January 2014 - Page 2 of 2 - Hormones Matter

Pollution, Disease and Birth Defects

Published on January 8, 2014

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My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was in high school, and her prognosis did not look good. Though there were many factors that attributed to the disease, from genetics to stress, she was the first one to point out to me the potential impact the environment may have had on her health.

After all these years, one particular conversation I had with her stands out in my mind: We were walking around our neighborhood when she stopped and asked, “Do you see that?” She was pointing at the roofs of the houses. “The sides of the roofs facing the freeway are covered in soot and are much darker than those facing away from the freeway.” She paused in thought for a moment and continued, “If the exhaust from the freeway is doing that to our roofs, imagine what it’s doing to our bodies.” She then began naming all the neighbors that had been diagnosed with cancer – my mother was certain there was a correlation between our neighborhood’s health and our proximity to the freeway. She was onto something.

The 2010 Global Study of Disease recently ranked air pollution, referred to as “ambient particulate matter pollution,” as the seventh leading risk factor for disease worldwide. Air pollution is now ranked much higher as a risk factor than in previous years, which may be a result of advances in science: rather than presuming air pollution just affects big cities, high-resolution satellite data and chemical transport models allow researchers to determine air pollution levels in both urban and rural areas alike.

Now researchers realize that air pollution accounts for a large burden of disease, contributing to 3.2 million deaths in 2010. It’s no wonder that the authors of the study felt it emphasized the need to “implement more stringent regulation on vehicle and industrial emissions, reduce agricultural burning or land clearing by fire, and curb and reverse deforestation and desertification to reduce ambient particulate matter from dust.” Reducing air pollution would decrease disease and reduce the incidences of death.

Though a large majority of those impacted by air pollution lived in densely populated cities, such as China, residents of the United States are by no means in the clear air.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology conducted research a little closer to home – in the San Joaquin Valley in California. In this study, researchers sought to determine whether air pollution and traffic exposure increased the risk of birth defects. Unfortunately, signs point to yes.

Mothers exposed to higher levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide (traffic-related air pollutants) during the first 2 months of pregnancy were almost twice as likely to give birth to children with neural tube defects, or defects of the brain and spinal cord. The San Joaquin Valley is just one of many highly polluted regions in the United States, and the study clearly demonstrates an association between traffic pollutants and birth defects.

Recognizing that air pollution greatly affects our health and well-being is the first step. Pushing for a cleaner environment is the second. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recently spoke at the Climate Justice Forum on April 11th, recognizing the relation between small particulate pollution and pulmonary and heart disease, effects that are exacerbated in infants and the elderly. But he also pointed out that such pollutants can be reduced. Black carbon, a powerful pollutant, has been reduced by 50% in California, just from stricter diesel regulation.

Environmental regulation can significantly reduce pollutants and improve public health, which doesn’t just affect far away nations – it affects us all. My mother intended to relocate but was never able to; she died the summer before my first year of college. Most of us aren’t in a position to move from polluted areas, so we need to vocalize our concerns, vote for those who are looking out for our best interests and public health interests, and ensure we can all breathe in the clean air.

Science versus Sciencism

by Chandler Marrs, PhD

Published on January 7, 2014

4831 views

For weeks I have attempted to write a grand and eloquent article about the nature of science and scientific discovery. To say that every attempt has failed would be an understatement. It is not that I haven’t written about the structure of science, especially medical science, I have, and generally, rather well. This time, however, I have been at a loss to put to paper how deeply dangerous current corporate attempts to proffer the myth of scientific certainty really are.

So instead of delaying this post any longer, I give you two remarkable and seemingly unrelated videos that crossed my desk contemporaneously and an example of corporate trollism that risks destroying the very foundation of science.

The first video, a Ted Talk by neuroscientist Stuart Firestein that questions the certainty of the scientific endeavor. More so than ever he suggests we ought to be embracing the uncertainty, the unsolved, the puzzles that science presents rather than resting our laurels on some misbegotten perception of scientific eminence.

Stuart Firestein: The Pursuit of Ignorance

The second video shows the awe-inspiring complexity of something so simple that few give any thought to it – how butterfly wings get their colors. It reminds us, or at least it reminded me, of how little we really know about nature’s physiology. The depth of complexity in the butterfly wing colors will blow your mind.

Of Nanoparticles and Pixie Dust

Corporate Certainty and Sciencism

And then there is this, the juxtaposition of scientific uncertainty and the vast complexity of natural physiology with corporate trollism and astroturfing. These are paid propagandists and digital social bots, whose only task is to dismantle all doubt about their products under the auspices of ‘scientific certainty’. The human trolls spend hours upon hours on social media, responding to each and every critique of their product or their issue. The digital social bots respond by algorithm. Each does its damage by attacking anyone, personally and professionally, who dares question the certainty of their science.

Take a gander at this particular message board where the risks of the HPV vaccine of were discussed in advance of a talk show. Whether you are pro or anti-vaccine is of no import. Indeed, not even the topic or the host of the board is important. The same pattern of corporate trollism can be viewed with any potentially dangerous, but hugely profitable, product or issue. It is the method of corporate trollism that is important to observe. See if you can identify the trolls paid by industry. There are at least five. They attack the veracity of the patient experience. They attack parents whose children died. They proclaim scientific certainty. No evidence to the contrary will shake their stance. No comment will be left un-argued.

On Sciencism and Being Galileo’d

If you have watched the videos and perused the message board, I bet you’re thinking what the heck do all three examples have to do with each other? Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything.

On the one hand, I was in awe of the brilliant complexity that is nature – the nano architecture of the butterfly wings is mind blowing. I was humbled. Listening to Dr. Firestein I was reminded of how wonderful it is have such immensely complicated puzzles to investigate. Science is, at its most fundamental, a quest for understanding. If all is certain, science is dead.

