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Archive for September, 2010
Health Activist Blog Carnival – September Wrap Up!
Sep 30th
For the month of September we asked you to put on your Health Activist teacher's hats and write about ABCs (or 5 Tips) for The Newly Diagnosed for a Back to School, Back to Basics, theme. The entries we received were fantastic! It was amazing to see your wisdom and support shine through. It was a great refresher to see just how much your knowledge can help teach other Health Activists that may be new to learning about your condition.
Here are three awesome submissions you should be sure to read!
In her post Five Tips for Those Newly Diagnosed with Migraine, activist Betsy B shares her insight on Migraine in a fun ABC format! She covers everything from research to telling others when you're hurting. We hope she will feel free to finish the rest of her alphabet-list soon!
Marie opens up about a condition you may be surprised exists in 5 Tips for the Newly Diagnosed: Chronic Hives. Learn about the condition of chronic hives and how to find peace of mind when you're diagnosed.
A year after her own diagnosis, Jenna (tartan_miss) has some awesome ideas in her post 5 Top Tips For Those Newly Diagnosed With MS . In fact, her ideas may even lead new patients to Health Activism!
But don't stop there - we've got several other incredible blog posts with tips on other diagnoses like IBS, Fibromyalgia, Obesity, and Crohn's. If you didn't get a chance to write a blog post with your tips to a newly diagnosed member of your community - there is still time to add a link to the discussion. This is a topic that will always be important in our community and Health Activism!
Here are three awesome submissions you should be sure to read!
In her post Five Tips for Those Newly Diagnosed with Migraine, activist Betsy B shares her insight on Migraine in a fun ABC format! She covers everything from research to telling others when you're hurting. We hope she will feel free to finish the rest of her alphabet-list soon!
Marie opens up about a condition you may be surprised exists in 5 Tips for the Newly Diagnosed: Chronic Hives. Learn about the condition of chronic hives and how to find peace of mind when you're diagnosed.
A year after her own diagnosis, Jenna (tartan_miss) has some awesome ideas in her post 5 Top Tips For Those Newly Diagnosed With MS . In fact, her ideas may even lead new patients to Health Activism!
But don't stop there - we've got several other incredible blog posts with tips on other diagnoses like IBS, Fibromyalgia, Obesity, and Crohn's. If you didn't get a chance to write a blog post with your tips to a newly diagnosed member of your community - there is still time to add a link to the discussion. This is a topic that will always be important in our community and Health Activism!
You are Your Brand: How to Create and Maintain a Health Activist Brand
Sep 29th
We were thrilled to have Dr. Gwenn lead one of our breakout sessions at our most recent Health Activist Meetup (check out our rundown of the evening here: Health Activist Meetup Recap). Dr. Gwenn, who blogs at www.pediatricsnow.com, is a well-known speaker around pediatrics and cyber safety, and recent author of CyberSafe, has created and maintained her own Health Activist brand and was happy to share a few tips with the rest of us. To learn more about how Dr. Gwenn has built her own personal brand and to get an overview of the great discussion we had around Health Activist brand building, check out her post on Pediatrics Now: WEGO Meetup Wrapup: You Are Your Brand! And check out this post with a PDF of the notes from the session!
Thanks again to Dr. Gwenn for her great insight and for sharing her own tips on managing a Health Activist brand!
Clinical Update: Use of Stimulant Medications in Pregnancy
Sep 27th
Approximately 4% of the adult population suffers from ADHD. Attention and executive functioning difficulties also occur in those with mood and psychotic disorders and require treatment strategies similar to those used to address ADHD symptoms. First line medications most often used to treat ADHD in adults are Dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, Adderall) and Methylphenidate (Concerta, Ritalin, Metadate). [...]
Health Activist Meetup Recap
Sep 22nd
We are excited to report that WEGO Health recently held its second-ever Health Activist Meetup in Boston last week! It was great to take our efforts off-line for an evening to meet face-to-face and discuss health activism. We were thrilled to see familiar faces and just as happy to meet Health Activists who came out for the first time. We not only hosted Health Activists from the greater-Boston area, but we also had guests from New Hampshire and Connecticut who made the trip.
This meetup’s three break-out session topics were so interesting it was hard to choose! From using multimedia, to branding, to community engagement, there was plenty of rich discussion to feast on. We will soon post helpful notes from each session (as well as major takeaways and posts from the session leaders). Until then, here is a recap of what we covered at the Meetup:
- Using Multimedia as a Health Activist with Carissa O’Brien
- Keeping Your Community Engaged with Jack Barrette
- Creating and Managing Your Health Activist Brand with Dr. Gwenn Schurgin O’Keefe, MD (Read Dr. Gwenn's wrap-up of her session)
Carissa, Dr. Gwenn and Jack did a fantastic job leading their sessions - our time together hardly seemed like enough! It was wonderful to see Health Activists so engaged in discussion with one another and participate in the forming of new connections. We left feeling fired-up at the ideas that surfaced and the enthusiasm to go out and use the new tools and tips that were shared.
