Man Admitted to Hospital for Kidney Stone, Discovers He's a Woman

Denver, Colorado photographer Steve Crecelius was admitted to the hospital for a kidney stone. After testing, he received a surprising results that he is actually a woman. "When I was about 6 years old, I started having these feminine feelings, but that was in the '60s. Wearing my mom's makeup, I thought I looked pretty," Crecelius told ABC News. He was intersex, meaning he had both male genitalia and internal female sex organs. Intersex is a term used to describe people who bear both external genitals and internal organs, such as testes and ovaries. "The nurse is reading the ultrasound and says, 'Huh, this says you're a female,' Crecelius said. "It was very liberating. I had spent so much energy after the age of 13 constantly evaluating how people looked at me and acted towards me." Steve, who now goes by "Stevie," said his wife and their six children accepted his new identity right away. "We told them individually. Some were in person and some weren't," Crecelius said. "Every one of them said, 'We don't care one way or the other. We love you for who you are and you're still my dad.'" Crecelius and his wife, Debbie, have been together for 25 years and she's supported him every step of the way, including taking him to buy his first bra. "The condition used to be called hermaphroditism, meaning that person can't be identified as male or female," Crecelius said. According to the Intersex Society of North America, more than 1,500 children a year are born intersex. Source ABC News

I may have Carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome

I think I may have Carpal tunnel syndrome. Maybe due to typing too much and spending too much time online. I feel pain on both hands and some numbness. I know I should consult a doctor but since I don’t have time, I consulted mayo clinic and all the symptoms seems to be present:

Tingling or numbness in your fingers or hand, especially your thumb and index, middle or ring fingers, but not your little finger.

Pain radiating or extending from your wrist up your arm to your shoulder or down into your palm or fingers, especially after forceful or repetitive use.

But when I rest my hands and drink vitamin B and Tylenol the pain subsides. Maybe it’s just fatigue.

US warns 2 drugs may cause orgasm disorders

Saw this on the news way back....read those labels guys before taking anything....

Two Merck drugs for treating male baldness and enlarged prostate will now carry extended labels to add more possible sexual side effects, US regulators said.

The changes involve Propecia and Proscar, both of which contain the active ingredient finasteride, after patients reported additional adverse effects that were not apparent at the time of the drugs' approval, the US Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The new Propecia label will include "libido disorders, ejaculation disorders, and orgasm disorders that continued after discontinuation of the drug," the FDA said. Propecia is a drug to treat male baldness.

Proscar, which treats symptoms of enlarged prostate, will now have a label that adds "decreased libido that continued after discontinuation of the drug."

In addition, both labels are being revised to "include a description of reports of male infertility and/or poor semen quality that normalized or improved after drug discontinuation," the FDA said.

FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said the drugs were previously known to cause adverse sexual events in a small number of patients, and that information was included on labels at the time of approval.

The latest labeling change "expands the list of sexual adverse events reported to the FDA postmarketing," she told AFP, adding that "no new clinical studies were reviewed to evaluate these adverse events."

Proscar was approved for the US market in 1992 and Propecia in 1997. In 2011, both drugs' labels were "revised to include erectile dysfunction that continued after drug discontinuation," the FDA said.

Last year, labels for Proscar and Propecia were also changed to advise of the possibility of an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer.

The agency noted that even though "clear causal links between finasteride (Propecia and Proscar) and sexual adverse events have NOT been established, the cases suggest a broader range of adverse effects than previously reported in patients taking these drugs."

Since these side effects may be important to some patients, doctors were urged to discuss them with patients when deciding on treatment options.

In the case of Propecia, clinical trials showed 3.8 percent of men had reported one or more adverse sexual experiences, compared to 2.1 percent who were taking a placebo.

"Propecia and Proscar are generally well tolerated and effective for their respective intended uses in accordance with their approved product labeling," Merck said in a statement.

The company added that "a causal relationship between the use of Propecia or Proscar and continued sexual dysfunction after discontinuation of treatment has not been established," and expressed support for ongoing monitoring of adverse event reports. Agence France-Presse

Pregnancy weight control

The common belief that pregnant women can eat for two has been scotched by research suggesting controlling weight during pregnancy can be beneficial.

Experts found that weight management was not only safe but could also reduce complications for pregnant women and be advantageous to the baby.

The risk of pre-eclampsia - which causes high blood pressure - diabetes and premature birth can all be reduced if the mother-to-be sticks to a healthy, calorie-controlled diet, the study published on bmj.com found.

In contrast, excessive weight gain during pregnancy was linked to a number of serious health problems.

But Child Growth Foundation chairman Tam Fry stressed that pregnant women should be carefully controlling their weight but not trying to lose weight.

"We have such a huge problem of women going into pregnancy overweight and obese and if they start to take the message they can go on diets and everything will be ok, that's not good news," he said.

In the UK, more than half of women of reproductive age are said to be overweight or obese, and across Europe and the US up to 40 per cent of women gain more than the recommended weight in pregnancy.

But the team of researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, who carried out the study found weight management interventions in pregnancy were effective in reducing weight gain in the mother.

Dietary intervention resulted in the largest average reduction in weight gain (almost 4kg) compared with 0.7kg for exercise and 1kg for a combination of the two.

Diet also offered the most benefit in preventing pregnancy complications, the study found.

Researchers concluded: "Dietary intervention is effective, safe and potentially cost effective and dominates physical activity-based intervention."

Experts at St Thomas' Hospital in London, meanwhile, suggested there was not yet sufficient evidence to support any particular intervention.

Lucilla Poston, director of the maternal and fetal research unit, and Lucy Chappell, clinical senior lecturer in maternal and fetal medicine, said it would be "premature" for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to reassess its guidelines, which do not advise regular weighing of pregnant women.
The researchers analysed the results of 44 randomised controlled trials involving more than 7000 women.

Yahoo news

Healthy Tofu

Thought I'd make something easy and healthy this weekend.

Tofu and spinach, drizzled with light soy sauce and sesame oil. Yum!