Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines — if you want to get some strength training in your life — this is the key!

Today’s guest is Kaleigh Cohen. Kaleigh has two YouTube channels, Kaleigh Cohen Cycling & Kaleigh Cohen Strength. She creates indoor cycle & strength programs that will transform you into an unstoppable force.

Links for you:

Kaleigh’s other episode on exercise in pregnancy (episode 248)

Timestamps:

00:00 Pulling Curls podcast: pregnancy, parenting, routines, YouTube.

06:05 Start with basic weights; focus on form.

07:24 Working out despite weight challenges; gradual progress.

10:23 Workouts help me discover and surprise myself.

Keypoints:

• Discussion on the importance of strength training for women’s overall health, especially as they age.

• Introduction of guest Kaleigh Cohen, who runs two YouTube channels focused on strength training and cycling.

• Personal anecdotes from Hilary about her mother’s severe bone issues and how it motivated her to take strength training seriously.

• Explanation of how resistance training helps increase bone density and overall strength.

• Clarification that strength training won’t lead to unwanted bulking up due to different testosterone levels in women.

• The misconception that walking alone isn’t sufficient for comprehensive strength training benefits.

• Recommendations for starting weights for beginners: light (5 lbs), medium (10 lbs), and heavier (15 lbs) sets, emphasizing good form.

• Encouragement for even small, consistent efforts in strength training, such as 10 minutes, three times a week.

• Personal insights from Kaleigh on how exercising helps her manage life’s challenges and improve other aspects of life.

• Call to action for women to start strength training, regardless of age, to avoid future bone-related health issues and maintain functionality.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:01.410] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 252, we are talking about strength training for women. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:10.600] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:38.790] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of the Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Family Routines. If you are looking to make margins in your life where you have some room to do extra things like strength training, come join me where we help you prioritize what you really want to do with your family and maybe even get those kids to help out a little bit more.

[00:00:56.690] – Hilary Erickson

Today’s guest has two YouTube channels, one about strength, one about cycling, and I join her a few times a week on YouTube so that I can do them with you. I want to introduce today’s guest, Kaleigh Cohen.

[00:01:08.110] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, Kaleigh, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:01:10.540] – Hilary Erickson

Thank you.

[00:01:11.100] – Kaleigh Cohen

I am so excited to be here again. This is just so much fun with you, Hilary.

[00:01:14.750] – Hilary Erickson

Yes. So we actually just recorded an episode on exercise and pregnancy, but I was like, we don’t need to leave out all my non-pregnant listeners. Let’s talk about strength training for women, because I feel like growing up, they were like, let’s do aerobics.

[00:01:29.800] – Hilary Erickson

Now I’m older than you, Kaleigh. Let’s just put that out there. But the more I’ve researched strength in women’s lives, the more I’m like, oh, we got to do this.

[00:01:40.020] – Kaleigh Cohen

Absolutely. And for real, it has become my passion to just share how much you can gain from just strength training in your life, especially for women who are hitting that menopause age, and even well after that. It makes such a huge difference in your everyday life. So I love it, and I am so excited to talk about it. Yeah.

[00:02:06.010] – Hilary Erickson

So a little backstory, Kaleigh already knows this, but my mom has bones that are like pretzels. So she got knees done, both femurs broke after she got knees done. It cracked her femurs. And then she recently broke one ankle, went septic, it healed, and then she fell and broke both ankles.

[00:02:25.270] – Hilary Erickson

Literally, it looks like a pretzel, like somebody just stood on a little stick pretzel on X-rays. So in seeing all of this, as I am 47 at the time of… Wait, am I 48? I think I’m 48 at the time of this recording. I’m like, I only have a few more years of estrogen flowing through my body. It’s time to really take strength seriously. I have done pretty lightweights here and there. I loved the Firm back in the day. I don’t know if Kaleigh, do you remember the Firm?

[00:02:53.360] – Kaleigh Cohen

That sounds super familiar. Was there a step?

[00:02:57.270] – Hilary Erickson

Oh, there’s a step. They are like step for wives because They are all perfectly in sync, perfectly with smiles plastered on their face. There’s no sweat at any point, no frustration. I did the firm for a long time, and I was really into that, getting with my Stepford Wives, doing exactly what they were doing. But let’s add heavy weights. That’s what I’ve been doing in the last year, and I am excited to talk about it because we got to grow our bones, ladies.

[00:03:25.990] – Kaleigh Cohen

Absolutely, yes. And that is one of the benefits of strength training is increasing your bone density, which you wouldn’t think so. But I should mention, resistance training kind of umbrellas all of the things.

[00:03:42.330] – Kaleigh Cohen

So I’ll interchange strength training and resistance training. Strength training generally falls under barbells, dumbbells, things like that. So just to put it out there, because there are so many other ways of resistance training that you can do kettlebells, exercise bands, resistance bands, all those things. So just as an umbrella, strength resistance will be interchange with my lingo today.

[00:04:04.910] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And the beauty is that you can really make a good variety of it. You don’t have to just stick with dumbbells, because in my head, I was like, I’m going to have to get a bench and I’m going to be like Popeye with these big arms.

[00:04:19.110] – Kaleigh Cohen

And that’s another misconception that women are just going to bulk up, and you’re right, look like Popeye. And we don’t want that. But that’s not how strength training will go for us, because we don’t have the same amount of testosterone. So women will generally take a more lean look when they start adding strength training to their routines.

[00:04:38.810] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And I think that’s what… Well, we all want Michelle Obama arms, right? That’s what we’re hoping for.

[00:04:43.520] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:46.430] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And the other thing, a lot of my friends are like, Oh, I just go on walks. And I do think walks are such a great thing for so many different reasons. Vitamin D, getting outside, fresh air, walking with a friend, therapeutic. It’s amazing. Walking with a great podcast. Absolutely. Yeah. But walking isn’t particularly resistance training, right?

[00:05:07.470] – Kaleigh Cohen

No, it’s not really. You don’t necessarily have that weight-bearing aspect that you need to gain all those benefits that you would from resistance training overall or strength training.

[00:05:17.910] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And it’s just in one range of motion, I always seem. I walked for a long time, but my joints were in a one way. We only go one way.

[00:05:28.290] – Kaleigh Cohen

Exactly. Yes, that’s really true. That’s another really good point, because when you do add resistance training, you’re going to be moving all the different joints in the upper body and the lower body, all the things. So there is that aspect of strength training that really encompasses the entire body as opposed to walking.

[00:05:47.160] – Hilary Erickson

What weight do you suggest most people start at? I just have dumbbells. I have those little tiny dumbbells you can pick up at Walmart. I do not have a barbell. Not interested in that. My husband has some bow and arrow type thing that he’s always like, You should try it. And I was like, I would rather die.

[00:06:04.210] – Kaleigh Cohen

I don’t even know what that would be. So that’s actually really interesting. But that is a really good question because I think part of the most intimidating… One of the most intimidating things of strength training is just getting started because it can be so overwhelming.

[00:06:18.580] – Kaleigh Cohen

You’ve got dumbbells and, like you’ve mentioned, benches and stuff, but you don’t need anything fancy. If you just have a couple of sets of weights to begin with, so the weight that you would select if you’re just starting out will vary. To be honest, when you stick with it, you’re going to have to up your weights probably pretty quickly. But just to make sure as you start out, because I always say getting solid form in your workouts is going to be key, and picking the proper weight for yourself is part of that form.

[00:06:50.500] – Kaleigh Cohen

Starting out, if you had a light, medium, and heavier set, even 5, 10, and 15 pounds, and then from there, work your way up. One thing to is honestly just go into the store and just pick them up and just do 30 seconds of bicep curls. And if you can get away with it with ease, you’re like, This was easy, then that’s probably not where you want to start.

[00:07:12.360] – Kaleigh Cohen

You probably could up your weight a little bit from where you are. So we can test them out in the store and see, too, how we feel. Same with squats. You can check your upper body and lower body right there in the store and then make your decision.

[00:07:24.930] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. It’s such a triumph when I’m like, I think I’m going to try it. I’m going to order… And I I just went up to 10. I don’t want you guys thinking that I’m like… So I do like a 5, 8, 10 when I’m working out with Kaleigh because that’s where I’m at.

[00:07:39.070] – Hilary Erickson

I also have a lot of weight on my body right now that we’re working to get off. But if you guys listen to my weight loss episode that was earlier in the season, I’ll also link to that in the show notes. But if you’re already working with your body overweight, adding more can maybe make you sore. I’m trying not to hate it too much.

[00:07:58.710] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah. Well, good. See, that’s the thing. You don’t want to hate it. So wherever you are, wherever you feel like starting, start there, because that is going to be the best place for you to start. Because that is the one thing with any type of exercise, really, is you don’t want to get overwhelmed and you don’t want to get discouraged right out of the gate, because that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. No one wants that.

[00:08:16.310] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Or being so sore the next day. You can’t even sit down to pee. Yeah, right.

[00:08:21.460] – Kaleigh Cohen

You’re like, The toilet and the stairs are my enemy right now, and I do not want to go to you. Yes. So I totally get that for sure.

[00:08:29.680] – Hilary Erickson

Okay. Okay. Do you have tips for people who are like, I don’t know about strength training, anything to get them started? By the way, follow Kaleigh on YouTube. I found her workouts, and I was like, I really like that she struggles a little bit. She challenges herself on her weights.

[00:08:42.330] – Hilary Erickson

As we’re recording this, she’s 37 weeks pregnant, still filming workouts, and she’s not so bright and bubbly that I literally want to kill her because I work out at 05:00 AM. So really, when they’re just like, Let’s go. I’m like, Let’s drive a knife into your heart.

[00:08:58.000] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah, let’s not. But that’s funny. So when you’re getting started, and we actually talk about this in the pregnancy podcast, is just do what you can to start out. Even if you just start out small, just start where you are. Start.

[00:09:12.130] – Kaleigh Cohen

Because once you get started, you’ll find that you’ll go longer and longer each time, or even that workout in that time that you’re there, that five minutes is going to turn into 10, 15, and 20. I would say the biggest thing is just start, even if it’s five minutes, and go from there. Because you will find that you will love it. And so that’s how I always feel. I mean, there have been a lot of people that I’ve worked with who started and question why we’re doing this. And then after a few sessions, they’re like, I get it. I’m like, yes, you get it. There we go.

[00:09:46.200] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, that’s amazing. I will say when I was researching it on myself, getting my bones thicker, they were 10 minutes, three times a week. 30 minutes of strength training can really make a difference in your bones. And in my head, I was like, okay, I can do 30 minutes a week. That’s something that’s doable for me. And now I’m increasing that just because I like the benefits and I feel like it could be helping me lose weight, et cetera, and just feel better.

[00:10:08.980] – Kaleigh Cohen

If you just start it for that… If you pick that one reason and just stay dedicated, just for even, like you said, 30 minutes a week, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish from there.

[00:10:20.430] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Anything else? What do you love about working out, Kaleigh?

[00:10:23.040] – Kaleigh Cohen

What I love about working out is it’s that time for me to just let go of everything else, not worry about anything, and just find out what I’m capable of. Because I think sometimes we get so bogged down in life that we are just going through the motions, and we don’t have that opportunity to really step out and just take charge of something.

[00:10:44.020] – Kaleigh Cohen

I feel like when I am doing my workouts, that’s a time for me to really just find out what I am capable of. I usually surprise myself.

[00:10:53.650] – Kaleigh Cohen

Now, every day is not like that, but when you have those days, they’re really good. Those are what always bring me back.

[00:10:59.110] – Hilary Erickson

And they remind you that you can be capable like that in other areas of your life, in your business, in parenting, especially parenting teenagers. I can breathe through this. We’re going to be fine.

[00:11:08.580] – Kaleigh Cohen

Exactly. Yes. That’s what I love, too, is just how what you take away from your workout will actually spread all throughout the other aspects of your life, not just in the weight room or whatever exercise you might be doing.

[00:11:23.930] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. I’ve seen the benefits all through my life, so I can’t recommend people to try it out more. Our moms, the people that are my age, our moms made the mistake of not using weights, and we’re seeing that they’re having to go to nursing homes to assisted living earlier because of their bones.

[00:11:41.020] – Hilary Erickson

Like, mentally, they’re there. They’re still great with my kids, but they’re going to have to go somewhere else because they just can’t hold themselves up. They don’t have the function that they need to live on their own. Yeah.

[00:11:51.470] – Kaleigh Cohen

And that is really a struggle to see. But really, at any age, you can start training. So don’t ever feel like it’s too late for yourself to start if you haven’t yet, and you will still see those benefits come through.

[00:12:06.780] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And hopefully, I’m hoping that now that I’m doing it now, once I hit menopause, which will probably be in the next year or so, no, probably a couple of years, I’ll feel the benefits even more and keep functional and all those different kinds of things. I just don’t want to end up with pretzel bones.

[00:12:24.000] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yes. No, for sure. It makes such a big difference, especially during that time of your life. I have heard so many benefits from women who do the workouts that have experienced positive outcomes during that time because of their strength training.

[00:12:38.000] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. All right. Thank you for coming on, Kaleigh. Thank you for your workouts, even if I swear at you sometimes at 5:00 AM.

[00:12:44.310] – Kaleigh Cohen

Well, thank you for working out with me. It’s always my favorite to have someone to work out with. It makes the workout way better.

[00:12:50.170] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. All right. Thanks, Kaleigh Cohen.

[00:12:53.520] – Hilary Erickson

Guys, I hope you enjoyed that episode. I can’t tell you that the more I’ve shared my mom’s issues, other people have tell me that their mom has had similar issues, and I know none of us want to be in that situation as we get older. So let’s grow our bones together. Let’s keep doing strength training. Thank you, Kaleigh, for all the good work you do out there. I love that your YouTube channel is free and totally available for all of us to check out and do, even if I swear you every now and then.

[00:13:22.160] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

strength training for women, resistance training, women’s strength training, bone density, menopause and strength training, strength training benefits, strength training tips, resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, exercise bands, weight lifting for women, increasing bone density, starting strength training, women and weight lifting, workout routine for women, menopause and exercise, strength training misconceptions, strength training form, benefits of strength training, prenatal exercise, postpartum exercise, body weight exercises, importance of resistance training, home workouts, functional fitness, starting weights, motivation to exercise, health benefits of strength training

The post Stronger Bones, Stronger Women: The Benefits of Strength Training appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Links for you:

Timestamps:

00:00 Postpartum warning signs for pregnant and post-baby.
06:31 Notice changes in swelling, bleeding, and mood.
07:23 Upcoming topics: to-do lists, interventions, growth.

Keypoints:

1. Topic Introduction: Hilary Erickson introduces the topic of postpartum preeclampsia, emphasizing its occurrence up to a year after childbirth and the importance of recognizing the warning signs.
2. Sponsor Mention: The episode is sponsored by “Postpartum Care Made Easy,” a resource aimed at educating about postpartum care including recognizing the symptoms of preeclampsia.
3. Importance of Awareness: Hilary highlights the need for both the new mothers and their support systems to be aware of postpartum preeclampsia symptoms, as postpartum individuals may be too overwhelmed to notice the signs themselves.
4. Key Symptoms: The major symptoms to watch for include severe headaches, blurry vision, and upper-right quadrant pain which could indicate liver enlargement.
5. Home Monitoring Advice: Hilary stresses the importance of having a home blood pressure monitor to help track any significant changes in blood pressure which is a common sign of preeclampsia.
6. Differentiating Symptoms: Hilary discusses how to differentiate normal postpartum symptoms from those of preeclampsia, such as distinguishing between usual and sudden onset facial swelling.
7. Medical Response: Urgent medical care is encouraged if severe symptoms like the “worst headache of your life” occur, as delaying treatment could lead to severe complications like seizures (eclampsia).
8. Medication and Management: Discussion on the necessity of using blood pressure medication, like labetalol, to manage high blood pressure postpartum to prevent cardiac issues.
9. Communication with Healthcare Providers: The importance of informing healthcare providers that you are in the postpartum period so they can consider preeclampsia as a potential diagnosis.
10. Reminder of Progression: The notion that postpartum recovery should typically show gradual improvement and any sudden worsening of symptoms should prompt immediate medical attention.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.970] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast. Today on episode 233, we are talking about postpartum preeclampsia. It is more common than you think. So what should you be watching for? Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:13.590] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, The Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:42.190] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of The Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Postpartum care made easy. If you’re looking for the warning signs for you, both while you’re pregnant and after baby, come join me in there. I’m going to tell you exactly what should make you call 911 or get right to the hospital, or what should trigger a call to your doctor after you have the baby. So come join me.

