women's health Archives - Page 8 of 11

Why Few Women Trust the FDA

Published on July 2, 2012

4051 views

Critics of Lucine and our e-journal Hormones Matter often suggest that we are biased against the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and that, we should trust the FDA on all matters of women’s health. After all, we wouldn’t want to be considered one of those wacky conspiracy, alternative health blogs or a bunch of mommy bloggers (for reference, I rate moms as some of the best arbiters of BS when it comes to health). Admittedly however, much of the information on the blogosphere is horribly slanted or so devoid of actionable intelligence that it offers no more than pablum – even from the more reputable sources. But I digress.

With those criticisms come claims that begin with the ‘FDA approved…’ a particular treatment or device, or ‘after reviewing the data, the FDA found no merit to’ research suggesting that a certain drug or device was indeed dangerous. I have to admit that it often feels like I am biased. Perhaps I am little less apt to trust this industry or the regulatory oversight than others. I am certainly wary of the magic pills (oral contraceptives, HRT, anti-depressants) that are marketed as cures for all that ails the female population (without supporting data). But then, just when I think it is safe to trust again, reports like this come to light.

J&J Sold Vaginal Mesh Implant After Sales Halt Ordered

Bloomberg News reported last week that Johnson and Johnson (J&J) continued to sale Gynecare Prolift, a vaginal mesh implant, for a full nine months after FDA ordered it to halt sales. Prolift is a surgical mesh device used to treat pelvic organ prolapse, a common condition in women who have had children.

The basis of the complaint was the five-fold increase in death and serious injury associated with this product.

Bloomberg News reports:

J&J began selling the Prolift in 2005 without filing a new application after determining on its own that it was substantially similar to the Gynemesh, a company device already approved by the FDA, said Matthew Johnson, a J&J spokesman, in an e-mail. The device maker relied on FDA guidance for when companies must submit new applications, Johnson said.

J&J determined the safety of this product on its own. Called ‘equivalence’ this is a common form of FDA approval requiring the applicant show merely that a device or test is ‘equivalent’ to some older, previously approved device or test. With low risk devices or tests this is a mostly reasonable way to garner approval. In higher risk devices, however, such as those that are surgically implanted, meeting equivalence is hardly sufficient for approval, especially if the older devices are themselves, dangerous or otherwise inadequate.

While the FDA ultimately “…disagreed with J&J’s interpretation and required a new application that prompted questions in the August 2007 letter…” to halt sales, this was 2 years after J&J had already been selling the products to surgeons. By then hundreds of millions of dollars had been made and tens of thousands of mesh products had been implanted in women. J&J ignored the letter and continued to sell Prolift.

What’s worse than J&Js blatant disregard for the human safety is that the FDA ultimately caved and cleared the product in 2008, despite the fivefold increase in death and serious injury. Even a halted clinical trial failed to incite sufficient motivation to remove this product from the market. In 2009, the clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety of Prolift was halted when researchers found that >15% of women experienced erosion. Erosion of the mesh caused “pain, scarring, painful intercourse, bleeding scarring and closing of the vagina eroding into the bladder and bowel. Mesh erosion through the vagina is also called exposure, protrusion or extrusion. Many of these problems required additional medical or surgical treatments and further hospitalizations.” Despite the findings of the clinical trial, the products remained on the market.

As of 2010, J&J had reported sales of $295 million in the US alone. J&J did agree to re-label the device and in 2011 the FDA began considering re-classifying vaginal mesh products from a moderate risk product to a high risk product. I guess we should be grateful (insert snark). In the mean time, women continued to suffer and die. It is only recently, after hundreds of lawsuits, that J&J applied to recall Prolift and other vaginal mesh products. According to a J&J spokesperson:

“We came to this decision after carefully considering numerous factors” including “the commercial viability of these products in competitive and declining worldwide markets, the complexities of the regulatory environments in which we operate, and the availability of other treatment options for women,”

Notice, that it was market factors, not product safety, behind the decision. The report goes on to say that products will be phased out on a region by region basis over the next year. I guess there is no rush to recall these products since J&J admits no health or safety concerns and the FDA approved the product. I sure would hate to be the last region in the recall.

