It's never too late

Register to be an organ donor. Infants to nonagenarians (age 90+), can donate organs, bone and tissue. There is no upper age limit. LifeLink of Florida can help you sign up.

 

Irene Maher, Times Staff Writer

Keep up with the latest on the swine flu epidemic

As of this writing, Florida has not yet had a confirmed case of swine flu. But with cases on the increase around the nation and the world, and world health officials upgrading the severity of the epidemic, even people who've been ignoring this news will soon be paying attention.

So....What do you do to keep from getting swine flu? What kind of symptoms might you feel if you did?

And why is it called swine flu?

Keep up with the latest at the tampabay.com Health page, where you'll find news developments from around the nation and the world, as well as lists of symptoms and FAQ's to help to navigate this growing crisis.

In the meantime, take the advice of health officials, the president and your mother:  Cover your mouth when you sneeze, preferably with a paper tissue (which you'll then throw out properly and promptly) or the inside of your elbow. Stay home from work or school if you aren't feeling well. Avoid people who are sneezing and coughing.

Call your doctor if you experience flu symptoms such as high fever, body aches, respiratory symptoms and nausea. Remember, there are drugs to treat flu, but it's best to start early.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

Fertility and fitness: Is there a link?

For women struggling with infertility, the unknowns loom large. So perhaps it is not surprising that nothing generated questions at last weekend's New Beginnings Fertility Conference like an expert's warning that too much exercise could be a factor in the inability to conceive.

Alice Domar, a national expert who studies the mind-body connection to fertility, urged women at the event to back off high-intensity exercise, like running. She said it could be stressing the body.

"We are able to run to escape danger. We're not wired to run to burn off a cupcake," she said.

She stressed that exercise, in general, is good for everyone. But while trying to conceive, she urged women to switch to low-impact options, like pilates or yoga, or to go for walks to stay fit. Just keep the heart-rate under 110, she said.

She pointed to research in animals suggesting that physical activity could lessen the odds of getting pregnant. She also cited a study from the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology that found women who exercised intensely had less successful in vitro fertilization outcomes.

But the link between fertility and fitness in women has not been studied in great depth, as this MSN health article notes.

The question is an intriguing one, though. The Female Athletic Triad describes a series of unhealthy behaviors -- eating disorders, menstrual disturbances and bone loss -- that can accompany intense exercise in women.

We also know that being overweight or too thin can contribute to fertility issues. Domar said the ideal Body Mass Index, or BMI, for fertility is 24-27. By today's beauty standards, most women in this range would be considered to have a weight problem. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that adults with BMIs over 25 are overweight.)

Certainly, we can agree that anything done to excess, whether eating or exercise, can cause problems, whether it's with fertility or anything else. Case in point: Our recent article about how today's more active lifestyles is playing a role in the increased demand for knee replacement in middle-aged adults.

Domar had this suggestion for women dealing with infertility trying to decide whether to give up high-impact exercise for a while. Why not?

"Infertility is temporary. You're only going to be going through this for a short period of time, relative to the rest of your life," she said. "It's okay to take a break on exercise during your childbearing years."

-- Letitia Stein, Times health writer

Be a match maker

This week's theme is on national Donate Life month. Consider joining the Be The Match Registry to become a bone marrow donor. You could save the life of someone with a fatal disease like leukemia who is searching desperately for a donor. Minority volunteers are most needed. Click here to register and learn more.

 

Irene Maher, Times Staff Writer

Officials: No swine flu confirmed in Florida

Orlando health officials swatted down a TV report Tuesday that there had been a confirmed case of swine flu in a tourist from Mexico visiting a Disney attraction.

WFTV reported what would have been the state’s first confirmed case of swine flu this morning. It cited an email that it obtained in which Loran Hauck, chief medical officer for Adventist Health System, said the case was diagnosed Tuesday morning and involved a tourist from Mexico who was visiting Disney attractions.

State and area health officials all said there were no confirmed cases in Florida. And at 12:30 p.m., Dr. Scott Brady, vice president of Florida Hospital, which is operated by Adventist Health System, said they had no confirmed case, though they had sent some samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing.

"We understand that sometime in the past 24 hours there was an email sent from a Florida Hospital person to another person trying to educate them about how not to get the flu," Dr. Brady said during the press conference. "There have been some reports indicating that there was in fact a case of the flu somewhere in the Disney area, but that has not been confirmed at this time."

