Category Archives: Health

Gender and Sexuality, Health, Sexuality

A possible consequence of slut-shaming

Leave a comment

A recent article on Medical News Today reports that there’s a certain class of young gay men who are particularly susceptible to HIV infection right now:

Gay young men in serious relationships are six times more likely to have
unprotected sex than those who hook up with casual partners, according
to new Northwestern Medicine research.

The article goes on to explain how this tendency, combined with the fact that young men often don’t get tested frequently enough, makes those in serious relationships vulnerable to HIV infection.

I’ve seen this in action.  To some degree*, I’ve even been guilty of it.  It’s far too easy to fall into the belief that HIV is a problem that mostly — or even only — affects those gay men who visit bath houses or goes cruising in parks.  It’s easy to tell ourselves that as long as we tend towards serious relationships and only have a few partners — all serially, of course — and only get involved with men who do the same, we’ll be safe.  And to be honest, given the way some of us — even those of who know better and are careful even when we’re in a monogamous relationship — reinforce this idea, it’s not surprising.

How do we reinforce this idea?  By the way we talk about and treat those men who do visit bath houses or go cruising.  I’ve seen so many gay men call these “promiscuous” men irresponsible** and automatically accuse them of getting and spreading STD’s.  And I’ve seen many gay men assume that if a guy happens to be HIV+ or have any other STD, he must have been “promiscuous.”

And that’s how you get young men who assume that HIV and STD’s are a problem for men who cruise or hook up.  Because the rest of us send them that message by our words and actions, even if it’s unintentional.  Those young men don’t hear — at least not as loudly — that they don’t have to have hundreds of sex partners to get HIV or any other STD.  People who only have two or three partners*** can become infected, especially if one of those partners hasn’t been tested because he figures he’s HIV- and STD-free simply because he has only had one or two partners who seemed to be STD-free at the time.

Let’s quite pretending that being HIV+ or having an STD is a sign of “promiscuity.”  It’s unfair to everyone and especially harmful to young men who assume they must be safe if they can still count the number of partners they’ve had on one hand.

h/t Edge on the Net

—

* Though as a rule, I still used protection.

** Some of them may well be irresponsible, but it’s still an assumption made without evedence.

*** Let’s face it, the likelihood of any of us meeting our perfect life-partner the first time and never having sex again is low.

Health

Time to Update My Goal

Leave a comment

success2.pngWhen I filled out the online registration form last Wednesday, I was asked to set a fund-raising goal for the Walk to Cure Diabetes.  I decided to go with the recommended individual goal of $100.  When I set it, I never imagined that I would’ve reached that goal this soon!  I’m grateful to those generous people who have sponsored me already.

However, with more than a month still remaining before the Walk, it wouldn’t make sense for me to just quit my fund-raising efforts.  After all, I still have plenty of friends I haven’t asked yet.   So with a sense of accomplishment and a desire to press forward, I have decided to double my fund-raising goal.  I figure that since I managed to get enough support to raise $100 in less than a week, it shouldn’t be much trouble to raise another $100 in the next month!

I would like to thank all of my current sponsors who have helped me meet my first goal so quickly.  And for those who are still debating about donating, I’d encourage you to give whatever you can.  Even $10 helps!

Thank you for your support.

Health

Check Out “The Blood Sugar Dance”

Leave a comment
October 14 2007 day 2 - Insulin syringes

Image by DeathByBokeh via Flickr

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be diabetic?  Have you ever wondered what exactly the deal is with the constant testing of blood glucose levels?  Then check out my latest post over at Musings of a JDRF Supporter, in which I talk about why monitoring blood sugar levels is so important and why living with type one diabetes is more complicated than just injecting insulin at regular intervals.  To give you a small teaser:

Even the process of giving a regularly scheduled injection is not
entirely straightforward.  When determining how much insulin to
administer, a diabetic must take into account their current blood
glucose level, the amount of carbohydrates, and their anticipated level
of physical activity (which also affects blood glucose levels) over the
next several hours.  Based on this information, a diabetic can make an
estimate of how much insulin they need and inject themselves.  Such
calculations are not precise however, and a diabetic needs to check
their actual blood glucose level periodically after administering
insulin.

