Barb's Daily Dose

Why I Became a Nurse

I'm reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  It's a brilliant book with shiny pearls of life's wisdom tucked within innocuous paragraphs and chapters like gems waiting to be discovered  There was one passage that made me gasp.  I thought that Dr. Verghese had been reading my mind when I read his description of why someone would want to care for others.

Outshine: An Ovarian Cancer Memoir

I've had the pleasure to read and review the book "Outshine: An Ovarian Cancerr Memoir" by Karen Ingalls.  I am very impressed with Karen's personal story, attention to detail and inspiration for others battling cancer.  Karen expresses "this book is the result of my increased awareness that there is a great need for more information about ovarian cancer. Our mortality rate is 70%, compared to 15 % for breast cancer.  A woman needs to know about the whispering symptoms of ovarian cancer and be encouraged to be her own advocate."

Problems with Breastfeeding

I've worked with many moms who have one baby and yet have the twin challenges of difficulty with breastfeeding and postpartum depression.  A new study has confirmed what many of us know from caring for women, that the two are linked.

Depression is often found when experiences and expectations aren't in sync.  When a mom has the expectation that she will be able to nourish and feed her baby and then the experience doesn't match, it can set off a domino effect.  Combine that with a crying baby, lack of sleep and a hormonal roller coaster and it's a recipe for postpartum depression.

Inside the Minds of Teens

Our Featured Guest Writer Today is: 

Vanessa Van Petten, creator of RadicalParenting.com a parenting website written from the teen perspective to help parents understand them. She is also the author of the parenting book, “Do I Get My Allowance Before or After I’m Grounded?”

When I was 16 I thought it was my Dad’s goal in life to make me miserable.  I was convinced that he had a running list of all the ways he could embarrass me in front of my friends, trick me into doing more chores or make my curfew earlier.

Belly Fat

I've been seeing a lot of women lately who are pre-diabetic. They have high fasting blood sugar levels, most have high triglycerides and are struggling to lose weight. Right now, I'm writing a book on Menopause and the chapter I just finished was about how to lose the Belly Fat.

Are your pants shrinking? Are you looking a pants with hidden elastic waist bands?  Are loose fitting tunics all of a sudden an attractive option?

Most of Us Need More Sleep

Do you ever feel as if you are constantly looking forward to the end of the day so you can just get some rest?  What happens when this feeling creeps up on you about 2 hours after your morning coffee?  Well, if you're nodding your head or nodding off to sleep, you're not alone.  The number of people who aren't getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep each night is skyrocketing. Up from 25% to 35%.

Homemade Aids and Gadgets for Someone With Parkinson's Disease

Our Post Today was Featured on caring.com, by Contributing Writers:  Maria M. Meyer, Paula Derr,a nd Susan Imke.

Excerpted from The Comfort of Home for Parkinson Disease^TM

• Wrist straps for canes--tape tied on a cane so it can be hung from the wrist while walking upstairs
• Kitchen chair trolleys--made by putting casters on a chair and used to move things around easily
• Bicycle baskets--strapped to a walker to store necessities and leave the hands free
• An egg carton--to organize pills

Dyfunctional Families: More Common Than Previous Thought

I was just at a family wedding, where a bunch of my cousins were trading stories from our childhood.  We were joking around from the safe distance of adulthood about how our family, "Put the fun into DysFUNction"  An old joke, which everyone laughs at because as many have said, "Who doesn't have some dysfunction in a family?"

Helping Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

I was just sent a copy of a new book:  "Helping Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, so You Can Too", by Jessica Linnell.  I mention it because it's a great resource for sleepy parents and also because I'm one of the contributors.  Getting a baby to sleep through the night is an experience where one size definitley does not fit all.  My advice is to find the method that works for you and your baby which will probably be different for your friends.  What works for one baby and their individual temperament will not work for the next baby or parent.

Cyber Bullying

Is your child being Bullied on line?   Are they Cyberbullies?  I just read an article in Medscape about Cyberbullying where Dr. Gwenn, the author of CyberSafe was interviewed.  She has some great tips for parents and for kids.

We have to remember that may teens are acting on impulse and may not be thinking about how people receive their messages in the haste to express themselves or get something off their chest.