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Is It Safe to Lift While Pregnant?
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Is It Safe to Eat From Food Trucks?
The sadly gross truth about food on wheels Continue reading
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Splenda goes from “safe” to “CAUTION”
Here it is, the article explaining why. Please read on…
http://news.msn.com/us/splenda-goes-from-safe-to-caution-after-leukemia-found-in-mice
Is Hot Yoga Safe?
Read this before your next sweaty session Continue reading
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Is The New Morning Sickness Drug Safe?
If Kate Middleton’s pregnancy has taught us anything, it’s that, for some women, morning sickness is way more than just a pregnancy-related annoyance. In fact, about one percent of pregnant women suffer from symptoms that are so severe, they actually require medical treatment. Luckily for these women, the FDA just approved a drug to treat morning sickness—the first in more than 30 years.
The drug, Diclegis, should be available by the end of May. While you may not have heard of it before, it’s actually far from new: Diclegis was sold in the U.S. more than 50 years ago under a different brand name, Bendectin. Bendectin was approved by the FDA in 1956 for the treatment of vomiting and nausea due to pregnancy. However, many women who took Bendectin ultimately filed lawsuits against the manufacturer, claiming that it caused birth defects. The FDA continued to maintain that Bendectin was completely safe, but the lawsuits persisted. Swamped by legal costs and bad press, the manufacturer stopped making the drug in 1983.
As scary as this all may sound, there is no clinical evidence to suggest that Diclegis can harm a fetus. In fact, Diclegis has been tested extensively in the intervening 30 years. Two meta-analyses of existing research have concluded that it’s safe for a growing baby. In 1999, the FDA announced publicly that the drug was not discontinued for safety reasons. Now, a Canadian manufacturer has stepped in, tested the drug under a new name, and received FDA approval.
Many doctors have welcomed the development with open arms. “It’s a very well-studied medicine,” says Jeffrey Ecker, MD, an obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “The available information does not suggest a risk.” In fact, the ACOG has recommended the two main ingredients in Diclegis—pyridoxine hydrochloride and doxylamine succinate—as a treatment for morning sickness for the past nine years.
Bottom line: All signs indicate that Diclegis is safe. Still not sure if this pill is right for you? This info will help you decide.
What is it?
Diclegis contains pyridoxine hydrochloride and doxylamine succinate. Pyridoxine is a form of vitamin B6, and doxylamine is an antihistamine (also found in certain allergy medicines). The tablets are delayed-release, so taking two at bedtime should help prevent the onset of morning sickness. If your symptoms are severe enough, you can take two more tablets throughout the day to keep your nausea in check. It’s not known why these ingredients work to reduce morning sickness, but in a recent study, it was found to be more effective than a placebo at reducing nausea and vomiting symptoms.
What are the possible side effects?
Drowsiness is the main one. Like all antihistamines, doxylamine is known to make you sleepy. It’s best to avoid driving or operating heavy machinery while on the medicine.
How do you know if you should take it?
If dietary and lifestyle changes aren’t working to ease your morning sickness, you may want to try taking vitamin B6 (one of the two ingredients in the drug) on its own. Ecker commonly prescribes 25 to 50 mg of B6, to be taken two to three times a day, to women with morning sickness. But if the B6 doesn’t help you, Diclegis may be your best bet.
“As with all medicines, folks that have had reactions to the ingredients shouldn’t take them,” says Ecker. If you know you have a B6 allergy or have reacted badly to anti-histamines in the past, skip this drug. For most people, though, these ingredients shouldn’t cause any problems—just easier mornings for moms-to-be.
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More From Women’s Health:
How to Deal With Severe Morning Sickness
Prenatal Yoga: Happy, Healthy Baby
What You Should Know About Pregnancy
Is Your Fitness Class Safe?
Yoga may not seem like an extreme sport, but that doesn’t mean you can’t overdo it on the om-ing. In fact, a New York man is suing Hilaria Thomas—Alec Baldwin’s wife—because he sustained injuries during a yoga class she was teaching at Yoga Vida. His claims: Her overcrowded class led to instructor negligence, which resulted in his suffering severe and emotionally upsetting injuries.
Whether or not his claims bear out in court, it’s absolutely possible to harm yourself during fitness classes—and yes, even classes as low-impact as yoga. “Pushing and forcing in yoga leads to tension, stress, and even injury,” says Tara Stiles, yoga instructor and co-founder for Strala Yoga. “Staying safe in your yoga class has a lot to do with finding the ease in your practice. If something doesn’t feel right, back off and relax.”
In the meantime, read up on 6 Fitness Class Injuries and How to Avoid Them.
Who do you think is to blame for fitness class injuries? Sound off in the comments below.
photo: Creatas/Thinkstock
More from Women’s Health:
Stay Injury-Free
Steady as She Goes
Yoga for Everyday Athletes
To find out how to suppress your hunger hormone, buy The Belly Fat Fix now!
