A Midwestern Island for Abortion Access
How changing abortion laws are impacting Illinois The Supreme Court’s June decision against abortion rights triggered a cascade of laws to prevent abortions in 13 states, many in the Midwest. But people’s needs don’t always follow changes in law. People now seeking abortions are facing longer wait times, increased travel costs, and, overall, uncertainty. In […]
Over-the-Counter Birth Control
People in Illinois can now access birth control via a consultation with a trained pharmacist, rather than a prescription from a doctor, thanks to a new state law that went into effect in January. The law applies to all forms of hormonal birth control, including the oral contraceptive pill, skin patch, and vaginal ring. Trained pharmacists […]
Menstrual Health Equity
Being unable to access menstrual products takes a mental and physical toll on students, says Em Rabelais, PhD, RN, a health ethicist and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Some students experience period poverty — when they can’t afford products such as pads and tampons. Other Chicago teens face anxiety about managing their periods […]
Can a Daily Pill Lighten Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Caused by Fibroids?
Fibroids are generally benign (not cancerous) tumors that form within the tissues of the uterus. They are very common in reproductive-age women: Studies report that up to 70% of white women and 80% of Black women may develop fibroids by age 50. And research suggests Black women are more likely to experience severe or very […]
Drinking Age
With the pandemic and an increase in wine culture, more women are drinking — to excessive levels Women drink. A lot. Search “women drinking memes,” and you’ll see hundreds, with images of women downing wine and captions such as, “I wish I could get another liver … so I could drink more and care less,” […]
Midwife-Led Birth Centers Offer a Safe Alternative to Hospital Birth
When Tania Nava of Berwyn gave birth to her first child at a local Chicago hospital, she knew it was an experience she never wanted to repeat. “The hospital staff was really harsh on me,” she says. Throughout the process, Nava says she felt stressed and pressured to take drugs like Pitocin to hurry the […]
Op-Ed: For the Sake of Our Pregnant Mothers, Illinois Needs to Act on Climate Change
Chicago Health is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. The opinions expressed in this op-ed article are the author’s own. As a practicing obstetrical hospitalist in suburban Cook County, I often see pregnant mothers in their most acute state, when they are having an obstetrical emergency. By the time I see these mothers, the […]
Hot Flashes Can Be Fast and Furious
Disrupted sleep, irritability, sweats, rapid heart rate — 67-year-old Nora Barler has battled extreme hot flashes for three decades, ever since having a total hysterectomy in her late 30s to remove her uterus and ovaries. When her hot flashes began, she was working in human resources as a labor and employee relations manager and felt […]
Prenatal Vitamins: A small introduction to a big pill
Let’s play a game of word association. I say, “prenatal vitamins,” and some of you may say … let me guess, “horse pills”? Yes, prenatal vitamins may be large, but they’re packed with an abundance of nutrients that are essential for prenatal health. And it’s important to start taking them even before you get pregnant. […]
No More Pain. Period.
Helping women with endometriosis find relief Endometriosis is a women’s health issue that has long remained in the shadows. Even though the condition can cause intense pelvic pain, it’s often overlooked, with symptoms chalked up to menstrual discomfort. Many doctors are not well-trained in this chronic condition, which occurs when cells similar to those inside […]
Living Well With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
In a woman’s ideal world, hormones are balanced, menstrual cycles are regular and fertility is not an issue. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the 1 out of 10 reproductive-age women in the United States who live with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). “PCOS is characterized by high levels of male sex hormones [androgens] and […]
Are Pap Tests Becoming Obsolete?
Since 2012, gynecologists have asked women to schedule a Pap smear every three years, instead of annually. But is it time for a further change? In recent years, some gynecologic oncologists have proposed replacing Pap smears with an “upstream” cervical cancer screening method. Instead of testing broadly for abnormal cells, women would be screened for […]
Sex & Menopause
What women should know about intimacy and midlife changes If there’s one message that Lauren Streicher, MD, wants to share with every woman who’s struggling with sex after menopause, it’s this: “There is a solution. If you haven’t been given the solution it doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It means someone hasn’t told you what […]
Mary Wood Molo, MD
At the Center for Reproductive Care, our mission is to provide you the best opportunity to create the family you dreamed of. Each patient is different and we do our best – using advanced science – to understand the unique circumstances of each patient and develop an individualized treatment plan suited to a patient’s needs.
