Blog # 15

I want to start off by saying this class was great. I really enjoyed taking this class, it has taught me a lot of things about women's health. I think the number one thing that caught my attention was the movie Sicko. That was an eye opener. I believe everyone should see this movie. Just knowing these types of things go on in our country and we are supposed to be the most powerful and richest. Countries with less resources than the USA have free health coverage and are ok with that. What does that say? These insurances are just worried about getting paid and not actually helping people. Denying care to a little girl that ended up dying but could have been prevented. The people that were being dropped off in front of another facility to get help when they should have just stayed at the first hospital. The insurance companies are ruthless and do not care. How can they as people feel ok with doing these things. If I worked for one of those companies and I knew these things went on, I would have to quit. I would probably report them as well but don't know if that would do anything. We are people! I think if everyone saw this movie a lot of people's views would change about free health care. I could go on and on about this movie but I won't. This movie was a great assignment although I think it should be required. Again, this class was awesome and would recommend to everyone and anyone. Thanks for all of your hard work professor!

Assault

I do not think there is a way to prevent from being assaulted. I think we could take precautions as women to reduce our risk of being assaulted. Women should not be alone at night time, and avoid dark alleys. If you feel like someone is following or watching you then you may want to stop somewhere that feels and looks safe, and well lit. I would never stop somewhere dark and somewhere you are not familiar. What is sad is that you may never know the person is about to attack you due to it may be someone you know and trust. So matter what you may think you may not be safe with your friends and family. Just always be aware of your surroundings. Be alert always as well.

Blog #13

I think it is a strength for a women to admit she has a problem with alcohol or drugs. It takes a very strong individual to admit they have a problem. There are too many people that will not ever admit they are an alcoholic but yet they have to have a drink from sun up to sun down. Some will not admit they are a drug addict but yet they sniff everyday. I believe that is the first thing they try to put in your mind that you have to admit you have a problem. If that is never done, then the problem may not be corrected and you may not ever stop what you are addicted to. The person has to be honest with yourself, that is what it boils down to. Of course it cannot be easy, but it has to be done especially if you want to recover. What they have to understand is that it effects everyone around you, especially yourself. No one can really help you get out of the situation until you want to make that change.
I think if I had a problem with alcohol or drugs, I would admit that I had a problem. I would want to help myself as well as all of the people involved in my life. Maybe it is easier said then done, especially since I have never been in the situation.

Blog #12/Mental health

I read the article about child custody loss. I found that custody losers and non custody losers differ descriptively in marital status, lifetime hospitalization, duration of mental illness, and poverty level. Some of the women told their stories. I do believe that if a woman has a substance abuse that her kids should be taken away from her. I am not sure how I feel about woman who do not make a lot of money should lose their kids UNLESS they cannot afford to feed, dress or provide shelter for their children. If a woman does have a disorder, I believe some of them can be helped therefore depending on the severity of it they could get their children back if they have lost them due to it. We have some much technology out there so I do believe more than half of the disorders can be treated. What is really boils down to would be what kind of disorder the women have? Does it put the children in danger? How severe is the issue? I do believe if for any reason the children are in any type of danger then they should be given to next of kin, foster care or adoption. It needs to be what is best for the kids. This is a very touchy subject to be honest with you, I think.

"Future in mind"

I truly believe that if lived with "our future in mind," yes we would change the way we do everything. I would change the way I eat, the way I view education, the way I exercise and how I spend money. I could only imagine the things I would change as a person. We, meaning the world, would probably live longer and be more aware of what we do. Every person would be aware if they ate wrong then they may have health issues or vise versus. I think that if people knew they would be obese in the future then they would make the time to exercise. They would be aware if they didn't receive an education whether it be high school or college they may be stuck at the dead end job they have now. If we knew more about money then maybe more of us would have more money and the US would have less homeless people. I just think we would live longer and be more healthy. If I only knew what I knew now-my whole life would be different. I wish I could see my future to see what I would need to do to make sure I live a long healthy life and make sure that I do everything I can to make sure I accomplish everything I want to in my life. There would just be a lot of changes to everyone's life and it would be great to live with "our future in mind."

Blog #10/CVD

I read the article titled: "Socioeconomic indicators related to CVD risk factors in Hispanics." It was interesting due to the first sentence says, "Although Hispanics have a lower CVD morality rate than do their white counterparts, paradoxically, Hispanics appear to have worse CVD risk-factors profiles than do whites." They are far worse in blood pressure, obesity, sedentary lifestyles and smoking. There are several explanations have been posited to explain this risk-factor-mortality discrepancy, some speculate that in time higher rates of CVD-related deaths among Hispanics will be seen. I just that is so interesting to me. I would automatically assume that if you have a lower morality rate than your risk factors would be low as well, but I guess I was wrong. I think this study was very informative. It talks about everything from socioeconomic, gender, weight, and behavioral factors.
I just think CVD is a very scary disease and not a lot of people are aware of the risk factors associated with it. I also believe that not every single person on this earth goes to the doctor, in which we may have less deaths with this disease. There could be more done to prevent CVD as the doctor could give medication for it if everyone gets at least a physical every year.

