Being pregnant is hard. Getting sick stinks. But being pregnant and coming down with an illness is a special kind of misery. It’s tough to get through 40 weeks of pregnancy without picking up a cold, the flu, a stomach bug or another everyday ailment, especially if you have older children bringing germs home. But…
It was a big deal when Paxlovid became available to the public in December 2021. COVID-19 was still surging across the country, causing high numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. A pill that you could take at home to reduce the risk of serious illness was a game changer. Paxlovid was authorized for adults and children…
You probably don’t give your thyroid much thought. It doesn’t usually demand attention like a growling stomach, a pounding heart, or a racing brain. But this small, butterfly-shaped gland, found in the lower front of your neck, is responsible for keeping those and all other organs functioning right. “It’s a small gland that affects nearly…
When you look down at your bare feet, do you see a big red knot at the base of your big toe? If your answer is yes, you’re probably looking at a bunion, says UNC Health orthopedic surgeon Joshua Tennant, MD. “A bunion is a progressive deformity of the bone,” he says. “When the big…
It’s a fact of life—as we age, our muscles begin to loosen. And it’s not just faces and figures that relax. Internal organs can lose their firmness, too, resulting in pelvic organ prolapse, when these organs fall. UNC Health OB-GYN Tiffany M. Flanagan, MD, doesn’t mince words: “Gravity does not like women at all. Everything…
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in both men and women, but more women than men will have a stroke over their lifetime. “Generally, stroke is more common as we get older,” says UNC Health vascular surgeon Liliana Nanez, MD. “Because women tend to live to be older than men, more women…
When Kathy Landers left her hometown of Colorado Springs to visit Raleigh for her daughter’s archery tournament in 2019, she didn’t know an emergency surgery would be a part of the trip. She ended up suffering a stroke at the hotel—something she never expected to happen at the age of 45. Her husband recognized the…
When you love someone who you think might be a victim of domestic violence, it’s natural to feel scared and uncertain. What can you do to help? Is this really happening? Maybe he’s never left bruises, as far as you know, but his anger gets intense very quickly, and he calls her names or insults…
You hardly think about how wonderful it is to smile—until you can’t. That’s the devastating realization Gabrielle Biskaduros had when she suddenly couldn’t move the right side of her face. “I noticed during my haircut that my smile looked off and felt a little numb, and the next day I lost all facial movement on…
When Kimberly Mays was about 20 weeks pregnant with her second child, she began to feel faint and overheated. An ultrasound revealed that Mays’ baby had a very rapid heart rate, and she was referred to a maternal-fetal specialist near her hometown of Southern Pines, North Carolina. There, she learned her baby’s heart rate was…
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year. Yet many women may not be aware that heart disease is as big a concern for them as it is for the men in their lives. The good news is that an estimated 80 percent of heart…
Your son is at college 300 miles away and calls you complaining of an earache. Your dad has run out of his blood pressure medication and needs a doctor to renew his prescription. You feel a burning sensation when you pee. You’ve had a urinary tract infection before, and the symptoms are the same. And…
