Category Archives: Women’s Health

A Walk to Beautiful

By The Midwife | Published: February 24, 2008

Forget the Oscars (well, not entirely: Go, Juno, go!); the movie I really want to see is A Walk To Beautiful. Having already won several awards at film festivals around the world, the film follows five courageous women as they travel to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopa to find a cure for the […]

Also posted in Complications, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Women's Health | 5 Comments

Ovarian Cysts

By The Midwife | Published: October 9, 2007

I got a phone call last night from a good friend from college, who has just recently been diagnosed with an ovarian cyst, and had been told by her doctor not to worry too much about it and was prescribed birth-control pills to help manage the symptoms. She wanted a second opinion, and I told […]

Also posted in Gynecology, Primary Care, Questions, Research, Women's Health | 8 Comments

Old and New News Roundup 10/2/07

By The Midwife | Published: October 2, 2007

So, I’m back in the blogosphere again, and realizing that I’ve been missing a lot of important news by taking a vacation for a few months. Here’s a quick overview of some of the stories I’ve found most pressing (and/or impressive) lately, even though some of these stories are old news by blog standards, and […]

Also posted in Breastfeeding, Choice, Education, Feminism, Midwifery, Politics, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Hyperthyroidism

By The Midwife | Published: March 30, 2007

People ask me a lot of questions, and unfortunately I rarely get a chance to post very many of them here. However, I thought this was a particularly good one, and might be useful to other readers as well, so here we go: “I came across your website when I was google searching the words […]

Also posted in Breastfeeding, Postpartum, Questions, Research, Women's Health | 3 Comments

Newsworthy

By The Midwife | Published: February 26, 2007

So, I’ve been a bit incommunicado thanks to the intensity of my clinical schedule, and the fact that last week was our first exam, and I was busy spending every spare minute studying for it (I’m very pleased to report that I did well on my exam, despite my deepest concerns regarding my sincere lack […]

Also posted in Choice, Feminism, Issues, Midwifery, News, Politics, Primary Care, Research, STIs, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Texas HPV vaccine controversy

By The Midwife | Published: February 7, 2007

Texas governer Rick Perry has recently signed an Executive Order requiring all girls between the ages of 11 and 12 to be vaccinated with Gardasil, Merck’s new HPV vaccine, which is currently the only vaccine on the market that treats HPV (other HPV vaccines from other companies are in the pipeline and soon to be […]

Also posted in Choice, Gynecology, Politics, Primary Care, STIs, Women's Health | 5 Comments

FDA approves Plan B for OTC sales

By The Midwife | Published: August 24, 2006

This just arrived in my inbox, moments ago. I can’t find a single news story written about this yet, in any of the papers. Is it really possible for a blog to beat the newspapers when it comes to a story? Neato! We did it! At 9:20 a.m. today, the FDA approved over-the-counter access to […]

Also posted in Choice, Contraception, Politics, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Not everyone loves Gardasil

By The Midwife | Published: June 28, 2006

In addition to the moral debate that surrounds giving Gardasil, Merck’s new HPV vaccine, to young girls, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is also urging against a “universal use” recommendation by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on June 29th. The NVIC doesn’t feel that Merck’s clinical trials proved that the HPV […]

Also posted in Gynecology, Midwifery, New Products, Politics, Primary Care, STIs, Women's Health | 8 Comments

Cervical cancer vaccine approved

By The Midwife | Published: June 19, 2006

The FDA has recently approved Gardasil, Merck’s vaccine that helps prevent cervical cancer caused by Human Papilloma virus (HPV) strains 6, 11, 16 and 18. This is incredibly exciting news, since this is the first vaccine to target cervical cancer, and the first ever vaccine for cancer, period (amazing! a vaccine for cancer!!!). The vaccine […]

Also posted in Gynecology, New Products, Primary Care, STIs, Women's Health | Leave a comment

New treatments for menopause: still not that helpful

By The Midwife | Published: May 4, 2006

Interesting article in the New York times on new therapies for menopause, including anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, and anti-seizure drugs. While these drugs seem to show some promise when it comes to helping hot flashes, none of them come close to hormones. How frustrating! What are we supposed to offer to women to help them? Especially when […]

Also posted in Menopause, Primary Care, Women's Health | 2 Comments