Many of my patients are women with heart disease. They report that healthcare workers have made them feel guilty when they called 911, since their chest pain was most likely not due to a heart attack. While COVID-19 heightens the need for emergency response, the reticence for some to call for help is heightened by […]
Have you celebrated your 50th birthday? If so, it’s time for a colonoscopy. If you need some extra motivation to make that (admittedly daunting) appointment, consider this: 150,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer and 50,000 people will die from the disease this year, according to the American Cancer Society. The lifetime risk of […]
In our April issue we’re celebrating the body, so as your faithful sex columnist, I’d like to draw your attention to your oft-neglected pelvic floor muscles. The group of muscles down there (also called PC muscles) that holds all our pelvic organs in place. You’re probably clenching them right now, just thinking about them. We […]
Hot flashes. Vaginal dryness. Sleep disruptions. Mood swings. It’s not a pretty picture, but that’s the unfortunate reality for a significant number of women suffering from the symptoms of menopause, which are caused by the natural reduction in hormones that accompany aging. That’s where replacement hormones come in. By swapping in a substitute for those […]
For years, the focus has been on early detection to improve the cure rate of breast cancer. However, the more important question is: How can I prevent myself from getting breast cancer? At a recent symposium on Women’s Health hosted by Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Dr. Heidi Memmel discussed new evidence showing that women can […]
Dr. Lissa Rankin, practicing gynecologist and author of “What’s Up Down There?” asks and answers the questions you’d ask your best friend if she was a gynecologist. For example, boobs—what’s normal and what’s not? Why is it that treating yeast infections won’t cure you of them permanently? And lots of waaaay more intimate and funny […]
Women diagnosed in the earliest stages of ovarian cancer—before the cancer has spread outside the ovary—have a 93 percent chance of surviving beyond five years. Not bad, right? But here’s the problem: Less than 20 percent of all cases of ovarian cancer are detected early, because the disease has only subtle symptoms at first and […]