Challenges I face

I would definitely have to say that the biggest challenge to regular exercise and a healthy diet would be SCHEDULE. I work 11-8 Monday through Friday so by the time I get home I eat, work on school and then to bed I go. Ever since I have gone on this schedule we have not had time to walk or workout. Who would want to get up at 5AM to go walking-not me? That is what would have to be done during the week if we wanted to exercise. On the weekends, we are always busy so we have no time to exercise. Eating healthy doesn't come easy. I basically grew up on fast food, so I am used to eating it now. My husband cooks but there are days he comes home after messing with kids all day that he does not want to cook.
Well now that I got a new position with better hours we will be walking or working out (on our Bo-Flex). I will have to help my husband cook now that I am home a lot earlier than 8. We will cut out sodas and sweets (not cold turkey quit). There will be a lot of changes here starting the last week in March and will be carried out forever! This will be a big and great change not just for me but for both of us. We both need to make this a big part of our life due to we do not want to be obese or have heart/health conditions at a young age. I cannot wait to start all of this.

Blog 8/Effects of media coverage

I read the article on Effects of media coverage of Women's Health, Initiative study on attitudes and behavior of women receiving hormone replacement therapy and found some pretty interesting things. So, here are the facts within the article. Half of the women use reading material as a source of information helping them decide whether to use HRT but 82 % use their physician. Pharmacists were not reported as a source. These things are amazing. To conduct this they had to go through a certain selection process and contact method. They had to answer questions about their current menopausal status, HRT use, sources of information regarding HRT, level of trust in their physicians and level of trust in the accuracy of information about HRT. When this thing first started there were 233 women but when it actually came down to the analyzing there were only 97. Only 71% were currently using HRT. The most common reason used HRT for the relief of symptoms related to menopause. The major source when deciding to use HRT was from their physician. The other sources were from the media (newspapers, books, broadcast). There is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation that is about HRT in the media as well sometimes with physicians. Bottom line is what the very last paragraph says: Miscommunication of the new research results has the potential to negatively affect the health of patients. The solution to this problem will come from multiple sources, but pharmacists have the opportunity to take an active role.
I think there is not enough information out there that is true. Maybe we need more studies and research out there before we inform these women of HRT. Maybe the media needs not to advertise so negatively and more positively. Perform the studies and researches and not release the information until we are sure these are facts, that way there could be more positive than negative information.

HIV/AIDS

I read the article about global feminization of HIV/AIDS by Fletcher Njororal and Dr. Oomen-Early, which was very interesting. It was not interesting in a good way but more disturbing than anything really. I wanted to touch on a couple of things I read in this article, one being HIV/AIDS is mainly by heterosexual sexual activity. Many people think this to be more a homosexual disease, which it is clearly not true. More people need to be educated on this subject. When someone thinks of AIDS they usually think of a homosexual.
Under Socio-Cultural factors, it says in South Africa, infected men have sex with a virgin, in which they believe will heal them from AIDS. This sentence is just disturbing to me. This is very sad. As an American, I would think we could go over there to help them understand this is not true. I am not sure if it will work since they believe this, sometimes you cannot change what people believe unless they want to. But at least someone is trying to change their ways. Let them know that this spreads HIV and that is why they are the leading with the numbers of AIDS.
Under the Political factors, it speaks about trafficking. This needs to be put to rest! I cannot believe this still happens. Something needs to be done about this soon. This is horrendous that we have not done anything about this. I am not sure what needs to happen but I know there is something that can and needs to be done.
I think at this point there needs to be more information for everyone to have. I am not sure if there needs to be classes on this subject or teachings in other countries, but it wouldn't hurt. Our society thinks they know everything about HIV but obviously not educated about it at all. With all of the technology, you would (or I) would think there could be a cure. It is sad that we have all the diseases out there but no cure.

Children?

