Sunday News Round-Up – 11/15

Lots of good stuff at Our Bodies Our Blog as usual, including a new post from OBOS intern Meg Young on Reebok’s ridiculous new sneaker ad.

The FDA is looking into caffeinated alcoholic beverages and considering whether they are safe and/or legal (via NPR).

On Stupak, NPR has a good explanation of the red tape barriers to abortion that would be created by the amendment.

RaceWire launched a LGBT Racial Equity Toolkit with the note “Though this website was developed especially to inform philanthropic efforts and mobilize support for LBGTQ communities of color, there’s a lot here that could benefit the wider community involved in all kinds of social justice efforts.” The “Perspectives” section can be browsed by topic – some of them touch on aging, HIV/AIDS, and health generally.

I only just saw this blog this week, I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Libraryland folks may be interested in the most recent post, on some folks boycotting Scholastic book fairs because they have a book which includes lesbian parents. Ugh.

RH Reality Check has a piece on some of the potential absurd outcomes of fetal personhood laws.

Scarleteen – the excellent sex-ed resource – needs support.

CBS Evening News covered the rape kit backlog. The New York Times has an editorial on the problem.

The NY Times also has a piece on contraception in Afghanistan and the barriers women may experience in trying to use contraception.

Maame-Mensima Horne at On the Issues takes on the “black genocide” anti-abortion argument.

A bunch of photos have been posted to the Vessel (film project on Women on Waves) Facebook page.

The National Cancer Institute offers cancer information via their free cancer hotline in both English and Spanish. Here’s the info for Spanish-speaking callers:

Information in Spanish / información en español
El Servicio de Información sobre el Cáncer del NCI ofrece servicio telefónico en español. En Estados Unidos y sus territorios, llame al 1-800-422-6237 (1-800-4-CANCER), de lunes a viernes, de las nueve de la mañana a las cuatro treinta de la tarde hora local.
O, usted puede enviar un mensaje electrónico a nciespanol@mail.nih.gov. Si su mensaje requiere una respuesta, puede esperar recibirla en 7 días laborables.

The CDC has updated their Information for Pregnant Women Working in Education, Child Care, and Health Care Settings Concerning 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus.

Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health is sharing stories of the reproductive health consequences of being uninsured.

CNN’s website ran a Health.com piece, What doctors don’t tell you about C-section. It addresses some potential reasons c-sections have increased, but totally fails to address the evidence behind those “reasons.” For example, it cites continuous fetal monitoring in the following passage:

“If there’s a hint of trouble, they’re more likely to play it safe and do a Caesarean, Macones says. “Continuous recording of the fetal heart rate came into being in the 1970s and is likely a big contributor to the increase in C-sections,” he says. “Doctors today are more inclined to do a C-section if there is anything of concern.”

but fails to address the serious lack of evidence to support continuous fetal monitoring for most of its assumed benefits in the first place. So…nice start, not thorough or nuanced. Big surprise.

The American Journal of Public Health has a supplement issue on environmental justice. Unfortunately you need a subscription (or check with your library) to get access.

I needed to remind myself to revisit the FWD/Forward discussions on the words “idiot” and “cretin” this week. This post on reading rights and disabilities also caught my attention.

Things I Have: Geographic Tongue

The New England Journal of Medicine has posted a new “Images in Clinical Medicine” image, and this time it’s geographic tongue (and it’s freely available without a subscription to the journal). And that happens to be something I experience, so I thought I’d link to the info.

Basically, some of the bumpy parts of the tongue flatten out, making patterns kind of like continents/maps (hence the “geographic” moniker). Sometimes it kind of hurts. Sometimes it kind of itches. The patches are differently shaped and located over time. MedlinePlus and eMedicine both provide more info.

It’s not harmful, just odd, and can draw comments/reactions from people who see it and don’t know what it is. The NEJM piece explains that “Geographic tongue (benign migratory glossitis) is a benign inflammatory condition that affects approximately 2% of the world’s population.”