Is the Flu Shot Safe For Pregnant Women?
Good news for flu-fearing moms-to-be: a massive new study confirms that the flu shot is perfectly safe for pregnant women, and could even reduce the risk of miscarriage and other complications.
Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) reviewed the medical records of 113,331 women pregnant in Norway during the 2009-2010 flu pandemic. While 2,794 expectant mothers were diagnosed with influenza, those who got the flu vaccination were about 70 percent less likely to get sick. However, women who contracted the flu while they were pregnant were more almost twice as likely to lose their babies before birth.
While there’s no firm proof that the flu directly causes a woman to miscarry or deliver a stillborn baby, the virus does appear to have a harmful effect on the fetus, according to Allen Wilcox, M.D., head the Reproductive Epidemiology Group at The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and study co-author.
That said, faulty research and hype about vaccine safety has made some pregnant women skeptical about protecting themselves from the flu. “There is no evidence of harm from the vaccine, and plenty of evidence of benefit,” says Wilcox. No wonder the World Health Organization has recommended it for years.
Wilcox says the vaccine can protect pregnant women in any trimester, the sooner the better. To locate the nearest available flu shot and schedule an appointment pronto: download the free TalkTo app or visit Talkto.com, type in “flu shot” and your location, and text the closest pharmacy or doctor’s office. You’ll get a response within minutes.
Here’s everything else you need to know to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from the flu:
Could This Be the Worst Flu Season EVER?
Should You Get the New Flu Shot?
5 Times You Should Call in Sick to Work
The Anti-Flu Drug That Might Not Work
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Discover surprising walking tips, tricks, and techniques to melt fat fast and get a tighter, firmer butt with Walk Your Butt Off! Buy it now!
Is the Flu Shot Safe For Pregnant Women?
Good news for flu-fearing moms-to-be: a massive new study confirms that the flu shot is perfectly safe for pregnant women, and could even reduce the risk of miscarriage and other complications.
Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) reviewed the medical records of 113,331 women pregnant in Norway during the 2009-2010 flu pandemic. While 2,794 expectant mothers were diagnosed with influenza, those who got the flu vaccination were about 70 percent less likely to get sick. However, women who contracted the flu while they were pregnant were more almost twice as likely to lose their babies before birth.
While there’s no firm proof that the flu directly causes a woman to miscarry or deliver a stillborn baby, the virus does appear to have a harmful effect on the fetus, according to Allen Wilcox, M.D., head the Reproductive Epidemiology Group at The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and study co-author.
That said, faulty research and hype about vaccine safety has made some pregnant women skeptical about protecting themselves from the flu. “There is no evidence of harm from the vaccine, and plenty of evidence of benefit,” says Wilcox. No wonder the World Health Organization has recommended it for years.
Wilcox says the vaccine can protect pregnant women in any trimester, the sooner the better. To locate the nearest available flu shot and schedule an appointment pronto: download the TalkTo app or visit Talkto.com, type in “flu shot” and your location, and text the closest pharmacy or doctor’s office. You’ll get a response within minutes.
Here’s everything else you need to know to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from the flu:
Could This Be the Worst Flu Season EVER?
Should You Get the New Flu Shot?
5 Times You Should Call in Sick to Work
The Anti-Flu Drug That Might Not Work
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Discover surprising walking tips, tricks, and techniques to melt fat fast and get a tighter, firmer butt with Walk Your Butt Off! Buy it now!
Are Antidepressants Safe for Pregnant Women?
Good news for medicated moms-to-be: Taking a popular type of antidepressant during pregnancy does not increase the risk of newborn death, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
This research, which was partly funded by the Swedish Pharmacy Company, used data from 1.6 million women in Nordic countries, including nearly 30,000 women who had filled a prescription for a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) while pregnant. Although women who took an SSRI did have higher rates of infant death than those who did not, researchers say it’s due to external factors and not the medication itself.
“We found higher rates of stillbirth and post-neonatal mortality among women exposed to SSRI,” says Olof Stephansson, MD, PhD, co-author of the study and a clinical epidemiologist with Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. “However when we took confounding factors such as maternal age and smoking into account as well as disease severity there was no risk associated with SSRI use and stillbirth and infant mortality,” he says.
SSRIs are used for depression and anxiety treatment. Although they have been associated with a small risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, they are relatively safe to use during pregnancy, says Stephansson. However, one specific SSRI, Paroxetin, has shown an increased risk in cardiac issues of the newborn and should not be taken while pregnant, he says.
Pregnant women should always discuss these types of medication with their doctors, of course, and they are advised to use the lowest dose possible required to treat depression, says Stephansson.
Image: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from WH:
How to Find a Good Therapist
Is “Media Multitasking” Bumming You Out?