So no, I do not trust the FDA to protect my health. I am afraid many other women, some of whom are mommy bloggers (yes, I am a mom and I blog), scientists and proponents of better health don’t either. Yet, we still must make decisions that affect our health and our family’s health. To all the women responsible for family health decision: verify, then trust.

Resource to Verify Medication Safety

AdverseEvents.com : this is a fantastic site run by a private company that allows individuals to list and view adverse events and side effects for every medication on the market. It is free to the user. If you are an Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella user, I encourage you to look up those medications and compare their side effect profiles to other drugs. This site does not list medical devices. If any of our readers know of a similar site for adverse events associated with devices, please share.

Health Plan Providers Least Likely to Be Forgiven

by Elena Perez

Published on May 29, 2012

1465 views

The healthcare industry is one of a number of industries that seems to be losing its connection to the people – their customers. This notion was highlighted by the Temkin Group, a research firm that collects and analyzes data about customer experiences, when they released their 2012 Forgiveness Ratings: Turns out, people aren’t very forgiving of their health plan providers.

Health Plan Providers Low on the Totem Pole

In fact, when the industries were ranked in order of most likely to be forgiven, the health plan industry ranked 14 out of 18. The industry ranked the lowest when rated for overall customer experience. In addition, health plan providers were less likely to be forgiven than banks, and given the state of the economy, that’s pretty bad.

When customers were asked how likely they were to forgive a certain industry, they rated the company on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the most forgiving rating. Though there may be flaws in the data, with only 10,000 customers surveyed to rank 206 companies from 18 industries, the results still give us something to talk about.

Women Make Up Half of Health Plan Customers

While the data isn’t solely focused on women’s customer experiences, it’s important to recognize that we are half of the population. The ratings bring to mind reports that women are less satisfied with their health care than men, which will dampen a company’s chances of being forgiven.

A woman’s dissatisfaction with her health care may be due a number of reasons, including:

Medical prescriptions are not always geared towards women’s needs.
Medical research does not always keep women’s changing hormones in mind, particularly postmenopausal women.
Women pay more for health insurance than men.
Pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition for individual health care plans. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 only applies to group health care plans.

Men Also Impacted by Women’s Health

When women are not provided adequate and affordable health care, our spouses, partners, and families suffer, too. Including pregnancy as a pre-existing condition is an example of how insufficient health plans can impact men. When a woman is denied insurance because she is pregnant, her husband or partner will have to endure the financial blow as well.

In addition, the Committee on Energy and Commerce found that individual insurers deny expectant fathers insurance coverage, demonstrating how attitudes towards women’s health can impact a man’s health and the well-being of an entire family.

Health Plan Providers Least Likely to Be Forgiven

Four health plan providers are in the 20 least forgiven companies: United Healthcare, Anthem (BCBS), Humana, and Cigna. It should come as no surprise that hospital executives and leaders seem to agree with customer opinions.

Revive Public Relations, which specializes in health care and healthy living, began surveying hospital leaders for opinions on health plan providers. Though Cigna came in 2nd place in 2010 (disapproval still resulted in a 65% rating), United Healthcare and Anthem were poorly rated by hospital executives in 2011. Negative opinions of the health plan industry increased overall in 2011, because hospital executives struggled to obtain reimbursements.

Of course, these surveys may not reflect your own opinions. Are you satisfied with your health plan provider? Do you feel that the health plan industry provides adequate care for your needs as a woman? Share your thoughts.

Further Reading:
Women Pay More for Health Insurance than Men
Women Less Satisfied with Health care

Endocrine Disruptors Impact Women’s Health

by Elena Perez

Published on May 7, 2012

4605 views

What Are Endocrine Disruptors?

The hormones in our bodies are regulated by the endocrine system and they impact a number of bodily functions, including metabolism, growth, and development. An endocrine disruptor is a chemical that disturbs the way the endocrine system normally functions, thereby interfering with the way hormones and the body functions, as well.

