Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women? While over 500,000 women die from heart diseases every year, the fact is that only about 13% of women are aware that heart disease causes so many deaths. The good news is that there are steps you can take to lower your risk of heart disease.

Show your support for heart disease awareness and wear your favorite red dress, shirt or blouse, shoes, or other clothes on Friday, February 5, 2010 -- National Wear Red Day^®-- the day when all across the Nation women wear red to show support for heart disease awareness.

You've probably heard about antibiotic resistance. You know, infections that fail to clear up even though you've taken all of your antibiotics. The medical term for this condition is MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA has been around for years -- in fact, MRSA has been the leading cause of hospital deaths. That's the hospital-aquired (HA) type of MRSA or HA-MRSA. But MRSA is no longer confined to hospital patients, it's showing up in the community in people who have not been hospitalized. This type of MRSA is known as community-acquired MRSA or CA-MRSA.

Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacteria that often lives on the skin, and sometimes in the nasal passages, of perfectly healthy people. Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, often shows up in skin infections such as boils and pimples, and more and more often is not healing after a round of traditional antibiotics. This is where MRSA comes in -- when traditional antibiotics such as penicillin-type drugs fail to cure skin infections, as well as other more serious types of infection that can affect the heart, blood, lungs, and bones.

Staph infections of the skin frequently present as red, swollen, and very painful boils on the skin. There may be pus draining from the infection and a fever is often present. Of course, I'd heard of MRSA, but I didn't worry too much about it until a few weeks ago, when a very painful boil popped up on my back in a matter of minutes one evening while I waited for my son to fix his first flat tire. I wasn't sure what was causing the pain -- maybe it was a suddenly painful pulled muscle. Once my son and I got home, he looked at my back and said it was an abscess, which I begged (because, as a medical assistant he knew better) him to "pop." He finally gave in to me, but that didn't really stop the pain or make it better.

Finally, two days later, I called my doctor (who actually often answers his own phone) and he told me to come right in. One look at my back and he knew what it was  and prescribed the treatment for MRSA -- a combination of three antibiotics. Wow, those antibiotics made me feel horrible, but I took them until they were gone and returned to the doctor for my follow up appointment. It was only after I had finished the antibiotics and been back to the doctor that I finally looked up the antibiotics I had taken -- I'd taken two of them before, but had never heard of one. I wondered about the antibiotics, at that point, because over twenty-four hours since I'd finished the medication I experienced the most incredible night sweats ever -- in spite of having a hysterectomy over 10 years ago. As I read the possible drug interactions for the new antibiotic, I saw that it said it could interfere with "female hormones, including birth control pills." It definitely interfered with my hormones, as bad as the sweats were I wouldn't have been surprised to have drowned in my bed. Now I have the deepest empathy for women who experience sweats on a regular basis, or as a result of using medications such as Lupron.

I've learned a lot about MRSA in the last few weeks, especially about how to prevent MRSA. Today, I go back to the doctor, and although the area on my back is still red, I think it's healing.

The FDA has approved the use of the Mirena (levonorgestrel intrauterine system) IUD for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding in women who have given birth. The Mirena IUD is the only intrauterine device currently approved for this indication. This type of contraceptive is small and flexible, and releases hormones into the uterus that prevent pregnancy. Only a qualified health care professional can insert the device.

The Mirena IUD was originally approved for contraceptive use in 2000. Since its' approval, the most serious and rare side effects of the Mirena IUD have included ectopic pregnancy, intrauterine pregnancy (a pregnancy in the uterus with the IUD in place), group A streptococcal sepsis, pelvic inflammatory disese (PID), embedment of the device in the uterine wall, and perforation of the uterine wall or cervix.

More common side effects that were reported by patients in the clinical trial using the Mirena IUD to treat heavy menstrual bleeding included irregular spotting or bleeding, headaches, ovarian cysts, vaginitis, painful menstruation, pelvic pain, and breast tenderness.

Source: FDA News Release. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm184747.htm. Accessed 10/07/2009

Lap band surgery, and other types of weight loss surgery, often appear to be an easy way to weight loss. The truth is that lap band surgery, as well as other kinds of weight loss surgery, are not the easy way to lose weight. The most important thing anyone considering getting the lap band, or any other weight loss surgery procedure, should understand is that these surgeries are not "magic," they are a tool that you can use to make losing weight easier.

If you want to lose weight permanently and safely, you must follow the instructions your surgeon gives you for eating after getting the lap band. How do I know? I had lap band surgery over 5 years ago. First I lost 90 pounds pretty quickly, unfortunately I regained almost all of my weight loss when a personal tragedy happened and I discovered how easily I could consume things like ice cream and chocolate.

Right now I'm, thankfully, on track with losing weight again -- partially due to having 9 teeth out and not replacing them yet. So now that I have only two teeth that I can chew with, I'm forced to take the small, well-chewed, bites of food that I was prescribed following lap band surgery. The weight is coming off slowly this time, and perhaps when I reach my goal weight I'll consider replacing the lost "chewing" teeth with implants or partials.

One of the most important things I've learned during my weight loss battle, is that exercise plays a key role in successful weight loss. In my opinion, regular exercise is almost more important than the food you eat. For many women, the thought of exercising is overwhelming, but no matter how overweight and out of shape you are, you can exercise. If twenties minutes of walking is too hard in the beginning, start with just five or ten minutes -- the important thing is that you make the effort, soon you'll be able to increase the time and effort you put  into your exercise routine.

Is Weight Loss Surgery Right For You?

Tips For Starting An Exercise Plan