by Kristen King on February 25, 2009
(www.sass-pants.com) — There’s a crappy period, and then there’s menorrhagia.
Women with menorrhagia experience extremely heavy blood loss with each period. We’re talking more than double that of an average period (30-40 mL is standard), a flow that will soak through a regular pad or tampon in an hour. Women with menorrhagia often suffer from severe cramping and constant abdominal pain during every period, and it can interfere with their ability to lead a normal life.
Robin McIvor is a woman who overcame menorrhagia through endometrial ablation, and she was kind enough to talk to me about her life and her experience.
Sass Pants: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Robin McIvor: I’m a 38 year old Vancouver, Wash., resident where I live with my husband and daughter. My background was always medical. I have been a caregiver from the time I was in high school, I was a CNA and then I joined the Army. In the Army I was an optician and an optometric technician for a period of time, and then the military sent me to nursing school. I have been a nurse since 1993 when I graduated, and I have worked in the VA as a floor nurse, as a med-surg nurse, and then in 1996 I got hired in the emergency department in Vancouver, Wash., at the Southwest Washington Medical Center, where I currently work as a nurse. I currently work full time as a fireman and part time as a nurse.
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by Kristen King on February 9, 2009
(www.sass-pants.com) — Did you know that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women age 20 and older? Or that it kills more women than the next 7 leading causes of death combined? Heart health is crucial to long life, but in today’s busy world, it’s easy to let simple health practices fall by the wayside.
Rite Aid is partnering with the American Heart Association and its “Go Red for Women” campaign by helping customers get heart smart with a free 12-page guide on heart health, available in all its pharmacies nationwide, and interactively online now through March 28. The stakes couldn’t be higher – an estimated 70,000 American women will succumb to heart disease in the next two months alone, according to the American Heart Association.
The first step to preventing heart disease is education, and trained Rite Aid pharmacists are a convenient and trusted source for personalized heart health tips. Rite Aid customers also can pick up the heart health guide, which was developed in conjunction with the experts at the American Heart Association and explains:
- How to identify your risks for heart disease
- The numbers behind heart disease: Body Mass Index (BMI), cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar
- How to quickly identify symptoms of a stroke, which is similar to a heart attack except that the blood flow to the brain is interrupted
- Tips on how to realize a healthy lifestyle of exercise and proper diet
Online content available now through http://www.riteaid.com/health/heart includes:
- The “Go Red for Women” heart checkup
- The American Heart Association’s heart profiler
- Information on the connection between gum disease and heart health
- Information on quitting smoking including an interactive timeline of health after smoking, a “smokulator” to tally smoke-free savings, and a customizable quitting plan including topics to discuss with your doctor or Rite Aid pharmacist
- The Give Me 5 stroke warning signs
To further bolster the fight against heart disease, Rite Aid again is raising money for American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign, which aims to debunk the myth that heart disease is a “man’s disease” and to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke in women by 25 percent by 2010.
Rite Aid associates nationwide will sell red dress pin-ups throughout February for donations of $1 or more. In return, customers will receive coupons for heart healthy products and other items. Customers who buy $30 worth of select heart-related products will receive a “Heart and Soul” T-shirt through Rite Aid’s Single Check Rebate program. Special heart-healthy displays also are in stores featuring products such as aspirin and fish oil that may boost heart health.
Whether you participate in the Go Red for Women campaign or not, take a few moments to review the heart health guide and make sure you’re doing everything you can to stay healthy.
Contents Copyright © 2009 Kristen King
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