I am 28 years old and working on my degree. We do not have any kids right now, but we have decided if it happens it will. We believe everything happens for a reason. When we first got together we didn't want kids right away. We wanted to enjoy each other and do things without children. Also, my husband really thought I should get my degree before conceiving. I think the thinking behind that would be that I probably wouldn't finish school if a baby came along. But what was realized was that plenty of women do that now and have no problem! Now that we are older and more mature we would love children. I am pretty sure that is has A LOT to do with all of my cousins and my only sister has kid(s). So therefore we are the only ones (on my moms side) that do not have children. Our niece is our world right now-she is awesome only being 3 years old. So keeping her when she was about 6 months old, I think changed our minds. We are done doing the things we want to do. We are not getting any younger. Our attitudes have changed a lot since we have gotten together. So at this point if it happens that is wonderful and if it doesn't we will look to other ways to have children. You know also I think about this all the time: I would hate it if we cannot conceive on our own due to we would know this child is wanted and planned. There are so many children out there that women have and treat them like trash. Really? Do kids need or deserve that? There are people that have many kids (get pregnant if you look at them kind of thing) and then there is couples that cannot conceive at all (trying for years). You hear about all these parents beating, burning and killing their children. So again, if we cannot conceive on our own, there are plenty of way to become parents. We have dogs, a house, cars, wonderful marriage and jobs so I think one thing is missing and that is a beautiful child.

Things that influence contraceptive decisions

There are a lot of things that can influence your decision in using contraceptives or not. I believe that it is always your choice and your spouses but make that decision together. I think that no one should be able to make that decision for you unless it is because of your religion. I would say that should be a good intention that will influence your decision.
What I was talking about early where no one should be able to make that decison but yourself would be in a case where you are in a relationship and the women cannot express her concerns or feelings about contraceptives. Other than that, religion plays a big part in these situations. According to some religion the women are unable to use any contraceptions and others they are. It may be looked down upon if you did. In the book it states that Protestants endorse birth control as a marital option. They are most likely to use female sterilization. Judaism emphasizes the individual choice of the married couple with couples limiting the family size for social or health reasons. Jews practice contraception under special health circumstances by consulting with authorities. The Catholic church accepts only rhythm methods of contraception. According to Catholic teachings the primary purpose of sex is procreation and interference with that is in violation of the natural law. Catholics are most likely to use the pull. There are Catholics that do use contraceptives but this practice is in violation of the church. The Muslims forbid contraception due to it is seen as both a sacred duty and a gift. So there it is, how religion can influence using contraceptions, as the book states all of this. As well in the book it states that a study was done and it showed that white non-Hispanic women were more likely to use some form of contraception than black or Hispanic women. So there you have it on what can influence the decision on using contraceptions.
As far as my family goes, we really didn't have any beliefs on it. When my mother found out that I was sexually active then we took the route of going to the doctor and putting me on the pill. I did use other forms of contraceptions as well. So really no beliefs influenced her decision just wanted to protect us from having children in high school. I am sure she would prefer us to practice abstinence until marriage but it was not her belief. My mother was young when she had us so it would be sort of practice what you preach if she did tell us to wait.

My Menarche

I think when I had my menarche that it was both positive and negative. I think when it happened, it came at a very bad time. I think that is what made it negative. I was freaking out because I had a guest over and didn't want her to find out. I had no clue what happened when I woke up. I wanted to hide it from my guest. I had to call my mother at work (freaking out) and ask her where are those items I am supposed to use and what do I do? Moms always have the answer. I don't think I felt ashamed but I was not jumping for joy. Did I want to become a woman this soon? Many thoughts were going through my head-becoming a "woman" should be a good thing, why do women have to go through this, why did it happen so soon? I just remember a lot of things going through my head. Some of them good and some not. I think it was more scary than anything, even though my mother had prepared me for it. I was just shocked!
I would not say we celebrated that I got my period. I don't remember sharing this incident with my friends. My mom did tell some of the family without me knowing. I remember when I found out she did that, I was so upset. I am sure it had to do with all the emotions I was feeling while on my period. I think my mother was more excited than I was about the whole thing. I don't think I was ready for everyone to know my business. I think to me it shouldv'e came later in life just not so soon. I think all in all I was just happy that is happened in the summer, so I had time to get use to it before school started.

Self Assessment

I would rate my preventative care ok even though I answered 8 out of 10 questions "yes." I do not eat healthy whatsoever. That needs to change and change quickly! Don't get me wrong I do eat veggies and fruits but not like I should. I need to eat a piece of fruit in between meals. I think that would be good for me. I think water is part of a healthy diet, which I do not drink. I will drink Propel but not regular water. I hate water. That is so sad and bad. I do not exercise on a regular basis. We used to walk every night if not every other night. My excuse is I do not have any time. We have talked about walking in the morning but never went through it. I do get a lot of sleep. I probably get too much. I try to allow myself at least 8 hours of sleep. I do avoid drugs and tobacco period. For the most part, I do not drink. I will occassionally drink with our friends but it is not an every weekend thing. My opinion about drinking is I am over that part in my life. I do use contraceptives when sexually active. I do love to socialize with family and friends. I do practice safe behaviors. I use my selt belt, I hate when people drink and drive so I do not do that! I do use nonviolent methods of conflict resolution. I try to see my doctor on a regular basis. She is in Plano and I live in Burleson.
I think I need to a lot more to improve my health. I use to be healthier. In high school I worked out, played sports and lifted weights. My eating habits still continue which are not great at all. I am just getting older and need to do more about my health. I don't think I am in bad shape BUT it is not like it used to be when I was in school. I would like to get to that point again. We have a bo-flex we are going to set up and use. We will start walking one of these days. I need to change my eating habits as well. It is just so hard because it used to be so easy.

