by Kristi | Aug 19, 2014 | Ob-Gyn, Pregnancy |
The lost mucus plug. You’ve read about it in a book about what to expect during your pregnancy. You’ve heard it mentioned in a few movies. You know a woman that had her baby an hour after the plug fell out. So, you’re diligent and you keep close watch for the passage of your mucus plug. What it I told you that there is no such thing as a Mucus Plug? More precisely, the phrase Mucus Plug is entirely unhelpful. And if I ruled the world, it would be retired or revamped. Here’s why. “Mucus Plug” may have originally been intended to be a description of a common phenomenon in pregnancy, but it has now morphed into a term that is misused, overused, confusing, anxiety provoking and frankly misleading. If you’ve never heard of a mucus plug before, it’s the phrase used to describe a collection of thick mucus that accumulates in the cervix and lower uterus during pregnancy, and may come out vaginally within a few hours to several weeks before delivery. When is makes its appearance, it may mean you are going into labor in 5 minutes or it may mean that you are going to deliver your baby in 2 months. As an isolated symptom, it’s as meaningless as seeing mucus when you blow your nose. But, it freaks you out if you don’t know to expect it and if you’ve read somewhere that it is a harbinger for labor. So, if every pregnant woman, every person who has heard of the phrase mucus plug and every well meaning grandma, friend, co-worker, and random...
by Kristi | Aug 15, 2014 | Ob-Gyn |
It’s frustrating, isn’t it? If you are like me, after an appointment with your doctor, that’s when all the good questions come to mind. Or, some nagging pain, strange symptom or weird pregnancy related concern surfaces and as luck has it, you are out of town, it’s 3 am, it’s the weekend and/or you are swamped and don’t have time for a doctor’s appointment. These after hours, Ob-Gyn concerns are inconvenient recipes for stress that send us to the internet for answers. And when you need it most, it’s amazing how difficult it is to find helpful health information. Online, there’s so much information, it can be overwhelming to sift through it all. There’s also so much bad information. And there’s tremendous stress in trying to decipher what is pertinent. You google, you bing, you web-md and you scour the mayo clinic site. Forums, support groups, research study abstracts, magazine articles and class action law suit links– you try to take them all in and only pay attention to the information that is really applicable and reliable. Then an hour or two later you may or may not have found your answer. And quickly that rash and freckle turn into cancer, your headache is surely a brain tumor and the numb spot on your hand becomes a subtle sign of a stroke or multiple sclerosis. As creator of the company Health Tap, Ron Gutman says, “On the internet, every headache becomes a brain tumor in four clicks or less,” (see the Wired article here). You probably don’t want to call the doctor or make another appointment for something you...
by Kristi | Jul 28, 2014 | Gynecology, Ob-Gyn |
If you have that I’m-already-spread-too-thinly-to-read-one-more-thing feeling when it comes to staying up to date about medical info, this update is for you. It has just what you need to know about Pap smears in an easy to scan list of fast facts, made especially for the time crunched woman. Recently, I wrote a long, detailed post about important, new information that you need to know about Pap smears: 8 little known things about Pap smears. Here’s the short and sweet version for those of you who are BUSY. 1. Pap smears look for cervical cancer. 2. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV*. 3. Cervical cancer is SLOW and takes decades to show up. 4. The way we best find cervical cancer has radically changed; gone are the days of yearly Pap smears for everyone. 5. The American Cancer Society, the US Preventive Services Task Force and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists finally agree on something and that something is how to best screen for cervical cancer! 6. Pap smears should start no sooner than age 21 and if normal, should be repeated every 3 years until age 30. 7. At age 30, it’s best to do Paps and a test for the kinds of HPV that cause the most cancer (high risk HPV). If both the Pap and the HPV test are negative, it should be repeated in 5 years. 8. Once you turn 65 and you’ve had 10 years worth of normal Paps, you should still see your doctor once a year, but you stop Paps. 9. Once you have a hysterectomy, most likely, you never need another Pap smear again. 10. Doing Pap smears more often...
by Kristi | Jul 18, 2014 | Gynecology, Ob-Gyn |
If you don’t get annual Pap smears, you’re going to get some terrible cancer. And it will end up killing you. It’s all over the news. Cancer’s a leading cause of death, right? If you skip a Pap smear: You will feel guilty about not staying on top of that yearly ritual. You will feel sheepish when you finally do go to your Ob/Gyn. And once at your appointment, your doctor will reprimand you. Or will they? Cervical cancer is the one and only cancer that a Pap smear looks for. Cervical. Not cancer of the uterus, not cancer of the ovaries and not cancer of the vagina. Cervical. If you are wondering what the heck the cervix is, you are not alone, so here’s a quick anatomy primer: the vagina is kind of like a sock. It’s open on one end and (for the most part) closed at the top. At the top of the vagina is the cervix, which is the bottom of the uterus. Time to start humming that “ankle bone’s connected to your leg bone” song. Your vagina’s connected to your cer-VIX, the cervix is connected to your uter-US…If you’re wondering, the cervix looks like a pink bagel. In order to see it and swab it (aka a Pap smear), a barbaric looking, but very useful, instrument called a speculum is used. Anyway, over the last decade, experts have learned some amazing things about cervical cancer and how to best screen for it and how to prevent it. By experts, I mean researchers in organizations like the American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and...
by Kristi | May 12, 2014 | Medicine, Ob-Gyn |
Hi there! Welcome to www.KristiAngevineMD.com’s Ob-Gyn Blog. This blog shares my take on topics in the field of women’s health, medicine and wellness in general. I’m so happy to have such a great audience! In my practice in Chattanooga, TN, I have had the chance to hear from many patients. The blog will address the questions that I commonly hear, day after day. Hopefully, the answers will resonate with others who also have the same concerns. I’ll also highlight current topics in the field of Ob/Gyn in a conversational, down to earth way. My paradigm for encouraging health is to base clinical decisions on current evidence and to make sure patients really understand what’s going on with their body (their pregnancy, their vagina, their pap smear, etc). I strive to make sure people really get it. And in getting it, can move on from their health worries and enjoy living. A few things I believe in: Care must be individualized. One size does NOT fit all and everyone deserves good care. Knowledge is power. At my office and on this blog, I want people to leave understanding more than when they arrived. You deserve to understand your body and know how to feel your best. What you read should give clarity to what can sometimes seem murky and confusing. Right now, Health Care really behaves more like Disease Care. I want to add to the efforts to turn our medical system on its head. Shifting the culture of medicine and the culture of what we expect from health care is long overdue. To this end. these ideas will permeate all posts: Gone...
I am an Ob/Gyn and I love helping people really, truly understand their bodies and live healthy lives. I believe true wellness comes from more than just a pill. When not working I love to mountain bike, cook, learn to sew, and go on adventures with my husband and our daughter.