Many women who rely on the birth control pill or other monthly forms of contraception have experienced this scenario: A woman’s doctor writes her a prescription for three or 12 months worth of birth control. When she visits the pharmacy to pick it up, she finds out that her insurance company will pay for only one […]
Truly hot days are relatively rare in Maine, thanks to those cool ocean breezes and our situation as the northeastern-most state. It’s easy to forget when we’re whining about the 90-degree heat and yearning for the snowfall that we cursed only a few short months ago. But when the temperature spikes, we suffer more than our neighbors […]
When a Maine woman died suddenly in 2013 after a tick bite, the state went on alert against the dangerous virus that claimed her life. Marilyn Ruth Snow, a Rockland-area artist, fell ill almost immediately after finding a tick stubbornly embedded in her shoulder that November. She died just weeks later. At the time, Powassan virus […]
Now that mid-April is upon us, I feel obligated to fulfill my duty as a health reporter and rain on everyone’s Easter parade with dire warnings about disease lurking in unexpected places. I’ve written before about the risks of contracting salmonella from baby chicks, but Easter is a time of resurrection, so here I go again. Many […]
The newly opened Portland Science Center recently invited me to tour its “Body Worlds” exhibit, a striking collection of preserved human cadavers and organs designed to illustrate, in the most graphic of detail, the consequences of unhealthy living. The displays related to obesity seemed particularly worth checking out as we head into the Thanksgiving and holiday season, when […]
Halloween shoppers can buy decorative contact lenses online, in beauty supply and costume stores, and even at gas stations. But before you don a pair to complete your vampire look this weekend, health officials warn that they could damage your eyes. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Academy of Ophthalmology caution consumers against purchasing decorative […]
You can’t always shop around when it comes to your medical care. The back of an ambulance is no place to start Googling hospitals to find out which one provides the best and most affordable treatment for the heart attack you’re experiencing. But when you can plan ahead — think an elective procedure or imaging test — it […]
Three years ago, I interviewed a Portland woman who had just learned that potentially toxic chemicals were lurking in her house. Jenny Rottmann, due to give birth to her first child in a matter of days, worried the couch she’d purchased at a local department store could harm both her and her baby. The pale green couch had been treated […]
Wash your hands and shun your feverish co-workers everyone: The flu is here. Maine has confirmed its first case of influenza this season, in an unvaccinated adult from Sagadahoc County, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced today. The case was detected late last week by Mid Coast Hospital, but the individual didn’t need to be admitted to the […]
More than 200 people gathered in Portland yesterday to discuss what Gov. Paul LePage has described as the “worst symptom” of Maine’s addiction crisis: Babies exposed to drugs in the womb. Their numbers continue to rise. Eight percent of all babies born in Maine during the last fiscal year entered the world affected by drugs. That’s […]