How Do Endocrine Disruptors Impact Women’s Health?

Scientists have found links between endocrine disruptors and a number of health problems in women. Since most studies have only tested animal responses, scientists cannot conclude that these compounds have the same impacts on humans, but most believe that they do.

The following are only some of the health issues that have been linked to endocrine disrupting chemicals:

Precocious Puberty Possibly Due to Endocrine Disruptors

The early onset of puberty may be due to endocrine disrupting chemicals that are pervasive in the environment. The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics has found environmental toxins to be a possible explanation for precocious puberty.

While scientists are unsure if the early onset of puberty is due to endocrine disruptors or childhood obesity, it is important to note that endocrine disruptors also seem to cause insulin resistance, which can lead to weight gain.

Vaginal Cancer from Endocrine Disruptors

Unfortunately, there have been human cases that have shown a direct link between endocrine disruptors and the development of vaginal cancer.

Women took diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriages and morning sickness, only to find that this chemical caused their daughters to develop cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Scientists are still not exactly sure why DES caused vaginal cancer.

Endocrine Disruptors Tied to Breast Cancer

The EPA also acknowledges correlations between endocrine disruptors and certain cancers, such as breast cancer. A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found environmental toxins increase breast cancer by affecting the regular development of breasts and mammary glands.

The Yale University School of Medicine bolsters this research, showing that endocrine disruptors increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, particularly if she is exposed to such chemicals during embryonic development.

Endocrine Disruptors Impact Ovaries

The McLaughlin Center for Population Health Risk Assessment in Canada cited the increased risk of ovarian cancer from exposure to environmental toxins, such as pesticides and herbicides, noting that hormone levels seem to impact such outcomes.

The journal, Endocrine Reviews, reported that women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have higher levels of endocrine disruptors (specifically BPA) in their systems. PCOS is a disorder in which women, during their reproductive age, develop small cysts on their ovaries (in most cases). PCOS may impact a woman’s menstrual period, resulting in less frequent periods or none at all, and can make it difficult for a woman to become pregnant.

Uterine Disorders and Endocrine Disruptors

Endocrine disruptors have been found to reprogram genes in the uterus to grow uterine leiomyoma, or uterine tumors. Although these tumors are benign, they may cause heavy menstrual bleeding and/or lead to infertility.

The American Journal of Epidemiology has found links between the use of hair relaxers and uterine leiomyomata, suggesting that hair relaxers, used by many women, have endocrine disrupting chemicals.

The Society of Toxicology reported findings that mice exposed to high levels of genistein, a phytoestrogen found in soy products, developed uterine cancer later in life.

This same organization has shown connections between endometriosis, or the development of endometrial cells outside of the uterus, and endocrine disruptors, notably TCDD, a dioxin. The study found that endometrial cells do not properly respond to progesterone hormones when disrupted by TCDD, which can lead to endometriosis and sometimes infertility.

The Yale School of Medicine has found that endocrine disruptors block gene expression in the uterus, thereby disrupting the proper development of the uterus, which can lead to cancers, endometriosis, and infertility.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Can Cause Infertility

Concentrated levels of hormone-mimicking chemicals can stop ovulation, just as contraceptive pills do, according to The Oxford Journals.

Polybrominated diphenylethers, chemicals used in fire retardants, are linked to cases of infertility. The Society of Toxicology has shown this chemical also reduces thyroid-stimulating hormones (THS) in pregnant women, which can negatively impact fetal brain development.

When Do Endocrine Disruptors Impact a Woman?

Most scientific findings emphasize that exposure to endocrine disruptors during rapid developmental periods, such as gestation, is more detrimental to a woman’s health than exposure at other times. In fact, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology reported that endocrine disruptors often target the genes responsible for the development of an organism, interfering with the proper development of that organism.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that endocrine disruptors stop affecting us once we’re grown. The very chemicals that cause breast cancer have also been found to lessen the effectiveness of cancer fighting drugs. This is because most of the drugs used to treat breast cancer are made to reduce endogenous estrogens – which usually stimulate the cancer. While endocrine disruptors are just as effective as endogenous estrogens in stimulating the cancer, endocrine disruptors are not hindered by these drugs.

