I used to be invincible, or so I thought. Now I’m a cautious—okay, sometimes nervous—female baby boomer in Southern California who thinks: “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it.” For just a few bucks What “was” can change to what “is” in one …
Mind Your Body
No (mental) depression recession
Major depression affects 15 million American adults, or approximately 5-8 percent of the adult population in a given year. You don’t need a study to tell you the current economy is pushing rates of anxiety and depression to new highs because so many …
No excuse for elder abuse | What you can do
Mind Your Body TV Episode 5 with Mary Twomey. (Elder Abuse: Part I) This year's World Elder Abuse Awareness Day occurs on June 15, quietly proclaiming a dirty little secret that isn’t so little after all: It's the same day every year. "Abuse" takes …
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Generations X, Y and Alzheimer’s
I tend to look at statistics in a different way than many people because I’m a health journalist. True, I am not a “numbers person,” proven in fifth grade’s aptitude testing battery, so I might not otherwise pay as much attention. I do actually read …
Patient calling…and the doctor actually answers
No, you’re not dreaming. You call the doctor’s number, record your chief complaint—what’s bothering you—and the doctor picks up the phone. No checking at the front desk first and then talking to a nurse. Launched last October and operating in 18 …
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Living longer, but not better
Americans have an insatiable desire for health information as reflected in Pew Internet Center’s findings. The experts there say that 80 percent of us use the Internet to search for health information and that it’s the third most popular online …
Hospitals go Hollywood
There’s just something about a doctor, nurse or other employee shakin’ white-coated booty in the hallowed halls of a hospital that is so endearing. And funny. In case you haven’t noticed, the trend of online videos is infectious—and has transcended …
Kiddy cats: The sheer joy of pets
Earlier this year, I attended a taping of the only show devoted to Real News of the OC, Real Orange, at the former KOCE-TV in Huntington Beach, Calif. The station had just assumed the expanded role of PBS SoCaL. On the studio door, I noticed an …
Every party needs a pooper: This one had plenty
Ya’ gotta’ hand it to the awesome gals at Aging but Dangerous™. They didn't let any grass grow under their feet or any polyps in their colons. Take The World’s Largest Colonoscopy Party, held March 31 at the Depot Minneapolis Renaissance Hotel. …
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Bye, bye, bioidenticals?
I’ve been on bioidentical hormones for what is certainly not deemed “short-term” use. Actually, it’s been eight years. (I can hear you gasp.) That’s even as I am literally swimming in all the reasons I shouldn’t be taking them, as well as for me …
About face: Plastic surgery experiences slight surge
Grammys, Oscars and Emmys send me running to the mirror, those near-perfect faces and bodies making me reassess whether I need “redoing” from head to toe to keep up with (fill in the celebrity name). I'm not suggesting everyone run out and "have work …
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Capturing cancer in the blood
“Now, you’ll feel a little pinch,” says the nurse, as she draws a patient’s blood. Perhaps as soon as three to five years from now a simple blood sample can answer the complex question: “Do I have cancer?” or even “Do I still have cancer?” Seems like …