2%, huh? I wonder what percent have *both* geographic tongue *and* Asian flush…

[Thanks to Becky for pointing me to the NEJM piece]
[Note: I initially used the word "afflicted" in the post title, but I decided I didn't like the suffering that implied. So I changed it.]

Reminder: OBOS House Party This Weekend

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m looking forward to seeing Judy Norsigian, executive director and co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves, in Nashville this weekend. If you are interested in attending the fundraising house party and meeting Judy while she’s here, let me know.

Judy is also on the board of PRIM&R, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, which is having their conference here in town staring today. Wish I was going to that! Let me know in the comments if you’re attending (and if there’s a Twitter hashtag I can follow!).

MedLib’s Round Blog Carnival: On Finding Credible Health Information Online

The most recent edition of the MedLib’s Round Blog Carnival has been posted at Highlight Health. The carnival focuses on medical librarianship and medical information – this edition may be of wide interest as it focuses on ways of finding reliable health information online.

I have a piece from here and a couple of pieces from Our Bodies Our Blog included on smart medical web surfing and on understanding medical research. Other contributors also provide discussion of web searching, research, web 2.0 and social media, and the PubMed redesign. Check it out!

At Our Bodies Our Blog: Midwives in Virginia, Chronic Pain After Breast Cancer Surgery

At Our Bodies Our Blog, I have a post on research into the chronic pain experienced by some women for years after breast cancer surgery. I also have a bit about a currently open public comment period for a rule in Virginia that would apply to certified professional midwives in that state.

Christine has a spotting of OBOS in “Gossip Girl” and a piece on Scott Roeder’s confession that he murdered abortion provider George Tiller.

More on the Stupak Amendment

The Stupak amendment to the health reform legislation passed by the House yesterday

prohibits federal funds for abortion services in the public option. It also prohibits individuals who receive affordability credits from purchasing a plan that provides elective abortions. However, it allows individuals, both who receive affordability credits and who do not, to separately purchase with their own funds plans that cover elective abortions. It also clarifies that private plans may still offer elective abortions.

Here’s the roll call vote. NPR tonight covered a bit about the controversy around the amendment, and RH Reality Check has a number of relevant posts.

As I mentioned yesterday, Christine has a couple of relevant posts and links to more resources at Our Bodies Our Blog as well.

Locally, Silence Isn’t Golden has some good discussion about Jim Cooper’s (D-TN) vote for and about the amendment in general.

Weekly News Round-Up, 11/8

Christine has a post at Our Bodies Our Blog about the passage of the health reform legislation last night. She notes

As I watched Democrats congratulate themselves, it was difficult to feel celebratory. Passage of the Stupak amendment — which bars a government-run insurance plan from offering abortion *and* prohibits women who receive government insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that include abortion coverage — sucked a lot of the energy out of the room.

She has a number of posts on health care reform and especially the Stupak amendment from yesterday, with links to a number of additional resources and roll call vote results, so I won’t try to duplicate all of that info here – I’m still trying to catch up on and absorb all of the intricacies. See Our Bodies Our Blog.

Also, here’s what Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health had to say, and an NY Times article on the abortion aspect. RHReality Check has a bit on the mixed reactions from women’s groups.

Assorted other:

Kudos to Vanderbilt’s Nurse-Midwifery practice.

ACNM’s Midwife Connection blog on a woman planning to broadcast her labor and birth on the internet.

Gender Across Borders is exploring the topic of female genital cutting.

The FDA issued a warning about “sexual enhancement” supplements. Many of these have been found to include undeclared ingredients or ingredients similar to prescription drugs that may pose serious safety concerns.

A presentation on MyNCBI and changes to PubMed en español. If you’re having any trouble with the revised PubMed interface, let me know, I’ll try to help.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is solciting suggestions from tattooists and piercers on their health concerns about their work environments via their Science Blog. The agency also has some informational pages for these body art workers on vaccination, preventing needle-stick injuries and cross-contamination, and related topics.

The National Institutes of Health provides this bioethics resource online.

There are a bunch of great new posts at FWD/Forward. I just finished reading this one on taking responsibility for accessibility, and this one on “hipster ableism” and Glee.