How Do We Limit Our Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors?

Endocrine Disruptors impact us every day, but we can limit the amount of toxic chemicals we absorb into our bodies by being aware of what these chemicals are and where they can be found. A good rule of thumb is to start cutting back on the processed goods in your life. If you have difficulty reducing the consumption of processed goods, just start with a few items and continue from there.

Not only do we ingest endocrine disruptors when we swallow pthalates in medication coatings, but we also wear them on our faces in the form of toxic cosmetics and contaminate our water sources with chemical toxins in widely used herbicides. Determine what are safe substitutes, like kitchen cosmetics or safe pesticide alternatives. Start small, choose wisely, and stay abreast of known endocrine disruptors.

Further Reading on Lucine:

Endocrine Disruptors in Personal Products:
Toxic Cosmetics
Kitchen Cosmetics
Is Your Deodorant Linked to Breast Cancer?
Phthalates in Medication Coatings
Endocrine Disrupters in the Environment:
Milk, it Does a Body Good?
Early Onset of Puberty
Could This be a Contributor to Weight Gain?
Chemical Toxins in Commonly Used Herbicides

Citizen Activists in the Internet Age and the War on Women

by Chandler Marrs, PhD

Published on April 25, 2012

2113 views

With all of the negativity and the downright stupidity of the American political scene, I thought some positive trends deserved attention, and hence this post. There is a resurgence of citizen activism that is successfully and positively changing the legislative process. This inspired me. I hope it inspires you.

Passage of the JOBS Act

For those of you not on the investment bandwagon, the JOBS Act which stands for the Jumpstart Our Business Startups will legalize crowdfunded investment for small companies like ours and democratize the investment process. It will allow average, everyday citizens, not just the super wealthy, to invest small amounts in new companies- it will allow crowd-funded investment. You can read more about the legislation here.

What is truly remarkable about this legislation is the story of this bill came to be. Three entrepreneurs wanted to fund their start up. Eighty-year-old SEC rules prohibited the crowdfunding of investment to private companies (Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms are not technically investment. They more akin to sponsorship). These three guys decided to change the laws and regulations. They began a grassroots, Internet driven campaign and with much effort and persistence, succeeded. No ALEC or other nefarious Super PAC, just three guys and an idea. How cool is that?! Citizen activists have power in the Internet age.

SOPA

SOPA –the Stop Online Piracy Act was stopped dead in its tracks by the Twitterverse. At first glance, the legislation looked benign enough; who wouldn’t want to stop online piracy? On closer inspection, however, this legislation would have seriously limited the ability of Internet users to do business, especially small blogs, content related and social media type ventures. SOPA was stopped by intense Internet activism beginning with millions of average users and then followed by wide-scale Internet blackouts by Wikipedia, Digg, even Google protested. Citizen activists have power in the Internet age.

RWA

A few months later came a less well known bill, the Research Works Act (RWA), that would have prevented public access to taxpayer funded research by giving all rights to the publishing houses. RWA was pushed by Elsevier, one of the most powerful and profitable academic publishing houses worldwide. Scientist, academics, and average citizens rose up and said NO, promising to boycott Elsevier (the Cost of Knowledge protest) had it passed. The outcry killed the bill and I think might ultimately change the business of academic publishing for the better. Indeed, more and more universities are opting for open source publishing venues to counteract the high cost and the access barriers publishing houses have instituted in recent decades.

The success of citizen activists in social media age is just beginning. Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that deemed corporations people and opened the flood gates for Super Pac sponsored elections, may have been the far end of the pendulum, which now must swing back. Americans have woken up from a decades long slumber and are realizing that they can make a difference. This may bode well for women’s rights, if we wake up and begin the arduous, but completely doable, task of creating and passing the legislation that matters to us (and voting out the scoundrels seeking to limit our rights).