In a future post, I want to talk about insulin pumps and how the issues I bring up here impact the way they work.

Around The Blogosphere, Health

New Blog for the Walk

Leave a comment

sneakers.jpg
I’ve decided to create a new blog to post my experiences Walking to Cure Diabetes this year.  In keeping with the “Musings” tradition I’ve started, I named that blog The Musings of a JDRF Supporter.

There are two main reasons I decided to create a blog specifically for the walk.  The first reason is that I want to use my new Palm Pre Plus to live-blog pictures and brief comments during the walk itself.  Unfortunately, the current selection of blogging applications for the Pre are rather few in number, and I shudder at the thought of trying to use the Movable Type client on the Pre’s web browser.  (The browser is good, but I’m not convinced that it’s that good!)  As such, I determined that my best bet for live-blogging the walk was to create a WordPress blog.

The other reason I’m doing this is because I’m trying to convince JDRF — either on the national or local level — that the blogosphere is an as-yet untapped resource for them in terms of raising awareness of both their organization in general and the walk in particular.  When I contacted them about putting my fund-raising thermometer on my blog (which they don’t support) or getting images to use (the national organization ended up referring to my local chapter), I realized this didn’t appear to be a common request, which I find odd.

I understand that their focus is mainly on supporting MySpace and Facebook, which seems to be a common practice these days.  But in many ways, I still think blogs offer a level and depth of promotion that social networking sites don’t always offer.  Blogs offer the opportunity for synchroblogs (also called blogswarms and blog carnivals).  They offer the opportunity to post a lot of informative information about type 1 diabetes and the research being done to improve treatment and even find cures.  In effect, it’s a way to generate more interest and support by being informative.  I think there’s a bit of value in that.

So I’ve created my blog to showcase some of the things that can be done.  Hopefully, some folks at JDRF will see it and be interested in getting more bloggers involved in future years.

Health

Why I hate the Lipitor Ad

1 Comment
CHICAGO - JULY 23: Lipitor tablets sit in a t...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

For the past few weeks, I’ve been regularly hearing a new advertisement for Lipitor when I’m driving in my car.  This ad encouraging people to keep taking Lipitor rather than switching to a generic medication for their high cholesterol.  The ad makes a point of arguing that Lipitor is one of the most effective cholesterol medications out there and that there is no generic form of it.  They close the ad by asking in a concerned voice, “If you’re taking Lipitor for high cholesterol and it’s working, why switch?”

Every time I hear that question, I want to pull a Barney Frank and ask the narrator in the ad, “Just how stupid are you?  Or do you just think we’re stupid?”  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the number one reason someone might choose to switch from Lipitor to a generic medication:  Generic medications cost significantly less money and not all of us are made of money.

I took Lipitor for a year or so when my blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol were all in trouble.  Even with my insurance, a one month supply cost me $25.  According to one New York Times article,  The cost of a one month supply without insurance would range from $75 to $90.  That’s a lot of money for a person to be paying out each month for a single health maintenance medication.  And bear in mind that most people on Lipitor are probably also on other medications for other long term conditions like high blood pressure.  That adds up.  So it’s little wonder that people are looking at their shrinking wallets — especially in our current economy — and asking their doctor to give them a generic option that they can get for as little as $3 a month.

Now, if Pfizer was really concerned about people switching to less effective medicine, I would expect them to do something to make their more effective Lipitor a more viable option for most people.  The most obvious way to do that would be to lower the price.  And from a business standpoint (though I really have no tolerance for anyone who thinks of maintaining and improving human health as a business, to be quite frank), it also makes sense.  It’s how the principle of supply and demand is supposed to work.