[00:01:00.450] – Hilary Erickson

So many people don’t know that postpartum preeclampsia can happen up to a year after you have your baby. That’s right. It’s taking a while for your system to get back to normal. Honestly, for a long time, we always heard that the main thing to get rid of it was to get the placenta out, which is true in general. But there are more and more people who are suffering with postpartum preeclampsia and really need to know the danger signs ahead of time so that they can be watching for them after they have their baby.

[00:01:26.220] – Hilary Erickson

I think this episode is really important for both the pregnant individual, but It’s also friends, family of the pregnant individual as well, so that they can know what to watch for because sometimes that pregnant person is so tired, breastfeeding, so much has changed.

[00:01:39.570] – Hilary Erickson

They aren’t going to see these problem signs, and it’s really important that they do. Okay, so what are these signs of postpartum preeclampsia? Well, one of them is going to be high blood pressure. That is something that I think everybody should have in their home is a blood pressure monitor. They’re not that expensive. I actually think the at-home ones are better than the ones at the grocery store.

[00:01:58.540] – Hilary Erickson

But having a blood pressure monitor at your home can be really handy for anybody. So that might be something that you consider, you ask for on your next Christmas gift, something like that.

[00:02:07.840] – Hilary Erickson

But here are the signs that you need to watch for. The first one is headache. Now this is tough because after you have a baby, sleep is going to be at a premium. You just aren’t going to be getting the great amount of sleep that you’ve gotten previous in your life. And so that can lead to headaches. But if you have a headache that is not resolved with a Tylenol, food, water, and a nap, that’s something you need to call your provider about. But I will say that if you have the worst headache of your life, it is just pounding, that is something that I would probably head right into either a local urgent care or the ER so they can help you right away.

[00:02:42.120] – Hilary Erickson

Honestly, probably the ER, but I know everybody’s situation varies a lot. So that’s just something you should keep in the back of your mind. You can always call your provider as well. If they’re quick to answer or answer questions or see you, that is a great option as well. Everything I’ve read has said that if you have what you feel like is the worst headache of your life, after you’ve had a baby, you should just head right into the hospital so they can make sure that it’s not preeclampsia, because if it is, it can have some serious consequences.

[00:03:08.480] – Hilary Erickson

Side note, we’re talking about preeclampsia, and a lot of people are like, Pre what? Well, eclampsia is what happens when you have a seizure. If any of you have watched Downton Abbey, you’ll notice that Lady Sibyl has the headache, she has the swelling, she has the weird things going on, and they ignored it. There was this bickering. Then after she has the baby, a couple of hours after, she starts seizing. That’s when you head into eclampsia. Sometimes we can’t get you out of this seizure. It’s a big deal. It’s really important that we take it seriously because we do not want to get it that far. That’s why we want to catch it while it’s just preeclampsia.

[00:03:43.370] – Hilary Erickson

The next one is blurry vision. Now, honestly, I haven’t seen a whole lot of people who had blurry vision that did not have a headache. I’m not talking about you wake up and your eyes are a little fuzzy. You’re waking up, your eyes have woken up, and it’s still blurry. That’s something you want to call your provider about. It can be a sign of preeclampsia. Just because your blood pressure is rising, it impacts your vision nerves and things like that. So blurry vision can be something to watch for after your baby as well.

[00:04:07.720] – Hilary Erickson

Then the final one that you’re going to watch for at home is some right upper quadrant pain. It’s usually pain right under your ribs. That is from an enlarging of your liver, and that can be a sign of preeclampsia as well. But the main one that we watch for is really the headache. Now, if you have a blood pressure monitor at home and you have that headache, you can take your blood pressure and see how it is. Preeclampsia doesn’t always come with increased blood pressure, but most often it does.

[00:04:32.760] – Hilary Erickson

Now, a couple of things that people always thought was preeclampsia was swelling, but it turns out it’s really hard to differentiate regular pregnancy swelling from preeclampsia swelling. Something that we do notice is facial swelling that comes on suddenly. That’s something that’s a little bit more of a trigger that it’s a problem rather than just my feet and my legs are swollen. After you have a baby, your feet and legs are going to feel a little swollen. Usually, we’ve given you a lot of IV fluids in the hospital, especially if you’ve got an epidural, so it takes a little bit of time for those to come down.

[00:04:59.690] – Hilary Erickson

Now, I also want to be really clear that increased blood pressure after delivery, both during pregnancy and after delivery, is getting to be a bigger problem as well. Sometimes doctors are hesitant or just don’t prescribe labetal or other blood pressure medications so that they can keep it under control. But I want to be really clear that if your blood pressure stays high for an extended period of time, that can injure your heart. You got to think it’s a closed system. If, let’s say, you pump your bike tire up too much, which is what that is, at some point, the heart is going to have issues with it.

[00:05:31.090] – Hilary Erickson

It’s really important that you keep an eye on that blood pressure. If you’re on blood pressure medications, keep an eye on all of that because that can end up leading to other things. Now, I do want to be clear that high blood pressure and preeclampsia are two different things. Preeclampsia includes high blood pressure, but high blood pressure does not always include preeclampsia. But either way, you want to keep an eye on all of that. A lot of times you need blood pressure meds if you’ve had preeclampsia to just help that blood pressure come under control. Again, all of that can happen anytime during that first year.

[00:06:03.660] – Hilary Erickson

A couple of things to remind you, if you go in to a provider, remind them that you have had a baby XYZ number of months ago, especially if it was really recent. But they need to know that right off because it’s really important that we’re thinking this could be a problem with pregnancy right away rather than, I’m just coming in with a headache. That looks different than Hilary, who hasn’t had a baby in 14 years coming in with a headache. If that makes sense to you.

[00:06:27.010] – Hilary Erickson

The other thing when you’re postpartum is that everything should be getting a little bit better every day. I think that’s a good thing to notice all along. If suddenly the swelling increases, that’s a problem sign that you’re going to want to keep an eye on. If your bleeding increases, if your mood decreases and it’s been getting better, all those different things. If you’re noticing that something is drastically worse the one day to the next, that’s something to keep an eye on.

[00:06:49.800] – Hilary Erickson

I talk about all of these things over in Postpartum Care Made Easy. There is actually a free walkthrough, like a presentation that you can go through the slides and read the information, or you can include the video walkthrough for just a few dollars more where I go through the slides with you, tell you some of my personal experience, and help you to understand what you need to be watching for.

[00:07:08.810] – Hilary Erickson

Those are my tips for postpartum preeclampsia. Most of all, I want to remind you that it can happen anytime in the first year, plus while you were pregnant. So I think it’s really important that you’re learning these signs during pregnancy and also knowing that you should watch for them after a baby is born. Thanks so much for listening.

[00:07:24.940] – Hilary Erickson

Next week, we are talking about making a weekly list of to-dos for organizing around your home, so stay tuned for that. Then the week after that, we are talking about the cascade of interventions, which you’ll see talked about on social media a little bit. We’re going to talk about how that works and how you can monitor it in your own situation.

[00:07:42.030] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls podcast today. If you like today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

postpartum preeclampsia, high blood pressure, headache, blurry vision, right upper quadrant pain, eclampsia, seizure, pregnancy complications, blood pressure monitor, urgent care, emergency room, facial swelling, labetalol, blood pressure medication, heart health, pregnancy health, swelling during pregnancy, postpartum care, pregnancy education, warning signs during pregnancy, maternal health, postpartum monitoring, podcast on pregnancy, pregnancy advice, nurse advice, health education, home health monitoring, pregnancy risks, postpartum symptoms, IV fluids during labor.

The post What Every New Parent Should Know About Postpartum Preeclampsia appeared first on Pulling Curls.

As a note this is not an affiliate or sponsored post AT ALL. I want you to choose what’s best for you after reading my opinion of Noom and how it works. I don’t have an affiliate link and I was in NO WAY paid to write this, and I plunked down my own cash to try it out.

Using Noom For Five Months

Why I Chose Noom

After 6 months in the pandemic I was floundering. I was eating a lot of Starburst jelly beans, and cherry Twizzlers, and I wasn’t feeling so great. I was looking at a few options and I ultimately chose the Noom app.

• I like that it had a support group, so I could have other support me
• I liked that it was all done online, helped with the pandemic
• I liked the idea of a coach to help me stay on track.

I did talk with a few friends who had done it, and they had decent experiences. That encouraged me to give it a whirl, but also made me not get my hopes up – -beacuse they said that aspects of it weren’t that great (mainly the coach and the group support).

When you sign up for it, they offer you it at 50% off or something like that for the amount of time they think it will take you to lose the weight.

I had about 70 pounds to lose, I signed up in late August and they said my goal day was mid May.

How Noom Works

Good news, you can sign up for Noom and read some of their articles for free. Once you pay you get the additional support of a coach and a support group.

There are six pillars of Noom:

Daily Articles

Each day you’re given around 4 articles to read. Some have you write something, or take a quiz or post in the group. Some are just some reading. Most of them center around healthy eating and healthy habits. Buuut…. about 4 months in the articles started to wander, more on that later.

Daily Weigh-Ins

They encourage you to track your weight daily. This does help you see how what you did yesterday affects today. That being said some of it also varies due to the time of the month or how hydrated you are, but I think daily weigh-ins can be a good thing.

Daily Step Tracker

They encourage you to move more with their activity tracking, and I ultimately didn’t find their step tracker that encouraging, although I have started walking much more during my time on Noom, so that’s a win.

Food Tracker

They encourage you to track your food and each food is given a color. You’re supposed to eat more green and yellow healthy food (and less red varieties).

The calorie counts are completely useless and My Fitness Pal does a lot better for calorie counting. It was somewhat helpful to aim for more green foods, but ultimately I didn’t track long because I wasn’t losing weight tracking (and it was really hard to see if I was really staying in the calorie limits because their #’s were so random — and often off).

Your “Coach”

You’re assigned a coach who checks in with you weekly. In general they just repeat back to you what they hear you saying. “So, you say tracking isn’t helping you lose weight, why is that?”…. “So, you say you’re obsessing over calories, why is that?”

Zero help. When I’d say I was frustrated with things, they didn’t really give input or help… just more of “Why do you think you feel that way?” Not a good way to help me.

Your Support Group

I posted a few times in there, but I really didn’t find it helpful. Maybe if I had engaged more I would have liked it. However, they keep combining your group with other groups as people leave, so it’s hard to build relationships or friendships with anyone.

My Results with Noom

My results just circled the same number I had been at. It never really changed. I never got to the lower 2nd digit like I was really hoping to. It just kept the same.

In five months my average weight was exactly where I started.

What did I Learn from Noom

Noom did spark a lot of good ideas:

• It wasn’t just willpower that was going to change this
• Our weight is based off a series of choices, and we can make good and bad choices — it all depends on how it balances out
• We CAN make a change (I think we often get stuck in a rut, and Noom was a good cheerleader for a bit).

Why I Left Noom

Around month four I just started to feel like the articles and the things I was learning were circling the same things.

Then, one day they told me they’d just ask for weigh in’s weekly (they do daily weigh in’s in the app) and we’d have less reading because we’d been doing it so long, so we were able to cope better on our own.

And then the next day, it asked for my weight and articles were the same, and….. same for the next day, and the next, and the next. Two weeks later, Noom told me I’d done it so long they were only going to ask for my weight weekly, and articles would be less because I’d been doing it so long {are you sensing where this is going}… and then the next day they asked for my weight, and articles were the same…. same for the next day, and the next….

And I talked to my coach about it — and she just told me “huh, that’s weird, you must’ve read it wrong — so I re-read it. And then when it came up again I told her, and she said — yeah, I did go back in your history and see that. “Why do you feel like you only need weekly weigh ins?”

Ultimately, I felt like even Noom wasn’t taking Noom’s own advice, and they really only had 4 months worth of content.

Also, I started to feel like the articles treated me like I couldn’t make decisions in my entire life, or was just a complete social basket case because I had an issue with weight. I felt like that was unfair and unwarranted, and I wanted more advice on EATING not making decisions about my job.

I was pretty mad that I’d paid this money and I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to cancel, but I wrote into their support line and they promptly refunded about $50 of my original (just the portion I hadn’t used) which I thought was very fair. No fighting, just a refund. So, there’s that.

Which is Better Noom or Weight Watchers

I did WW while I was trying to get pregnant with baby #3 (so, like 2008). I liked it, but mostly because I went with a friend and the coach was really great — very inspiring. I did become obsessed with points, and I hated how they plugged their one point bars that seemed to made from complete crap.

Their point system is somewhat easier than counting calories, but if you do either for a good period of time, they become pretty easy.

Hat tip to Weight Watchers on this one though, at least their support staff has ideas for you, vs “why do you think you’re so fat?” robot coaches.

Noom Free Alternative

If you’re looking to just track, I’d totally try My Fitness Pal.

If you’re looking for support I’d look into a coach or something, or possibly just a group of friends (or a spouse) that wants to help each other.

I should say that I tried a weight loss coach about 2 years ago and she ghosted me, after taking my money, obviously. She was considered an “accountability coach” Who ghosted me. Nice.

Don’t worry I tracked her down, and when confronted she told me that it was just to hard for her to coach someone who wouldn’t buy her shakes or go Keto. #perfect

I also had a dietician through my healthshare for a couple of years, and I ended-up gaining a bit of weight with her. Also, talking to her about my weight made me very stressed out, and ultimately not very helpful either.

Ultimately I think it’s a good idea. I’d like to look into a magazine or something that has similar articles on food addiction that I could peruse at my leisure, but Noom is NOT made for long-term weight loss. They just aren’t robust enough, in my opinion.

I honestly think that signing up for the app for a week or even up to a month might be a good investment. They do have a lot of good ideas on healthy habits and making choices, but cancel after that. Don’t go long term.

Right now I’m looking into food addiction books, but I am also open to what anyone else has to say.

In the end, I believe my body can help me lose weight if I get out of its way. I am a 100% member of the clean plate club and I know that’s not helping me at all. I need to re-train my brain into new, healthier habits — and that, frankly — is on me.

The post Noom Review: Is Noom Worth It? appeared first on Pulling Curls.

You’ve spent your whole life using your boobs to look good in tight t-shirts, lure men, and feed babies. Then, 40 comes along. What the heck — someone wants to squish them and take some ugly black and whites of them? Getting your first mammogram can be a little scary. My baseline was an abnormal mammogram and I really wanted to write up a post about my journey and how it all went.

First off, you should be getting your lady parts checked up each year. This includes annual mammograms.

Even if you don’t need a pap smear (they keep changing the rules for those in a monogamous relationship), you still need to check your uterus and ovaries. Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. Yes, the exam is uncomfortable (that’s the one where their hand is inside and they press on your belly) — which is when they’re feeling your ovaries. But worth it.

Side note: My exam, this time, was done by a newbie resident. She came into the room for my check-up and I told her I’d be happy to have her do my pap and exam. I got the sense she hadn’t used a speculum much. But, always be open to having a resident perform exams on you! They have to learn some way. Sadly, I could tell her exactly how she was using the speculum wrong. Somehow I’ve turned into that woman.

