I'm not at all inclined to believe any of the flotsam floating around out there about the state of Angelina Jolie's twins' health. I am inclined to believe, however, the bits about Angelina suffering from post partum depression (PPD). Ange is a mom just like the rest of us, and, like most new moms, she is probably experiencing it on some level.
According to reports, Angie is in a tither over the health of twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon and is depressed. She is crying throughout the day and exhausted from sleepless nights. Well, welcome to early motherhood! Birth is a big deal, however you do it. Between the act of giving birth and all the pregnancy hormones flowing in and out of your body, crying is probably the least of it. Some women get PPD so badly they impart harm to themselves, their spouses and their children. Ange will be lucky if she gets away with just crying.
Having been through a milder form of PPD myself, I can say that sometimes the crying seems as if it will never end. The sadness seems insurmountable and the lack of control overwhelming. But, hope is around the corner--women and their doctors are more aware of PPD and how to treat it. Even superwomen/supermoms like Angelina Jolie are not immune to PPD or other post-natal symptoms. Let's hope that's all it is, and that she is able to get the help and understand--and support, especially from Brad--she needs in order to get better!
The new 90210 has put the old (old as in former, not as in old... ahem. Because if they're old, that might mean I am too) Beverly Hill teens into the spotlight again. Though Jennie Garth may have a role in the new series, she recently told US Magazine that she'd been living her own, real-life drama earlier this year.
Jennie's 5-year-old daughter fell several months ago, and the family didn't know what was wrong with her. "I was basically locked in a closet with her for three months," said Garth. Doctors finally diagnosed Jennie's daughter with JRA, or Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. She's been treated, says Garth, and is now healthy and in remission. In the midst of this crisis, however, Jennie's father died. "I had this six months of hell," she said.
JRA is the most common form of juvenile arthritis. The disease causes swelling of the joints, rashes, and fevers. Rarely, JRA can be a chronic, lifetime condition, but most children, like Jennie's, go into remission. It's scary enough when kids get sick, but when the cause is unknown, the fear factor is multiplied. Now that Jennie's daughter has recovered, she's turning her sites on reprising her role as Kelly Taylor in the new series.
Yes, you read that right. A little early for Halloween, sure, but this is one of those stories too weird--and creepy--to not be true. A Greater Manchester man who police and family thought was dead re-entered their lives after his son spotted him on television. The man, John Delaney, was believed to have died in April of 2000. Police accidentally misidentified a body as his and his family had a funeral for him, cremating the body of what they believed to be the patriarch in 2003.
Delaney had actually suffered a head injury and been admitted to a hospital days later. He suffered amnesia and was unable to give medical professionals his name. He was transferred to a home and stayed there for eight years before his son identified him while watching a show about missing people.
The son, John Renehan, said that while his father had been cremated, he "knew" the man he saw on television was his father. And he was right. Goes to show you have to trust your instincts sometimes. Now the family is happily reunited in what is truly an amazing story for the books. Sadly, the body of the person who was believed to be Delaney and subsequently cremated, has yet to be identified.
Suicide rates among the nation's youth continue to climb. Many experts fear the reason for this is due to fewer antidepressants being prescribed. After a fifteen-year decline the rates are climbing--what was seen as a possibly random increase in 2004 was repeated in 2005. The outcome of the study of 2004 and 2005 tracked outcomes based on actual instances from 1996 through 2003. After more than a decade of decline, suicide rates among those from 10-19 years of age skyrocketed by 18% in 2004, the largest increase in a one-year time period over fifteen years. Researcher Jeff Bridge feels, based on this study, that we could be on the verge of a public health crisis.
Bridges sites possible reasons for the increase, including online and social networking as well as returning from deployment overseas in Iraq along with the controversy over giving youth antidepressants. In a 2003 a public health advisory was issued noting children who were prescribed SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, were more likely to attempt suicide or engage in suicidal behavior. The result was the black box information on such medicines as well as doctors being less confident in prescribing them. In another study, however, Bridge noted that such treatment could be beneficial for children in the short-term.
According to Diana Zuckerman, National Research Center for Women & Families, children may be more likely to attempt suicide now due to the lagging economy, the stress of not having enough money for college and because those with depression go undiagnosed. She also noted a factor could be that families aren't spending enough time together.