But no, instead of doing that, Pfizer instead decides to launch a propaganda — I’m sorry, advertising — campain.  Rather than making their product more affordable for those who really need it — those they claim to be concerned about — they instead decide to spend millions on advertisements telling how much better better Lipitor is than the inferior generics.  They pay people to do “research” showing how generic options are not as effective or safe as Lipitor.  In effect, rather than trying to help out the people they express concern over by lowering their prices, they try to scare those people into paying money they probably don’t have in the first place.

Have I mentioned that I think pharmaceutical companies are evil?

Daily Life, Dance, Health

Breaking the Silence

6 Comments

After nearly a month long silence, I decided it’s finally time to write here again. I apologize for being gone so long. However, life made it necessary. To be honest, between the fact that I’ve been too busy at work to do much writing and the fact that what I had to write about were things I’m not comfortable sharing publicly, the lengthy silence was necessary.

Of course, I’m still somewhat busy, and not just because of work. My activities with Park Avenue Dance Company are taking up a great deal of my time. I believe that I mentioned that starting this Fall, I’d be taking three classes a week there. True to form, I am now in the Tuesday evening Beginner’s Contemporary class, the Wedensday evening Floor-Barre Plus class, and the Saturday morning Beginner’s Jazz class. That means that I’m spending between three and a half and four hours dancing every week. Who needs a gym membership with that kind of exercise?

The jazz class is going quite well, though I have a lot to learn. Marina has been quite patient with me, homing in on my need to learn to shift my weight and regain my balance quickly. Fortunately, it’s a very small class, so I’m getting a lot of personal attention (and harassment). It’s worth every moment, believe me.

However, my involvement with the dance company has moved beyond taking classes and attending performances. After the September performance at ArtisanWorks, Christine took me aside and asked me if I’d be willing to join the board of directors for the company. I agreed, and I attended my first board meeting last Wednesday.

This means that in addition to learning to dance (and getting in better shape), I’m now beginning to spend time trying to sell tickets (are any of my readers interested in buying?) to and otherwise promote ROTO 3, which is coming up in just under three weeks.

So far, I just sold one ticket. However, I’m hoping to sell one or two more at the end of the week. And I have another possible sale, but the person needs to wait until the event is closer to verify she has the money for it. Hopefully, as I work through my friends, I’ll sell more. Char has also been kind enough to let me put up a poster at the shop to generate interest. Hopefully, a few ticket sales will result in the process.

I’m also working with another board member to coordinate our attempts to get ROTO on various community calendars in the area. I’m also hoping to get a mention — if not a brief talk — on either radio or television. (If not, I’m hoping to at least make the necessary contacts to make such a possibility a reality for next year.) I’m hoping that helping with getting the word out there will make up for the fact that I don’t have a lot of friends in the area to whom I can directly sell tickets. 😉

Life is great, but crazy and busy. And to think, I still have to squeeze my day job into the picture.

Dance, Health

Dance mania!

3 Comments

Last night, I went to my normal Wednesday night dance class. As usual, I had an absolute blast. This summer has been great review for me. We’ve had a lot of new students in class, which means that Christine has really slowed things down and worked on reviewing technique. This has given me an opportunity to take a few steps back and work on my own technique.

Of course, this has been somewhat of a challenge, as well. To be honest, some of the dance exercises are actually more strenuous when done in slow motion. While I was able to quickly execute certain movements and be done with it before, I now have to move through the motions more slowly. This means that my muscles have to work harder to suspend a leg in mid-air for several counts in some exercises.

Of course, a couple of the new students have decided to watch me during a lot of the exercises. They’ve decided that I know what I’m doing, which I actually think is somewhat of a mistake on their part. I’ve certainly improved over the past six months, I grant you. However, I still make a good number of mistakes, and my technique still needs work. More importantly, I need to work on doing things well consistently.