Anyway, at that same check-up, my doctor ordered a baseline screening mammogram. Be sure that your health care provider writes “screening” on it so that your insurance is likely to cover it. Obamacare in the United States (as it stands now — in September of 2016) requires coverage of SCREENING mammograms, but not diagnostic mammography. That will come into play later on.

After our forever-long summer trip, I scheduled my first screening mammogram with the radiology clinic. I was set to go after a 4-hour computer training at work — which, I think is actually against the Geneva Convention, but I digress. The place is right next to my work and I really love to consolidate my time.

I went in, and checked in. They had nice gowns and a place to store your valuables while you get it done. They did let me take my phone back with me.

Hence, the sweet Instagram shots. #pullingcurlsgetsamammogram

{side note : There was LITERALLY A haboob (dust storm) at the time I walked in. Is that a good or a bad sign:?}

You put your boob as noted in this fine photo:

The mammography technologist places your breast, as well as your arms just how they need them, then they tell you not to breathe and take the breast images. I would guess that each picture takes less than 30 seconds of total squishing time.

Frankly, it did not hurt at all.

Uncomfortable, yes. Painful. Not at all.

My kids have done WAY worse things to my breasts than a routine breast cancer screening. Not to mention the sag they created.

** I will say that if you’re at the wrong point in your menstrual cycle where your breasts are exceptionally tender, I would re-schedule. I tend to only have 1-2 days of that, and otherwise, I think I’d be fine.

But, I also know women who say it is the most painful thing they’ve ever experienced. I would, personally, put a pap smear as WAY more painful.

Anyway, they take shots of each side. They also put a little marker on my right breast so the radiologist can tell which is the right and which is the left breast.

Then, you’re done.

At my clinic, I was able to get my results if I was willing to wait a few minutes.

Sadly, I got the results that they didn’t like my pictures and they wanted me to come back for additional testing.

In a week.

Abnormal Mammogram: 2nd Shots

Of course, this time, it would be a DIAGNOSTIC mammogram. Aka, my insurance isn’t going to waive my giant deductible for that one. After calling around to about 800 people, I finally decided to let it run through my insurance as I was only going to pay a few dollars less as a cash patient and I would not be able to apply it to my deductible if I did that (and since I was facing possible breast cancer I decided that was best).

Anyway, a week later (after trying to shove all my nerves down) I went back in.

The second process was similar to regular mammograms, but they tilted the table a few different ways (both vertical and horizontal). This mammogram did apply a bit more pressure than my previous mammogram. I found it to be slightly more uncomfortable (but again, not painful). I think they did 3 shots of each boob and these often included more of my armpit than the initial one — likely to check the nodes.

My sweet mammogram tech did show me what they were looking for. While my initial mailed results said I had dense breasts tissue, I actually had possible calcifications (or possibly the beginnings of cancer — which is why I had to get the second one). They are SUPER small white dots, and mine were on both sides, right behind my nipple. You can read up a lot on calcifications and how they decide if they’re OK.

They initially said I would likely need an ultrasound after the 2nd mammogram, but the tech said that they don’t do ultrasounds for calcifications. The 2nd mammogram would show if it was benign or the next step would be a biopsy {heart drop}.

The good news is that mine came out fine. I’m supposed to get a follow-up in 6 months instead of the regular yearly mammograms. Yay.

The other good news is that this is my baseline mammographic screening. In future mammograms they’ll already have the diagnostic one to show if they are increasing in number/size, etc. Since I had never had one before this, it was important that I have the baseline mammography.

Mammogram Tips:

1.  Wear a two piece outfit. You’re able to keep your pants/skirt, etc — but I was sort of surprised by all the women wearing a dress, I bet it makes it more awkward for the tech as they have to really adjust your body to get in the right position.
2. Check your family history. I knew that my mom had issues with calcifications before, so when mine came back with it, I was less concerned (but I won’t lie that I didn’t have SOME concern). If you have a strong family history of breast cancer you may need to have mammograms at an earlier age.
3. Talk to friends, find out their experience. My friend, Dani, also had the exact same thing happen to her a few months earlier so it was really nice to have already heard her story.
4. Again, make sure your healthcare provider bills it as a SCREENING mammography instead of diagnostic imaging. Of course, if your provider has found a lump or you have odd breast pain then it would be a diagnostic one. But a routine mammogram should be billed as a screening one.
5. Baseline screening at 40. If you don’t have a family history of younger women with a breast cancer diagnosis,and you’re in good health you shouldn’t need an earlier screening. Typically annual screening mammograms begin at the age of 40. Just go get it done, your family will thank you for it!

Anyway, now it’s done and off my plate for a few months. It feels so good to get something like this done!

Annual screenings don’t replace breast self-exams. Self-exams are one of the best early detection of breast cancer.

Know that needing further testing is common. It’s hard to stay calm but try to and make sure you get back in as soon as possible to reduce the stress.

If you have breast implants make sure you let them know when you schedule your appointment.

If you liked this post, be sure to sign up for all my TMI posts to come straight to your email.

And check out all my health posts right here:

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The post Abnormal Mammogram: My Baseline Screening at 40. appeared first on Pulling Curls.

How can we work to have early detection of cancer. What can we learn from someone battling cancer with terminal diagnosis?

Today’s guest is my friend Onjali. She is a stay-at-home mom to 3 kids, living in Southern California. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer almost 2 years and is learning to not just survive but to thrive with incurable cancer.

In this episode

How Onajli’s cancer was diagnosed

How she faught it

How it has impacted her life.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript:

Hilary (00:00)
Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today we have a bonus episode. We’re talking about boobies. Let’s untangle it. Hi, I’m Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls podcast, where we untangle pregnancy, parenting, home, and even travel. We know there’s no right answer for every family, but hopefully we can spark some ideas that will work for yours. Life’s tangled just like my hair. Hey, guys, before we get started, just go ahead and leave a review or subscribe. Either one choice is up to you. Today’s guest has been a friend for a long time. We have kids of similar ages, and we lived in the San Jose area together. But she is the lucky recipient of stage four metastatic breast cancer. And I’ve been following her journey on Instagram. And I just thought she has some inspirational words for all of us and the things that she’s learned during her treatment. So I want to introduce today’s guest, Anjali Pettingale. Hey, Angelie. Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast.

Onjali (01:09)
Hi.

Hilary (01:10)
Yes. So Onjali and I are old friends. How old is your oldest?

Onjali (01:15)
Okay, so Evie is 14, and I can’t remember. So we met in San Jose. And had I given birth to her? No, I had it.

Hilary (01:25)
I think you had her while we were there, right. Because I think I had given you advice to his breach or something. Right?

Hilary (01:31)
Oh, yeah, that was right.

Hilary (01:32)
So Spencer is 17, almost 18. And then I had a baby, like two years after you had EV.

Onjali (01:38)
Yeah. And then you had your daughter and I had Owen. We were like a week apart. Do you remember that? Yeah.

Hilary (01:46)
But you probably had your baby way before me because I was so overdue.

Onjali (01:49)
Yeah, I don’t remember. But yes, you were like whenever I had any pregnancy questions or anything, like it was always nice, like having you to turn to.

Hilary (01:59)
People at Church love me.

Onjali (02:01)
I know.

Hilary (02:02)
Yeah. All right, so Onjali was telling me yesterday she was a chemo because what’s your official diagnosis? Onjali.

Onjali (02:09)
So I have stage four, also known as metastatic breast cancer. And with metastatic breast cancer, I’ll go into this more. But basically what that means that it spread past my breasts and it’s now in my bones.

Hilary (02:27)
Okay. Is it just in your bones or have they found at other places?

Onjali (02:30)
It is in my bones and in my bone marrow. So up until this point, that’s all I know. Yeah. Last Pet scan, that’s the only place where it was good. Stay there. Yeah.

Onjali (02:45)
Okay, so let’s rewind. How did you find it?

Onjali (02:48)
Okay, so I will start from the very beginning. So it was like February 2020. I was just getting dressed one morning, and I happened to feel a lump on my boob, but I had actually had felt the lump about a week earlier. As long as I can remember, I have had fibrous cystic breasts, which I talked to my gynecologist about. And he had confirmed that it was something that was normal in common. And basically what that means is that my breasts would get kind of lumpy in sore around my cycle, but it would always go away about a week later. So it’s like, I noticed. I’m like, oh, at that time, I got some lumps. Things are a little sore, but I felt this lump, and I’m like, wait, I’ve got this lump, and I’m not sore anymore. And it was in a spot where I usually didn’t get lumps. I was like, okay, this is a little concerning.

Hilary (03:44)
Yeah.

Onjali (03:45)
So, I don’t know, I just kind of, like, wrote it off. I’m like, maybe I’m just being dramatic. It was kind of crazy. Like, about that same time, I had a sweet friend in my Ward who had just passed away. I just attended her funeral, and she passed away from metastatic breast cancer and was young, just a little bit older. She was, like, in her early 40s. And I had another friend who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and my sister in law a few months before that had just been diagnosed. So it was definitely something that was fresh on my mind. So I was like, you know what? I’m just going to call my gynecologist and get in. And I got into my gynecologist, and he told me that he didn’t think it was anything. He’s like, it might just be like a swollen lymph node, but he’s like, let’s just get you in for a mammogram and also, like, a diagnostic ultrasound, and we’ll go from there. But he’s like, I think you’re fine. I don’t think it’s anything. So you know what? I didn’t worry about it. I totally convinced myself. I’m like, I’m young, I’m healthy, I exercise.

Onjali (04:58)
Like, I’m doing everything right. It’s just like, breast cancer is not going to happen to me. It happens to other people. Not to me.

Hilary (05:06)
Yeah. How old were you?

Hilary (05:08)
I was 35.

Hilary (05:09)
Okay. And have you had a mammogram before?

Onjali (05:11)
I had never had a mammogram. Never needed to be normal. Yeah, it’s 40, right? It is 40.

Hilary (05:18)
Unless you have a history in your family, like, Evie will want to get checked early on. Yeah. If you had a history of a young a person in your family having breast cancer.

Onjali (05:25)
Yeah. So the next steps, I felt like everything just took a while. It took about a week and a half to get in for the mammogram, and I was really nervous about the mammogram. For some reason, I thought it was going to be so painful. For some reason, I had that idea in my head, and it’s not like, for me, I didn’t feel like it’s awkward, super awkward. But it wasn’t painful. And then they did the ultrasound, and it was really nice. The radiologist, he came in, like, not too long after that. And you get your results back immediately. You don’t have to wait. And he said that there’s definitely something there, but it didn’t have all the qualities of breast cancer. But he’s like, I think that we should still get a biopsy just to completely roll it out. And with a biopsy, that’s the only for sure way to know if it’s cancerous. So that was the next step. And it was right about this point that the pandemic, like, everything was kind of starting to really hit like that’s when food was flying off the shelves and everybody was worried about toilet paper.

Onjali (06:34)
I don’t think it wasn’t quite to the point yet. I don’t think my kids that they had canceled school yet, but that’s about where I was at. And so I remember when I called to schedule the biopsy and get that going, it took a lot longer because they were only doing medically necessary procedures, and so they had to verify with other people to make sure I needed this immediately. And so it was all pretty frustrating. Yes.

Hilary (07:03)
Especially for a breast biopsy. It’s not like you go in just for fun, right? For that one.

Onjali (07:07)
I know, yeah. In the breast biopsy. I was nervous about that, too. It was not fun. Basically, what they do is it’s guided by an ultrasound, and they take a giant needle and stab it into that lump and pull out tissue to test, and they have to do it multiple times to make sure that they have got enough tissue.

Hilary (07:29)
Do they numb you for that?

Onjali (07:30)
They do numb you. But I know I could still feel a lot of it because it’s, like, so just invasive. And then they told me it took it would take about a week to get the results back from that. And the results went back to my gynecologist, and I was like the super annoying patient and was calling my doctor’s office every single day. I just wanted to know. I’m like, I just want to know. Just have that relief. I was still convinced. I was still totally convinced that it was going to be nothing but. Yeah. And it took about a week to get those results back. And then finally he called me. I just remember that phone call. Like, the first thing he said, he was like, I just want you to know that it’s malignant. And I was like, going through my head. I’m like, I couldn’t remember. I’m like, it’s malignant. I’m like, does that mean it’s cancerous or not?

Onjali (08:24)
Which one is that?

Onjali (08:25)
But no, he confirmed it pretty quick that it was cancerous. But he’s like, I think we’ve caught it early. I had actually three months before that had been for my regular top smear check up. Everything was normal then. I even had blood work done. Everything was normal. He was just like, no, I think that we have definitely we’re on top of this. We’ve caught it early. He went over it was still like a really hard conversation. He went off about the different type of cancer I had and what that meant and everything. And I remember I heard none of it right. I was just like, Holy crap. He just told me I had breast cancer. But it’s like the next steps were that I needed to find an oncologist, and I needed a breast MRI, and I needed to find a surgeon, and it was pretty overwhelming. The next step after that was I got the MRI, and then I met with my oncologist. And that was hard because at that point, they weren’t allowing anybody to come to any appointments just because people were so scared still about coronavirus. And that was like when we were in the depths, I felt like the lockdown where everything felt so uncertain.

Onjali (09:40)
Yeah. So my first appointment with the oncologist, he confirmed that the MRI had shown that the breast cancer was a little bit bigger than what they had normally saw on the mammogram, but there was no lymph node involvement. So he’s like, I think we’ve caught it early. But he’s like, Because it is a little bigger. We’re going to start chemo right away because usually what they do if it’s caught earlier, like, if it’s still like, stage one, then they do surgery first. It’s surgery and then chemo, but if it’s a little bit bigger, then they’ll do chemo first. So that was a plan. Start chemo right away. So that’s kind of what we decided. As I was getting ready to leave the appointment, I just happened to ask him. I’m like, So how do you know if it’s spread or not? And he was like, well, you have no lip node involvement. So he’s like, It’s not something that we need to worry about. He’s like, but if we make you feel better, like, we can order a Pet scan. I was like, yeah, I think I would like that. So that was the next step.

Onjali (10:43)
I got the Pet scan, and I was getting everything set up to start chemo. And then I got a call from him with the results from this Pet scan. And he let me know that it had spread to my bones. And that was a really hard call to process. Not only I just remember him reading off all the bones that it was in, it was in my hips, like, multiple places in my hip bones. It was multiple places in my spine, my ribs, in my shoulders. So I was just like, no, this isn’t happening. On the phone call, I told him, and at this point, he’s like, we will treat your cancer differently now. We don’t have the intent anymore to cure you. The intent was now just to treat me, just to live as long as possible. And I was like, no. I’m like, I’m going to have a clear Pet scan. I’m going to feed this. I didn’t accept it. I’m like, no, this is not how it’s going to go.

Hilary (11:55)
So at that point, did they say it was basically incurable, right? Yes, that’s what he was saying.

Onjali (12:01)
It was incurable at this point. Yeah. So, yeah, I was just like, no, I’m not accepting that my treatment plan completely changed at that point. They’re like, we’ll put you on chemo was kind of taken off the table. They did give me the option, but they’re like, at this point, we don’t even know how helpful it would be. But there was other drugs that I could take that could work and work with drugs and could help keep everything under control. So I opted for those. And my breast cancer was hormone positive. So they immediately put me into medical menopause, which shut down my ovaries. And also they give you drugs to stop any other parts of your body that make estrogen. So that was fun.

Hilary (12:54)
Yeah, that is fun.