What Doctors Know: The leading cause of female infertility
By Bonnie Ward, UC San Diego Health As women, we’re used to hearing jokes about our fluctuating hormones causing problems. In fact, the expression “feeling hormonal” is commonly used (often in a tongue-in-cheek manner) to describe a woman in a particularly irritated mood. While most of us take such ribbing in stride, the truth is […]
Hold the cranberries: UTI myths explained
Source: Cleveland Clinic whatdoctorsknow.com The myths about preventing and treating a urinary tract infection (UTI) are many, but let’s get to the truth. About 60 percent of women will experience this common malady (and the painful, frequent and sometimes urgent urination that goes with it) over their lifetimes. At the top of the UTI “myth […]
How Hysterectomies Happen
The rate of hysterectomies in this country has led to innovative procedures By Ruth Kaufman Hysterectomies are happening quite often. Their frequency and the desire for so many of these women to recover quickly has caused a wave of innovative procedures to emerge. DuPage Medical Group’s Donald Adeli, MD, obstetrician and gynecologist, says the need for […]
Teen Dating Violence Victims Suffer Long-Term Health Effects
“They grab you, touch your butt and try to, like, touch you in the front, and run away, but it’s OK, I mean… I never think it’s a big thing because they do it to everyone.” This is how Patricia, 13, refers to boys in her school. During an interview for a study on sexual […]
What Your Body Is Telling You In Your 30s and 40s
By Morgan Lord When we women leave our 20s and enter our 30s and 40s, we finally peak—comfortable in our skin, we exude confidence. But although our minds, like whiskey and leather boots, become better with age, our bodies are working in reverse—bone mass declines, our metabolism slows, and we’re more susceptible to a slew […]
When Things Get Steamy
Can Vagina Steams Aid in Vaginal and Uterine Health? By Megy Karydes Spread your legs wide, she instructed. I obliged, feeling ridiculous as I sat naked on a stool with a circular hole and a salon-style gown wrapped over me like a tent from my neck to the ground. A large, pot of boiling water […]
The Benefits of Kegels
Is there really one exercise that can prevent pelvic floor disorders? By Emily O’Brien Kegel exercises. Popular for potentially being advantageous for women who have difficulty reaching orgasm. They’re discreet enough to perform anywhere. But there’s more to it than that. The simple clench-and-release exercise, named after its gynecologist inventor, Arnold Kegel, can bolster the […]
A Breast Cancer Q&A
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Terri Yablonsky Stat talked to Dr. Nora Hansen, surgical oncologist, Breast Surgery Division at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine about what every woman should know about preventing and treating breast cancer. TYS: What can women do to prevent breast cancer? Dr. Hansen: The biggest thing is being aware […]
Stimulating Touch
Astym treatment heals pain for the active and overweight The treatments for ankle sprains, muscle strains and other problems in the soft tissues of the feet and legs are well known: rest, cold compresses, anti-inflammatory medications and physical therapy. But sometimes the standard remedies don’t get rid of the pain. That’s when a lesser-known therapy […]
Health Mastery
Vibrant sex through the years Ladies! Really? Booty duty? Have we climbed the corporate ladder, become super athletes and supermoms only to become victims of self-perceived obligation in the bedroom? No way.It’s time to saturate in pleasure and sensuality, and create for our enjoyment—in bed and out. Move into your forward with vibrancy; it’s the […]
The Menopausal Appetite
By Nancy Maes For some women the triumvirate of binge eating, weight gain and menopause are intricately intertwined. This excessive uncontrollable overeating, the accumulation of too much body fat and the changes that occur during the natural biological process of menopause influence each other in various ways and become part of a never-ending cycle. “Binge […]
Prenatal Dangers
There are a lot of things that can go wrong during pregnancy, but doctors help reduce the risk by doing a lot of things right By Nancy Maes When a woman learns that she is pregnant, happy visions of decorating the nursery and choosing pint-sized clothes can soon be overshadowed by fears of complications for […]
Diagnosed with Infertility: Questions To Ask Your Doctor
Dr. Mary Wood Molo, a physician at Women’s Health Consultants and director of the IVF program at Rush University Medical Center, recommends that patients undergoing infertility treatment ask their doctors the following questions: What is your background? Inquire about relevant training, board certification and experience. How much and what kinds of diagnostic testing are performed […]
The Pap Education
Are women demanding unnecessary tests? By Megy Karydes A cancer that starts the day after a negative Papanicolaou (Pap) test, under the new guidelines, may have three years to develop before the next Pap test detects it. An annual Pap test for a healthy, sexually active woman used to be the norm as a preventive […]
The Cost of Delaying Childbirth
Celebs can afford to do it, can you? So many stories abound about celebrities in their late 30s or 40s giving birth to healthy babies, that delaying childbirth seems like a normal, natural experience. Yet women who wait until their mid-30s or later to have a baby face certain risks. “The first important hurdle they […]
Health Mastery
Tenaciously Stubborn: How the good kind of stubbornness can actually save our lives By Kathleen Aharoni She kept returning to her gynecologist and insisting that she be checked again. Her doctor, though, kept telling her that her bloating and not feeling like her usual self were just symptoms of menopause. She persevered in her self-advocacy, […]
A Perfect Baby Body