-Richard Martin, Times staff writer

Are you worried about the swine flu epidemic?

With no reported cases of swine flu here, Florida officials are advising residents to keep up with the news and take basic health precautions (frequent handwashing, staying home if they don’t feel well, avoiding people who are coughing).
How worried are you about swine flu?

Swine flu panic
How concerned are you about the swine flu epidemic?
I have called the doctor to get my own bottle of Tamiflu.
Concerned enough to follow basic health precautions and keep up with the latest developments.
I am leaving home only when I have to, and when I do, I am wearing a face mask and gloves.
What is swine flu?
It is too far away to affect me, and I have shut off CNN to avoid hysterical broadcasts from Wolf Blitzer.

Got more to say about the swine flu panic? Share your thoughts below.

Get an A in blood donation

This week's theme is on national Donate Life month. Here's another way to give the gift of life. Become an Apheresis blood donor. These volunteers are known as the heroes of blood donation because the process takes hours, not minutes. Just one component of the blood is collected, such as platelets or plasma, but the result is up to 8 times more of that component than a whole blood donation would produce. Call 1-800-68-BLOOD or click here for more information.

 

Irene Maher, Times Staff Writer

Swine flu in Florida 'a matter of time'

Though Florida has no reported cases of swine flu, one local expert says in our story this morning that "it is only a matter of time" before it comes here.

That's according to Dr. John Sinnott, associate dean and director of the Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine at the University of South Florida's College of medicine.

"It's in several different countries. It's spread within closed groups quite readily. It's spread to different parts of Mexico. It would seem like the cat is out of the bag," he said Monday.

You can keep tabs on swine flu developments on this blog and our health page. More information is available on the Web sites for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Florida Department of Health.

-Richard Martin, Times Staff Writer.

Considering contact lenses? There's a lot to look at.

Until fairly recently, I knew very little about contact lenses. Beyond, of course, the time I've spent crawling around on the floor helping friends look for stray lenses. 

But after I hit 40, my perfect vision started heading south, just like everybody said it would. I ignored this deterioration so well that I went directly from drugstore reading glasses to prescription progressives (aka trifocals) all at once. Apparently I had been wandering around like Mr. Magoo, magically avoiding the potential consequences of negotiating the world without being able to see it clearly. Anyway, I liked my glasses, but never got entirely used to them. I assumed I couldn't get contacts -- how, I reasoned, could you get all THREE of the corrections I needed on a single teensy lens? Then I started seeing ads for progressive lenses, and made an appointment with an eye doctor.

There, I discovered the mysteries of monovision, in which you are given two different-strength lenses, one for closeup correction, the other for distance vision. For most people, the brain adjusts to this odd-sounding arrangement very nicely. Want to know more? Here's a story Tom Valeo did for the St. Petersburg Times that summarizes options, both contact lenses and surgery, if you want to ditch your eyeglasses.

So, what do I think of contacts vs. glasses? The jury's still out. I like not having glasses perched on my nose, and the fact that I can see in all directions. Putting on eye makeup is much easier. I can wear any old cheap sunglasses I like instead of a single prescription pair.  It's also nice to be able to towel my sweaty face at the gym, where I like to catch up on the New Yorker as I use the elliptical machine, without fumbling with glasses.

But as the good Dr. Joel Marantz warned me, my vision isn't as crisp using contacts as it is with glasses.  I still find it slightly annoying to fiddle with the lenses every morning. (I don't wear mine to sleep; I could, but Dr. Marantz told me they'll last longer if I take them out at night, and given my essential cheapness, I'm convinced.) And I recently proved that yes, it is possible to "lose'' a contact lens in your eye. Happily, it wandered out all by itself after a day with no apparent ill effects, but still. Ick.

Consider that possibility the next time you're scanning the floor for a tiny little lens.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

Make a date to donate

April, Donate Life Month, is coming to a close. It's observed nationally to increase awareness of organ, tissue, marrow and blood donation. This week's health tips will focus on the many ways you can give the gift of life. Start by making an appointment to give blood. Suggest that your workplace, place of worship, social or civic club sponsor a bloodmobile. With companies going out of business and downsizing, fewer employers are hosting bloodmobiles. Call 1-800-68-BLOOD.

 

Irene Maher, Times Staff Writer