Onjali (12:55)
At 35, I know all of a sudden be in menopause, and, oh, my gosh, really? The worst part is a hot splash. I have some pretty intense hot lashes, but yeah. So that was kind of where things were going. And I was like, just kind of took this attitude. Like, I was in full blown denial, and I was just like, I am going to do. I’m not listening to the doctors. I knew I wanted to take an integrative approach. So I’m like, okay, the medical system can’t hear me, but I’m like, I just have this belief that I can hear myself. So I’m like, I’m going to do everything I can. I started breathing for, like, two months straight. All I did was read about different ways. What supplements, what foods, everything. I started, anything anybody had said it helped them to cure their cancer. I went vegan. I started juicing. I was drinking, like, six glasses of vegetable juice a day. I was drinking so much carrot juice, I started turning Orange.

Hilary (14:03)
You’re pretty fair skin to start with Anjali. So that’s not super surprising.

Onjali (14:07)
I should send you some pictures because it is, like, it’s crazy. I was, like, really orange, and I just was having the hardest time just, I don’t know, just accepting everything because it’s a lot. Yeah.

Hilary (14:21)
Did you go to, like, a natural path or anything, or was it all your own research?

Onjali (14:25)
It was mostly my own research, and I was reaching out, like anybody I could find online. I reached out to quite a few people online and asked them questions about what they were doing and what had helped them. But at that point, I hadn’t met with Naturopathic doctor. Things were steady. My blood counts were good. My tumor markers were staying good, like, everything for about four or five months. And then my tumor markers started going up, which through this process, I have, my tumor markers are usually a pretty good indication of progression. And then my next Pet scan did show that I was having progression, and it was so frustrating because I’m like, I’m doing all of this stuff, and none of it’s working, and it’s been like such a roller coaster.

Hilary (15:14)
Yeah.

Onjali (15:15)
So I was so frustrated. And at that point, I’m like, maybe we just need to do chemo. I’ve also switched oncologist a few different times. Yeah.

Hilary (15:26)
Because you want to try and find somebody that’s a good fit and that will fix it.

Onjali (15:29)
Yeah, I know. Because my oncologist I was with at this point, she was really just, like, kind of put it in my hand. She’s like, you can decide. She’s like, if you want to do chemo, that’s fine. We could try a different drug. And after thinking about it and worrying about it, I’m like, I just felt right about doing chemo. I had also went and had a second opinion from another oncologist. And so I went on chemo. It was like, last fall, I did six rounds of chemo and finished in March. I was still just kind of, like, had that mindset, like, I’m going to beat this. And I’m like, okay. I had eased up, like, during chemo, I started eating meat and just realized that while my body was going through that, I needed a little bit more, and I needed this chair for my body in a little bit different ways than I had been before. But as soon as I was done for chemo, and I was still just, like, searching for whatever I could find, I actually about a year ago, I realized I started meditating. I read a lot about meditation and how good it is for you.

Onjali (16:38)
I was meditating every day for almost an hour, like, most days. And I’m like, okay, this is going to be it. Once that’s like, my missing link, and everything was like, meditating. I meditated for a long time, and I finished chemo. I was hoping that chemo would get me into remission, and it didn’t. My Pet scans were getting better, but it still wasn’t clear. And then I went onto a different drug and was still doing I went back on my diet. I wasn’t juicing quite as much as I was. And that drug worked for a few months. And then my next Pet scan, which was over the summer, came back with more progression, but still in my bones. Just in my bones. Thankfully, nothing has spread past my bones. And at that point, I ended up having another biopsy. And my cancer is so tricky because my cancer had mutated, and it’s not quite as strongly estrogen and progesterone and fat anymore. And there’s also something with breast cancer called the Herti protein, which can feed your breast cancer. When I was originally diagnosed, I was her two positive. So my breast cancer was considered triple positive.

Hilary (18:03)
And now it was no longer herd-2 positive. But my current doctor I was with because my cancer was being so aggressive. She’s like, I really think that your biopsies are wrong that you’re still her too positive. And it just didn’t sit right with me. I’m like, I don’t know. So she had this completely different direction. She wanted my treatment to go in, and I just didn’t feel right about it. And that’s one thing in this process is just, like, learning to trust myself. And what I felt was right. At that point, I ended up switching to a different oncologist, and I’m so thankful that I did. Honestly, if I hadn’t switched, I don’t know if I would be here, because the new oncologist immediately was like, Something is not right. My blood counts were all dropping really quickly. I had gone in, and I needed my platelets were really low, and I needed a platelet infusion. Then my hemoglobin started dropping. She’s like, okay, we need an Ma to the hospital and really figure out what’s going on. And at that point, they were growing out, like, possibly, like, a secondary cancer, like leukemia or something like that.

Onjali (19:13)
So I got to spend a few weeks in the hospital.

Hilary (19:17)
That was close to the holidays, right?

Onjali (19:19)
Yeah. Well, it was beginning of October, okay. Yeah. And it was kind of nice because I feel like everything happens so slow. But it was like once I was in the hospital, I had a bone marrow biopsy. I had another scan. It’s just like, things happen a lot faster. And it came back that the breast cancer had taken over my bone marrow. And so they suggested starting me on another chemo right away to try to get a hold of everything. I was getting chemo in the hospital and then also getting daily blood and platelet transfusions. And it was hard. It was rough. Nobody had real definite answers. Like, they weren’t telling me how long I would be there, what the chances of this actually working were just like, it was a really scary time. Definitely the hardest point of this whole experience of dealing with breast cancer. But it also those few weeks really helped me to just kind of change my perspective on everything. I remembered this conversation that I had with a friend who she had a lot of has a lot of health challenges, and she had had a heart and lung transplant quite a few years ago.

Onjali (20:43)
But I remember talking to her right after I was diagnosed, and she told me how she couldn’t really kind of come to peace with everything. She’s like, I had to just accept the fact that I could die on the operating table. She’s like, I just had to accept that. And at the time, it was so hard for me to hear that, because to me, I’m like, that felt like giving up where I was at. I was like, no. I was like, no, that’s not my attitude. I’m going to beat this. But when I was in the hospital, I realized I’m like, we’re all dying. I just kind of accepted that fact. It’s like, I have no idea when I’m going to die of breast cancer, but, I mean, hopefully it’s not for another 20 years. So hopefully it’s like, longer. But it’s just like I realized that I could accept that outcome and still have hope that it just like facing. I think we don’t I don’t know. We don’t want to face the fact that we’re all dying like we are.

Hilary (21:53)
We have no control.

Onjali (21:54)
And we have no control.

Hilary (21:55)
You couldn’t work your way out of this mess, right?

Onjali (21:57)
Yeah. I’m like, I can do whatever. I can focus on eating healthy. I can focus on meditating, everything. But still, I have no control over the outcome. And honestly, in accepting that, it has been so freeing and just like a weight has been lifted off of me. It’s like I still eat healthy. I still am doing. I still have a lot of hope, but it’s just like that just released from just accepting that has been so huge for me.

Hilary (22:29)
I can totally see that. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. How did husband and kids tolerate all this? Anything you want to share about that?

Onjali (22:38)
It’s hard because I try to talk to my kids to check in on them on a regular basis. What are you thinking about? Things. You know what? I feel like we’ve just kind of gotten into the groove. A new groove.

Hilary (22:50)
Yeah.

Onjali (22:51)
And it’s hard. It’s hard because it’s like this diagnosis has also forced me to really just embrace the present. Like, I really have learned just to take things one day at a time. And it gets kind of hard when it comes to planning a vacation, because we just don’t ever know what things are going to look like in a month. That has been tricky and chuggling that. But it’s just like giving me the chance to just like, every day I wake up and I’m just like, I am alive. I am here. I am going to make the very most out of this day because this is what I have and I don’t know about anything else.

Hilary (23:34)
That really is the one thing you can control, right?

Onjali (23:37)
It is. It’s your outlook, your perspective.

Hilary (23:40)
It is.

Onjali (23:41)
That is what I have kind of learned to just focus on.

Hilary (23:46)
I love that. What have people done that has been helpful to you?

Onjali (23:49)
A lot. I just feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system and so many friends who have been there for me. But one thing that has been huge, it’s always just like my friends who remember the days that I am having chemo and even just like, it’s a simple text like, hey, just thinking about you today, I hope everything goes well at treatment. Like, even little things like that just helps me to know that I’m not alone in this. It’s not like the big things people have done who have given me amazing gifts which I do appreciate, and they do make me feel loved. But it’s like those little texts also are so huge for me.

Hilary (24:37)
I love that because your friends feel real hopeless as well. So it is nice that small things make a big deal. That’s good to know.

Onjali (24:44)
Yeah, I do. I know I’m trying to think if there’s anything else, but I know I do feel really blessed. Like I’ve just been surrounded by so many loving people.

Hilary (24:54)
Anything people have done for your kids.

Onjali (24:56)
When I was in the hospital, it was so nice. Friends who offered to pick up from school and things like that were just so helpful.

Hilary (25:09)
Yeah. Just like the mechanics of your life they’re helping with.

Onjali (25:13)
Yeah. I wasn’t there anymore. And things still needed. They still needed rides and picked up. And my daughter does dance. I was doing late night band practices and. Yeah. So we had a family who also ended up coming into town to help Todd’s mom and my mom. Yeah. So it all worked out all right.

Hilary (25:34)
So it sounds like control is the big thing you’ve learned during all this.

Onjali (25:37)
Yes. Is recognizing those things that I do and don’t have control over and accepting them.

Hilary (25:45)
Yeah.

Onjali (25:47)
That is the hard part. Just accepting that.

Hilary (25:51)
Yeah. That’s a good lesson for all of us. Were you a big self exam doer before this?

Onjali (25:56)
Okay. So I remember going to the Gynecologist and getting this pamphlet that was like, all the things that you should do, you rub this way and that way. And it was so confusing. And I didn’t to follow that. And what I found was it’s like I would regularly check my breasts. I knew my breath. I knew what was normal. I knew that I got lumps on my period and I knew where those lumps usually were. So it’s like I would fill my breath. I knew what was normal. I knew that one of my breasts was a little teeny bit bigger than the other. I did. I did check them regularly, but it’s like I didn’t follow the standard. Like, this is what you do that you check that certain. I don’t even really remember. You rub one way and then rub the other way, and then you use two fingers.

Hilary (26:49)
It is really confusing when in reality during your shower, you just soap it up and see what’s up there, right.

Onjali (26:57)
Yeah. But really, I think that the key is just to know what is normal for you. And it’s not just with your breast, but with your entire body. It’s like, make sure you’re checking all your moles. Like, you know what all your moles look like? Tracking your cycle. Know what a normal menstrual cycle is for you? I think it’s so important just to know your normal because it’s different for everyone.

Hilary (27:20)
Yes. My doctor actually told me they had stopped telling people to do self exams, which I was like, are you kidding me? Because all of my friends that have found theirs found it through self exams.

Onjali (27:29)
Yeah, I know. I’ve heard that lately that they’re not recommending that and they’re also thinking about or maybe they already have, but I think they’re the mammogram age. They were moving up to 45. I’ve heard something about that, too, but I’m like, yeah. No. And it’s also really heartbreaking to me in the different forums that I’m on, quite a few different, like, on Facebook, like metastatic breast cancer forms and how many times I hear women talk about how they found a lump when they were breastfeeding and their doctor just wrote it off as a clogged milk duck. And so by the time they were finally diagnosed, they were already stage four. And you really have to advocate for yourself. Like if something does not feel right, then it’s like you really have to push. Especially, I feel like for younger women, I feel like with doctors a lot of times it’s like they don’t take it as serious because you’re young.

Hilary (28:25)
Yeah, well, and I like what you really said at the beginning. A lot of times you’ll have a lump per week, right?

Onjali (28:29)
Yeah.

Hilary (28:30)
So give yourself that week. Like, take a note in the shower. Okay. I need to check that again after my cycle is done or whatever. But if it’s still there, push sometimes you have to push.

Onjali (28:39)
Yeah, but just like a clogged mill stack, like, if it is not going away, then have it checked out.

Hilary (28:46)
Good to know.

Onjali (28:47)
I know.

Hilary (28:47)
All right. Onjali, thank you so much for coming on. I think you are a brave warrior for even sharing your story, and hopefully it helps a lot of people, maybe in similar situations or just moms that need to let go of some control in some area of their life.

Onjali (28:59)
Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on and letting me share my story.

Hilary (29:03)
Yeah. Thanks, Onjali, guys. The whole time she was talking about things we don’t have control over and how we can try and work our way out of things that we really can’t work our way out of. I really felt that. I don’t know. Did you guys feel that too? So thanks so much to Anjali for coming on. That was a great episode, and I hope you guys learned a little bit something about both breast cancer and making sure that you know your own body, but also going through hard stuff and sometimes you just don’t have control and you have to let that go. Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode. We know you have lots of options for your ears. We are glad that you chose us. We dropped episodes weekly. And until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.

The post Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer with my friend Onjali — BONUS episode! appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Two month shots.

Yes, they save lives — but they might just ruin yours, at least for a few days.  

{Now is the time to stop you if you’re anti-immunization.  I am am pro-immunization along the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  If you are anti-immunization, feel free to click away.  We can certainly agree to disagree.}

First off, hello! I’m Hilary — many people know me as The Pregnancy Nurse . I have been a nurse since 1997 and I have 20 years of OB nursing experience, I am also the curly head behind this website Pulling Curls and The Online Prenatal Class for Couples. ​ Before I worked labor and delivery, I worked for a pediatrician giving shots to babies and kids. So, I know a thing or two about immunizations.

How to get your baby immunization ready:

Pre-medicate.  I always pop a bottle of infant’s tylenol in my bag before going to  doctor’s office.  At two months you’re too little for anything but Tylenol.  You could, obviously give Advil if they’re older.  I give it about the time we get into the room.  If you forgot it, sometimes they even have samples they can give you!

Soldier yourself.  Shots can be painful for moms too.  It’s rough to see it.  Maybe don’t watch.  There’s no shame in that.  Just know it’s totally normal.  I’ve certainly given shots (especially 2 month shots) only to look up and see a teary mom.  Very normal.

Rub it in afterwards.  A good nurse will already do it, but the fluid from the shot can ball-up in the muscle and be more painful.  By rubbing it you can disperse it to ease the pain.

Run those legs.  Baby shots are given in their thigh.  Run those legs and sing a happy song while you do it.  Remember how they tell you to use your arm a lot after a shot – same goes for your sweet baby (only they don’t really use any of their limbs for much at 2 months).

Give them a warm bath after the shots.  Run their legs and put a warm washcloth over them.  This is, again to try to ease any pain from the fluid of the shot.

Keep the tylenol.  Seems like tylenol in infants is getting a bit of a bad rap lately.  BUT, you have to remember that these little ones really haven’t had much pain at all in their whole lives.  This is a whole new experience to be uncomfortable, so a dose before bed (and maybe one in the afternoon) can be helpful.

It is certainly not unusual for the wee ones to have their sleep schedule messed up by these shots.  A little extra TLC for a few days and hopefully they’re back to their usual selves.

Just know that it’s worthwhile.  Those shots prevent horrible diseases.  We are so lucky to have them, and herd immunity helps all of us.  Says the nurse.

**Reminder:  Never take the advice of anything you read on Pulling Curls over the advice of your medical provider.

If you liked this post, be sure to sign up for my newsletter below and check out my health and wellness board on Pinterest!  You might also like:

The post How to Get Your Baby Immunization Ready appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Using a direct primary care membership changes how you utilize healthcare. It can help you manager your health better and it can reduce your overall healthcare costs while also making healthcare more convenient.

Today’s guest is Dr Bradley Shumway. He is my DPC practice physician. You can find his practice at Shumway Family Medicine. He is a DO family physician in the Phoenix area and has found a lot more joy in his work as a doctor with the DPC model.

Be sure to check out my podcast episode on healthshares to learn more about how use our family’s healthcare dollar.

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines — routines are just your seatbelt in the wild right of parenthood. If you’re looking to make all those regular hurdles you pass during your day a bit easier, check it out!

