Author: Lance Garrison
Holidays and other celebrations are a time to slow down and enjoy yourself with family and friends. Many times, they also include lots of delicious foods and drinks.For people living with an inflammatory bowel disease like ulcerative colitis, or UC, special events can mean digestive troubles. Certain foods, combined with holiday stress, are a recipe for triggering symptoms. But there are ways to manage it all and keep UC flares under control.How Can I Prepare for a Celebration and Avoid a Flare?One of the most effective ways to head off a flare is to figure out your unique food triggers.A…
A long time ago I lay awake for hours, terrified that they would be my last ones on earth. I had committed myself to quitting cocaine, which was my second addiction, the first being years of amphetamines. I was devoting myself to cleaning up and getting healthy. But then a friend called who I had routinely done coke with and who always had a supply of the drug. Earlier on that black night, I’d careened backward into the familiar land of white lines on a mirror and a heart racing way too fast. It was pounding so hard, so fast,…
Some choices – such as whether you exercise, smoke, or drink – can affect your health. But there aren’t many known risk factors for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) you can control. This aggressive cancer type often arises in people who are younger than the average person with breast cancer. Black and Latina women also get TNBC more often than other groups. The reasons why aren’t entirely clear, and they’re surely complicated. But emerging evidence suggests some answers may be found in a long history of racially discriminatory practices and policies – and the many ways they continue to shape our communities.“We…
The racial disparities in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer are sobering. Research shows Black women have nearly three times the risk of getting it. They’re also 28% more likely to die from the disease. “There’s an urgent need for clinical research surrounding racial disparities and metastatic disease,” says Ricki Fairley, CEO and co-founder of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance. Fairley is also a survivor of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. “We know Black women are more likely to develop this form of breast cancer, but we don’t know why. When they do develop the disease, there are very few treatments available for…