World AIDS Day

 

 

Saturday was World AIDS day and the world took some time to educate and spread awareness.  The AIDS quilt was right around the corner from us here in Las Vegas.  It stopped in Bakersfield, CA on its tour.  In this day and age, no one should contract the disease let alone die from it.  There are so many ways to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV, however there is no cure once a person contracts the virus.

According to WebMD’s Web site,

Anyone can get HIV if they engage in certain activities. You may have a higher risk of getting HIV if you:

• Have unprotected sex. This means vaginal or anal intercourse without a condom or oral sex without a latex barrier with a person infected with HIV.
• Share needles to inject drugs or steroids with an infected person. The disease can also be transmitted by dirty needles used to make a tattoo or in body piercing.
• Receive a blood transfusion from an infected person. This is very unlikely in the U.S. and Western Europe, where all blood is tested for HIV infection.
• Are born to a mother with HIV infection. A baby can also get HIV from the breast milk of an infected woman.

Recently in Chicago, there were four transplants that were performed on patients who did not have the virus. After the transplant, they tested positive for HIV. Transplants may seem safe, but they actually can be very deadly, as in this case. The donor was tested before the transplants, but the doctors explained after finding out the shocking news, that if a donor contracts the virus close to the time of the test, it will show up negative. 

Take the time today to learn more about HIV and AIDS and get tested! 

Can You See Me Now?

I have had contact lenses for years now and I can say that I am one of 79 percent of the seeing impaired that don’t properly care for my eyes or lenses. I always try to make an effort to take them out before I sleep, but I either fall asleep before I do or I am just too lazy. The sad part is, well over half of the people who wear contact lenses, have the same bad habits as I do.

According to WebMD, the leading cause of blindness in America is macular degeneration. In order to avoid falling victim to this condition, take the following precautions from the American Optometric Association with your contact lenses:

• Always wash your hands before handling contact lenses.
• Carefully and regularly clean contact lenses as directed by your optometrist (or other eye care provider).
• Store lenses in the proper lens storage case.
• Replace the lens storage case at least every three months.
• Clean the lens case after each use, and keep it open and dry between cleanings.
• Use only products recommended by your optometrist (or other eye care provider) to clean and store contact lenses.
• Always follow the recommended contact lens replacement schedule.
• Remove contact lenses before swimming or entering a hot tub.
• See your optometrist (or other eye care provider) for your regularly scheduled contact lens and eye examination.

If anyone knows how difficult it is to always remember to remove your contacts before sleeping or showering, it is me. I have vowed to get better at regularly cleaning and changing my cases, taking my lenses out before sleeping and to keep track of how long I have worn one pair. Join me in the quest to decrease the number of people who develop macular degeneration.

Women Three Times As Likely As Men to Have Migraines

So it’s not bad enough that every single month we get an unfriendly visitor for a week, along with cramps, bloating and moodiness. Or that we are the ones that carry a hungry and growing little package for nine months, only to care for it for at least 18 years after it’s born. No, that stuff isn’t enough. We have to be more likely than men to get debilitating headaches as well.

Women are three times as likely as men to suffer from migraine headaches, and a new study suggests the reason may be that their brains are faster to activate the cascading waves of activity thought to cause migraine pain as well as other migraine symptoms.Researchers say migraines were once thought to be caused by constriction and dilation of blood vessels. But advances in brain imaging technology now suggest that migraines may start as a result of brain excitability.

I am one of those women. Every once in awhile I get a headache that is so excruciating that I can’t move. I can’t open my eyes or sleep or listen to any kind of noise. Basically no over-the-counter medicines relieve the pain. So I either have to O.D. on over-the-counter meds, get a prescription that may not in fact work or just bear down and endure the pain until it desists.

There are many causes of migraines in women. Diet, sleep patterns, genes and hormones, menstrual cycle or stress can all trigger these pesky headaches. If you suffer, as millions of us do, from migraines, try to keep track of the conditions under which you get them. Write down the weather condition, what you ate that day, your mood, if you’re on your period. Anything that can help identify triggers may help reduce your chances of getting migraines. After observing a few migraines, bring the findings to your doctor and hopefully he/she can shed some light on what it is causing the headaches. Once you have an idea of the cause, a remedy is a lot more likely to be found.

Have You Scheduled Your Annual Yet?

I am 22 years old and I have been getting annual gynecological checkups since I was 16.  It blows my mind that some girls my age have NEVER gotten one.  Girls, girls, girls.  Let me explain some things that may be of interest to you and why avoiding this little appointment once a year could be dangerous.

At your annual checkup, the gynecologist will do a full examination-including checking your breast for lumps, checking your ovaries and the not so fabulous Pap smear.  Ok, so yeah, it is uncomfortable for about a minute.  But, would you rather have discomfort for a minute or cervical cancer for who knows how long?  Yes ladies, Pap tests, if abnormal, could reveal cervical cancer cells.  If detected early, it is treatable.  Why would you chance cancer?

On WebMD.com they explain:

According to ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ), the Pap test should be done annually until age 30. After 30, if a healthy woman has had three completely normal and satisfactory Pap tests, she may be able to have a Pap test every two to three years (but should still see a gynecologist every year for an exam). Cervical cancer was once the leading cause of death for women in the U.S., but the widespread use of the Pap test has significantly decreased deaths from this cancer.

With all of this new technology and ways of preventing disease, there is no excuse for missing your annual. Like I said, I had been going for annuals since I was 16, and when one of my Pap tests came back abnormal, I thought, “Who, me?” No matter how careful and diligent you are, cancer, or in my case, HPV, is not picky about who it choses.

HPV, the human papillomavirus, is an extremely common sexually transmitted virus. In women around my age, the chance of it going away are almost 80 percent. But, some strains of HPV, if untreated, can lead to cervical cancer.

The new vaccine, Gardasil, protects against certain strains of HPV. Although my particular case of HPV did go away, the events leading up to that were not so fun. Biopsies and Pap tests every three months dominated my life for almost a year until I was rid of the virus.

Girls, please, for your sake, take a few minutes out of your day once a year and go get an annual gynecological checkup! Just remember, it can never hurt, only help.