Healthy Women Today Newsletter

One thing in life is certain.  When you are young, you want to be older and when you are older, you want to be young.  The good thing is this month’s Healthy Women Today covers topics that are important at any age!

Our serious but important Featured Health Article, “A Matter of Life or Death,” offers insight into an issue that can affect everyone – suicide.  Learn some of the warning signs of someone who is contemplating suicide and what you can do to help. Also, read a story from an expectant mother who is concerned her baby might be born deaf and how we gave her some resources she could use to learn more.

This month’s Featured Health Topic focuses on ovarian cancer in recognition of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.  While most cases of ovarian cancer occur in women over the age of 50, the disease can also affect younger women. Learn about ovarian cancer and encourage the women in your life to do the same.

And for those with “tween” or teenage girls, don’t forget to subscribe to our girlshealth.gov newsletter Growing Great Girls!  It’s a new feature we’re bringing to parents and families with 10-16 year old girls.  Visit our Parent’s section on girlshealth.gov and click on the yellow subscription box on the right side to register today.

Your health should be something you think about at every age!  Encourage everyone you know, young and old, to take an active role in their well-being.

Valerie Scardino, M.P.A.
Communications Director, Office on Women's Health, HHS

Featured Health Article for September

Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 32,000 lives annually. Women are three times more likely to attempt suicide. Among young people ages 15-42, suicide is the third leading cause of death.  Vicki Graham of the National Suicide Hotline talks about this tragedy in her article, “A Matter of Life or Death.” 

Read This Month's Article: A Matter of Life or Death

Focus on You

We get hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from you every month. From thank you letters to serious health questions, we strive to reply with the most accurate and up-to-date health information.

Summary of an e-mail and our response:

We received an e-mail from a woman who was pregnant.  She said the father of her child was deaf and she was interested in knowing what the chances were that her baby woud be born deaf.  She was concerned that she would not be able to communicate with her child since she was not deaf and didn’t know sign language.

We congratulated her on her pregnancy and encouraged her to speak directly with her doctor as he or she would be able to give her more specifics about her baby’s health.  We were able to direct her to our online pregnancy information as well as specific information on hearing tests and information for babies.

Womenshealth.gov Health Pregnancy
http://www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/

We suggested the following publications:

• Has Your Baby's Hearing Been Screened?
  http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/screened.asp

• What to Do if Your Baby’s Screening Reveals a Possible Hearing Problem
  http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/baby_screening.htm

• Non-Genetic Hearing Loss - Causes of Hearing Loss - My Baby's Hearing (Copyright © Baby's Hearing)
  http://www.babyhearing.org/HearingAmplification/Causes/nongenetic.asp

• My Baby's Hearing
  Web Site: http://www.babyhearing.org/index.asp

We suggested she contact the following organizations for more information:

• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Information Clearinghouse, NIDCD, NIH, HHS
  1 Communication Avenue
  Bethesda, MD 20892-3456
  (800) 241-1044
  http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/misc/clearinghouse.asp

• American Society for Deaf Children
  3820 Hartzdale Dr.
  Camp Hill, PA 17011
  (800) 942-2732 hotline
  (717) 909-5599 Fax
  http://www.deafchildren.org/

• Boys Town National Research Hospital
  555 North 30th Street
  Omaha, NE 68131
  (402) 498-6511
  http://www.boystownhospital.org/home.asp

September's Featured Health Topic

A feature designed to help you find important health information on womenshealth.gov and girlshealth.gov

Ovarian Cancer

About 1 in every 57 women in the United States will develop ovarian cancer. Most cases occur in women over the age of 50, but this disease can also affect younger women. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. The sooner ovarian cancer is found and treated, the better a woman's chance for recovery. But ovarian cancer is hard to detect early. Many times, women with ovarian cancer have no symptoms or just mild symptoms until the disease is in an advanced stage. Scientists are studying ways to detect ovarian cancer before symptoms develop.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.  Womenshealth.gov wants to provide you with answers to your questions about your reproductive health:

• Ovarian Cancer
  http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/ovarian.htm

• Ovarian Cysts
  http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/ovarian_cysts.htm

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
  http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/pcos.htm

September Recipes

Figs aren’t just for people looking to add more fiber to their diet. They are also cited as a great way to replace fat in your recipes because of their texture.Did you know they are the only fruit to ripen on the tree! For more information on figs and other fruits and vegetables, visit the CDC’s web site fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov.

Learn About the CDC Fruit of the Month: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/figs.html

Growing Great Girls

Introducing Growing Great Girls, a newsletter for parents of “tween” and teenage girls! Each month we will pack it full of information that will help you teach the girls in your life the importance of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Go to our Parent’s section on girlshealth.gov and click on the yellow subscription box on the right side to register today!

News from womenshealth.gov and OWH

We still need your stories!

Have you had an experience with a health condition or issue that you would like to share with others? If so, let us know! Your story may be featured in a book about women's health. We are interested in learning about how women have dealt with a variety of issues. We'd like to hear about difficult struggles as well as positive stories about how you have dealt with your diagnosis or situation.

The list of topics we’re still looking for is below. Share your story with us. If you don't have a story, but know someone who does, please pass this on to her.

• Diabetes

• Oral health

• Reproductive health, such as PCOS or fibroids

• Respiratory health, such as asthma

• Skin and hair health, such as alopecia (hair loss) or adult acne

Maturity Health Really Matters!

The Summer 2007 issue of Maturity Health Matters is now available online.  Highlighted in this issue are featured articles about medical devices and there use in detecting diseases such as breast cancer in the opposite breast of newly diagnosed women or eye problems as we age.  Other topics include allergies and hay fever, produce safety tips, colorectal cancer prevention and other news from the FDA.

Don’t Let Depression Go Too Far

National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) ® is presenting Stop a Suicide Today, an initiative that aims to empower members of the public to recognize and respond to the warning signs of suicide in a family member or a friend. It also highlights the importance of identifying and treating depression and other mental illnesses before they turn into more urgent situations.

Everyone is encouraged to register for this year’s event held nationwide on October 11th. You can register for a variety of program options including the in-person screening event as well as online screening. The program offers materials designed for diverse audiences, including Spanish speakers and older adults.

To register, visit www.MentalHealthScreening.org or call (781) 239-0071.

Sister Study

Is breast cancer caused by something women come in contact with at work, at home, in their communities or in the personal products they use? That’s what the Sister Study is trying to answer. The Sister Study needs 50,000 women whose sisters had breast cancer, to enroll now to help discover the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. Conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Sister Study is committed to enrolling a diverse population of women to ensure the results represent and benefit all women. For more information visit www.sisterstudy.org or www.estudiodehermanas.org. Call toll-free 1-877-4SISTER. Deaf/Hard of Hearing call 1-866-TTY-4SIS.

Daily Updates from Womenshealth.gov

Other News on Women's Health

Cholesterol

Your diet is one of the things that can affect your cholesterol levels and your risk for developing heart disease. Our bodies need cholesterol to function normally. But, if you have too much cholesterol in your blood, it can build up (called plaque) in your arteries. High cholesterol adds to the narrowing and blockages in arteries, which cause heart disease. We all have "good" cholesterol, called HDL, which helps remove cholesterol from the blood. We also all have "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, which causes cholesterol to build up in the blood.

In recognition of National Cholesterol Education Month, womenshealth.gov has information on how you can lower cholesterol in their Frequently Asked Questions about heart healthy eating.