The War on Women

The War on Women, though disputed by many, is evidenced by a very real and dangerous rollback in women’s health rights; rights many of us took for granted. At last tally, over 900 bills had been proposed restricting a woman’s access to health care and limiting her rights to make he own health care decisions, this year alone. Indeed, it wasn’t until the all-male birth control hearings and the subsequent diatribes by Rush Limbaugh, that many of us began to pay attention. Only then was the public outrage palpable, but outrage without focus or discernible goals to change something is, in my mind, a waste. We cannot just get mad. We need to fix this mess. We need new leaders, new laws and a new game plan for protecting the rights of our daughters.

This weekend, women will be uniting across the nation to protest the War on Women. When the outrage settles, we must begin to act. As the citizens responsible for initiating the JOBS act or stopping SOPA and RWA demonstrated, average citizens can change policy. Super PACs and the super wealthy are powerful, but not as powerful as millions of angry, Internet-connected, women. Hell hath no fury…

Let’s focus that fury on ensuring women are granted the basic human rights afforded the male citizenry. If three guys with an idea can change 80 year old, heavily entrenched, heavily bank supported, investment laws, if tweets can lead to the blockage of the media industry’s takeover of the Internet, and if scientists can all but take down a major publishing house, then certainly, women can get laws passed and politicians in office that support women’s rights.

For information about the War on Women protests planned for this Weekend, 4-28-12, click here.

What are you going to do to improve women’s rights?

Subtle but fundamental changes in discourse: is anyone listening?

by Chandler Marrs, PhD

Published on March 14, 2012

2358 views

Discourse Matters

What happens when we change the definition of a person to include everything from a corporation to a barely fertilized female egg? What happens when the corporate person and a collection of cells have more tacit and actual rights afforded than actual sentient beings? Though the loud and often offensive debates over a woman’s manifest right to make decisions about her health have led many to declare a ‘war on women,’ these same trends will serve to erode human rights in general- even for male humans.

Perhaps more of a philosophical question at this point, but when the definitions of words within a language dissociate so radically- person no longer means a human- it is difficult not to wonder what ramifications are before us; the law of unintended consequences will most certainly be at play here.

The Subject in Discourse

Language, and by association conversation or discourse, follow some very specific rules. At the most basic level, a sentence contains a subject, verb and object and, for the most part, words describe something about reality. (We’ve long since dissembled language and reality with mega marketing, political expediency and spin- but that is another topic altogether).

Subjects are usually, he, she, it, they etc., a person or thing. Although the definition of person has evolved over the course of history, it is generally allied with some underlying concept of sentience or thinking. Even though animals can think, we have never defined animals as persons (try as many dog lovers might) and there has always been a clear demarcation between human and everything else. Over the course of two years, however, cultural forces have rendered that definition virtually obsolete. And we have yet to settle on a new definition.

Corporate Privileges in Discourse

By law, corporations are now afforded some of the same (often more) rights than human persons. A corporation is comprised of human persons, but is essentially a contrived legal entity that allows business to transact. What does it mean when a legal contrivance becomes a person? Because corporate persons often have more power and money, there is the very real risk that their market goals will supersede basic human rights. (As a countervailing force, however, the millions of people within corporations connected socially online may overturn this overstep- see my last post).

The Risks of Anti-Abortion Discourse

Similarly, local anti-abortion supporters aligned with local government entities have pushed legislation across multiple regions of the US that grant a fertilized egg, person status; often affording the cell person more rights than the human person. Along with these trends, legislation that either forces women to undergo unneeded medical procedures and/or prevent physicians from providing medical information to women supersede the rights of the human-sentient person in favor of cells. No matter what you believe about abortion, this is a fundamental shift in discourse with significant policy ramifications.

Aside from the potentially life-threatening position a woman can now be placed in legally, aside from ethical quandaries these laws place a physician in and the very real medical malpractice suits that these laws open the physician up to, this shift in language, motivated by narrow political goals, removes the notion of human rights, human persons, from policy discussions. And although, these policies currently target women specifically, they will ultimately erode rights for all humans. Who is to say other cells or other legal or object entities don’t indeed deserve to be protected over the rights of humans.

