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Archive for June, 2008
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What Doctors Really Think, or More on Doctor-Patient Communications
It’s pretty clear what most of us want in our medical care: Reasonable wait times. Open and respectful doctor-patient communications. Doctors who listen. High-quality treatment. What do doctors say about us, though, especially when they can remain anonymous? Reader’s Digest talked to 24 doctors and therapists about “medical secrets,” and some even used their real names. You’re going [...] -
Friday Links: Asthma and Humidity, Asthma and Fish, Gender Inequality in Health Insurance
Want to Understand How Humidity Levels Affect Asthma? One of the clearest and most comprehensive explanations I’ve read yet. With links, too, courtesy of the RT Cave, a respiratory therapist blog. Just What Oil Companies Need: More Dough, Less Accountability The Supreme Court cut ExxonMobil’s damages from the 1989 Valdez spill in Prince William Sound from the appeals [...] -
Your Asthmatic Toddler May Be Flaring, Not Cranky – The Early Warning Symptoms
I’ve written a couple of times before that I wouldn’t turn this blog into a comprehensive asthma source. For one, the Internet isn’t hurting for good asthma pages–like here, here, and here. And also? Asthma Mom morphed into a blog also about air quality and pollution, children’s health, and of course a weekly collection of strange medical [...] -
Weird Health Wednesdays: Testicular Cancer Sing Along, Plus One More Video
Yes, you read that correctly. And it’s not just a sing along, either. You get an awareness campaign for testicular cancer self-exams, a bluegrass parody, and a rundown of anatomical slang, all in one funny package. (pun totally intended) Even better? It originally comes from the awareness site Carpe Testes. Get it? It’s pretty innocent, but if [...] -
Secret Shopper Patients for Doctor’s Office Scrutiny
You’ve heard of mystery shoppers, I’m sure. They conduct business transactions or pretend to browse/window shop in certain stores in order to evaluate, in secret, the customer service skills of employees. As Well’s Tara Parker-Pope explains, the American Medical Association was considering whether to support fake undercover patients in waiting rooms as a way to ensure [...] -
Friday Links: C-Sections and Asthma Risk, Second Smog Lawsuit, New Cancer Treatment, Shopping Camp for Girls
C-Sections Increase Childhood Asthma Risk by 50% Research has suggested the connection between Caesarean birth and asthma before, but this is the clearest link yet. The Norwegian study looked at 1.7 million births over 30 or so years, and emergency C-sections upped the risk even further. And asthma risk during vaginal birth increased with vacuum or [...] -
Weird Health Wednesdays: A Nail in the Head, Ovulation, Horse Vasectomy Reversal
Man Survives 2.5 Inch Nail to the Head Two things about this story: 1. The Kansas City man shot the thing into his own head when his nail gun went off accidentally. 2. You’ll never guess what the doctor used to get the nail out. (Click to find out.) If You Don’t Like Detailed Medical Photos, Don’t Click This But [...] -
The Other Maintenance Meds
A few months back, I created the Steroid Question tab up there because I think parents of the newly diagnosed carry on an internal debate over maintenance steroids for kids more than any other aspect of asthma care. Well I did, at least. The idea that inhaled steroids would actually help rather than hurt was an [...] -
Kids, Their Stuff, and Sustainability
When I was in eighth grade, I used to walk around with a big *Save the Rainforest* sticker plastered across my clarinet case. I belonged to a magnet school that encouraged creativity and critical thinking, and my newfound environmentalism was one result. But I had the typical fervent-yet-shallow belief of the new recruit. While I [...] -
This is Asthma
This is my asthma explanation. The progression of a flare looks like a list in my head, so that’s how I explain it to friends and family. Maybe it will make sense to you, too, although I’ve included some medical links below if you prefer the more technical breakdown. This is Normal Breathing 1. You breathe air [...]
