September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month this matters because this year alone as many as 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That’s a lot of women, maybe even some women you know and love. Sadly, many women don’t know all the risk factors, support options, or issues surrounding ovarian cancer.
In order to educate women about this important topic, Seventh Generation has teamed up with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) and has dedicated September 1st, 2009 as “Let’s Talk… Period” Day. The goal is to educate women about ovarian cancer and to raise funds that will support this …read more

Have a headache? Take a Tylenol or some other brand of acetamenophen, right? Howe about a toothache? Menstrual cramps? Broken arm?
There are many types of over-the-counter pain relievers available to the consumer, namely acetaminophen, ibuprofen (Advil) and ASA (Aspirin). And, for many people, they’re very effective. The problem is, who is monitoring how much of these medications they take and how often?

I’ve always had a healthy respect for medication. As my mother used to say, “better living through chemistry.” But since I began blogging for the law firm and getting the FDA MedWatch alerts, I’ve become a little skittish. I realize severe adverse reactions are rare, so I still take my favorite painkiller Advil (I had banned it for a few weeks).
This week I received a Safety Communication from the FDA about stimulant medication to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that concerned me. I know several children who take or have taken these meds. Their parents tell me they make a …read more

Have you ever come across a problem with medications or certain products regulated by the FDA and you thought, “Someone should know about this!”? If so, there is a way that you can become involved, something you can do about it. You can file a report with the FDA.
How?
The MedWatch program at the FDA is for anyone, from consumers to medical professionals. The mandate is to accept reports and complaints, investigate them, and advise the public of any problems or issues that result from the investigation.
MedWatch is the Food and Drug Administration’s …read more

Thoratec Corp. has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use its HeartMate II heart pump to help advanced-stage heart failure patients survive while awaiting heart transplants.
Until now some heart transplant recipients were not able to receive pumps due to size and gender. The hopes for the new pump is it’s ease of implantation
via East Bay Business Times 

How cool is this? A minimally-invasive transcatheter valve replacement procedure has been developed and tested for patients with congenital heart disease. And guess what? It doesn’t involve open heart surgery.
Many times patients that are born with such congenital heart diseases as right ventricular outflow tract and they face many procedures and surgeries, which usually consist of opening the chest to replace the damaged valves.
“We were able to successfully implant the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve percutaneously in the first three patients treated in this trial. All of the patients are recovering and are expected to go home today,” said …read more

You know the saying “you don’t know what you have till it’s gone”? Those words came to mind when I read the latest scientific find studying oatmeal’s benefits in regard to cholesterol. I love oatmeal!!! Being diabetic, I really don’t eat much of it and it has to be the low sugar, low carb stuff, which quite frankly… just isn’t the same. But being that the benefits of cholesterol reduction are proven to be even stronger than when the FDA first approved the correlation back in the 80’s, I am gonna start enjoying my oats again!
The new findings suggest that …read more