Using a Direct Primary Care Doctor

In this episode

We’re talking about what a DPC is (vs a consierge doctor) and how it differs from using a doctor that you’re paying your insurance copay for.

How the doctor is saving money by providing you more personalized care.

Why you might want to choose to use a DPC even if you do have insurance.

How using a DPC increases convenience by allowing phone/telemedicine consults with your provider.

How having a DPC can be helpful with adult children

How to find a DPC — DPC Frontier

I use Zion Healthshare (and I’d love it if you told them you found them through me).

A couple of fixes from this episode:

• Dr Shumway actually went to Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine
• He will likely need to send you to have a bone set unless it’s very minor.

Other things that might interest you

Why we chose to use a healthshare (and how to find one that accepts your faith)

Zion Healthshare review (that’s the one we currently use)

Our Episode on healthshares

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out my other parenting podcasts:

Transcript

[00:00:00.175] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast! Today on Episode 86, we’re talking about how rich and famous I am, I have my very own doctor. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:19.385] – Hilary Erickson

Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast, I’m Hilary, your curly headed host on the podcast, where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting and home routines. I want you to know that there are no right answers for every family. And I find that simplifying my priorities is almost always the answer. It’s tangled, just like my hair.

[00:00:44.225] – Hilary Erickson

OK, guys, before we jump in, could you leave a review? Reviews are the best. They’re literally like the best. I get so happy when I see them. Just leave a review. Thanks, OK. Today’s guest is my very own personal physician. That’s right. If you guys haven’t heard my podcast on health shares, go ahead and listen to that one. Because we don’t use traditional health insurance, which is crazy because I’m a nurse.

[00:01:07.895] – Hilary Erickson

We use a health share just because it became insane to have our own insurance as a self-employed people. Yeah, we were going to be paying probably fourteen hundred dollars a month for our insurance. Plus our deductible was around fifteen thousand dollars, so that just became cost prohibitive. So we switched to a Health Share. But the problem with that is it’s expensive to see a provider and you never know how much the bill is going to be like if you try and call somebody in advance to find out how much a bill will be to see like an ingrown toenail.

[00:01:38.135] – Hilary Erickson

A lot of times you just can’t find out because we’re like, well, it really depends on once we get in there and yada, yada. But anyway, so I had heard about this model of care. A few friends of mine had used it. And I was jealous just because it seemed like so great to have a doctor kind of on call for you whenever you want. You know, he doesn’t call me back like within two minutes of calling.

[00:01:55.595] – Hilary Erickson

But when my son has emailed him, you know, within a couple of hours he has an appointment set up or they email back and forth and have gotten something set up. So that’s really great. So today’s guest, he went to ASU, which is the college in our local town, and then he got his degree at the U of A, Osteopathic Medicine, which is just south of us. And he actually was a resident when I worked in labor and delivery.

[00:02:17.585] – Hilary Erickson

We saw the family practice residence every once in a while. And so we saw him there. And one of my favorite things about him is that he’s just interested in lots of different things and I think a lot of family practice doctors go into family practice because they are interested in a lot of different things. And family practice historically has seen lots of different things. And so that’s exciting for them. But I want to introduce my doctor, Brad Shumway.

[00:02:43.295] – Hilary Erickson

Are you overwhelmed by all there is to do around your house as a new mom? I felt overwhelmed at every turn. Fortunately, I turned to systems to make a change, whether it’s morning’s dinnertime or even just to climb out of a pile of kids clothes, my course, family routines can save you. I hold your hand as we smooth out these rough patches making every day easier so we can more easily handle when your preschooler tells you they can use their urine like a light saber, parenting is always going to be a wild ride.

[00:03:08.585] – Hilary Erickson

Routines are just your seatbelt and they can support you. Use coupon code UNTANGLED to save 15 percent at checkout, link in the show notes. Hey, Dr. Shumway, welcome to the podcast.

[00:03:23.785] – Brad Shumway

Hi, it’s good to be on.

[00:03:25.435] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. So I don’t call people Dr. Shumway, but I wanted to introduce you that way. So this is Brad Shumway. He’s my doctor, like we said in the intro. And I just I’m excited to have him on because I think this is an area of medicine.

[00:03:37.825] – Hilary Erickson

People don’t really understand that. They think it’s for the ultra rich, which I would not be a part of. Yeah.

[00:03:43.195] – Brad Shumway

Yeah.

[00:03:43.675] – Hilary Erickson

So do you think that this this mode of care is just for rich people? Do you think that’s how people view it?

[00:03:49.525] – Brad Shumway

I think some people see that as see it that way for sure. There are different types of direct primary care. There is sometimes what people call concierge medical care that often is kind of for the rich and famous, so to speak, as the executives. It’s people paying thousands and thousands of dollars a year for their personal physician. But usually direct primary care refers to more of a clinic for the masses, so to speak, for the normal person.

[00:04:16.805] – Hilary Erickson

OK, yeah. So that’s interesting. I didn’t really know that there was something different. I figured you were my concierge doctor.

[00:04:25.045] – Hilary Erickson

OK, so let’s talk about it. So what is a DPC, what does it stand for? Yeah, good, good question. So DPC stands for direct primary care and there there can be a lot of variety, like I mentioned, in all the specific characteristics of different primary care clinics. But fundamentally, the characteristic is that the patient and the primary care doctor deal directly with each other financially rather than through a health insurance company, which we often refer to as a third party payer.

[00:04:56.275] – Brad Shumway

And this ultimately came about as a response to the challenges that come with traditional fee for service or third payer party systems, because these current systems result in clinics that they need a lot of staff to handle all the administrative burdens and going back and forth with the insurance companies, a lot of paperwork, which ultimately means that doctors have to pack in more and more patients every day to pay for all the high overhead. And ultimately, that leads to bad outcomes.

[00:05:27.115] – Brad Shumway

It’s poor quality of care because the doctor’s in and out of the room in five minutes, patients are unhappy, doctors are unhappy, and as a result, we’re seeing major shortages in primary care physicians due to high burnout rates and frustrations. And so, DPC practices have developed. They have been around for quite a while, but over the past probably 10 to 20 years really started taking off because so many doctors are saying this is such a better model, not just for patients, but for their own health and well-being as well.

[00:05:58.355] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, and I see that one hundred percent when we have a visit, it’s not the same as it is when you go to your basic provider.

[00:06:06.625] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, I’ve worked in both situations. So after my residency training I did a couple of years in a big network, so to speak, practice. And very quickly I was realizing I am not going to last in this career. I was forced to pack in more and more patients every day, so I’m in and out of the room quickly and having to force patients to say, all right, let’s just stick with one issue today and then you have to follow up for another issue, silly things like that that don’t make any sense.

[00:06:36.085] – Brad Shumway

And yeah, just I was already looking for my escape from medicine, which is not healthy. When you think about the long pipeline it takes to… To become a doctor.

[00:06:45.625] – Hilary Erickson

Right. Well, as a patient, I don’t want a doctor who wants to get out of medicine.

[00:06:52.615] – Hilary Erickson

I want one that’s enjoying it and thriving. And I think so many, especially people that go into family practice, are really looking for that, helping families and that type of thing, rather than I don’t think you go into family practice to get cardiac surgeon rich.

[00:07:06.535] – Brad Shumway

I think that is a misconception that for the most part, doctors really do want to become doctors, especially those who go into primary care, really want to be doctors to help people and help overcome their challenges and everything. And so long gone are the days that people are becoming family doctors to get filthy rich, who, for one thing, medical school debt is so high these days. I just recently I’ve worked with a couple of medical students who have over one head over six hundred thousand in debt, the other over seven hundred thousand.

[00:07:36.805] – Brad Shumway

And so they’re so far in the hole that becoming super wealthy is never going to be in their in their future.

[00:07:44.905] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. When we’ve had honest talks, especially when I worked in the Bay Area, because those nurses make so much money, when we had honest talks with the physicians, there were points that we were making more than them. Well, because if we pick up overtime, we get overtime, whereas if you pick up over time, you get nothing.

[00:08:02.545] – Brad Shumway

And so you’re exactly right. I mean, the this type of practice, one of the goals is a happy doctor, which you mentioned you as a patient, any of us as patients. Ultimately, we want doctors who are happy. If you have a doctor who’s grumpy and upset, they’re not going to be able to provide you with good care because they’re not even in a good, healthy situation themselves, and so doctors, in fact, there’s plenty of evidence of high burnout rates.

[00:08:29.665] – Brad Shumway

Unfortunately, doctors have one of the highest suicide rates of various professions out there. And so this has been a big response for that. But I think even more important is the health and well-being of patients. So when a doctor can spend more time with their patients, it overcomes so many challenges. I mean, doctors aren’t… In general, we’re probably intelligent people, but we’re not just automatic machine geniuses that can come up with solutions in one second. So having time to think and discuss with patients is huge.

[00:09:03.415] – Brad Shumway

It can help figure out the concerns so much better than in a seven minute visit. So ultimately, doctors who practice in these styles are able to help patients overcome challenges better, they refer a lot less to specialists. They do a lot less unnecessary testing because ultimately, if you’re spending more time with people, you get to the bottom of the issues. You know, the current traditional primary care doctor has almost become sort of a referral machine. If you cough, I’m sending you to pulmonologists, if you sneeze, sending you to an allergist, if you have abdominal pain, I’m sending you to gastroenterologist instead of actually doing things and figuring things out.

[00:09:42.805] – Brad Shumway

So that’s that’s one of the biggest benefits of a direct primary care practice, is it allows doctors to spend more time with their patients.

[00:09:51.185] – Hilary Erickson

OK, so I love how you pointed out. I was just thinking that a lot of health care issues are long term problems. And so we’re not we’re not forced to have this one time visit where you just put a Band-Aid over it and we can fix that solution over time. So I really like that part of the DPC. So do you have people that you like, meet or whatever and are like, oh, I’d love to come see you?

[00:10:11.065] – Hilary Erickson

And then they have traditional health insurance and that’s how they want to deal with it and they’re not interested. Do you get that a lot?

[00:10:17.125] – Brad Shumway

Sometimes. I mean, I make it pretty clear on my website and everything. So it kind of filters that out to some extent. But what I tell people a lot is. So let me back up a little bit right now. About half of my patients have insurance, traditional insurance, and about half don’t have insurance or they have other options like health shares or other kind of short term plans, different things like that. And so having health insurance doesn’t make this a bad option.

[00:10:44.305] – Brad Shumway

So maybe let me back up a little bit and explain a little more about DPC practices so they all vary a lot. Like I mentioned, there can be so called concierge practices that a patients pay huge amounts of money like three thousand a year or more. And sometimes those practices will still even bill regular insurance as well, so that that yearly cost is just sort of a retainer. But most who call themselves direct primary care clinics, basically how it works is they pay a low, flat monthly rate, usually somewhere in the range of 50 to one hundred dollars per month.

[00:11:20.275] – Brad Shumway

It depends on the type of clinic. And what that provides them is basically all of their office visits. So they get a yearly wellness visit, usually covers all their problem visits, so often as many visits as they need, depending on the clinic office visits can be a lot longer, can be an hour, sometimes hour and a half as long as it takes to get through the issues. It also opens up the door for a lot to be more conveniently done over the phone or by e-mail, that sort of thing, because in the traditional world, a doctor can’t get stuck just on the phone talking forever with people or they’re ultimately not getting paid for that that time.

[00:11:55.885] – Brad Shumway

But if someone’s paying a flat monthly rate that covers that, it usually covers in office procedures, some office testing. So really cool model because the patient is just paying for their primary care services with a flat monthly rate. And so some things that that helps out with is a flat monthly… Flat monthly rate creates convenience so someone doesn’t have to get rid of all of a sudden they’ve got all these medical problems. So I’ve got all these doctor visits to pay for the stress of that.

[00:12:24.865] – Brad Shumway

It’s just spread out a flat monthly rate, which is convenient. Also being able to do more things over the phone or by email, not having to sort of build up a bunch of problems before they decide, OK, I better go see the doctor now that I can actually get them addressed. And so a lot of peace of mind there, even though we don’t work through health insurance companies, surprisingly, direct primary care clinics have been shown to decrease health care costs.

[00:12:48.955] – Brad Shumway

And I think part of that is what I already mentioned, that we end up doing a lot less unnecessary testing or referrals to specialists because we can actually address the problems with knowing patients better and spending more time with them. Also, like you mentioned, if if someone’s already doing a membership, they’re more likely to be proactive with their health, not just waiting, like you mentioned, to have their long term problems go on and on and just put bandaids on them.

[00:13:14.335] – Brad Shumway

They’re already paying for a service. And so I might as well go use it and do a wellness visit instead of just putting it off.

[00:13:21.825] – Hilary Erickson

Right.

[00:13:22.215] – Brad Shumway

And direct primary care clinics, because they’re lower overhead and don’t have as many staff, they’re able to have basically less patients in their panel. So to give people an idea, the average primary care doctor often has two to three thousand patients in their panel, which when they do the math, it just doesn’t make sense.

[00:13:41.565] – Brad Shumway

They’re not going to be able to take good care of all those people, which is why urgent cares are all over the place right now, whereas a direct primary care doctor usually has anywhere from three to six hundred patients in their panel. And so they know their patients way better. They spend more time with them that they’re not packing in as many per day. They can get their patients in quicker, usually same day or next day, which is fantastic.

[00:14:03.705] – Brad Shumway

So it reduces a lot of the need for urgent cares and E.R. visits, too. So a lot of those things ultimately decrease health care costs. And so if people do have health insurance, a lot of times I’ve seen significant number of my patients have very high deductible plans. And so they kind of have the feeling that, you know, I’m not going to hit my deductible unless something huge happens. I need a surgery or something like that.

[00:14:26.145] – Brad Shumway

And so I’m basically going to be paying out of pocket anyway. Might as well see whoever I want to and actually get good care. And then even a lot of Medicare, patients with Medicare, choose these systems, because even though they they pay out of pocket and get those office fees reimbursed, they can still do their prescriptions and testing and all those other things through Medicare. But they have a doctor who’s actually going to spend more time with them, especially in a time of their life when they have a lot more medical problems usually.

[00:14:53.505] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, I could see my parents loving this. But why when they have me that they can call?

[00:15:02.685] – Brad Shumway

That’s awesome.

[00:15:03.975] – Hilary Erickson

One of the things I think that’s so important, you mentioned before that they they’re just kind of like referral machines is to find a DPC who really likes to do lots of different things because I see these family practice residents coming in. And part of the reason they pick family practice is they love all the different areas, which I totally get because you want to see lots of different things. You know?

[00:15:24.105] – Brad Shumway

Jack of all trades of medicine.

[00:15:26.105] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, but a lot of them end up just being like, oh, well, it could be an ear infection. Let’s send you to an ENT. You want to look for a doctor who is willing to do lots of different things and kind of excited about that part of family practice. And when I looked at your website when we were initially looking, that was one of the things I was like, well, that’s cool, because I definitely just don’t want to get referred out for everything if I have a DPC.

[00:15:46.385] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that’s something. And I think a lot of family doctors, like you said, they want to be Jack… Jack of all trades type of doctor. And yeah, when you have more time as well, it allows us as doctors to look things up and figure things out. I think a lot of doctors, they become referral machines because they just don’t even have time to think about it or research or look up the best evidence or current things.

[00:16:10.335] – Brad Shumway

And they just say, you know what, I am better off, or the system is forcing me to do this. I’m just going to refer them so I can move on to the next patient. And that’s a terrible way to go.

[00:16:20.235] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, I will say when I started being a nurse in the hospital, I was shocked by how much Googling doctors do. But it makes sense. You can’t know about everything all the time. Like you can’t.

[00:16:31.405] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, well, fortunately, there’s better options than Google.