Children born to men who are older than the ripe old age of 30 are more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder, according to a new study. The results of the study, published in the Archives of General Psychology, suggest that the risk increases as the age of the father increases. Bipolar disorder is more commonly known as manic depression. Symptoms of the disorder include periods of extreme happiness offset by mood swings of severe depression and hopelessness.
The reason for the connection? According to Emma Frans of Sweden, who led the study, it could be that older men have more degraded sperm. The Swedish research team used a national medical registry of 14,000 who had the disorder along with five people without the disorder for each person in the registry to uncover the connection. After factoring for the mother's age, the results indicated that those with fathers over 30 had an 11% increase in risk and those with fathers as old as 55 had a 37% increased risk. Frans was quick to point out that the results shouldn't keep older men from fathering children all together, but that they should be aware of the increased risks.
Older fathers have also been linked to autism and schizophrenia.
With my first pregnancy, everything was done by the book. My OBGYNs were staunchly against inducing until a full two weeks after my due date. They were also against scheduling a C-section barring there was no medical reason to do so. In other words, they viewed pregnancy and birth as a natural thing that should happen when good and ready, not something that needed to be scheduled in time for a tennis match or dinner plans (theirs or mine).
This time around, nearly twenty months later, I received a slightly different tune. My child is due relatively near Halloween (my father's birthday and my favorite day of the year). I'd inquired if the two-week rule still applied as I thought there would be a slight possibility my child could be born on Halloween. My OBGYN wanted to know if I wanted to schedule an induction. She noted that a woman had recently done so because of childcare issues--she had to have the baby at a certain time in order to find someone to watch her other child.
So the message was a little different this time around. Have we gotten so busy and our lives so scheduled that we need to induce our labors in order to fit into them? Sure, no one likes the thought of not knowing when the baby will arrive--you could be in the middle of a subway ride or something--but isn't that half the fun and excitement, too? Some would say that fun and excitement have their place, but not when it comes to having a baby. They want to know exactly when and where (usually they've got the why and how figured out).
What about you? Would you or did you schedule an induction for something other than medical reasons or that it was two weeks past your due date? If so, why?
According to a recent report, infections may be the cause of many premature births. Studies showed the more serious the infection, the more likely the premature birth and the sicker the infant. Studies also reported finding bacteria or (yick!) fungi in 15% of the amniotic fluid of women who'd given birth prematurely. Premature children are known to have an increased risk of everything from problems breathing and underdeveloped organs to cerebal palsy.
Prevention, of course, is the key. Twelve percent of births in the United States occur before the 37th week of pregnancy. Just how many of these could be preventable? The team responsible for conducting the study of infected amniotic fluid now have their sights set on detecting the infection before preterm labor starts and treating it.
The researchers studied 166 samples of amniotic fluid from pregnant women during the period of 1998-2002. They detected 25 were infected with the bacteria, fungi, or...what might be a new organism (very X-Files). All 25 infected women went on to preterm labor. Fifty-three women in whom no bacteria, etc. was detected, were able to have their preterm labor stopped.
Is there a downside to breastfeeding? A new report from the New York Times might have you thinking so. In a recent article, several studies monitoring a lack of vitamin D in infants might support that breastmilk is not enough to prevent things like rickets in children. The biggest fear is that the deficiency is more common than previously thought and is going undetected. Breastmilk apparently does not necessarily provide enough of the vitamin to children.
Doctors, of course, are rare to say anything at all negative about breastfeeding. Unlike perhaps even fifty years ago, women are being told that they simply must breastfeed, that they are wrong for not doing so, and that breastmilk is the ultimate wonder food for their infants. This may well be true, but the medical profession that's been pushing breastfeeding down our throats has also admitted to knowing there is a probable link between vitamin D deficiency and diseases like diabetes and cancer.
The answer, of course, is not to stop breastfeeding, but rather to augment a child's nutrition by adding vitamin drops, or, my favorite, cod liver oil (yummy!). The other pretty obvious answer is that if a woman is deficient in something, so, too, will be her breastmilk. Mothers should be getting plenty of vitamin D themselves in order to pass on the right amount to their infants. That should be good news to those of us who are committed to breastfeeding exclusively for as long as possible. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and my own pediatrician recommend supplementing with the vitamin D drops.
