Make Health My Homepage
More Ways to Get Health!
gift newsletter igoogle healthyvoice
Hot Topic: Breast Cancer Screening Guide

CATEGORIES

RECENT POSTS

Poked & Prodded
RSS Feed

CONTRIBUTORS

More about Poked & Prodded
Adventures in being sick, getting better, staying well.

ARCHIVES

November 2009
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
See Complete Archive

Skin Cancer and Pregnancy: What Every Woman Should Know

By Erica Kain | May 22, 2009
By Erica Kain

During pregnancy, most women experience some kind of hyperpigmentation or skin pigmentation disorder. Melasma, especially common in pregnant women, creates a pregnancy “mask” which can resemble the Lone Ranger.

For me, I not only develop crazy skin tags, which tend to fall off or disappear postpartum, but I also notice more moles and darker freckles popping up on my skin. It’s all part of the drill.

According to my dermatologist, the sudden outcropping of cherry angiomas on my upper thighs is a typical reaction to pregnancy as well. These angiomas are tiny, dark red, and, unfortunately for me, persistent. They don’t go away after pregnancy.

Since I became pregnant, one red spot on my knee had grown and become raised, which is what led me to visit my dermatologist for a skin check. To my relief, he wasn’t worried about the raised red bump. He injected a numbing agent under the spot and removed it, preparing to send it off to a pathologist. The biopsy will ensure it wasn’t an errant Spitz nevus, which usually only occurs in younger people.

I stared at that growing spot during the past few months and even looked at the pictures from How to Spot Skin Cancer, thinking it could it be basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

But the doctor feels certain, based on the enthusiasm with which cherry angiomas sprouted up on my body during this pregnancy, that it’s just a large cherry angioma and nothing to worry about. I was glad to have my concerns alleviated, and get that spot biopsied just in case.

Next: Why pregnant women should be concerned

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (6)

3 Must-Have Pregnancy Products

By Erica Kain | May 14, 2009
By Erica Kain

This week, I crossed an incredible finish line: my fetus is officially considered “term.”

When we thought I’d miscarried at six weeks, I thought we’d never pass this marker. Now I feel an overwhelming amount of gratitude to the supportive readers and editors of this blog, the friends and family who fed and cared for my children while I suffered from tough pregnancy symptoms such as bleeding and fluid leakage, and even some inanimate objects that have made my pregnancy bearable.

Thank you, nasal dilator strips, medicated wipes, and anti-chafing gel, for helping this pregnant lady through her darkest hours.

Nasal dilator strips let me (and my husband) sleep
Snoring more than I have in my whole life is one of the less glamorous sides to pregnancy. Snoring is a side effect of narrowing upper airways that can wake us up while shocking and alienating our long-suffering husbands.

My 50-pound weight gain might have something to do with it. This sonorous effect could be directly related to a pregnant women’s weight, according to a study published in European Respiratory Journal.

A good night’s sleep is the ticket to a healthier pregnancy, as well as combating postpartum depression. But this is much easier said than done, with multiple trips to the bathroom, heartburn, back pain, and now sawing logs all night.

After three pregnancies, however, I’ve found that a carefully applied nasal dilator strip stops my most egregious snoring and makes it easier for me to fall asleep after a bathroom trip—minus all the honking and sniffling.

Medicated wipes: a pregnant girl’s best friend
A big stack of flushable medicated wipes has been stationed in our bathroom for many months now, and they’ve been a lifesaver.

A pregnant woman’s chance of developing hemorrhoids peaks in the third trimester, according to the March of Dimes.

So yes, we glowing mothers-to-be have special problems “down there.” On top of this, many of us suffer from alternating constipation and diarrhea (the glamor just doesn’t stop). This was the problem that led me to an emergency ultrasound at 14 weeks—when my constipation caused vaginal bleeding. And it’s still lurking around to vex me, 23 weeks later.

Additional urine leakage and vaginal discharge can also characterize the third trimester, so you can imagine that the constant application of these witch hazel pads has become a necessity in my life. They are simply gentler and more “thorough.”

The little gel that makes strolls bearable
Another lifesaver for my summer pregnancies has been anti-chafing gel. This little secret is passed down from pregnant lady to pregnant lady, and I’m happy to share it with the world at large. Monistat makes a Soothing Care Chafing Relief Powder Gel that eliminates the friction between a pregnant lady’s legs when she walks.

The extra 50 pounds I’ve gained isn’t all sitting on my gut—I can feel the effects all over my body, most unpleasantly on my thighs. In the months following my new daughter’s birth, I will lose this growing layer of extra fat: the extra chins will disappear, the chunky legs will shrink, and I will be able to wear my watch and wedding ring again. But for now, when I am wearing one of my massive, tentlike maternity dresses, my thighs chafe when I walk unless I use anti-chafing gel.

