As a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Educator one of the questions I always asked my students was "Why do you want to be a Respiratory Therapist?"  For me it was an easy choice.  I always wanted to be a doctor but hated school. While in high school I was a candy striper and had a crush on one of the Respiratory Therapists and decided I wanted to do what he did.  I loved my job but it did have some downsides.

As women we hit a lot of milestones in our lives but the one most women dread is menopause. We hear a lot of horror stories about mood swings, hot flashes and the pros and cons of hormone replacement. Did you know there's another symptom of menopause that's most often overlooked? It's insomnia. Yes, I'm talking about those nights when you're so tired you can hardly keep your eyes open yet they don't seem to stay shut.

According to the American Heart Association around 650,000 to 1.3 million Americans have a congenital heart defect. Approximately 36,000 babies are born with a heart defect each year. That is one in eight. Many of these children have heart surgery and some receive a heart transplant.

Quitting smoking is one of the hardest tasks to ever accomplish. However, as more and more municipalities ban smoking in public places, now is a great time to give it a go for the first (or fiftieth) time.

While smoking is dangerous to you and those around you (and even to those who visit your home, whether you light up in their presence or not), it’s important to realize that smoking is an addiction.  Certain properties in nicotine have addictive qualities, and to be truthful, they are not all bad. Nicotine can help people focus, make them more alert and can soothe frazzled nerves. It’s the other stuff that cigarettes are made up of – the cancer-causing carcinogens – that are so harmful. In short, if nicotine could be bottled or manufactured without the rest of a cigarette’s components, we might all find ourselves racing out to buy some.

Exercising is difficult, at least for me. What's hardest is being motivated and going to a gym with a bunch of people who are usually in better shape than I am and of course I feel they're all staring at me, the short, chubby uncoordinated one in the back who can't quite keep up. I know all it would take is some time and I'd be able to keep up with everyone else in the class but my shyness and lack of self confidence keeps me from going back. I know if I had a physical problem, one that was noticeable to everyone, not just being out of shape I'd have a harder time going to the gym than I do now and of course I'd be inclined to just sit at home and veg. Well, Jackie Warner is about to change that for people with psoriasis.

On top of having Osteoarthritis which I'm sure was caused by normal wear and numerous falls when I was younger,  Yes, I admit it, I'm clumsy. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  As anyone with both OA and RA will tell you it's hard to get moving and exercise but all the experts say exercise is good for you and it's especially good for those with any type of arthritis.

March 11-17 is Premie Week. In recognition of the week I was asked to write a guest post for abla2able. Going back to my days or years working in the NICU and channeling my inner educator The Fragile Lungs of Your Premie was born.

able2able is written by the mom of a special needs child who also happens to be a NICU nurse.  able2able is dedicated to education for special needs and features great articles and product reviews aimed at those needs. While you're over there reading my article,(come on I know you will be) look around a bit. I'm sure you'll find it educational and well worth the time.

Not being an expert on everything health but still wanting to provide the best information and education to you I’ve decided to turn to other sources to share their knowledge and first hand experiences.  This first article written by Kathryn Schleich has particular significance to women.  You can also read other articles by Kathryn by following the link in the short biography following this article.
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Only when a grave-faced Emergency Room doctor explained to my husband and me I was having a heart attack did the strange symptoms begin to make sense? Because the signs of women experiencing a heart attack are often different than those of men had no idea that was part of what was wrong with me. What I realized is every breath seemed just of reach, the left side of my body ached, and I had lost quite a bit of blood due to the ulcerative colitis which triggered  the heart attack.

Today I was thinking about my many years working with kids. This may be insulting to some of you but a lot need to hear it. It's one of my pet peeves.

I worked in Respiratory Care for 30 years. Twenty three of those 30 years was in a hospital setting and at least 15 was in pediatrics with the last 10 being coordinator of PEDS, NICU and Mother/Baby. I was clinical educator and helped teach a Family Asthma Class.

You've probably been seeing a lot more food products labeled Gluten Free lately. Until few years ago I'd never heard of gluten, that is until I had a friend diagnosed with Celiac Disease and another with a gluten allergy. I thought diabetes was bad in counting carbs but how would you like to be looking for foods with no wheat, rye, barley or some food additives.