All-Natural Depression Fixers
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9 Ways to Drive Safe Over the Holidays
You already know that drinking and driving can be deadly. Now, evidence shows that daydreaming and driving is also a danger. People who let their minds wander behind the wheel are more likely to be in car accidents than their focused peers, according to a new study published in British Medical Journal.
French researchers interviewed 955 drivers who’d recently been injured in a motor vehicle crash. More than half of the drivers reported experiencing mind wandering before the accident, and 13 percent said their thoughts were “intense,” or highly disruptive/distracting. Most significantly, 17 percent of the drivers found to be responsible for their accidents also reported intense mind wandering just before impact.
When your mind wanders, you pay less attention to things you see and hear, and focus instead on internal thoughts, says Cédric Galéra, M.D., lead study author and psychiatrist at the Charles Perrens Hospital, University of Bordeaux in France. “Since your mind is turned towards yourself, [mind wandering] makes the driver prone to overlook hazards and make more errors independent of other distractions,” he says.
While a meandering mind is totally normal, it’s more likely to happen when you rest or do repetitive tasks that require little brainpower, like brushing your teeth or—you guessed it—driving. Moreover, certain moods make your mind even more apt to drift—like when you’re too tired or mellow, or too anxious or excited, says Joseph Cardillo, Ph.D., author of Can I Have Your Attention? How to Think Fast, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Concentration.
And here’s the thing: Distracting thoughts aren’t the only causes of dangerous driving. In fact, researchers have found that any time you take your eyes off the road or remove your hands from the wheel, you’re upping your risk for an accident. With all that in mind, here are 9 ways to get from point A to point B safely:
Define your mood, then adjust it
Before your foot hits the gas, complete the statement “I feel [blank].” Then, determine whether you need to calm down or step it up to reach the optimal driving mindset: a balance between calm and alert.
Make a game plan
Can’t stop thinking about a fight with your boyfriend, or what to wear when meeting his parents? Take control of your emotions with a plan that includes where, when, and why you will focus on your thoughts in the future. For instance: “When I get home in 45 minutes, I’m going to call my friend Lisa to vent, because she gives good advice and perspective.” Or, “When I get to the mall in twenty minutes, I’ll go straight to the department store, because they always stock the largest selection of perfect meet-the-parents dresses.” This proactive step will help you get the issue off your mind more easily, so you can concentrate on driving, says Cardillo.
Listen to music to decompress
“Music can adjust a mood that’s counterproductive to focused driving,” says Cardillo. Before you hop in the car for your holiday travel, queue up a playlist on your iPod. The rules: Songs should have fewer than 100 beats per minute (search on iTunes or Google any song name + BPM), contain inspiring lyrics, or remind you of a positive memory. Then, press play anytime you need to calm down.
Increase alertness with an upbeat song
When you’re making that first playlist, get to work on a second. This one is for jazzing you up when you’re feeling lethargic. Listening to a song with 100 to 175 beats per minute will increase your alertness, says Cardillo.
Open the windows to wake you up
It’s easy for your thoughts to veer off course during a long car ride—especially when you’re snuggled up in a comfy coat while a seat warmer toasts your buns, and the heat blows on high. But if it sounds too cozy, it probably is. Prevent dosing off by cracking a window. Like a cold shower, a cold blast of air can zap open drooping eyelids, fast. No luck? Find a well-lit parking lot, and pull over. Then lock the doors, and set your phone alarm to wake you up in 15 minutes before you close your eyes.
Leave your phone in your bag
Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves, according to data from the Accident Research Centre at Monash University. If your phone is out of reach, you won’t be tempted to use it. And if you do have to make a call? Pull over. A 2009 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study found that using a headset isn’t substantially safer than using a hand-held device.
Make your passenger your secretary
Text messaging while you drive makes you 23 times more likely to have an accident, compared to driving while not distracted, according to the 2009 VTTI study. If you simply must send a message, dictate it text to the person in the passenger seat, and he or she can text it for you.
Program your GPS before you put the car in drive
On the spectrum of driving distractions, text messaging is the worst offender. However, second to texting is fiddling with your GPS, according to a 2012 National Highway Traffic Safety study. That’s because destination entry takes longer than calling an existing phone contact, dialing a new 10-digit number, or adjusting the radio. Meaning: your eyes are off the road for way too long to drive safely.
Keep food away from the front seat
Any non-driving activity (i.e., chewing) takes your mind off your primary task: driving safely. According to Distraction.gov (yes, there is a website for distracted driving) eating while you drive can increase your risk of crashing…not to mention choking. Starving? Stop for a snack at the next restaurant, convenience store, or gas station (find the best and worst food options here), and eat it before you hit the road.
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from WH:
More Ways to Prevent Car Accidents
The Best Ways to Stay Focused
Sharpen Your Mind
Look Better Naked: Buy the book to learn how to look (and feel!) your very best.