It makes life so much more comfortable to have this gel on hand and, if I have any left after the pregnancy, I hear that it doubles as a makeup primer. (Although I can’t imagine having much time for makeup once the baby is born!)

With just two weeks until the day of my C-section, time seems to be moving quickly and glacially at the same time. I’m getting a little more sleep (with help), feeling more comfortable (also with help!), and enjoying the last moments of pre-infant “quiet” in our home.

Previous posts by Erica Kain:

Personalizing My Elective C-Section
Bellies, Well-Fed: New Pregnancy Nutrition Book Feeds Our Whole Family
Third Trimester: A Literal Pain in the Rear
Permanent Link | Comments (4)

Bellies, Well-Fed: New Pregnancy Nutrition Book Feeds Our Whole Family

By Erica Kain | May 7, 2009
By Erica Kain

This week it was my privilege to take Frances Largeman-Roth’s brand new book, Feed the Belly, for a test drive. And as the senior food and nutrition editor at Health magazine, Largeman-Roth certainly knows her stuff.

I knew this book was written by and for a pregnant woman when I saw the chocolate recipes were featured FIRST. I found this helpful, as waiting for dessert is often not an option for me.

Though I haven’t followed very much of her advice—I have overeaten since the day my nausea abated and consider my kids’ ”Music Together” class enough exercise for the week—her research is fascinating. Did you know women who ate chocolate while pregnant may have reduced risk of preeclampsia? But reading this book did alter some of my eating habits. She inspired me to fire up my blender, and I’ve been making smoothies and milkshakes loaded with potassium and calcium, curing my pesky leg cramps.

But I also had to remember that the book isn’t necessarily written for women in the suburbs, on a budget, and raising two small kids. So, I had to skim past her advice for my own sanity.

With its sometimes obscure ingredients (dark chocolate syrup with extra calcium), expensive alternatives (bison meat), and detailed nutritional guidelines for pregnant women, I had to let some of the more idealistic ingredients and suggested daily menus roll past me unheeded.

She includes a very helpful chapter, called “Germ Patrol,” offering tips on avoiding contact with harmful bacteria during pregnancy. It includes good advice, but there aren’t enough disinfecting surface wipes in the world to handle one day of the Kain family’s encounters with slimy harmonicas, questionable bathrooms, and E. coli-infested high chairs. And that’s before we even leave our house.

And her chapter about dealing with morning sickness is very helpful for normal women experiencing typical morning sickness, not women like me who have debilitating hyperemesis that renders them dependent on Zofran.

If I were giving this book as a gift to a woman who is as sick as I’ve been during my pregnancies, I’d staple the section regarding nutritional ideals (e.g., 450 mg of choline/day, 200 mg of omega-3/day) shut, so that she doesn’t freak out about potentially stunting the growth of her embryo while she lives on three tater tots and a cup of cold tea a day.

The best part of the book are the recipes—which my fetus and I enjoyed immensely. However, some of the recipes were only appealing to me—the non-pregnant members of my family weren’t always as taken with them as I was.

Next: Feeding my belly

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (3)

Why My Sweat Sessions Ended When I Got Pregnant

By Erica Kain | April 30, 2009
By Erica Kain

Confession: I stopped my entire exercise routine the moment a second line appeared on my pregnancy test.

Trust me, I know fetuses benefit if their mothers exercise. Advantages include healthier hearts for women and their unborn babies, a smaller incidence of depression in pregnant mothers, and an easier delivery.

Turns out exercise is not only good for me, but it also may increase my chances of having “sportier” kids who also exercise, according to Feed the Belly: A Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide by Health magazine Senior Food and Nutrition Editor Frances Largeman-Roth, RD. Her chapter about exercise was particularly guilt-inducing for me — especially with her tips for safe sweat sessions.

But even with all the benefits, I’m not alone in my exercise boycott. Why don’t all moms exercise? Time management is the main difference between pregnant women who exercise regularly and those who did not, according to a new study. The non-exercisers are specifically chided in the study as watching too much television rather than showering their fetus with the numerous proven benefits of exercise.

But I’m not addicted to TiVo — I’m just scared out of my mind.

Next: My irrational fear

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (4)

Third Trimester: A Literal Pain in the Rear

By Erica Kain | April 23, 2009
By Erica Kain

As the mother of two small children, I spend about 90% of my waking hours sitting on the floor or cleaning it. But now that I’m 34 weeks pregnant, getting back up to a standing position has become a particularly painful feat that involves wincing, whining, and an occasional shriek of pain.

The culprit? Pregnancy-induced sciatica.

