Power Pose vs. Purpose Pose

Power pose: ā€œfake it until you make itā€ Purpose posture: ā€œknow it until you show itā€ As a black woman in medicine, Iā€™ve been told more times than I can count why or how I will not make it. The discouragement comes from many sources. From freshman orientation where the Biology chair announced to a …

#IOperateLikeAGirl

#ioperatelikeagirl šŸ‘©šŸ¾ā€āš•ļø That means, I greet you preoperatively with a desire and ability to explain your surgery and identify when youā€™re nervous. I donā€™t tell your loved one that youā€™re ā€œgoing to be fineā€ because it sounds good, Iā€™m saying it because Iā€™m going to ensure that you will be. I make small incisions, and …

W.T.F. (Want The Facts) Fibroids?

Soooo many people W.T.F (want the facts) when it comes to fibroids. Where do they come from? When should there be concern? What are the risks? Fibroids are literally the most common tumor found in the pelvis of women. They are noncancerous and come from the myometrium, the muscle layer, of the uterus. The prevalence …

Pap Smear Results: Decoded

What is a Pap Smear? A Pap smear is a screening test for cervical cancer that is generally recommended to start at age 21. It is named for Dr. George Papanicolaou, a Greek cytopathologist, who created the test in the late 1920s.ā£ā£ A Pap requires a pelvic exam to collect cells from the cervix. These …

How To Improve Your Premenstrual Syndrome [PMS] Symptoms

Mild to moderate PMSĀ can be treated by lifestyle modifications. PMS that interferes with your daily activities is considered to be more severe and often requires medical therapy. ā£ ā£ Lifestyle modifications include:ā£ – Regular cardio or aerobic exercise (running, jogging, High Intensity interval training (HIIT), cycling, etc). All with a goal of 150 min per …

Period Pain: Is This Normal?

DysmenorrheaĀ (Diss-men-or-ree-uh) ā£is the medical term for pain with menses or menstrual cramps. More than half of menstruators experience dysmenorrhea, & it has been reported to affect up to 90% of young women. While dysmenorrheaā£ is most commonly a normal symptom of having a period, many women may have questions about when period pain transitions from …

Maternal Mortality: What Is Being Done?

Former ACOG President, Dr. Haywood Brown said, ā€œThe relationship between stress and how we respond to that stress physiologically has well-documented associations with prematurity and cardiovascular disease. The ā€œmicroaggressionsā€ that black women endure throughout their lives also make them predisposed to chronic conditions that can make a pregnancy high risk, such as hypertension and diabetes. …

Maternal Mortality

Black Maternal Mortality: The Backgroundā£ ā£ It was a 2016 article published in the Green Journal entitledĀ ā€œRecent Increases in the U.S. Maternal Mortality Rateā€Ā that jumpstarted the national conversation on maternal mortality. This article reported a 26.6% increase in maternal mortality from 2000 to 2014 for 48 states and Washington, DC (California and Texas were analyzed …