Thoughts? I for one drink enough milk while pregnant and nursing to keep a small dairy in business. Is it enough? Who knows. Did you supplement breastfeeding with vitamins for your infants or enjoy a little cod liver oil?
Pimples are no fun, whether you're 13 or 30. Though anyone can be surprised by a blemish (usually just before an important event), teens are much more prone to acne due to their raging hormones, and some teens develop especially severe cases that can even leave scars. Having to navigate the minefield that is the high school social scene is hard enough without the additional challenge of acne, but teens aren't willing to break the bank to avoid it.
A recent survey found teens would pay a median of $275 to have never developed acne, $100 to have their acne disappear, $10 for half their acne to go away, and nothing for clear skin, but with scarring. Parents would pay $250 for their children to have never had acne, $100 for acne to completely to clear up or for 50% clearance, and nothing for acne with scarring.
While $275 is no small amount, for forever perfectly clear skin it just doesn't seem like that much. I'm long past the stage of worrying about pimples, but if someone asked my how much I'd pay to have my 20-year-old body back, I'd pull out my wallet and give them everything I had.
It's the time of year when school nurses across the country are looking over student's immunization records to make sure they've had all the shots they need in order to attend class. But as we've discussed here many times before, not all students will be required to show proof of immunizations before being allowed in school. Every state in the U.S. allows students to skip the shots if their parents object for medical reasons and most states allow an exemption for religious reasons. And with the growing fears that autism and other disorders might be tied to immunizations, more parents are claiming those exemptions.
Skipping the shots may give some parents peace of mind, but it is also being blamed for the increase in measles cases. The first half of 2008 saw 131 cases of the highly contagious disease, compared to just 42 in the entirety of 2007. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 112 of this year's cases were in people who were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.
"At the national level, I am concerned about our situation," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "Every year, the U.S. experiences importation of measles. What is different this year is once it is imported, we are seeing it spread to more people, and most of that spread is to people under 20."
Dr. Neal Halsey, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that many parents who don't immunize mistakenly believe that the risk of contracting measles is very low. "That is, unfortunately, a false belief," he says. "It is important we maintain high disease vaccination. Getting vaccinated is the safest thing we can do for children."
Second trimester ultrasounds have taken the guesswork out of pregnancy. If you want to know if you should paint the nursery blue or a sweet shade of pink, all you have to do is ask. But for couples who choose not to find out the sex of their baby or who, for whatever reason, don't get that mid-pregnancy ultrasound (my first OB did only a first trimester viability ultrasound and that was it), trying to figure out what you're having before delivery day can be kind of fun.
Nearly every myth about guessing the gender of the baby has been debunked, but scientists who study such things are finding that one of those old wives tales just might be true after all. Women who have the most severe morning sickness symptoms in pregnancy have a higher likelihood of having a girl.
The women who were in the study had been hospitalized with morning sickness or had developed a condition called hypermesis gravidarum. So if you find yourself kneeling in front of the toilet every morning or downing Saltines, sleeve after sleeve, it doesn't mean you should return that little blue onesie. But it is curious that these women with the most severe symptoms were more likely (up to 80% more likely, in fact) to deliver a girl. I wonder why -- any theories?
Having a sick child is no fun for anyone and we all try to avoid it as best we can. For me, not wanting my 7-year-old to get sick is more than about not wanting her to feel bad and maybe miss a day or two of school. It's the medicine. Getting meds down her throat is almost as difficult as bathing the cat. But with the cat, I can at least employ some brute force to get it done. With Ellie, I have a more subtle bag of tricks involving child psychology, bribes and usually something sweet to help wash it down. That something sweet is often juice, which according to new research, might not actually be the best way to help the medicine go down.
Grapefruit juice has long been known to interact with some drugs in a way that can cause blood concentration of the medication to reach toxic levels. But a new study has found that grapefruit and other fruit juices may also block the effects of some drugs. In the study, which was conducted with adult patients, grapefruit, orange and apple juices were found to reduce the absorption of the anticancer drug etoposide; certain beta blockers; cyclosporine, which is used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs; and some antibiotics.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Dr. David G. Bailey, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Ontario. "I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way."
Dr. Bailey recommends taking most medications with water and advises patients to consult their doctor or pharmacist before taking any medications with grapefruit or other juices.