At Your Cervix has a series of posts related to L&D and hospital visitation restrictions related to H1N1 flu including the new policy at her hospital, the postin of their official policy, and day one and day two with the more restrictive visiting rules in place. There is a bit of good discussion in the day two post about what exactly a woman should have done when her doctor told her to go to the hospital, she had the care of her two minor children (assume no child care is available), but the hospital subsequently sent her away because they are no longer allowing minor visitors under the more restrictive policy.

Our Bodies Ourselves House Party Featuring Judy Norsigian in Nashville This Month

Judy Norsigian, executive director and co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves, will be in Nashville later this month. During her visit, there will be a fundraising house party for OBOS graciously hosted in the home a couple of Nashville folks at 4 pm on Sunday, November 15. Attendees are asked to RSVP by phone; if you’re interested in attending, contact me and I’ll get you the details.

As the invite states:

Through their programs and publications, Our Bodies Ourselves provides accurate, accessible information on health, sexuality, and reproduction. Join us to learn how the book has grown into a global health movement, and find out how you can support the organization’s exciting work. Please bring your questions, ideas, and friends.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Kroger Also Needs to Unlock the Condoms

In the past year or so, I’ve seen a lot of effort toward convincing pharmacy/retail chain CVS to “unlock the condoms.” The argument is that, when these stores lock up the condoms in a special case, it creates barriers to access and gets in the way of people acting responsibly. Yes, ideally we’re all comfortable asking for help with access to condoms and store staff are professional and helpful and don’t tell our mamas in our small towns about it, but we don’t live in an ideal world.

Cure CVS and Amplify have examples of the campaigns directed at CVS, which Feministing and others have also written about.

Well, it’s definitely not just CVS. I had occasion recently to notice that my Kroger (grocery store) pharmacy was closed, and they keep all the condoms and such in a cabinet in front of the pharmacy. Yep, it was locked. I did a quick search and haven’t found a coordinated campaign to convince Kroger to change this policy, but I did find at least one other blogger who encountered the problem.

Have you run into this at your local Kroger? Other stores? Let me know in the comments. Now to send Kroger a letter…

The Annual Poke & Prod – Helping Along the Medical Students

Yesterday I went for my pelvic exam, which I often talk a little bit about here just because a) it’s obviously theme-related, and b) I figure the more open discussion, the better. I saw my provider in the workplace’s fancy new off-campus clinic, and had the chance to use the self check-in kiosk (where I updated my info and paid my co-pay) and to get one of the restaurant-style buzzers that would let me know when they were ready for me. Some people may find that impersonal, but idea behind the buzzers is that the clinic is located in a shopping area, so with this piece of technology people can wander away from the waiting area and shop.

I was more excited that it allowed me to wander off to the restroom without worrying that they would call me during that time and I wouldn’t know it. Yes, these are the things I worry about in waiting rooms, and in airports, and in lectures and movies – missing something because I’m peeing.

Anyway, my provider is a women’s health nurse practitioner I’ve used for several years, so while the setting was unfamiliar, the provider was familiar…but then she asked if it was okay if her med student participated. And I said yes, because it’s an academic medical center, and these kids have to learn…

and…

Oh, damn, it’s a dude.

With the exception of my very first pelvic exam years and years ago, I’ve deliberately chosen women providers. I’ve heard the arguments that it shouldn’t make a difference, but that has been my choice. After being initially taken aback (I just wasn’t thinking about the high probability of any given med student being a man), I decided it was okay. I had a number of things to talk frankly with my provider about, so the poor guy got an earful – he’ll probably specialize in dermatology after this.

She (my NP) did the breast exam, but the student did the pelvic/Pap. There was an “ow” moment of slightly too much pressure, and the provider took a look to see what was going on, righted the course so to speak, and turned it back over to the student. He actually apologized that he was not well-practiced in the exam, but she and I both told him, “That’s okay, this is how you learn!”

Of course, your provider should always ask first and you always have the right to refuse, but if you are comfortable letting a medical student participate in your care you might consider allowing them to observe/participate – they might not be perfect at it yet, but you may help them get better.