Blog #9

The biggest challenge for me to regular exercise and a healthy diet is my busy schedule. I am currently taking 19 hours of school and a lot of it is writing intensive. I rarely have time to do anything besides study and when I do, I want to rest and relax. How do I rest and relax? By laying in bed watching T.V. (my big problem is Texas Rangers baseball) or by going on a date, which usually ends up being dinner. If I’m relaxing at home, I usually want to eat something quick so that I don’t have to make a big effort. Around my house, my parents buy “quick foods” such as chips, dips, frozen pizzas, cheese and crackers, and a few frozen dinners. Although my mom does cook healthy dinners most of the time, I like to snack. Since I am really tired at the end of the day I have a hard time getting up the motivation to go exercise.

Although I’m not a perfect eater or exerciser, I have been making progress compared to last spring. Last spring, I was pretty much eating out all of the time and NEVER exercising. I gained weight faster than I could blink. I went from 138 to 148 and then from 148 to 170 and I just thought “whoa, this has got to stop.” My boyfriend and I decided not to go out to eat so much and we started walking 3 miles a few times a week. I am eating much better now and have gone back down to 158. Even though the weight is not completely gone, I’m glad that I have made progress. After we got used to walking 3 miles, we decided to ride bikes every other day so that we wouldn’t get burnt out on exercise.

My goal over the next year is to get this last 20 pounds off and continue exercising and eating healthy. Over the next five years, I will still be in school and it will be a challenge to keep it up. But, I do have a few goals for myself. I used to run at least a mile every day, and I would really like to do that again. I also enjoy tennis and golf and would like to make more time in my schedule to practice. I have really started paying attention to the nutrition of certain foods such as fish and vegetables and I also got more serious about taking my vitamins every day. I hope that over the next five years, I will be able to keep this up and continue to improve my health.

Meghan McGehee

Pictures received from:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/diet%20cartoon/finickyfiftyfive/diettips.jpg?o=3
http://media.photobucket.com/image/exercise%20cartoon/NeoMorphUK/exercise-cartoon.jpg?o=1

Blog #8: Menopause Interview

I chose to interview a woman going through menopause about taking hormones. 

The woman that I interviewed was taking hormones and then when the WHI study came out she quit taking them. Once she quit, she couldn’t deal with the symptoms and decided to get back on them. When she didn’t take hormones, she had these symptoms:

• When she has a hot flash, she starts feeling nauseous and feels like her heart is racing. Then she feels like she can’t breathe and starts getting very hot. It interrupts whatever she is doing at the time, and it keeps her from sleeping well. 
• Vaginal dryness causes intercourse to be painful and she has no libido.
• She felt that when all of the symptoms of menopause start happening, it feels like you lose your personality. She is distracted by hot flashes, because she has so many of them. She said that if someone touches her, she feels like she is going to have a hot flash so she can’t snuggle with her husband at night.

She decided that she would take hormones even though they do have risks because the symptoms of menopause are not worth the disruption of your whole life.

 Picture retrieved from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/menopause/sherma_photos/WOMEN/menapause.jpg?o=143

 

Meghan McGehee

Blog #7

I do not agree with the statement that having an STD means a person is immoral, promiscuous, or is of low social status. 

I would say that sometimes people do get STD’s because of promiscuous behavior. But, that is not always the case. I know a woman that got Chlamydia from her husband. The man was cheating on her with a few women when he would go away for work. She had no idea, but when she found out she left him. Years later, when she was trying to have a baby, she could never get pregnant and her doctor told her that it seemed that Chlamydia was the reason. I’m not positive, but I think that it had damaged her Fallopian tubes. I’m sure it was emotionally traumatizing enough that her husband had an affair, but then she couldn’t become a mother because of it.  She did not contract an STD because SHE was promiscuous; she contracted it because her husband was. 

When I was in high school, I had an acquaintance that had Herpes. She was dating a guy and didn’t mention her STD to him and they were sexually active. I don’t know if he got it from her, but I think that it was wrong that she didn’t tell him. 

It seems like a lot of people contract STD’s due to dishonesty of their partner. I think that in any new relationship, past sexual relationships should be talked about. I also feel that both partners should be tested for STD’s when they plan to become sexually active. It’s not fair for someone who thinks that their partner is STD-free to contract one. STD’s can cause serious health problems, as well as hurting emotionally. 

Meghan McGehee

Prenatal testing

In my opinion, prenatal testing is very important and should be routine for all pregnant women, but to what extent I’m not sure. 

I think that many tests are beneficial for the health of the baby and the future mom. Routine checkups for blood pressure, blood sugar, urine tests, and ultrasounds seem to be a few tests that would be important. Through these tests you can test for Rh factor, iron levels, STD’s, Toxoplasmosis, glucose levels, bladder and kidney infections, and dehydration. Ultrasounds can check the growth of the baby, the heartbeat, neural tube defects and other things. These tests will most likely not harm the baby or the mom. 

Other tests, such as amniocentesis, and cordocentesis should be a personal choice. But, women who are in the high risk category should consider getting these tests done.

The most important thing to me is the health of the baby and the mom. Tests that are not harmful should be routine and any other tests that the doctor does not feel the mom needs, should be a choice made by the parents. Sometimes the mom may be uncomfortable with a test, but if the doctor feels that it is important, I believe that the mom should seriously consider it.   

Meghan McGehee

American Pregnancy Association. Prenatal testing. Retrieved from http://www.americanpregnancy.org/prenataltesting/amniocentesis.html