[00:16:34.365] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, they do other things, but to me it looks like they’re just looking at Google.

[00:16:38.175] – Brad Shumway

Oh yeah. No, we have excellent resources that I think if a doctor honestly is not looking things up a lot, then it should be concerning to a patient. I’m totally open with my patients. Hey, you know what? Let me get back to you on that. I’m going to research what’s the best current evidence. And because ultimately, being a doctor or any health care professional, it’s a lifelong learning process. If you’re never if you ever stop learning, then that’s a bad thing, because they always taught us in medical school variations on this quote.

[00:17:08.205] – Brad Shumway

But a third of what we teach you in medical school is wrong. The problem is we don’t know which third it is. And basically the idea is we always have to keep learning because the evidence always changes and we get more and more science and data.

[00:17:21.885] – Hilary Erickson

So, yeah, I think that shouldn’t be… It was surprising to young Hillary, but also nurses Google a lot, too. So there’s that. Yeah. So just so you guys can do the math in your head, so I’m on a health share. I have a… One or two podcasts about us being on a health share. I will link those in the show notes. So our health share is like it was like six hundred-ish a month and if we use a DPC it decreased it by two hundred dollars a month and we pay Dr Shumway just under two hundred dollars a month.

[00:17:49.455] – Hilary Erickson

So it’s pretty much just staying the same, the price. But we have this doctor that we could call whenever, whereas previous to this, we had our fifteen thousand dollar health insurance deductible and like my family was not allowed to go to the doctor. Like we went to the mini clinic a couple of times. I was just like, we are fixing whatever we can at home. Because it was a lot of money to go to a doctor. And then you never knew how much money was going to be to see the doctor, because I would call places and they’re like, well, it just really varies on what you have or whatever.

[00:18:18.045] – Hilary Erickson

And then I was also, like and we are only talking about allergies while we are here today, don’t tell them your finger hurts.

[00:18:24.565] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, you bring up a good point. Let me share something there. I think one thing that direct primary care doctors really do well also is because they usually have a larger percent of uninsured or people on different options like this. Health shares, they’re much more familiar with that. And they think a lot more about what something is going to cost someone.

[00:18:45.775] – Brad Shumway

And I think that is huge. There are so many doctors, either because they don’t have time or just because patients have insurance or the doctors don’t even know what things cost. They just write a prescription or do a test without any knowledge of how much it’s going to actually cost the patient. And then the poor patient goes to the pharmacy and, oh, this this medication is going to cost you three hundred dollars. And the patient just thinks, well, that’s what the doctor wrote for me.

[00:19:11.305] – Brad Shumway

So I guess I have to do that without thinking, oh, maybe the doctor has a different option that’s cheaper. And so that’s something that DPC doctors are usually very good at, is knowing how to figure out what is going to be a more affordable option while not decreasing the quality and being more judicious with what tests do we really need here to help this person get better and working with the health shares, knowing kind of how they tend to function.

[00:19:38.435] – Brad Shumway

So that’s a really huge benefit. There’s a lot of other things that and it varies on different direct primary care doctors, but we often have agreements with various lab companies to help get people very, very affordable rates on lab testing. So I use a company that, for instance, if you’re familiar with different blood tests, that a CBC costs about 10 bucks, a CMP about 10 bucks. Most of these routine tests are well under 10 or 15 dollars, which is pretty cool.

[00:20:08.785] – Brad Shumway

And then some direct primary care clinics. And I’m just starting to do this as well. We’ll even dispense some medications and office and so we can purchase them for very low prices and turn around and get them to patients for even less than GoodRx prices. So that’s a pretty cool thing as well.

[00:20:25.765] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, definitely. I definitely see that you guys are more cost sensitive. As a nurse who used to work for a pediatrician, you as a patient, you don’t know this, but sometimes they have a drug rep that’s outside the door that just talked to them about some fantastic antifungal, which, again, they prescribe because they’re like, well, this drug’s amazing. And then I get a call from the pharmacy saying this drug is six thousand dollars. And the pediatrician just prescribed it because they thought it was great.

[00:20:50.855] – Hilary Erickson

But again, he doesn’t really care how much it costs and he just got free lunch. I’m not saying that all pediatricians are like that, but these are the things behind the scenes. And I was going to say when you mentioned it, when I worked for a pediatrician, there was about, I would say, twice as many admin and billing staff than there were any health care providers in that office between like nurses and doctors and all that. We had way more billing.

[00:21:13.945] – Brad Shumway

That’s why I don’t meet with drug reps. That’s my policy. Any drug reps out there? Sorry, not trying to be rude or anything.

[00:21:24.295] – Brad Shumway

But that’s that’s just kind of my policy because there’s plenty of evidence out there that it’s causes worse care for patients, less less quality, higher expense to patients. When we have…

[00:21:37.195] – Hilary Erickson

I think drug reps have gotten significantly less.

[00:21:39.985] – Hilary Erickson

I mean, I was working for a pediatrician in 1997, so it was kind of a while ago, a bit of a dinosaur. So but that’s something that’s just like an idea of kind of what goes on behind the scenes. The doctor just hears of this amazing new treatment and really doesn’t know how much it costs, although I think all doctors are starting to get better at that.

[00:21:55.655] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, yeah. They kind of have to. Yeah.

[00:21:58.255] – Hilary Erickson

Because so many people have these freakishly high deductibles that they’re going to have to pay everything out of pocket. So I will say the one thing that I’ve been surprised about what we love most about this is that we have an older kid who I thought was never going to use that. He’s going to be twenty one the summer and he… Dr Shumway can’t confirm or deny this, obviously. But I can tell you that he’s seen him like a couple of times when he just kept calling me and I was like, I don’t know! I pay this doctor, go see him.

[00:22:28.315] – Hilary Erickson

And it has been so nice to have somebody you can just call and make an appointment with, like a normal human. And I don’t have to like I’m not like and then I’ll reimburse your copay or whatever. We just pay it every month. And it’s been so helpful. Plus, I know that if he ever had, like, a medical concern that he was like, I don’t know, doing drugs or had an STD, he could talk to you about that.

[00:22:47.905] – Hilary Erickson

And I wouldn’t have it would just be a free range conversation between you two. He wouldn’t have to be like, hey, mom, I was thinking about going to the doctor or whatever like that. So I think that’s something to think about with older kids. They have more access to health care instead of just ignoring it, like probably most college kids do.

[00:23:03.865] – Brad Shumway

Yeah, and most clinics will offer discounted rates to younger kids. And so, for instance, just to share my my clinic prices up to age twenty is fifteen dollars a month. If a parent is enrolled and then adults age twenty to forty nine is fifty five dollars a month and fifty five and older, sorry, age 50 and older is seventy five dollars a month. And so that’s that’s the cost. So it really, when it works out, is very reasonable cost and each DPC practice can vary in their costs.

[00:23:35.455] – Brad Shumway

So you can always shop around. Maybe I could give a tip on if people want to find a direct primary care.

[00:23:41.245] – Hilary Erickson

Yes, for sure.

[00:23:43.135] – Brad Shumway

There’s some different websites, but one that has a big map across the US and everything is called DPC Frontier. So they have kind of a map. And I think most direct primary care clinics have put their information on that website. And so that’s how quite a few people have found me. And then some of the health shares, like I think the one you’re on, I think links to that site or something to help people find DPC clinics.

[00:24:11.725] – Brad Shumway

So a couple of the health shares, like the one you’re on, offer discounted rates to people who are enrolled in a plan. And why? Because these health shares are figured it out, have figured out that if patients are in these types of practices, they ultimately have lower health care costs. Otherwise they wouldn’t be offering discounted rates to people. So it.

[00:24:30.445] – Hilary Erickson

Right.

[00:24:30.895] – Brad Shumway

Since these companies are figuring it out.

[00:24:32.785] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And I’m on like I’m on Zion’s marketing list, so I’m on Zion HealthShare. And they always are like encouraging people to talk more about DPC’s, because I don’t think the general population really understands how they work and how they can save that money ultimately. And so, yeah, they really like a I will say so we used to have Kaiser when we were in California and Kaiser has a very similar kind of model, like they were doing phone and email visits long before any of this, just because they realized that if they did a phone visit, they could save the doctor time.

[00:25:06.295] – Hilary Erickson

I mean, everything Kaiser does is explicitly about saving money, obviously, but they had a much more DPC model of care because they understood that in the long term it would save them money and it would save time for the doctor if they would just do these things. And so that’s kind of exciting and obviously shows that it will decrease the health care dollar throughout the system. Yeah, yeah. OK, so Dr. Shumway is in Mesa, Arizona.

[00:25:31.505] – Hilary Erickson

If you guys are looking for a DPC, are you accepting new patients?

[00:25:34.525] – Brad Shumway

Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[00:25:35.935] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And we really liked him. I actually knew him as a resident. Like, we vaguely knew each other.

[00:25:40.025] – Brad Shumway

Crossed paths in the labor and delivery over there.

[00:25:44.395] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Scared. Could you deliver babies now?

[00:25:48.925] – Brad Shumway

I don’t.

[00:25:49.405] – Brad Shumway

I do miss it though. Yeah. That’s a that’s a hard thing with family medicine. We get all this training and deliveries and most family doctors don’t end up doing it. The challenges… Don’t get me started on malpractise insurance, but it would bump your malpractise insurance costs up so much that you would have to deliver quite a number of babies just to even pay for the malpractise insurance. And then at some point it’s like, well, do I really want to be doing that many deliveries?

[00:26:19.765]

I’m not an OB, right? So it’s it’s too bad because I really did enjoy that part. A lot of family doctors become hospitals and other areas. It’s a cool specialty because there’s a lot of things you can do.

[00:26:33.655]

Yeah, no, I agree. I think and I love family practice doctors in general. You’re the easiest to get along with. Yeah.

[00:26:40.225]

And you quickly learn in medical school when you’re doing rotations and different specialties.

[00:26:45.355]

That’s traditionally the family doctors and the pediatricians are the the nice ones, the kind ones that’s obviously totally over generalizing but all over a generalized with you, although I’ve worked with some loser pediatricians too, so I’ll go both ways anyway.

[00:27:03.835]

So guys, it’s worth checking out. I’m so grateful that you came on the podcast today because I just I think it’s something people don’t understand. I think it’s for the ultra rich when it can really just save you time and energy.

[00:27:14.725]

So thanks for coming on. Yeah. Thank you so much. I’m really honored. OK, I hope this episode was helpful. A lot of what I do on this podcast and on my website is just kind of demystify health care. And I think this is a really attractive option for families, the ability to just text him to see if something’s a problem. We had pretty severe allergies earlier this spring and I was just like, do you have any thoughts on how to know if it is covered?

[00:27:38.575]

And covid testing was like a big fat mess. And so it was just so nice to be able to email him. I didn’t need to see him, but he just gave me some articles to look at and some things to think about. This type of care is just handy for busy moms. I have to say. We don’t have to be seen for everything. You can be seen. I just love it, guys. And as I mentioned in the episode, it actually ends up being even Steven for us in our crazy HealthShare.

[00:28:00.055]

And so I would just encourage you to think about how you can conserve on your health care dollar. You know, if you’re spending more than two hundred dollars a month on a lot of office visits for your family say you get a lot of earaches. Oh, my gosh. We could have saved a lot of money for Eric’s back in the day. He can see you and see if he thinks the bones broken. He can get an x ray.

[00:28:17.605]

He could either set it or he could. Send you to a doctor, if he really felt like he needed you needed something more, but at least then you have an opinion on it versus just like a lot of doctors will just look at the X-ray and just send you away. So it’s an option, guys, and it’s not a crazy expensive option. As I said, it’s about two hundred dollars a month. But if you have a super high deductible, if you’ve made the decision that you’re going to save on health insurance by having this high deductible, you know, maybe you put some of that savings towards a dpk to some to think about.

[00:28:43.955]

Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope we help smooth out a few of the snarls in your life. We drop an episode every Monday and we always appreciate it when you guys share and review until next time. We hope you have a tangle free day.

The post Using a Direct Primary Care Membership with Dr Bradley Shumway – Episode 086 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Using the wrong type of sunscreen can seep into the pores of your sweet little children and hurt them long term. What are the RIGHT types of sunscreens we should be using, especially with our kids (and frankly, for our own faces).

Today’s guest is Dr Samantha Radford from Evidence-Based Mommy. She is a former chemist with focus in public health. She has a whole course on safe chemical usage for families. I love that she has the science to tell us what’s safest for our families.

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines. If you’re in a routine things like picking the right types of sunscreen isn’t something you’ll push off to another time. You’ll have time to make better choices because the main things in life “take care of themselves”.

Safe Sunscreen for Families

Why we need to concerned with the types of sunscreen we’re putting on our kids.

Organic vs mineral sunscreen

Why you might want to re-think spray sunscreen.

Why you want to avoid nanoparticles in sunscreen

The beloved rash guard and how it helps

The sunscreens Samantha recommends:

• Badger Baby Sunscreen
• Baby Bum
• Think Baby Sunscreen

How to balance just getting sunscreen on vs having it be the safest.

Remembering the stress we’re experiencing about sunscreen can also be damaging.

Other Information About Chemical Safety for Families:

Samantha’s article on the safest sunscreens for kids

Podcast episode on the safest cleaning chemicals during pregnancy and for families

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out my other parenting podcasts:

Check out all my podcasts:

Transcript

[00:00:00.355] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on Episode 81, we are talking about all the ways that I have ruined my kids. Oh, the more we learn as parents and science and all these kind of things, I’ve done everything wrong. But today we’re just going to talk about sunscreen. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:25.485] – Hilary Erickson

Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast, I’m Hilary, your curly headed host on the podcast, where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting and home routines. I want you to know that there are no right answers for every family. And I find that simplifying my priorities is almost always the answer. It’s tangled just like my hair.

[00:00:50.435] – Hilary Erickson

OK, guys, I need reviews. I don’t know how many more ways I can say it. Please review. It really helps.

[00:00:55.985] – Hilary Erickson

OK, so the sunscreen now is super overwhelming for me and I buy a lot of it. In Arizona. We swim very frequently. We do not have a pool at our house, but we have pools that we… Friends are so generous to let us come play in. It’s so hot here. You got to do it. But when my friend Samantha, who has been on she was on a previous episode all about cleaning supplies that are safe to use while you’re pregnant or with babies, which she mentioned that she knew a lot about sunscreen.

[00:01:20.195] – Hilary Erickson

So I was like, hello, bingo, let’s do that before it heads into summer. So spring breaks right about now. And we will be heading into the time when we’re buying sunscreen more frequently. So I wanted to get you guys prepared before we hit that sunscreen now. So today’s guest is the evidence based mommy she’s been on before. She has a p h d in this kind of stuff, guys like her doctorate was in helping us protect our pregnant bodies and babies and kids from malicious chemicals that are out there.

[00:01:46.115] – Hilary Erickson

So I want to introduce my friend today, Samantha Radford.

[00:01:51.115] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of the Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Family Routines How to Automate Your Housewife Life. Ever wish life was more like you pictured? It would be before you had kids being able to spend less time at the mundane tasks and more time teaching kids the fun and valuable life skills.

[00:02:05.815] – Hilary Erickson

You know, they need. Family routines, teaches families to simplify daily tasks into routines that help them feel more peace and joy.

[00:02:13.285] – Hilary Erickson

Save 15 percent with the coupon code UNTANGLED. You can find it at pullingcurls.com in the menu under courses or in this episode show notes.

[00:02:24.575] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, Samantha, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:02:27.485] – Samantha Radford

Hey, Hilary, good to see you or hear you.

[00:02:29.825] – Hilary Erickson

We see each other, guys, I record these on Zoom so people can see my barely washed face.