On the other hand, I was and continue to be, angered by what I see happening in corporate science or as I like to call it, sciencism. This strict adherence to, and indeed enforcement of, a consensus based understanding of reality, one that happens to correspond perfectly with product profit potential, is everything science is not. There is no humility there; only hubris and the certainty necessary to cudgel perceived detractors. And though there have always been forces that seek to derail discovery, especially when core ideologies are at stake, the Church versus Galileo, for example, the added impetus of billions of dollars in profits combined with the public slaying of patients, scientists and other contrarians, seems new.

Then again, maybe it’s not. Maybe we’re being Galileo’d by the high priests of industry-sponsored, media-supported, politically-ordained sciencism. Maybe only the players have changed.

Love Heals: Improving Your Sex Life While Dealing with Endo

by RC

Published on January 2, 2014

2202 views

After re-reading my previously posted article (Love Hurts-Sex and Endometriosis) about the emotional and physical pain women with endometriosis experience during sex, I found that I was a little disappointed in myself. Yes, love can hurt. Endometriosis-associated dyspareunia, or painful sex has the potential to be an physically agonizing and emotionally heartbreaking experience. But did I really have to make the article sound so negative? Did I have to end with the message that there is no way to improve sex for women like us?

My friends, if you are like the other endo-sisters I have out there: tough, resilient and irrepressible, you won’t let dyspareunia destroy your intimate relationships. Instead, you will work tirelessly in search of ways to fix this excruciating problem. You will not stop until you have spoken to every woman with endo, read every single article, or spoken to every professional out there in the hopes of figuring out ways to ease this struggle.

I am no different than you. I have read articles, spoken to fellow suffers, and attended classes by therapists who specialize in this very issue. I have even gone to my own sex-therapist who has worked diligently with me to bring the passion and peace back into my bedroom. I can’t tell you that all is perfect in that intimate place between my sheets. But I can tell you that the following ideas and advice that I am going to share with you have reintroduced intimacy and sexuality back into my life in a most wonderful way.

Communication

Ladies, this one word is the key to maintaining a healthy relationship, whether you have endometriosis or not. While communication seems like a simple, straightforward task, it is often not as easy as it seems. We fear offending our partners, or saying things we don’t mean.

Regardless of all of our anxiety, it is imperative to express to our partners what sex makes us feel like, both emotionally and physically, and what our concerns are regarding performing and/or abstaining from sex. On the flip side, we need to make sure we listen to how it all affects our partners as well.

Try this exercise: take a piece of paper, split it down the middle with a line, and write your name on one side and your partner’s name on the other. On your side of the paper, write down all of the ways you feel pain during sex is affecting just you:

Do you miss feeling like a sexual being?
Do you miss being able to convey your love in a sexual manner?
Do you miss feeling sexual pleasure?

Then, on your partner’s side, list the concerns you have regarding your partner’s feelings on the matter:

Are you afraid he or she will leave you and find someone who can have sex more easily?
Are you worried he or she will feel rejected by you?
Do you feel guilty that you might be making your partner feel like you don’t love him or her?

Have your partner do the same exercise and compare. When you finished comparing, try this follow-up exercise:

Write down three acts that you feel your partner can do to help you with your concerns. For example, if you miss being a sexual being, maybe your partner can be cognizant to mention how attractive you look more often. Or if your partner worries that you don’t love him or her as much as you used to, maybe you can make more of an effort to say “I love you” more often.

It’s Not All about Penetration

There are plenty of other sexual acts that can be used to bring us closer to our partners. Research shows that many couples in which one of the partners experiences dyspareunia tend to stop being sexually interactive at all. This causes an unhealthy and even harmful distance to grow. Sex and intimacy manifest in many different ways, and there is no reason to stop touching one another just because penetration hurts. Hand-holding, kisses, hugs, massages, and even just a light, sensual touch on the hand as you pass by your partner shows how much you care and prevents the physical relationship from becoming a thing of the past. In addition to all of those little gestures, mutual masturbation is a great and important way to pleasure your partner and connect sexually without intercourse.

Try New Ideas

There is more than one way to have intercourse. If sex hurts in the missionary position, try a new position. If it feels dry and chafing, try KY, or an alternative lubricant. There are plenty out there to choose from so find one that is right for you. You can even pick one out with your partner as a sexy bonding experience. While experimenting, don’t forget to stay calm and open-minded and try not to get frustrated. It can be a very fun and intimate experience if you let yourself enjoy the process and worry less about the result.

Timing is Key

There are some women who find that they are more sensitive to pain during specific times of the month. For example, some women feel that sex during ovulation causes more pain than sex during the time right after they end their periods. Keeping a log to identify when those times are is a great way to be proactive about minimizing sex pain.

Mind and Body Readiness

Vaginal dryness is one of the key reasons why women feel pain during sex. A woman whose mind and body are not ready for sex due to fear of pain or lack of foreplay will not produce natural lubrication and will thus feel more pain on penetration. Increasing foreplay and meditation are two ways to prepare both the mind and body for sex and increase lubrication.

Ask for Help

Don’t try to deal with painful sex on your own. A sex therapist can help you work through your emotional issues and give you more suggestions on how to improve your sex life. It might feel a little intimidating to share your personal issues with someone else, but a therapist who is trained to deal with sex issues has seen and heard it all and will be more than happy to help you.

While it might seem a little overwhelming to try to tackle such a large and emotionally charged issue, you owe it to yourself to try to improve your sex life. Don’t forget that you don’t need to try all of the suggestions at once. If you can, discuss with your partner and pick one or two ideas that you feel you can try to implement. It’s not about perfection; it’s just about taking the time and putting in the effort. If anyone can do it, you, my endo-sister, can. You are stronger than you know.