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Health Archive
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Weird Health Wednesdays – Safety First
Scaring the crap out of children, one traffic tip at a time: This image comes from It’s great to be alive! an old children’s safety brochure full of starkly bleak images like this one that warn kids about strangers, traffic, and other dangerous elements. To see my other favorite page, “While hiding in a leaf [...] -
Friday Links – Inhaler Identification, Vitamin D, More on Javonte Woods
About.com on Color-Coding Kids’ Inhalers When my daughter was little, I used to write out pages and pages of instructions for her babysitters. No, I don’t mean her Asthma Action Plan – I’m talking about my notes and explanations that accompanied her action plan (isn’t asthma fun?) This wonderful tip would’ve saved me at least [...] -
Weird Health Wednesdays – Medical Stand-Up Comedy
Welcome to the return of Weird Health Wednesdays! You may already know who Brian Regan is. You might have seen some of his brilliant stand-up already. But have you seen his routine about the emergency room yet? “Just come on in. I’ll be lying on the floor.” “It seems like everything on my inside wants [...] -
Another Day, Another Lung Garden
Hey, do you guys remember that one Russian guy who thought he had cancer and then found out he had a teeny fir tree growing inside his lung instead? It happened again. After two weeks of testing, an ambulance ride, and a collapsed lung, doctors found a pea plant growing inside this man in Massachusetts. [...] -
They’re Called Vaccine-Preventable Diseases for a Reason
California Has Declared a Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Epidemic - Worst outbreak in 50 years with almost 1500 cases reported so far - As of this writing, 6 infant deaths in the state - Babies under 6 months most at risk Michigan Also Seeing More Cases of Whooping Cough So are other states and also the [...] -
Patients’ Depth of Knowledge and Doctors’ Illusion of Control
Ever walked away crazy with frustration after yet another appointment with your doctor doesn’t resolve anything? There is something that you need to understand that, while it won’t undo your pain, make your fatigue go away, or lift your emotions, it will help you. Ever been pissed off at your kids’ pediatricians and pulmonologists because [...] -
Asthma Mom’s Rules for Moving to Higher Altitudes
After I moved to the Colorado Front Range, I spent our first year keeping a wary eye out for the thin air to trigger my kid. AG did get sick all the time during her first full winter, but I’m fairly certain that’s a reflection of her exposure to new germs in a new place. [...] -
Tuesdays are Your Turn – Kids’ Health Online
This one’s from me. I’m researching a project I can’t talk about yet, but please consider helping out this Asthma Mom by answering today’s question: Besides asthma and allergies, which children’s health topics do you read about on the Internet? Thanks in advance! All will be revealed. . . . eventually. -
The Mad Science of Lab-Grown Lungs
Finding stories medically relevant to this site on science fiction blogs is always entertaining. In this instance, I’m talking about io9′s fascinating piece on the first lab-grown lungs that actually work. The creation process: Led by biomedical engineer Laura Niklason, a team at Yale constructed the tiny lungs for rats using a relatively new process [...] -
Crowdsourcing Health
A couple of websites harnessing the power of people’s health experiences online have popped up on my radar recently. First, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, is tracking health complaints (like asthma flares) associated with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with a crisis map. As some of you know, I moved to Colorado [...]