Sperm cells for example, are core constituents of human life and until we master asexual reproduction, why shouldn’t all sperm cells be considered sacred and merit the same protective caveats as the female egg? Or to its absurdity, the male penis, testicles and the like, containers of this life-giving force, why shouldn’t they be enshrined and protected until the moment of copulation- a chastity belt perhaps?

Laugh as we might, redefining personhood to include everything from non-human, legal entities to a collection of cells that may or may not evolve into a human being, dismisses the role and rights of actual humans. This change in discourse is a dangerous slope.

Underinsured, Underdiagnosed and Anonymous: My Hormonal Hardships, Part 1

by Hormone Stories

Published on March 8, 2012

3082 views

It all started in my late teens. Recent high school graduates, my then-boyfriend and I were on our way from O.C. to L.A., when a driver entering the freeway rear-ended us as they were coming off the 91 onramp. A suddenly totaled car and severe case of whiplash quickly changed our prior plans, sending us instead to the local E.R. for immediate medical attention. A series of rush diagnostic tests later, my CT and MRI scans confirmed that I had suffered a C2 cervical neck-spine fracture with lumbar nerve involvement in the collision. I was fortunate to be alive, and luckier still to have survived without brain damage or paralysis, but I would not be simply walking away from this, either. Quite the reverse, it was actually just the beginning of a long battle to come.

Injuries sustained from the crash had triggered a myriad of chronic side effects and secondary conditions, including (but hardly limited to) chronic pelvic pressure, lower back pain, hip misalignment, fatigue, dizziness, and at that time, as-yet “undiagnosed hormonal issues.” I was 19, hurting, scared, and tens of thousands of dollars in debt overnight, due to my emergency room stay, all, through no cause of my own. Having to drop out of college to go through rehabilitative therapy and further hormone assessments over the next couple of years only seemed like more of an end-all to my young future back then. Launched head-first into a cold, cruel world of consistently inconclusive diagnoses and expensive, limited healthcare options, I truly felt the social stigma of being sick and uninsured. Splitting up with my high-school sweetheart a mere few years later, in no small part, because he wanted to have “children of his own”, I also really grew to feel the societal shame of being female and infertile, as well. So, I found myself dually disheartened as my abdominal pain and pressure continued to worsen, going on undiagnosed and untreated clear into my early twenties, despite the ever-growing list of costly blood labs, urinalyses, ultrasounds, and other screening tests, that my doctors had already exhausted.

Even with an employer-provided PPO, it would still be almost five years before any specialist would finally suggest what might be wrong with me (maybe endometriosis, maybe not), or explain what could have caused my prospective condition (maybe trauma from the earlier wreck, maybe not), much less tell me about potential treatments (oral contraceptives, laparoscopy, hysterectomy, or just plain living with the pain and hoping for the best). I was again referred to yet another gynecologist for yet another pelvic sonogram when, at long last, the ultrasound image revealed the suspected endometrial mass, once and for all (or, so we thought). The new gyno’ subsequently diagnosed me with endo’ and put me on low-dose combo estrogen-progesterone birth control pills, taken seasonally, as an alternative to surgery and nerve damage risks. The pill helped relieve some of my symptoms for a while, but it was far from being a permanent cure to my ailment, and ultimately became much more of a curse than a relief to me. Additional complications from an unexpected, ruptured ovarian cyst, followed by an increasingly negative response to the synthetic hormones, also lead to questions about my original diagnosis and method of treatment. Did I have endometriosis at all…was it something else entirely…what do I do now…what do I do next? …

To continue reading, click here.

Underinsured, Underdiagnosed and Anonymous: My Hormonal Hardships, Part 2

by Hormone Stories

Published on March 8, 2012

2539 views

We left off from Part 1 of my story with a tentative diagnosis of endometriosis, a ruptured ovarian cyst, and ever-increasing doses of oral contraceptives. At that point in my life, I was scared, in pain and worried that I and the doctors should be doing more.