Health care is a right or privilege?

I believe health care is a right and not a privilege. I believe that if health care is provided to everyone across the US, there would be less deaths. If my grandmother could have afforded to see her doctor on a regular basis, she would probably still be here, same for her husband (my grandfather). Medicare, I am sure, does not pay a lot of the costs. OK, it covers up to 80% but you are robbing old people which are living off of social security or disability. Is that what we want? They can barely afford to live off that and now that they need medicine they cannot get them. I think that if the US gave everyone coverage there should be limitations on it, that way people cannot abuse the system. But how the insurance is set up now-Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPS, etc is probably not set up the best way. We can do better. My sister could not get her child insurance through CHIPS due to they said she made too much and both parents work (which to me they do not get paid that much). Their jobs do not have insurance for their employees. On that note, I believe if you work that every job out there should have something to give the employees, whether it be PPO or HMO. Just let us have the option. That would be a great requirement-every business out there needs to offer insurance to their employees. I am sorry if it does cost the business money but it would be a good way to have everyone have insurance, in which this country needs badly. Bottom line is we are a rich enough country to allow everyone to have insurance/coverage. We are stingy with our money I think as a country, let's do something for the people and have that option for everyone.

Health Concerns for Women

My concerns about women's health would be at least these three things: Obesity, HPV, teen pregnancy.
I chose obesity due to there are so many people that are overweight in this country alone. I think there should not be places like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Chick-fil-a unless they serve all healthy food. I know that is impossible probably and would never happen. It is also our fault for not wanting or disciplining ourselves into eating healthy and exercising. I also chose HPV because there is not a lot out in the world to know a lot about it. Half the doctors cannot tell you probably half the things we need to know about it. Maybe they need to do more studies/research about it. The last thing I chose was teen pregnancy because it affects millions of people. Not only does it affect the teens having the kids but also their parents. I think that if the teen is not ready to have the responsibilities of raising the child nor giving it to her parents to raise while still in school, that baby should be put up for adoption. But that is not the only thing I am concerned about when it comes to that, it is also what they do while (partying, drinking, smoking, etc) they are pregnant since half the time they have no idea. Maybe we should teach abstinence sooner in schools.

I spoke with my mother, 46, about issues concerning her as well. She chose HPV, the new cervical cancer. She said that you read the same stories but really never get the same answer. She believes that your own doctor does not know enough about it nor can they really treat it. Women and girls may not even know they are carrying it. Many young women have many sexual partners in which if they have it and have no idea, they are passing it on. Do they know what side effects these young girls will have if they are giving them a shot for this issue? Do they know enough to be doing this? She thinks there needs to be more out there on this subject (i.e. Treatments, how come it could take years to know you have it, can you carry this always)

I also spoke with my cousin, 26, about issues concerning her. She chose two things which were obesity and lack of motivation to exercise. Obesity is a growing concern especially in the states. She says most women in the working world it is just so easy to get some food on the go through the drive thrus. Even with healthy items on the menu, they are expensive so therefore we stay away from that. She believes that fast food is a major contributor to obesity, but it is ultimately our choice for us and our children. She also chose lack of motivation to exercise because there is none of this today. In other countries they ride bicycles or walk to work and what do we have-cars, buses, etc. This issues contributes to the growing rate of obesity, but we must make it a priority, as much as eating dinner. Her as a mother and a caretaker of her family must make the choice for what foods to purchase for the household and making exercise a priority. The rate of obesity is astronomical, even in children, we must make the correct choices and enforce the necessary changes.

I also interview one more person at work about the issues concerning her. She is 26 and choose these three things: Cancer, Weight loss, Drinking. She chose cancer due to she had a family member die of this. There is no cure and should be able to detect it way early. She thinks that majority of the time it should be able to be prevented but the doctors just overlook or puts it to the side because to them right now it is not a concern. She chose weight loss because there is a lot of people overweight and more needs to be done to control this. Her last concern was drinking because she had a relative that was drinking and driving, hit someone and passed away. She believes there needs to be more strict laws and rules surrounding drinking and driving.

All of our concerns are very much alike. We all are concerns about either weight or obesity which to me falls in the same category. The other thing in common would be HPV. These are concerns that need to addressed in this country quickly. If there is nothing to stop or cure this issues then no telling what will happen in the near future and not just with obesity but all of these listed above.