Blog Action Day 08

It's Blog Action Day 08 on October 15 - are you participating? Actually, you are by reading this post and by coming back to visit on October 15th to read my post.

What is Blog Action Day?

According to their website, "Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion." Last year, the topic was the environment and this year it's about poverty.

I'll be blogging as part of Blogger Action day here and on Help My Hurt, as well as Womb Within. To participate, you blog about your regular topics, but with the theme of poverty. You can support Blog Action Day by blogging about it or helping do something about poverty. You can check the website to see you can contribute through microloans or other ways you can help.

Today on Help My Hurt:

Palliative care: “Every human being should be entitled to relief from pain”

10 Ways You Can Take a More Active Role as a Hospital Patient

Intractable Pain Patient’s Handbook for Survival

Today on Womb Within:

Pregnant? Itchy? It may be more than just an itch

Is your hospital bag ready? Add your ideas and win a 3-pack book set

Don’t try to be perfect - it can only backfire

News for Today:

Chew Gum for Colon Surgery Recovery
How can I tell if my partner has sleep apnea?
Juice blocks absorption of some drugs, study finds
Bacterial Pneumonia Caused Most Deaths in 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Mental illness stigma still unchanged in NA

You'd think by now that people would realize that mental illness is precisely that - an illness. Sadly though, the stigma of mental illness still exists, and resulting in marginalization of people who live with it and even more sadly - suicide. Stigma of mental illness common among Canadians: report

What more do mental health advocates need to do to help with understanding? There are public awareness campaigns galore, movements to help integrate those with mental illness into the work place, and support systems are set up. Of course, there isn't enough - there are many more people with mental illness, diagnosed and undiagnosed than those who are being helped.

What do you think would help?

Today on Help My Hurt:

What helps you relax? How about 50.00 from Amazon.com?
Headache questionnaire
Intractable Pain Patient’s Handbook for Survival
Relaxation exercises for pain management

Today on Womb Within:

AIDS and pregnancy
Don’t try to be perfect - it can only backfire
Genital herpes and pregnancy
Doulas reduce C-section and epidural rates

News for Today:

Antibodies still protect 1918 flu survivors
Antidepressant Use Tied to Poorer Driving
Playing video games offers learning across life span, say studies
Asthma in boys may be just a phase, but for girls it may be there to stay

Did you have or do you want to use a midwife?

Midwives are becoming increasingly popular among women who are giving birth. Using a midwife for an uncomplicated pregnancy takes the "medicine" out of such pregnancies. And, if you think about it, why are doctors needed for pregnancy if there is nothing wrong?

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be doctors. Even the most uncomplicated pregnancy can end up with problems during the labour and delivery, but the chances are lower than with the complicated ones. So - what's wrong with the happy medium: allowing (and encouraging) mothers to use the services of midwives with the back up of doctors in case of emergency? It definitely seems like a win-win situation for everyone, except the doctors who lose any income from delivering obstetrical care.

If you are concerned about the health of midwifery in the United States, I suggest you take notice of the fact that the Miami Dade College in Florida is *closing* its midwifery program. That is a devastating decision for both those who want to spend their working life helping women have positive pregnancy and birth experiences, and the women who want them.

Today at Help My Hurt:

Finally - at 40, a woman with Crohn’s disease begins to live life
Rules on how to be a better patient
Database for MS information
Tui Na - a gentler form of therapeutic massage
If someone can’t talk - how do they tell you they have pain?

Today at Womb Within:

Yeast infection in pregnancy - a question from a Womb Within visitor
Uterus size predicts risk of very premature twins After IVF
Wondering about all the prenatal tests?

News for Today:

Postpartum PTSD Study Looking for Participants
Teens lack judgment when driving, trauma study finds
Is nookie an athletic no-no?
Red Bull drink lifts stroke risk: Australian study

Clumsy child = obese adult?

Were you one of those kids who broke things that you only had received a few hours earlier? Did you trip over things that weren't there? Did you constantly misjudge where exactly the door jamb was every day? I was.

I had bumps and bruises and tons of broken things that weren't broken before I got my hands on them. And, at 47, I'm still not the most graceful female to walk this earth. If there's a flight of stairs I need to take regularly, there's a good chance that I'll fall up or down them with regularity. If I'm in a hurry and fling a door open, there's a good chance my foot's in the way and the door will hit my foot (hard!) and bounce back, catching me as I'm trying to get through. On a good day - I'll have been wearing shoes at the time. On a bad day...

So, what has this got to do with anything? There's a new study that claims that clumsy children grow up to be obese adults. I'm not skinny minnie, but I'm nowhere close to overweight, let alone obese. but, according to the study, 11,000 people were tested at age 11 and were followed to age 33. The findings were published in the recent issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).

The researchers didn't look at falling down stairs or tripping on invisible rocks, but rather they focused on the fine motor skills, picking things up, for example. According to this CBC.ca article, Clumsy kids more likely to become obese adults: study, "researchers said the risk of becoming obese in adulthood was more than doubled in seven-year-olds who "certainly" showed poor hand control during the tests and tripled for those who were affected by clumsiness, compared with children who were easily able to perform the tasks." I guess I'd better be careful!

Today at Help My Hurt:

If someone can’t talk - how do they tell you they have pain?

Osteoporosis doesn’t slow down Olympic cyclist Kristin Armstrong

Painful sex - some women not offered any options

Today at Womb Within:

You want to get WHAT pierced?

Guidelines for breast cancer treatment during pregnancy

Olympic swimmer has chicken pox: Another reason to vaccinate

News for Today:

Study: Some overweight people heart-healthy

Eating disorder risk high in young active women

For strokes, closest hospital might not be best

Running eases the aches of aging: study

Acid reflux drugs may heighten fracture risk