Like a lot of women in their third trimester, I experience sharp pain that radiates throughout my rear end, lower back, and right thigh whenever I try to do anything exciting, like getting out of the car. It feels like the fetus is pressing directly against the nerve. Along with other third trimester symptoms, including overwhelming fatigue and charley horse leg cramps, sciatica can make for a miserable final stretch.

This week, as I lay floundering on the floor, I sought some answers, and relief, about lower back pain in pregnancy.

Is it really sciatica?
“Often back pain in pregnancy is due to loosening of the otherwise fixed joints in the pelvis—the symphysis pubis and sacroiliac joints,” says Charles Lockwood, MD, the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. And, bad news for active moms: Pain from this pelvic bone separation is aggravated by movement. It also tends to worsen with each baby and sometimes crutches are needed!

If that is the source of my pain, I wish I could send a memo to those separating pelvic joints: “Hey fellas! No need to loosen up down there, we’re having a C-section!”

However, my doctor believes we’re dealing with a sciatic issue. In which case, Dr. Lockwood tells me that there is a three-part cause: change in posture induced by pregnancy (lordosis) which stretches the nerve, increased pelvic pressure (from the fetal head, enlarging uterus, et cetera), and an actual change in the pelvic bone alignment.

Great! So how do I cure this pain so I can lift my children out of the bathtub without hollering in pain?

“Delivery is the best cure,” Lockwood says.

That is truly depressing, but I know he’s right. I experienced the same sciatic nerve symptoms with both of my prior term pregnancies, and the pain completely evaporated the minute the baby was born.

Next: How can I best survive the next five weeks?

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (0)

The Tricky Business of Scheduling a C-section

By Erica Kain | April 16, 2009
By Erica Kain

This week we engaged in an intense study of the calendar, trying to find the ideal day to schedule my C-section (if one actually exists).

And although my lower back and hips are aching to deliver this baby today, I don’t want to schedule my C-section too early. Every minute counts, according to two recent studies on gestational periods.

Some essential brain development occurs in the last several weeks of pregnancy, and I was surprised to learn that even slightly premature babies (born at 34–36 weeks) may have a 36% higher chance of developmental delay or disability, according to a recent study. “A late pre-term baby is not the same as a term baby,” says Dr. Steven Morse, the study author and director of Community Newborn Services at the University of Florida.

Although the fetus might be physically capable of life outside the womb, the “bun” needs a little more time in the “oven” before its brain is ready. So I’ll tell my back and hips to tough it out for at least another month. But after 36 weeks, I could schedule it anytime, right?

Nope.

Up until recently that was the case, but OB’s have been pushing that date back to 39 weeks, following a 2009 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

That study found that babies born by repeat elective C-section in the 37th and 38th week of gestation may double their risk of problems, including “adverse respiratory outcomes, mechanical ventilation, newborn sepsis, hypoglycemia, admission to the neonatal ICU, and hospitalization for 5 days or more.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidelines specified that a repeat elective C-section should not be performed until 39 weeks—but many women and their doctors were ignoring that guideline for the sake of convenient timing.

Next: Can I wait too long?

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (2)

Personalizing My Elective C-Section

By Erica Kain | April 9, 2009
By Erica Kain

I initially assumed that my upcoming elective C-section would be a soulless encounter with an anesthesiologist, my OB-GYN, and a deftly-handled scalpel. But I’m happy to report that there are ways we can maintain some level of control over our child’s birth.

First, an elective C-section is a far different experience from the emergency C-section I underwent with my second daughter. There is no panic or tachycardic fetus to be concerned about. “Everyone around you is calm, reassuring, and moving at a controlled or even relaxed pace. There is little or no tension in the room. It’s fun,” says Dr. Charles Lockwood, MD, the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

I burst out laughing; “fun” was the last word I expected in relation to major abdominal surgery. But once it sank in, I found it an immensely comforting concept—it’s still a happy event. Everyone in the operating room will be looking forward to seeing that little baby, and I’ll be looking forward to personalizing my surgery.

Anesthesia
Instead of a “cranked-up” epidural, which is usually the choice during emergency C-sections, I can elect to have a spinal block. This would entail a one-time injection into the fluid around my spinal cord instead of a hollow needle remaining in the space between my spinal column and outer membrane of my spinal cord throughout the procedure.

The heavy epidural dose I endured during last year’s emergency C-section made my entire body shake, rattle, and tremor uncontrollably. My teeth chattered so hard that I lost one of my fillings, and it was a miserable state in which to meet my new baby. My hope is that my reaction to the spinal block will be less severe.

Next page: Post-surgery meds

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (8)

Health Magazine Needs New York-Area Women for Jeans Makeover

By Mara Betsch | April 3, 2009

UPDATE: Thanks for your overwhelming response! We’ve filled the spots. Stay tuned for more requests from Health editors in the coming months. And please check out our Natural Beauty and Fashion page at Health.com.

