Awkward Thanksgiving
Hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week! Two things we want you to remember for the upcoming holiday.
Change the conversation
Just because someone asks an awkward or unwelcome question or makes an unwelcome comment like - about your relationship status, about your weight, when you’re going to have children or your career - doesn’t mean you have to answer it.
Our favorite response is “How nice of you to be so interested in me. Thanks for respecting my privacy and feelings when I say I’d rather not talk about it”.
Of course when they ask why you don’t want to talk about it, our response is. “Funny, to answer that, I’d have to talk about it. More potatoes?”
We’re off next week
While you’re enjoying your holiday, we will be too. No edition next week. See you on the other side of the turkey.
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
The Tasting Menu
When Holiday Spending is FSA Spending
Interstitial Cystitis
Stress and Memory
When Holiday Spending is FSA Spending
We are about to enter, if we haven’t already, the end of year holiday spending. While you are making your list and checking it twice, make sure you’re paying attention to the funds you set aside in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and deal with them appropriately.
Know your time or dollar limits
You throw in pre-tax dollars all year long, and if you don't use it, you lose it. Yep, it's a "use it or lose it" situation, and nobody wants to lose money, especially when it's been stealthily snatched from your paycheck. Your employer may allow you a grace period of up to 2 and a half months or to carry over $610 per year. They aren’t required to do either of those. Now’s the time to find out.
Get ready to spend it
It seems simple. Then you go to spend it and wonder: What's eligible, what's not, and why can't I just buy a dozen pints of ice cream and call it a health expense? Well, tempting as that may be, the IRS isn't likely to agree. But fear not, because there are plenty of ways to make the most of that FSA cash.
First, look at your spending this year. All those co-pays and deductibles are perfectly acceptable. Now that we do so much electronically, gathering up evidence for these should be easier than ever.
Next up, stock up on essentials. Think Band-Aids, pain relievers, and enough allergy meds to survive a pollen apocalypse.
This is a women’s health newsletter right? Well there are loads of items like period supplies, pregnancy tests and nursing supplies that are covered.
How about a new pair of glasses or ordering a supply of contacts. That’s a great reason to both set up your eye exam and spend down your FSA.
Want to sleep better? You can go big and get a sleep study, with a doctor’s prescription. Or if you use a CPAP some expenses for your machine are covered. address smaller needs.
Feel better in your own skin. Sunscreen is covered.
Need a new thermometer, heating pad, first aid kit? Now’s the time.
We’ve got some resources for you below to understand more and places that make it easy to find eligible items.
Resources:
Healthcare.gov side on FSA facts
Interstitial Cystitis
Let’s play a game of “have you ever heard of this disease that often affects women?” Today’s player is interstitial cystitis which is a “chronic condition causing bladder pressure, bladder pain, and sometimes pelvic pain”.
You may be most at risk if you are:
Assigned female at birth
30+ years old
Have other chronic pain conditions
Common symptoms and signs of interstitial cystitis include:
Pain, combined with pressure, in your bladder as well as discomfort in your urethra, lower abs, lower back, and even your vulva and vagina
Frequently needing to pass urine (more than 7 times per day and multiple times during the night)
Feeling a constant urgency to pass urine
Unfortunately, there is no cure and while there are different types of treatments, there’s no single one that works universally. The National Kidney Foundation covers these common treatments:
Oral medications
Bladder instillations
Changes in diet
Electronic nerve stimulations
Surgery (although this one is rare)
The good news is, what while it is a chronic condition that can be uncomfortable, it is not life-threatening and is not linked to cancer. We’re going to be covering other disorders unique to women over the next several weeks – there’s a lot of issues that we may not be aware of and its our goal to give you the knowledge so that you can better recognize signs and symptoms should they happen to you.
Stress and Memory
Have you ever noticed that when you’re stressed out you get brain fog?
Or that looking back over a stressful period, it’s hard to clearly remember some details or events
There’s some simple science behind that. And it’s fascinating.
Stress exerts a profound influence on memory, engaging complex interactions between the brain and the body's stress response systems. When the stress response is activated our bodies start releasing hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. While these hormones are crucial for survival, they can have negative effect on memory function.
One significant impact of stress on memory is its tendency to enhance the encoding of emotionally charged information. The amygdala, a key player in emotional processing, becomes hyperactive under stress. That can impact how our memories are encoded in our brains. That’s both good and bad. Memories might be less clear or they may bring up stronger emotional responses long after the event.
Sometimes when you’re stressed, you feel like you can’t taking in new information. That’s because you can’t. It’s called cognitive overload. You aren’t able to process information because the stress is diverting your body’s attention from the information and onto the stress reaction.
All of this gets worse when you are exposed to long periods of stress and chronic stress. Of course we can’t avoid stress altogether. So managing stress is important for your memory, your mental health and your physical health.
The most important take away is - if you find you are having brain fog from stress. Don’t let it stress you out more. Take it as a sign to find ways to reduce (or leave) the stress of the situation.
Medical Term of the Week
It’s hard to believe but there is a small almond shaped part of your brain that’s the link between your emotional life and made of the rest of your brain’s function. It’s called the amygdala. It processes emotions and it tied to everything from anxiety and fear to caregiving and memory.
The Latest
Artificial wombs? Yup, not science fiction. They have reached FDA conversations (From STAT News)
A proposal we love for saving mothers and getting them the postpartum care they need. (From The Atlantic)
Another topic we don’t talk enough about - hair loss. One piece is breaking the silence (From NY Times)