So what’s next? Although we had a great time with our Boston-area Health Activists, we missed those of you who are just too far to join us here. We are actively working on putting together a “Tool-kit” of sorts to empower Health Activists to hold their own meetups. You can help us build our tool-kit by giving us suggestions about what you would need to make your HA Meetup a reality! Feel free to leave a comment with suggestions or email us at community@wegohealth.com. We look forward to hearing your ideas!
If you weren’t able to make our meetup, we hope to see you in the near future! For those of you who joined us, we hope you’ll share your thoughts in a blog post and let others know what you thought – leave us a link to your post and we’ll be sure to feature it!
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Basics for Clinicians and Patients
Sep 21st
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The Basics for Clinicians and Patients Omega-3 fatty acids have broad general health benefits across areas in medicine. They are anti-inflammatory and have well-established cardiovascular benefits. In addition, several studies have shown that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may improve outcomes in those receiving standard treatment for major depression and bipolar disorder. [...]
New Health Activist Blog Carnival: Back to School: ABCs for the Newly Diagnosed
Sep 17th
September is a busy month for Health Activists, students, parents, and everyone else as summer fades into autumn. This month's blog carnival topic will get us back to basics.
The ABCs for the newly diagnosed. When you offer advice for the newly diagnosed, what do you say?
Share 5 tips for the newly diagnosed in a short blog post and share a link in the comments section of this discussion in the Health Bloggers Group.
Be creative! These tips can be specific to your condition or broader, encompassing any newly diagnosed patient. As Health Activists, we want to help empower patients of any and all condition - so feel free to keep that in mind as you write.
If one of your favorite health resources has written a sort of ABCs for the newly diagnosed post of their own, feel free to work that into your blog as well!
Just a reminder, here's how you submit your entry to the Health Activist Blog Carnival:
At the end of the month, we'll feature a few of our favorite submissions here on the blog. We hope everyone will submit a post this month and help us compile a great resource for all Health Activists to find inspiration and support!
The ABCs for the newly diagnosed. When you offer advice for the newly diagnosed, what do you say?
Share 5 tips for the newly diagnosed in a short blog post and share a link in the comments section of this discussion in the Health Bloggers Group.
Be creative! These tips can be specific to your condition or broader, encompassing any newly diagnosed patient. As Health Activists, we want to help empower patients of any and all condition - so feel free to keep that in mind as you write.
If one of your favorite health resources has written a sort of ABCs for the newly diagnosed post of their own, feel free to work that into your blog as well!
Just a reminder, here's how you submit your entry to the Health Activist Blog Carnival:
- Let others know that your post is for the Health Activist Blog Carnival by including the following text at the end of your post: "This post is my September entry in the Health Activist Blog Carnival. If you're interested in participating too, you can read all about here: http://blog.wegohealth.com/2010/09/new-health-activist-blog-carnival-back.html"
- Leave a comment with a link to your entry on this Health Bloggers Discussion - be sure to come back often to check out the latest entries from your fellow Health Activists!
At the end of the month, we'll feature a few of our favorite submissions here on the blog. We hope everyone will submit a post this month and help us compile a great resource for all Health Activists to find inspiration and support!
Health Activist Blog Carnival – August Wrap Up!
Sep 15th
Last month we asked you to share your tips for dealing with tough times as a Health Activist.
Here are two awesome entries you should check out!
Melissa shared an important topic in her entry: experiences with life before depression treatment begins and life after depression treatment begins. She explained her challenges and it sparked a really great discussion with other members of our community. Check out her post, "Challenges."
In "Beyond the brick wall - leadership in the face of a health crisis" Ellen reminds us to be tenacious in our activism. Her words are particularly inspiring to other Health Activists as she encourages us all to be the best leaders we can - even when facing personal struggle. Be sure to check out the post and watch the video she's included with her message.
Want to share your ideas for helping Health Activists keep up their momentum even when times get tough? There is still time to write about this and share a link in discussion in the Health Bloggers Group.
Discontinuation of Antidepressants: Slower is Better
Sep 13th
About half of all pregnancies are unplanned. In this situation, many women who conceive while on psychotropic medications decide to abruptly stop their medications when they discover they are pregnant. While this may seem like the safest option, in terms of protecting the developing fetus, we have data demonstrating high rates of relapse in women [...]
Should SSRIs Be Tapered Prior To Delivery?
Sep 8th
Increased muscle tone, jitteriness, sleep disturbance, irritability, feeding problems, mild respiratory distress and myoclonus have been reported as symptoms of a potential neonatal distress syndrome related to exposure to SSRIs in late pregnancy. The average duration of symptoms reported is 48 hours. It is estimated that between 25-30% of SSRI-exposed infants are at risk for [...]