[00:02:38.845] – Hilary Erickson

OK, so we’re getting into spring break season. Actually, I think my spring break is already passed by the time this airs. But I live in Arizona, so sunscreen is super important here. I have like a whole shelf devoted. Oh yes. Sunscreen because… yeah. So I wanted Samantha mentioned that she knows a lot about sunscreen safety. And I was like, that’s fascinating because the more I’m like following people on Instagram. Ah, tick tock. You really know about this stuff.

[00:03:02.885] – Hilary Erickson

I’m like, I’m pretty sure I’m doing this wrong. So I definitely don’t want to waste all the time that I’m using to tell my kids to put on sunscreen. So let’s do it right. OK, so what can go wrong with sunscreen? What could we be doing wrong?

[00:03:14.165] – Samantha Radford

I mean, the main thing that at least I’m concerned with as a chemist is like what your sunscreen is made out of and what kinds of health effects those ingredients can have.

[00:03:26.495] – Samantha Radford

So, of course, there’s also application and all that stuff too, which is a whole nother thing, but especially if you’ve got babies or little ones because their skin allows stuff to absorb through more easily than we can as an adult or even if you’re pregnant. Sunscreen, I think up to four percent of one of the active ingredients gets absorbed through your skin into your bloodstream, and then it can make it into the placenta and so it can cross to your baby.

[00:03:53.255] – Samantha Radford

So there’s just a lot to be aware of that you might not be thinking about. I see your face looks very concerned now.

[00:03:58.805] – Hilary Erickson

I’m really I’m really well, my kids are teenagers, so I’ve already screwed them up as much as I’m going to get going.

[00:04:07.745] – Samantha Radford

So if you are listening to this and that’s exactly what your thinking is. Oh, dear God. But I already had my kids is going to be OK. That’s kind of one of the things about knowing about these toxicants in general is that we can get so wrapped up in it that it paralyzes us.

[00:04:23.915] – Samantha Radford

So do what you can moving forward. Don’t panic about the past that you can’t change.

[00:04:29.525] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, like my kids haven’t grown another eye, so I feel really good.

[00:04:33.065] – Samantha Radford

Right? Like it is probably OK. It’s just all like a statistics thing, increasing chances from very, very many to still pretty much new different things like.

[00:04:44.525] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, yeah. Is there a specific thing in sunscreen we should be not wanting?

[00:04:49.055] – Samantha Radford

So there are kind of like two main classes of sunscreens.

[00:04:53.495] – Samantha Radford

There are physical or mineral sunscreens and there’s organic sunscreens. So when we say organic, we don’t mean like organic food, like crunchy organic, we mean more like carbon based sunscreens.

[00:05:06.905] – Samantha Radford

So those sunscreens, the way they work is basically you apply them to your skin. And whenever UV light from the sun hits them, a chemical reaction occurs and that chemical reaction happens on the skin. And so instead of the UV light, like entering into your skin cells and causing damage, instead, they just like work on the sunscreen instead. And so it mitigates the harmfulness of the UV light.

[00:05:34.165] – Hilary Erickson

And that’s probably what most of us have used up till now.

[00:05:37.025] – Samantha Radford

Yes. So the organic sunscreens are lighter weight. They’re easy to put into a spray like they feel better. So, yeah, a lot of times it’s just we reach for because they just they feel better. So the other one, like I said, those are mineral sunscreens. So those are ones that either have like titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. So they’re the ones that are thicker and leaves that feeling on you kind of slimy. And if you’re already pretty fair like me, they turn you into like just this white amazing this and the way they work, they’re like physical sunscreen.

[00:06:11.855] – Samantha Radford

So basically the little particles of zinc or titanium act is tiny, tiny mirrors that just reflect the sun like the UV light away. And so they don’t feel as nice, but they’re actually the safer ones.

[00:06:25.885] – Hilary Erickson

So you’re like on Twilight, where they sparkle.

[00:06:29.025] – Samantha Radford

Yes, yes, yes.

[00:06:30.605] – Hilary Erickson

As you can tell your kids, that shouldn’t be watching Twilight, so maybe they’ll have fun. OK, so those. Yeah, because I’m just starting to hear about mineral. Sounds great. Now I have I mean, back in the day when I was little, I think I’m older than you. We used to put zinc on our nose. Yeah. Like zinc oxide. And it was really cool because you could do with colors or whatever.

[00:06:48.845] – Hilary Erickson

So that would be a mineral.

[00:06:50.285] – Samantha Radford

Yes. You see the words zinc or titanium. That’s going to be a mineral sunscreen. That’s a good option. And there’s sunscreens now that are combined, like they might have some titanium dioxide, but also have some organic stuff. So if you see the word or the phrase, I guess Oxi somewhere in the name, like oxybenzone is a big one, then it’s going to be an organic sunscreen. There’s lots of different ones.

[00:07:13.925] – Samantha Radford

They don’t always have that Oxy thing in there, but that’s a good way to know real quick. But basically, if it’s not a mineral one, that’s. To have titanium or zinc, it’s the other type, an organic one.

[00:07:27.655] – Hilary Erickson

Are there specific chemicals that have been in sunscreens that we need to watch out for? Or is there a way that we could just know and we’re like going to Wal-Mart?

[00:07:35.705] – Samantha Radford

If you go if you just go for the titanium dioxide or for the zinc oxide?

[00:07:41.815] – Samantha Radford

That’s the best way to go.

[00:07:43.435] – Hilary Erickson

Do they sell those as a spray? Said the lazy mom.

[00:07:46.015] – Samantha Radford

OK, let’s talk about sprays, too. Since since you ask. They do sometimes. OK, so one of the concerns that’s actually a whole nother thing, whether you choose organic or mineral. The thing with the sprays is that when you spray it, you’re likely to inhale it. Right. And so then you’re getting like an even more direct exposure to whatever compounds that are potentially hazardous.

[00:08:10.675] – Samantha Radford

So your options are to be slightly less lazy, which I understand is not awesome when you’re trying to get sunblock on like three little kids. Like I get with a pain, that is. But you can either do like the lotion form or just make sure you spray onto your hand and then white from there and make sure that your kids cover their face and don’t breathe in while you’re spraying.

[00:08:32.155] – Hilary Erickson

OK, what if you tell them to hold their breath? That’s what I do. I’m like, shut your mouth algebra. Like you’re still probably not as helpful. So as a mom of teenage boys, I just feel weird, like slathering them up with sunscreen. And so I’ve really enjoyed the spray.

[00:08:47.965] – Samantha Radford

Are they old enough to put their own sunscreen on without scaring them.

[00:08:51.715] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, but, you know, if you lotion, you still have to rub it in, which I guess is kind of awkward.

[00:08:57.595] – Hilary Erickson

But then I make them rub mine in and it’s also awkward.

[00:09:00.235] – Hilary Erickson

So no, no. Yeah.

[00:09:03.185] – Samantha Radford

Oh so back to if you were to use the physical like the mineral sunscreens in a spray form, I believe some of those to use nanoparticle minerals instead of just like regular, very small. So if you get down to like a certain level of size of chemicals, basically we call those nanoparticles and nanoparticles behave very differently just because of their size. And that means that they might we don’t know enough yet, basically, but they might get absorbed into the bloodstream.

[00:09:35.035] – Samantha Radford

And then if they do like, how’s that going to affect us? We’re still not sure yet. So avoid mineral sunscreens that say that they’re like nano particles or say the word nano in there somewhere.

[00:09:47.755] – Hilary Erickson

OK, interesting. So really, we should probably try and avoid the spray when possible. Right.

[00:09:52.555] – Samantha Radford

Because I think more more than likely, I am not sure off the top of my head, if you have to disclose if you’re using nanoparticles versus regular, but I would suspect the sprays would be more likely to have nanoparticles because I mean I mean, that makes sense because they are. Right.

[00:10:08.515] – Hilary Erickson

So, so fine particles, right? Yeah. Or maybe you just use the spray on your back, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And on your chest and your arms you can easily.

[00:10:16.735] – Hilary Erickson

Whose lotion. So there are ways probably to sidestep this and still it’s protective. I am a big fan of the Sun shirt so my kids all have rash guards when we swim because I am horrible like sunscreen.

[00:10:30.295] – Samantha Radford

So that’s actually another thing I wanted to bring up, especially the babies. But even teenagers like you have like just make it easier on yourself and just get them those little swimsuits. Like even now they have little girl swimsuits like even six and seven year old, you know, where they have long sleeved shirts and little shorts or something. And that that just saves you time and effort. And then awkwardness, I guess, is they’re older and you’re not going to miss a spot on their back because it’s a shirt.

[00:10:57.985] – Hilary Erickson

My daughter got the cutest one, a target. So you just kind of have to look around as a mom like it was a it’s a full suit that goes to her wrists. So that was really nice because it’s really cute. Yes. I think as a mom, you kind of have to look out versus just like the the Raschka, the ugly Raschka, which is what I wear is red. But I want my kids to feel confident, but also especially when they’re at a friend’s house, they’re not going to remember the sunscreen.

[00:11:21.055] – Samantha Radford

Yeah. Yeah, that’s true.

[00:11:22.525] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. As your kids get older. So this is good advice. But I, I’m just inside making a vow that we’re not going to put spray on our front part of our body anywhere we can reach with our hands. We’re going to use lotion. Don’t you think that’s like a good happy medium?

[00:11:35.995] – Samantha Radford

Yeah. I mean, I’m thinking I’m so just from my background, like I’m aware of like parts per billion and parts per million levels are enough to sometimes cause issues depending on the particular chemicals.

[00:11:47.455] – Samantha Radford

So even if you choose to just spray your back, some of it’s going to where your shoulders are. It’ll kind of get ahead or is your face and stuff. But I mean, yeah, that can work.

[00:11:57.235] – Hilary Erickson

So it’s still better than nothing. Yeah. Yeah. So there’s that, especially when I had tiny kids, like no one could rub my back and no one could even reach it. Right. Yeah, definitely. Just like don’t spray the face.

[00:12:10.045] – Samantha Radford

That’s like the biggest thing if you’ve got spray sunscreen and that’s what you got so. Well then spray your hand and then rub it.

[00:12:17.905] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. I love Neutrogena sunscreen for my face. Do you have a face. Sunscreen that you like?

[00:12:23.075] – Samantha Radford

Off the top of my head, I don’t so I just kind of use the same thing for, like, everywhere.

[00:12:29.265] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, well, in Arizona I sunscreen every day. OK, OK, so we’re in the summer, so it’s less of a thing.

[00:12:37.445] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. OK, do you have any brands of sunscreen that you like do.

[00:12:40.865] – Samantha Radford

Let me see if I can remember beach bum like the monkey face on it. OK, I have a baby sunscreen. That’s good. Yeah. So I’ve got a couple there. Think baby safe sunscreen. So that’s a great one. It’s got an SPF of 50 plus baby bump. That’s what this one is called. So it’s a mineral sunscreen badger baby sunscreen. So those are all I’m focused more on people with young children.

[00:13:04.505] – Hilary Erickson

So I’m picking babies now as the mom because you probably don’t want to pack 12 cans of sunscreen or bottle. We’re not using you. We can use this on us to.

[00:13:15.155] – Samantha Radford

Right, absolutely. And that’s kind of the thing is there’s no real regulation as to what makes a baby sunscreen versus just sunscreen. So I don’t even know how they decide to market it that way, other than we’ll make more money if we tell people this is for babies. And in fact, you have to watch that because you automatically think like, oh, look, this is baby sunscreen. It must be safe. But a lot of times they have those more toxic mineral sunscreens in them or not minerals sorry, more toxic organic sunscreens in them, which makes sense because it feels smoother and it’s kind of easier to apply and stuff and doesn’t leave you all sticky.

[00:13:53.135] – Samantha Radford

So when people don’t know the difference,

[00:13:55.685] – Hilary Erickson

what about with these mineral ones? Do they wash off faster?

[00:13:58.535] – Samantha Radford

No, not necessarily. Definitely reapply like you’re supposed to and all that. Actually, that’s a good point. So let’s say that for whatever reason, you’re at the beach and the sunscreen that you have, it’s it’s an organic one.

[00:14:12.275] – Samantha Radford

So you have like oxybenzone when they tell you to apply it and then wait ten minutes or twenty minutes or whatever, like they really do mean that partially because you don’t want to wash off of you because you’ll get sunburned and partially because especially if you’re at the ocean. So those that particular sunscreen has been shown to cause problems with the coral reef. So killing off the coral reef, which we know is like a really big deal in a really bad problem.

[00:14:38.915] – Samantha Radford

And so we don’t want to contribute to that. So especially oxybenzone don’t don’t wear it to the beach. But if you do wear it to the beach, make sure that you wait that twenty minutes or whatever that they tell you before you jump in.

[00:14:52.295] – Hilary Erickson

Oh, interesting. So that’s about the creatures. And to me. Yes, yes. When it says reef safe on it. Still the same thing.

[00:14:59.195] – Samantha Radford

If it’s reef safe, I imagine that it’s something that that shouldn’t cause those problems.

[00:15:04.145] – Samantha Radford

So I would be curious if the reef safe ones are mineral sunscreens. I haven’t looked like to notice that, but I would bet that’s what it is interesting because I mean, now I’m worried that if I’m killing coral, it’s likely I’m killing myself, too.

[00:15:22.385] – Hilary Erickson

Well, all right. So we are making a change starting today. So for me, we’ll just use canned sunscreen on our backs, possibly our legs, no more face, sunscreen with the cans and look for more mineral sunscreens. Yes. Even though I really don’t like how they feel. I know I don’t either. Yeah. Is there any tips for making them feel less now.

[00:15:43.505] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. So but definitely worth it. And usually I only just like them right after I put on. And then once you’re in the water and stuff like that, I don’t end up noticing it as much. Do you agree.

[00:15:52.715] – Samantha Radford

Yeah, I would agree with that.

[00:15:54.005] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. I’ll have to check out and see if Neutrogena has a mineral based one. So if I find it I’ll put it in the show notes because there’s usually feels less sticky in general.

[00:16:02.735] – Samantha Radford

I think that why though honestly I think that Neutrogena sunscreen has gotten a bad rap for having hazardous stuff in it.

[00:16:10.685] – Hilary Erickson

Probably. So I’m getting a third eyeball. No.

[00:16:16.235] – Samantha Radford

OK, good information.

[00:16:17.525] – Hilary Erickson

Also, if you guys have a sunscreen brand that you love, that you feel is safe, tell us in the comments. I would love to look them up because sunscreen, we buy it in bulk here

[00:16:26.525] – Samantha Radford

and that’s something else to think about. There’s a lot of like moisturizers or foundations or whatever that have sunscreens in them. And those are almost always going to be organic sunscreens because for cosmetics, like you want something lightweight. So just keep that in mind.

[00:16:41.405] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah.

[00:16:42.185] – Samantha Radford

How do you how much you’re concerned about it, but something to be aware of.

[00:16:45.635] – Hilary Erickson

I do know that some of them have who have used mineral sunscreen people don’t love because then if you have a flash picture or like let’s say you’re a YouTube star, they don’t like the light bouncing off of them and them being all twilight.

[00:16:56.825] – Samantha Radford

Yeah, I could see that.

[00:16:58.445] – Hilary Erickson

So, I mean, obviously, both are usable. Right. And so just pick what works for you in that moment, but maybe more mineral in places where the sun hits a lot, and especially when you’re when you’ve got kids like little little people.

[00:17:12.695] – Hilary Erickson

Yes. Plus, if we trained kids to to know that that’s just how sunscreen feels versus me, then they won’t know the defense. They’ll just assume it’s supposed to be gross and. It’s like when we started using seatbelts, people felt confined. But I don’t feel confined in a seatbelt. It’s just what I do in a car, right. Or like I always have whole wheat bread for our kids and now their grandparents give them white bread. Sometimes I’m like, oh, no, they know white bread exists like the candy of bread.