Of course, Christine doesn’t seem to mind the fact that the other students watch me. in fact, when it came time for us to do our phrase while she watched, one of the women said something about keeping an eye on me so she could follow along. So Christine decided to move me to front and center of the group so everyone could watch and follow. Oh dear. The good news is that the phrase we are working on right now is rather slow, so I’ve been able to do really well. (It takes me longer to really get some of the more upbeat phrases.) And the fact that we’re currently working on a phrase that I learned back in January when I started the class helps a lot, too. (Of course, I don’t think the other students realize this.)

The real excitement, however, came for me when I decided to stick around and take the jazz dance class too. I had previously talked to Marina, who teaches that class, and got permission to take it. I was a bit nervous because I was concerned about confusing myself with two different styles of dance. Then there’s also the fact that originally, the Wednesday night jazz dance class was intended to be an intermediate class, so I was concerned about being able to keep up. Then there were just my concerns about taking two dance classes back-to-back. After all, two and a half hours of almost non-stop dance is quite the workout.

Fortunately, everything worked out fine. The class was challenging, but that was mostly because I’m not used to the warm-ups and exercises that Marina does in her class. And like many dance instructors, she tends to give a long list of exercises we’re going to do over the course of an entire song, then start the music and have us go to it. This meant that I got lost more than once, but I was generally able to recover.

The differences in styles also turned out to be less of an issue than I expected. Certainly, there are differences and I had trouble adjusting to a few things. (For example, I kept wanting to turn out when doing tondus, whereas some of the tondu exercises Marina uses require the feet to remain in parallel position. It takes a bit of mental adjustment.

As for the length of time dancing, that proved to be a minor issue. Other than a blister on my right big toe and a leg cramp last night, I made out quite well. As a result, I’ve decided to attend the jazz dance class for the remaining two weeks in this term. After that, it’ll be time for the Fall sessions to start. Marina said she plans on trying to start up another beginners jazz dance class on Saturdays, and I’m thinking about registering for it. I’d stick with the intermediate class, but I already have other obligations on Wednesday.

Besides, a Saturday class will have me dancing three days a week, which would be good.

Health, Humor, Religion

It rarely pays to argue with a goddess

1 Comment

One of the interesting things about Freyja acting as my patroness and primary guide is that she often puts in her two cents on my health and any matter related to it. And while she certainly reaffirms my right to make my own decisions about what I should do, she both makes her opinion about the best course of action known and is brutally honest about the consequences of a bad decision I’m considering.

Consider, for example, a brief exchange we had tonight at dinner. After working at the shop all afternoon, Belinda, Amy, and I decided to go to dinner at Red Lobster tonight. The three of us sat in a comfortable booth enjoying our meals. After I finished my chicken linguini alfredo (one of the great ironies of my life is that I eat at Red Lobster at least once a month despite the fact that I don’t like seafood or fish), I pondered the possibility of dessert. After all, I absolutely love their ice cream sundae with the big chocolate chip cookie on the bottom. I considered it when Miss Thing decided to make her thoughts known. The exchange went something like the following.

Her: I don’t think that’s a good idea.

Me: But it’s so good!

Her: Yes, but you’ve already had enough to eat.

Me: I can manage it!

Her: You also had the pina colada with dinner.

Me: I know, but I probably won’t come back for a few more weeks, and I really want the sundae.

Her: Okay, let me lay it out for you. Then you can choose whatever you want.

Me: Lay it out for me?

Her: Your digestive system is already a bit out of whack due to your recent changes in exercise and eating habits. You’ve eaten a large meal and had a drink. Before you order the ice cream, you might just want to stop and ask yourself how much time you really want to spend in the bathroom this evening.

Me: You mean….?

Her: Well, let’s just say that if you have the ice cream, you might want to move the television in there as soon as you get home so you don’t miss your shows.

