an eating disorder. If you feel that you might be triggered by the content, please read with caution. For so long, I dreaded the lead up to Thanksgiving. The feeling of anxiety would begin weeks beforehand. While this food-centric holiday is joyous for…
-
I Could Have Stopped Cervical Cancer With a Routine Test
Read More: I Could Have Stopped Cervical Cancer With a Routine TestAs told to Jackie Froeber I was 46 years old when I gave birth to my daughter, Nevah. I call her a miracle, not only because my high-risk pregnancy was enjoyable (except the heartburn!) but because doctors told me previously that I wouldn’t be able to have kids without medical intervention due to my irregular…