But, as it turned out, there was not much more that I could do. The doctors said that even if it wasn’t endometriosis, the pill would probably still be the least invasive and least risky treatment option available to me. They told me this without any intention of scheduling further abdominal inspections, pelvic imaging, endometrial biopsies, or blood draws for biochemical markers, despite my pleas for each. Then again, they had confirmed my endo’ diagnosis without a laparoscope, or CA-125 antigen test, as it was. So, what else should I really have expected from them now? Life on oral contraceptives continued because, apparently, my only other choice was living without a uterus (and risking paralysis due to prior cervical vertebrae injury) at only twenty-five years of age.

I had never had long, frequent, heavy, or uncomfortable periods, much less menstrual cramps, as a young teenager. But, as a woman on COCPs in her mid-twenties, I was experiencing altogether nonexistent cycles, regular breast discharge, ceaseless bloating, and unrelenting gastrointestinal pain and pressure (on top of chronic neck and back pain from the past car accident). One silver lining to my proverbial cloud was that I had finally regained most of the neck control and movement previously lost in the collision. Another consolation to this difficult situation was that I had also saved up enough money, working through physical therapy, to return to school. And, maybe best of all, I had found (without trying) a steady, supportive, and understanding boyfriend, who was not only my match in every way, but who always stayed by my side, through the ups and downs alike. Little did we know the coming financial and health woes to befall us, yet again, over the next few years.

Fast forward about three more years into the future—I had transferred to the university as a junior during the Fall term. My boyfriend and I had been together, going on strong, for four years. And, I had been working part-time at a job that I loved for nearly two years. The future again seemed bright. Healthcare access, however, remained bleak.

The COBRA benefits from my old employer had long expired, not that I could have afforded them at $600 per month anyways. I didn’t qualify for health insurance at my new workplace because I wasn’t full-time there, owing to a loaded class schedule on-campus. And, the only medical coverage that I had been able to afford since leaving the other company was a short-lived, hybrid POS-HMO plan, which I ended up having to cancel early as nobody in my area would accept it (there went another few hundred dollars, I couldn’t afford to lose, down the drain). We had been working around the system, paying out-of-pocket for generic prescriptions, and general lab procedures, at local understaffed health clinics, since no one else seemed willing to work with us. This got us by (it had to) until an unexpected slip-and-fall accident that December rendered a hidden colon tumor palpable in my lower body (something we wouldn’t learn for another four months or so).

The ER wouldn’t treat me, and only served in referring me to a GI/Endoscopy specialist, who in turn refused to see me because I didn’t have insurance. A major medical carrier subsequently denied me coverage as uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions (namely my C2 fracture from nine years earlier, and my endometriosis diagnosis from four years prior), essentially blacklisting me among all other healthcare providers. I couldn’t even qualify for government assistance of any kind. I had come close to dying in just a few short months without knowing what was wrong with me, and we were running out of time and options fast. That’s when my boyfriend popped the question, to get me on his insurance, and to save my life…

To continue reading, click here.

Underinsured, Underdiagnosed and Anonymous: My Hormonal Hardships, Part 3

by Hormone Stories

Published on March 8, 2012

2238 views

We eloped without much fanfare at the Office of Civil Marriages in the Spring and over-nighted a certified copy of our marriage certificate to my newly-wed husband’s H.R. Department ASAP. A month later, we received our new medical cards, and my husband’s primary physician gave me referrals to a network-approved gynecology specialist and internist. The gynecologist ordered another abdominal ultrasound, blood draw, urine sample, and pap smear to check for viral, bacterial, and/or urinary tract infections, as well as to rule out other possible conditions like kidney stones or gallstones. The internal medicine specialist referred me to a gastroenterology-endoscopy doctor to get my spleen, colon, appendix, and liver more thoroughly checked out. I also remember asking both of them about going off the pill back then, but each one had advised me to stay on it, at least, until my initial lab results were in. It was definitely no honeymoon as the poking and prodding officially commenced once more.