I eventually saw reason and went without dessert tonight. Hey, it was my choice. But all the same, it sure feels like she play dirty some days. 😉

Health

My circuit is getting bigger

1 Comment

Today, I ran to Dick’s to buy a new pair of walking shoes. Now that the weather seems to be generally warm, I’ve decided it’s time to start taking my monthly seven mile walk along the canal again. As I started wearing my “dedicated walking shoes” from last summer all the time during the winter, I figured I best get a new pair.

Once I had my new shoes in hand, I immediately put them on and decided to take the first step in breaking them in. So I drove downtown (well, a bit east of downtown, really), parked my car outside of Psychic’s Thyme, and set out for my first real walk of the year.

I decided that being a new year, it was time to increase my “short” walk. So rather than walking the circuit of Park Avenue, Alexander Street, East Avenue, and Culver Road, I decided to walk the circuit formed by Monroe Avenue, Union Street, East Avenue, and Culver Road. Estimating my brief bathroom break and tea purchase at five minutes, I would say that my walking time was an hour and fifteen minutes. That’s up fifteen minutes from last autumn. Further more, now my “short walk” takes more than half the time of my seven mile walk!

I fared the trek quite well, really. My feet were aching by the time I got back to my car, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that I was wearing the new shoes. Overall, I’d say the dance class has kept me in the same shape I was in when I quit walking for the winter.

I’ve also come up with my tentative weekly exercise regime (or I should say “plans to have fun while getting some exercise without really thinking about it” regime):

  • Tuesday night: Beginner’s Contemporary Dance Class
  • Tuesday Night:: Floor Barre Plus Class
  • Sunday Mid-Day:Walking the Circuit Downtown. (Alternative: Seven mile canal walk one weekend each month)

I’m also thinking about adding another walk on Thursday night, but I figure and wait to see how everything goes.

Health, Personal Development

Lifestyle changes

2 Comments

Yesterday, I did something I haven’t done in almost two and a half years. I went grocery shopping.

I tried grocery shopping and cooking for myself when I first moved to Rochester. I think that lasted for about a month before I decided it was too much bother. I just found the idea of running home after work and cooking my own food to be a nuisance. So I started ordering takeout, ordering delivery, grabbing a sub on the way home, and even eating out most of the time. I even started buying food items for lunch and breakfast at convenience stores.

And for two and a half years, this arrangement worked perfectly for me. I had the excess cash flow to support expense of that kind of lifestyle, so it was comfortable. However, now that various factors — like starting to contribute to my company’s 401k plan and the extra expense of taking dance classes — have altered my (non-existent) budget to the point where I’m just barely breaking even each month.

As such, I’ve decided it’s time to change my eating habits. This week, I decided to start with something simple: Buying groceries and putting together my own lunches and breakfasts rather than buying something “on the run.” The net result is that I covered two thirds of my meal requirements this week on about one fourth of my typical food bill for a week. It’s actually kind of depressing to realize how much money I have been wasting due to overspending.

I figure I’d start with just lunches and breakfasts for now, as well as dinner for the two nights I need a quick bite before dance class. For most dinners, I’ll still buy something or eat out for the next week or two. So my spending won’t be completely minimized, but I’m hoping to at least put a bit more of a buffer between my income and my total expenses.

I’m also working on bringing my own snacks to work, which is my other big expense. This will have the advantage of being cheaper as well as healthier for me. Granted, I don’t expect my trips to the candy machine to disappear immediately. (If that was the case, I already failed on my first day.) But overall, I hope this will help cut down on my spending even more.

I actually got a huge compliment from the woman in front of me in the checkout line. She glanced over my pile of items, which consisted mostly of yogurts, fruits, and stuff to make salads (as well as a couple pre-made salads at real good prices) and wraps. She smiled and said that I had an extremely healthy selection. In fact, her exact words were that her nutritionist would be pleased and proud of my groceries. I smiled and thanked her. Eating healthier isn’t one of my primary goals in doing this (I actually feel I do pretty good at that anyway), but it should be a nice side effect of the process.