Unless you've been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you've probably at least heard of Michael Phelps. Even when other swimmers are winning, NBC likes to flash footage of the record-breaking Olympic star. But what people may not realize about 23-year-old swimmer is that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child.
Debbie Phelps, Michael's mom (who you've probably seen cheering and swooning on TV), recently talked to EverydayHealth about Michael's initial ADHD diagnosis and how the family handled it as a team. Though Michael was on medication early on, he was able to be weaned off of it in middle school, in part because of his heavy participation in swimming. Debbie is a school principal, and she's also an active participant in the ADHD Moms Online Community. There, she has an article with tips for parents of ADHD children who are getting ready to start the school year, including:
Being overweight is tough for a kid. There are many options toward weight loss, but some are more (or less) appealing than others. For many, over the years, the weight-loss camp has been a dream. But, while "fat camp" is almost as American as apple pie, it's now going the way of many other American dreams--it's too darned expensive to attend. Like any other camp, weight-loss camp costs money to run and maintain. With more than nine million children who are considered obese in this country, such camp can seem like a knight in shining armor for families struggling to get their kids' weight under control. The weight-loss camps, while they can be affective, are far from free. Few to none accept insurance.
The government generally offers no more assistance than insurance companies. Instead the children rely on their essay writing skills and other means to win scholarships to attend. Yes, even weight loss camp is something only possible for the rich. Corporate sponsorship is one way to help get kids who can't afford the often more than $1,000-a-week pricetag what they need. Advocacy groups are being formed, such as the Childhood Obesity Treatment in Action. Some tax deductions are coming into play, and some insurance is starting to cover a portion of the cost--mostly in the cognitive behavior area.
But is it enough? Rarely. And financial cost is to say nothing of the emotional cost to the children, who are often left with either feeling exploited by their situation--their essays and their experiences become the property of the camp, who share that information freely with the media in hopes of growing the industry--and/or have to deal with life after camp, which can be even harder than before they found their salvation. While most children lose some portion of their body weight at the camps, few manage to keep it off after returning to the real world.
Red Bull, the popular energy drink may give you wings in more ways than one -- according to an Australian study, they might get you a harp as well and a new, fluffy home in the clouds. Researchers found that even one can of sugar-free Red Bull appears to make blood more "sticky," increasing the risk of blood clots.
"After one can it seemed to turn the young individual into one with more of the type of profile you would expect to see with someone with cardiovascular disease," said Scott Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Adelaide University. "People who already have existing cardiovascular disease may want to talk to their physician before they drink Red Bull in future."
"The study does not show effects which would go beyond that of drinking a cup of coffee," says Red Bull spokeswoman Linda Rychter. "Therefore, the reported results were to be expected and lie within the normal physiological range." Some of students that participated in the study said they drink as many as eight cans of Red Bull a night when they want to stay awake to study; the cans already warn customers not to drink more than two a day.
Although the study was done with college students, I know that a lot of high school students -- and kids even younger -- drink Red Bull. It might be worthwhile to talk to them to make sure they don't drink too much.
I'm not at all inclined to believe any of the flotsam floating around out there about the state of Angelina Jolie's twins' health. I am inclined to believe, however, the bits about Angelina suffering from post partum depression (PPD). Ange is a mom just like the rest of us, and, like most new moms, she is probably experiencing it on some level.
The new 90210 has put the old (old as in former, not as in old... ahem. Because if they're old, that might mean I am too) Beverly Hill teens into the spotlight again. Though Jennie Garth may have a role in the new series, she recently told US Magazine that she'd been living 
It's the time of year when school nurses across the country are looking over student's immunization records to make sure they've had all the shots they need in order to attend class. But as we've 
Having a sick child is no fun for anyone and we all try to avoid it as best we can. For me, not wanting my 7-year-old to get sick is more than about not wanting her to feel bad and maybe miss a day or two of school. It's the medicine. Getting meds down her throat is almost as difficult as bathing the cat. But with the cat, I can at least employ some brute force to get it done. With Ellie, I have a more subtle bag of tricks involving child psychology, bribes and usually something sweet to help wash it down. That something sweet is often juice, which according to new research, might not actually be the best way to help the medicine go down.
Unless you've been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you've probably at least heard of Michael Phelps. Even when other swimmers are winning, NBC likes to flash footage of the record-breaking Olympic star. But what people may not realize about 23-year-old swimmer is that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child.