My upper-left abdomen was tender to the touch below my ribcage, and my lower-left abdominal pain had grown much more intense, now radiating from my stomach to my backside in sharp, rapid, debilitating jabs. It felt like my organs had dropped, and my insides were trying to force their way out of me. It stung to urinate, hurt to have a bowel movement, my urine was very cloudy, and there was a lot of (too much) blood in my stool. The burning sensation in my bladder and the rigidness of my muscles were limiting my mobility, aggravated lower quadrant soreness and spasms were impairing my sleep, and a newfound fear of vomiting or otherwise using the restroom was inhibiting my appetite. I was faint, weary, and weak from excess blood loss, malnutrition, insomnia, distress, and delayed treatment. And, I was just about to begin another taxing hodgepodge of could-be prognoses throughout a long (almost too long) diagnostic process of elimination.

The gyno’ reported that I had crystals but no stones in my urine, and prescribed me antibiotics for a bladder infection (one problem down, many more to go). The ultrasound image still showed a small mass and fibrous tissue, but they did not appear to be ovarian or polycystic in nature. Likewise, although my iron levels were down, my lab panel showed no sign of kidney or gallbladder abnormality or dysfunction. And, there did not seem to be any cervical or vaginal lesions, viral or bacterial. They said that a small uterus might explain my short, light, and irregular periods during adolescence (previously a non-issue to me), as well as an increased susceptibility to endometriosis, and a decreased success rate for surgical assessment or treatment thereof. So, laparoscopy was ruled out as a viable diagnostic test or care option for endo’ altogether, rendering my prior endometrial diagnosis unconfirmed (but still, ironically considered a pre-existing condition), and my current status was again in question. It was, however, recommended that I ask the gastroenterologist/endoscopy specialist about the possibility of any additional bowel, thyroid, and/or pancreatic involvement, though.

By the first time that I saw the GI/endoscopy doctor who the internist had referred me to, a few weeks later, my bladder infection had cleared up and my urine was back to normal. But, I was now passing mucus, tissue, and blood clumps, without bowel movements, in addition to suffering from constant rectal bleeding (without any bowel activity). I could now also feel a throbbing lump bulging against my insides from somewhere near my perineal area, making it extremely difficult for me to sit down (when it had already become problematic for me to lay down on my stomach or even to lie on my back). The gastro-endoscopy physician told me that I had injured my spleen in the slip-and-fall accident, and that it would probably take another month or so for it to fully heal on its own, thus explaining the tenderness that I had felt under my ribs. The doctor also suspected that I had colitis (inflammation of the large intestines) with internal prolapsed piles, and wrote me a prescription for sulfa antibiotics, hydrocodone painkillers, and corticosteroids, for at-home treatment. The second course of antibiotics made me feel a little bit better, and the painkillers helped me to sleep some, but the corticosteroids made the small lump inside me swell into a larger bump ready to burst through my very skin. No, I didn’t have piles or colitis, either.

Five weeks and a bunch of different tests later, I also didn’t have appendicitis, pancreatitis, hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, thyroid disease, or diabetes, among other things. I still didn’t have gallstones or kidney stones (they double-checked), but I was still on oral contraceptives (and hating it) as continued to be advised for no given reason. I had been married for four months; the summer was half-over and we were spending hundreds of dollars per month in medical premium deductions, on top of hundreds more in mounting insurance co-pays, and other related expenses to no avail (needless to say, our savings and hopes were dwindling quickly). They didn’t want to do a colonoscopy on me because I was way under the age of fifty, had no recorded family history of colon polyps, colonic ulcers, diverticulosis, or diverticulitis, and nobody really expected to find anything anyways. But, they too had run out of other tests to perform, even though I wasn’t getting any better under their watch. A preliminary colonoscopy and biopsy, a repeat procedure, and multiple follow-up biopsies, however, ‘finally’ and shockingly confirmed that I had an adenocarcinoma tumor in my colon. I had colon cancer? …I had colon cancer…

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Hormones Matter

Where health, hormones, and a whole bunch of other stuff, make sense.

women's health - Page 8

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