Author: St. Elizabeth Healthcare

The right clothes can make you feel confident and beautiful. However, the wrong clothes can not only make you uncomfortable, but they can also cause you pain and even make you sick. Two examples are tight pants syndrome from wearing constrictive jeans and foot issues from ill-fitting shoes. Tight Pants Syndrome It may sound like a made-up condition, but the tight pants syndrome is an actual medical disorder known as meralgia paresthetica. It’s caused by tight pants that compress the nerve that runs from the base of the spine down the legs. Meralgia paresthetica typically only occurs on one side…

“What’s going on with my eyesight?” If you’ve recently started experiencing blurry vision or difficulty reading text up close, you may be asking yourself and even your physician that question. The answer may be related to aging if you’ve reached the time of life between 41 and 60 years of age when vision changes become common. Many age-related vision problems are treatable with eyeglasses — think of it as an opportunity to add a stylish accessory to your wardrobe — or contact lenses. As you age, it’s important to prioritize your eye health. Vision Changes and Refractive Errors When you…

Why Do I Look So Terrible on Zoom? If you spend a good part of your day in virtual meetings or on social media platforms where you see your reflection, you may find yourself drawn to study your digitally enhanced features. For some, that attraction can turn into fixating on perceived physical flaws, which has become common enough to be given a name: Zoom dysmorphia or Snapchat dysmorphia. Zoom, a popular platform for videoconferencing, is famous for its unflattering video renderings. The platform includes filters that provide users with tools to smooth the skin and enhance lighting. Social media platforms…

Alternatively known as mastalgia, mastodynia or mammalgia, breast pain has many names and descriptors (breast tenderness, stabbing breast pain, breast soreness, just to name a few). No matter what you call it, breast pain hurts, but in most cases, you can alleviate it with home care or a doctor’s care. What Causes Mastalgia? If you’re a female, breast pain kind of comes with the territory. Many circumstances can cause your breasts to hurt, including hormonal fluctuations due to: Puberty. Developing breast tissue can ache during puberty. This is true for boys as well as girls. Periods. Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels…

Fibromyalgia — a syndrome that includes a wide range of symptoms — commonly causes pain throughout the body, including in the joints. There’s more at stake, however, than dealing with physical discomfort. That’s especially true for women, who are more likely to develop fibromyalgia and can experience some of its symptoms more acutely than men. If you leave fibromyalgia untreated, the symptoms can disrupt your ability to work and pursue your hobbies. In addition, untreated fibromyalgia can make it difficult to be there for the people who love and depend on you. However, with treatment, you can manage fibromyalgia flare-ups…

Imagine you’re living your life, taking care of your health, getting the recommended screening mammograms and periodically performing breast self-checks, and you notice a lump. How worried should you be? In most circumstances, a situation like this means it’s time to make an appointment with your healthcare provider but know that not every lump and bump you feel in your breast is a tumor. How Do You Know if It’s a Breast Cyst vs a Tumor? Many breast lumps are cysts — fluid-filled sacs that commonly occur and are considered a normal fibrocystic change in the breast. Cysts can form…

Getting accurate blood pressure readings is like peering into a crystal ball focused on your heart and vascular health. That’s because blood pressure is a reading of the force your blood exerts as it presses against the walls of your arteries. High blood pressure is a threat to your: With such essential bodily systems at risk, it’s important to understand the meaning of blood pressure readings, monitor your blood pressure and seek help for abnormal blood pressure. What Do Blood Pressure Numbers Mean? Blood pressure is expressed in two numbers: systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number). Blood pressure is…

Women of all ages can struggle with body acceptance. Research shows that this is due to a number of factors, including weight, beauty standards set by the media and changes that take place in women’s bodies as they age. The body positivity movement encourages women to accept their bodies as they are and not feel like they must meet certain standards for weight, beauty and their appearance in general. Women who struggle with body positivity often find it affects key areas of their lives, including personal relationships and career decisions. Better understanding of the issue can be the first step…

Reaching the milestone of menopause was quite an accomplishment. Now, you’re experiencing vaginal bleeding once again. Though it’s not typical, bleeding after menopause doesn’t necessarily indicate a serious problem. Getting it checked out can uncover the cause, help you get it under control and give you peace of mind. Defining Postmenopausal Bleeding Bleeding after menopause can be frustrating. After all, you went through menopause expecting to not deal with menstruation again. Now, you may suspect you didn’t go through the change after all. Menopause is defined by experiencing a full year without menstruation. If you did that, you’ve gone through…

If you are one of the many American women who feels mom guilt, it may help to know you’re not alone. What Is Mom Guilt? Mom guilt refers to the feelings of guilt that may come with not being the perfect parent. This can stem from a variety of different situations, such as leaving your child with a babysitter while you go out, going back to work or giving your child too much screen time. Oftentimes, mom guilt, or mommy guilt, comes from feeling bad because you think you could do better or do more for your child. For example,…