New program helps women restore their bodies after childbirth By Morgan Lord Childbirth brings with it plenty of joys—unconditional love, a new, impenetrable bond and all of that cuddle time. But giving birth can also mean a slew of not-so-joyous bodily changes for a new mother including bladder, bowel and sexual health issues. NorthShore University […]
New Study by Chicago Doctor May Help With Complicated Pregnancies
A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, found that women whose water had broken prematurely, and whose babies were breech, had worse health outcomes for both the mother and child than those whose water broke prematurely but whose babies were not breech. This information could be crucial for doctors when they […]
The Science of Birth
Infertility is not an absolute like it once was, but more research is needed When a couple of child-bearing age has not been able to get pregnant after having frequent unprotected sex for at least a year—or at least six months for women 35 and older—health professionals define this as infertility. Couples who are infertile define […]
The Great Debate
Opinions keep changing on when mammograms should be administered Television personality Giuliana Rancic, 37, a Chicagoan, shone light on a very important women’s health issue last winter with the announcement that she would undergo a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. While the typical breast cancer patient is older, contradicting recommendations from professionals […]
Heart to Heart
A conversation about heart health with Loyola’s Dr. Binh An P. Phan Men and women are different. Should the two sexes be looking for different warning signs of heart disease? One of the biggest things to remember is that heart disease is the number one killer for both men and women. There is a lot […]
The Misery of Sex
Sex after cancer brings its own kind of debilitation. Women who have faced and beaten gynecologic or breast cancer often survive with a problem rarely discussed. The surgeries and treatments have left them with concerns about their sex life, but they don’t know where to turn for help. “It is sort of a ‘don’t ask, […]
Precious Memories
Gene studies advance medicines and profit for Alzheimer’s Denise Combs remembers the moment when she first realized her husband John might be suffering from memory loss. “He was a real estate broker for 38 years and always wore a necktie, but one Easter morning… he couldn’t knot his tie. He had done [it] all his […]
The Power of Pink
Chicago is home to a range of organizations raising breast cancer awareness and offering assistance to those affected by the disease It’s October, and that means it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During these next few weeks, Chicago will be awash in a now-familiar pink hue—on display everywhere from the Bears’ team uniforms to the […]
Born Safe
Concern for what’s best for mother and baby could birth new legislation More women are choosing to have the baby at home, rather than bringing it home. According to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics, home births increased by 5 percent from 2004–2005 in the United States. “People have very […]
Understanding Adult Acne
Half of women fight with adult acne. Doctors aren’t sure of the cause but are finding better treatments. When Donna Bertoncini was in the 7th grade, she developed acne and treated it with the typical over-the-counter products that all teenagers count on. She thought it would eventually go away. She was wrong. “You think you’re […]
Health Mastery
Hippocrates said, “I would rather know the person with the disease than the disease the person has.” Let me know if I am taking liberties with this quote. I believe that what he’s saying—who we are; how we present ourselves, face and perceive our lives—is integral to our health and to the treatment of what […]
Smart Testing: Health Screenings for Women
Yes, yes. You know you’re overdue for your annual physical. And when was the last time you visited your dentist? Most women know that routine tests can be essential to maintaining good health, but our packed schedules and overflowing to-do lists often shove suggested medical screenings to the side. Still, a short talk with your […]
Inside Infertility
Every year, nearly seven million couples deal with the heartbreak of infertility. Rather than enduring it alone, most seek the counsel of a fertility specialist. Calling on physicians with high levels of experience and expertise and an array of available treatments, many women who previously thought becoming pregnant was impossible have been able to bear […]
Knowing the Signs: Identifying Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of a few diseases known as a “silent killer” because it lacks specific, concrete symptoms. But according to physicians and recent studies, the disease does present warning signs that women, especially those at high risk, shouldn’t ignore. In particular, the U.S. Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and the […]
Diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer: Questions to Ask Your Doctor
Dr. Diane Yamada, principal investigator at the University of Chicago for the Gynecologic Oncology Group, encourages ovarian cancer patients to approach their physicians with the following queries: If there is a suspicion of ovarian or fallopian tube cancer based on a worrisome looking mass on ultrasound: • How suspicious am I for ovarian cancer, and […]
Diagnosed with Breast Cancer: Questions to Ask Your Doctor
Breast cancer treatment is a partnership between the patient and several types of doctors. Patients should first make sure that they see a medical oncologist, who designs an overall treatment program. Patients should learn as much as possible about treatment options; don’t be afraid to ask questions, take notes, employ tape recorders or ask for […]
Think Pink: Innovations and Advancements in Breast Health
Breast cancer and fear go hand in hand. Both the disease and its treatment can be frightening and overwhelming. But thanks to pioneering research and the tireless work of dedicated health professionals, hospitals and medical centers across the nation—some right here in Chicago—are slowly but steadily replacing that fear with hope. The challenges, of course, […]