The Health magazine beauty and fashion team is looking for six or seven women from the New York City–area who would like to appear in the September issue modeling some new fall jeans.

We’re looking for women of all shapes and sizes, who have recently lost weight—anywhere from 5 pounds to 50 pounds—and would like to talk about their success.

Not only will you get a free pair of jeans, but we’ll throw in a free makeover (professional makeup, hair cut, and color at a top New York City salon) along with a print of your fabulous-looking self from the June photo shoot.

Candidates should submit a brief bio on why it’s hard to find jeans that fit, what body type they have, day and evening phone numbers and email address, and a current, full-body JPG photo. Submissions without photos will not be considered. Candidates must be in the New York–metropolitan area (Conn., N.J., N.Y., etc.).

Permanent Link | Comments (1)

VBACs Are Great…for Other People

By Erica Kain | April 2, 2009
By Erica Kain

There are a lot of reasons that we ought to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). Maybe if I was braver, or more determined, this would be an easy choice.

I wrote about some of the great reasons to delivery vaginally after a C-section, including a shorter recovery time and a better chance for vaginal deliveries of any future children we may conceive. Since then, I’ve been encouraged to give my child the gift of a vaginal birth and not be scared by the seemingly small odds of uterine rupture or the chance of a repeat emergency C-section.

“The literature says that VBAC is safer than most people think. I tell patients that if they come in [to the hospital] in labor, we should give it a try,” says Ron Jaekle, MD, professor of Clinical OB/GYN, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “VBAC is a completely reasonable choice in the right situation.”

But is mine the right situation?

I could wait to go into labor naturally and give it a whirl. The idea of giving birth without another eight-inch souvenir across my bikini line is appealing, as is nursing and carrying my baby directly after birth. Some theories speculate that women who give birth vaginally are better able to bond with their babies, due to the rush of hormones that occurs during the process.

But do I feel any less attached to my second daughter, who was born by C-section, versus my first daughter, who was born during a drug-free vaginal birth? Truthfully, not at all. And the first recovery process was more arduous than the second. I experienced extreme blood loss due to a partially separated placenta, and the subsequent anemia dogged me for months afterward.

Next: Am I at risk?

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (15)

Pregnant and Laid Off

By Erica Kain | March 26, 2009
By Erica Kain

It’s not unusual to be a little stressed before you give birth, but lately pregnant women in my community are stressed out about something unrelated to health. Many of us are worried about our bleak financial situations and a downward-spiraling economy. Moms-to-be have found themselves, or their husbands, laid off with no imminent job prospects.

Even those pregnant women who are still employed are finding their health care deductibles rising to sky-high heights as their employers renegotiate their insurance plans.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of people who need to negotiate their bills, or are facing hardships and asking for charity care,” says Juliet Keeler LeBien, LMSW, a medical social worker who practices in New York City. Here, she shares her tips for surviving your pregnancy—and the bills that follow:

  • Research your insurance plan. Know your deductible, co-pays, and other benefits. Don’t expect them to be the same as last year.
  • Be upfront. In your bleary postpartum state, don’t wait to tell the hospital that you won’t be able to immediately pay the bill. Discuss your options as soon as you receive the bill, because once the bill goes into collections, it’s too late.
  • Make sure that the bill is accurate. Many times people will get billed, and it will be a mistake.
  • Don’t be afraid to barter. Once the amount is deemed correct, try and lower the amount. If you get a bill for $150, you can ask if they’ll accept $100 as full payment.
  • Negotiate a payment plan. I often tell people to negotiate a payment plan they can actually stick to—even if it’s only $10 a month. Hospitals will be happy to get their money, and you will save yourself a lot of stress by making your payment plan realistic and within your budget.

Also, if suspect that you were laid off because you were pregnant, you may have some recourse that could extend your severance pay. If it’s more than a case of bad timing, you should call the HR person who handled your termination and explain that you think you were terminated because you were pregnant. “If she responds with a, ‘Let’s talk about your severance,’ then you can definitely negotiate higher. If she responds with, ‘I’m sorry, but your pregnancy was not taken into consideration,’ call a lawyer,” suggests Suzanne Lucas, the writer of the Evil HR Lady blog.

But Lucas warns in her recent entry regarding pregnancy and layoffs, “Beware that a lawyer may end up charging you more than you could get in increased severance.”

Next: Emotional effects

Pages: 1 2
Permanent Link | Comments (4)

Previous Stories

More Stories
Get this Feed
Continuously updated headlines delivered right to your computer

Advertisement
Close
  • E-mail
E-mail It
Site powered by WordPress.com VIP