[00:17:37.995] – Hilary Erickson

My kids are always like they had white bread at their house.

[00:17:41.175] – Hilary Erickson

Exactly. Well, the family’s better than us. It’s fine. Really good information. As we head into summer, guys, check out the labels on your sunscreen. Try and get mineral when possible. All right. Thanks, Samantha. OK, guys. So after we stopped recording, I was just like, oh, Samantha, that is so overwhelming for me because it is also it’s really overwhelming in the makeup section, but maybe we’ll talk more about that later.

[00:18:04.425] – Hilary Erickson

But she said, you know, you have to remember that the stress is also not good for you. So as much as we’re like trying to keep these chemicals out of our bodies, we also need to remember that feeling overwhelmed and frustrated is also bad for our body. So just go there, try and make the best choice that you can. I am going to link to the products that she recommends in the show notes. That way you can either check your aisle or you can buy them on Amazon.

[00:18:26.265] – Hilary Erickson

But I think the more we know, the better we can do. But again, don’t make it a stressful feeling. Just try and do the best that you can, especially just moving forward. Don’t dwell in the past that I in circa two and probably slathered my kid with horrible toxins and maybe that’s why he doesn’t text me back.

[00:18:41.685] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope we help smooth out a few of the snarls in your life. We drop an episode every Monday and we always appreciate it when you guys share and review until next time. We hope you have a tangle free day!

The post Sunscreen Safety with Samantha Radford from Evidence-Based Mommy – Episode 081 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

This episode is about the Covid vaccine and my experience with it. Along with what I have seen as far as studies of the vaccine during pregnancy.

This episode was inspired by

• My post on the Covid Vaccine in Pregnancy
• My post on my experience in the Covid Vaccine Study

In this episode:

I share how I signed-up to get into the study

What my symptoms were like with the shot

How being in the Covid Vaccine Study Works

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out all my podcasts:

00:00:00.120 – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast, it’s a bonus episode! Today we’re talking about covid vaccine. We’re talking infertility, chips in arms, horrible side effects. How will we ever manage this? Let’s untangle it.

00:00:25.750 – Hilary Erickson
Welcome to the Pulling Curls podcast, I’m Hilary, your curly headed host on the podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting and home routines. I want you to know that there are no right answers for every family. And I find that simplifying my priorities is almost always the answer. It’s tangled, just like my hair.

00:00:50.780 – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys, I don’t know where you’re finding this episode from, but I would totally love it if you would subscribe to the Pulling Curls podcast out of your favorite podcast player. I’d love to give you each and every episode that I produce. OK, guys, the coronavirus is coming to an end, right? The vaccine has been approved. And I just finished up my second shot with the vaccine. So I wanted to give you my experience as a test case, as a guinea pig.

00:01:15.410 – Hilary Erickson
So everyone’s like, how did you find out about this? So I applied and maybe maybe I just saw somebody post it on their Instagram stories. And I was like, I want to give this a whirl. I was excited to probably get the vaccine first, but also, I felt like people need to sign up. People of all different shapes and sizes and colors and… Yeah, and then they didn’t call until maybe September. So I got accepted into the AstraZeneca vaccine.

00:01:40.400 – Hilary Erickson
I think I just applied in general. I don’t think I applied to one vaccine or the other, although I have to say I was kind of happy there was the AstraZeneca vaccine. I feel like it’s I thought at the time, see, this is going to tell you how dumb I am that it was a little bit more legit maybe than some of the others, although now in retrospect, the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t look like it’s quite as good as a Moderna.

00:02:01.490 – Hilary Erickson
But also it was a little scary to do the AstraZeneca vaccine, I have to say, because it is a little scary to have a full on new vaccine technology put in your muscle. So anyway, there you go. So in September, they said they were interested in me, but the vaccine was on hold. But they wanted to kind of like vet me out to see if I was a good fit. So at that point, I got about 20 minutes of questions just over the phone asking about weight, height, allergies, past medical history.

00:02:28.310 – Hilary Erickson
If I had something that was preventing me from getting pregnant, I do have an IUD in so that I think it was important to them. But at the end they said, it looks like you are a good candidate and we will be back in touch with you once the vaccine study restarts. So the AstraZeneca vaccine got shut down because there was a lot of Meilin issue myelitis. So the myelin is the sheath. It’s kind of like a covering of your spinal cord.

00:02:51.470 – Hilary Erickson
And that area had been kind of I wouldn’t want to say infected, but it had been bothered by something in a couple of volunteers. And so they stopped the study worldwide. This didn’t happen in the U.S., It happened in another country. But ultimately they decided that it wasn’t due to the vaccine because they only saw the two people that got it and you could just randomly get it also. So other countries restarted their vaccine study and then the US about a month after that, we started theirs.

00:03:14.990 – Hilary Erickson
I feel like the FDA is being very cautious on this. So you can take that as a good thing. But it is kind of slowing everything down. So they then again called me on Election Day, which I almost didn’t answer because I was pretty sure that it was probably just some Polster, which I wanted to ignore. But they said the study is back on and we would love to have you come get it. So on November 4th, I went in, they did again ask me all sorts of questions.

00:03:38.210 – Hilary Erickson
Oh, they also asked me what medication I’m on. They ask that every single week if the medications that I’m on have changed, I’m sure if you’re on an antibiotic or you change to a different type of medication that can have an effect on the vaccine. I only take really like a Zyrtec probably five days out of the week. And that’s pretty much the only medication I’m on. So I’m a good candidate. In that case, I did have a blood draw.

00:03:59.480 – Hilary Erickson
I had to pee in a cup so they can make sure that I wasn’t pregnant at the time. I had to have a physical with a doctor, which is pretty minimal. I know he didn’t do very much. They did two covid tests on me, one where it’s like a thinner swab that just goes up instead of in your nostril for a minute, which I don’t love either. But then they also did the brain tickle that goes all the way up, which honestly, both of them weren’t pretty fun, I was trying to decide if I didn’t like the blood draw or that a covered test worse.

00:04:23.660 – Hilary Erickson
That’s a hard choice for me. So. And then I go back every two weeks for I think almost three or four months, probably four months of going every two weeks where they again draw blood. So I had the first vaccine. I had a follow up two weeks later. And then two weeks after that, I went back for my second vaccine again. Same time, I had to have a blood draw. I had to do a pregnancy test.

00:04:43.760 – Hilary Erickson
They didn’t do a physical that time. After that, I just got the covid test where it just sits in your nostril. And I think I get that every single time. I asked them if they run that and they said they don’t unless I show up having symptoms later on, they’re very clear that if you have covid symptoms, you need to call them. I don’t know if they send you a kit or if you go back to that for the covid testing.

00:05:03.110 – Hilary Erickson
So I got my second shot on December 2nd. Just a side note, when you do these shots for a whole week after you have to do a daily e-diary where you take your temperature, you measure the redness around the vaccine area, and they ask you if you have soreness or tenderness, nausea, vomiting, headache, general malaise, muscle aches. So you go through all that. You do that every single day after the test. So for me, when they gave the shot, it stung a lot.

00:05:27.770 – Hilary Erickson
So I don’t know if that is the nurse or the shot ingredients, but it’s stung more than I’ve had on other vaccines. I’ve had a lot of shots at my time and I’ve also had a lot of practice shots on my arm. So there’s that. But then after that, it didn’t hurt at all. I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that it was sore. So that was on the first one. I also had like a low grade fever, maybe that.

00:05:46.450 – Hilary Erickson
Night, and that was about it, maybe some muscle aches, but really not too much like on a pain scale or like how it inhibited, like activities of daily living, maybe a two. I mean, not much at all. On the second shot, it was even less, maybe a one on the pain scale. My arm was sore a little bit red. That’s it. I didn’t really notice a fever. I was kind of like ornery.

00:06:08.380 – Hilary Erickson
The next weekend, though, could have been four million things covid. But honestly, side effects very, very minimal. And they also said that for the AstraZeneca shot, they have found that the side effects on the second one are even less than on the first one. So did I get the shot? I don’t know. So in the AstraZeneca study, sixty six percent of the people get the shot and 33 percent don’t get the shot. So I 100 percent believe that I could have placebo’ed my body into thinking that I got the vaccine when I did it.

00:06:36.040 – Hilary Erickson
I didn’t have anything that was, like, so crazy that I couldn’t have, like, made that up in my body. And because my symptoms were even less the second time, I am a little bit concerned that I didn’t get it the first time. I was like, oh, I’m pretty sure I got it, especially with the redness and stuff like that. I don’t think you would get that with just a SAILIN shot because you either get the vaccine that AstraZeneca has created or you get just a shot of SAILIN, which, as far as I remember from nursing school, maybe my arm was a little sore in that area, but I don’t remember it being, like, sore to move my muscle.

00:07:04.120 – Hilary Erickson
So as far as payment, I do get paid one hundred dollars. Every time I go into the clinic, they follow me for two years. So I think for the first three months or so, it’s that every two weeks where they were just following up really frequently. I know that the FDA wants to have two months of data in order to be submitted to the FDA. They want two months of data on every person just to know kind of how it’s affecting you.

00:07:24.910 – Hilary Erickson
I have seen a lot of people saying online that the vaccine goes in, it triggers your immune system, and then it’s really out of your system fairly quickly. So I know a lot of people are like, oh, the long term side effects of a vaccine. And people are saying that that’s just not something that we’re going to see. So am I glad that I did it? I am. But today I took an antibody test and I was really hoping that it would show that I had antibodies and it was negative.

00:07:47.770 – Hilary Erickson
So I am 14 days from the last immunization today. So I kind of thought antibodies would show up. But even I asked the doctor, because every time you go in, you do have to counsel with a physician and they are an actual doctor, not just like a doctor of studying things, but they did say they weren’t sure that it would show antibodies even if I got the shot. And I’m not sure what that means. I’ve tried to google around as to what kind of antibodies you get when you get the shot.

00:08:13.210 – Hilary Erickson
So I don’t know, that apparently is top secret information. Also, the AstraZeneca study is showing that it is… The dosage that I got because I believe that I got the same dosage both times, it is not as effective or not nearly. It’s like 60 percent effective versus Moderna, which was like ninety five percent effective. So at this point, did the shot not work? Did I get the placebo or did the test not work or is it not testing for what the antibodies would be for the vaccine?

00:08:38.800 – Hilary Erickson
One last thing, of course, being a former labor and delivery nurse, I am wondering what what to recommend to pregnant women since I do a lot of pregnant women stuff on the Internet. Man, that is a hard choice. All of the professional organizations have come out saying that they do not believe that it should be withheld from pregnant women, which I agree. I think people should be able to make their own choice. They’re upset that pregnant women were not included in the study.

00:09:01.510 – Hilary Erickson
But I have to say that that would be a tough one for them to really put in the study. I think I don’t know. People are so sue-happy for anything about pregnancy that… I think lawyers have created that problem on their own. I don’t know how we fix it, but if I was pregnant, I probably wouldn’t be in the first round to get it. I’d probably let everyone else to the hospital get it first and then just kind of see how I’m doing, especially if I was early in pregnancy.

00:09:23.620 – Hilary Erickson
Now, for later in pregnancy, things are less likely to affect the baby. Most important stuff has been formed, so it’s just hard to make the choice. I would definitely talk with my provider about it and I just watch kind of the data and stuff. The reality is that most people are going to be offered this vaccine for a few months and there are going to be pregnant ICU nurses that make the choice that they’re going to get. And I think one of the things that I was really happy to see come out, a call came out and said, we really need to support whatever the pregnant woman wants to do.

00:09:50.710 – Hilary Erickson
If she wants to get the vaccine, let’s give it to her. If she doesn’t want to get the vaccine, that means that we really need to continue to wear a mask around those women to perform proper hand hygiene so that those women who are at a higher risk of complications due to covid can still be safe. So I think that is the most important thing that comes out of all of these studies. Let’s support pregnant women, the choice that they make and let’s not crap on people for the choice that they’re making, because I did a series on Tik Tok.

00:10:15.790 – Hilary Erickson
I can’t tell you how many people came on and told me what a horrible idea was to even consider getting a covid vaccine. And I just don’t agree. everybody’s different. We’re all going to have to make our own moves. You have… If you don’t work at the hospital, you don’t understand how stressful it is to be in the hospital with this possibly lethal thing. And you’re in a high risk category and you’re with it all the time. So, let’s just support each other.

00:10:37.510 – Hilary Erickson
Why did I do this episode? I think the vaccine is really important and I just want to get the information out there that the the side effects for me, which I didn’t get the ones that are approved right now, but the side effects were very, very minimal. I have a 16 year old who keeps telling me that the side effects from the shot are going to be worse than the actual covid. And I’m like, Spencer, you saw me get the shot.

00:10:59.370 – Hilary Erickson
Was it that bad? And he’s like, well, no. But because he’s reading this crap online, he’s like, not he’s not engaging with the first hand information that he had in that. No, it wasn’t that bad. And and people should get it. So that’s really why I’m doing this podcast. If you have any questions, I would just encourage you to talk with your provider. You can always ask them in the show notes. This is like our third bonus episode at Pullingcurls.com, and I’d be happy to answer whatever I can on my end.

00:11:24.930 – Hilary Erickson
I’m not like an expert on vaccines, although I have probably given a thousand, I don’t know, tens of thousands of vaccines at this point. So I am a believer in vaccines and I do believe that they are the thing that’s probably going to send us back to normal, although proper testing and drugs can help along the way as well, because I don’t think we’re going to eradicate this just with vaccines. It’s still going to be out there. But that’s my experience with the covid vaccine.

00:11:47.430 – Hilary Erickson
I just wanted to let you guys know and let you guys know that I’m a strong supporter of it. And I don’t want your anti vax stuff over on my blog because I’ll just delete it. I have all the powers over Pulling Curls. Wish I had so much powers over covid.

00:11:59.520 – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope we help smooth out a few of the snarls in your life. We drop an episode every Monday and we always appreciate it when you guys share and review. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.

The post The Covid Vaccine & My Experience in the Study – Bonus Episode #3 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Like most moms and nurses, Covid took its toll on me and I anxiously waited the arrival of a vaccination.

When I saw on Instagram that regular humans could sign up to participate in the trial, I eagerly did sign up.

I thought nothing of it. I’m a white woman in Arizona — but maybe….

In September I got a call doing a pre-screening of me to be in the trial. They told me that the trial was currently on pause due to some neurological symptoms that participants had experienced. That pre-screen took about 20 minutes over the phone. They said that I seemed to be a good candidate and they would contact me as soon as the trial was resumed.

I got a text mid October saying I was still on the list, but the trial was still on pause (but was resumed in other countries).

Participating in the Covid Vaccine Trial

On Election Day 2020 (November 3) I got the call that the trial had resumed and they’d love to have me come in. They did some more prescreening (making sure nothing had changed) and said I was still a good candidate. I made an appointment to come in the next day and go through a bit more screening. As long as I was still a good match, I would get the vaccine that day.

Testing Prior to Recieving a Trial Covid Vaccine

On November 4th I went in. At that time I did:

• Urine pregnancy test — one of the BIG questions is if I was/could become pregnant, and because I have an IUD I am a good female candidate
• Blood work — I think they checked for antibodies… and other stuff?
• 2 Covid swabs (one all the way up which I fondly call the brain tickle, and another one that I held in my nose for one minute)
• A brief physical exam
• Consents

Consent for the Covid Vaccine Trial

There was about 30 pages of consents for the vaccine trial.

• The initial consent
  • Explains the full process
  • That I can drop out at absolutely any time I want
  • What risks and benfits there are to the trial
  • What side effects I could experience
  • How many visits I would have
  • Compensation
• A special consent due to the myelitis experienced by previous volunteers
• An extra consent for DNA tests to see why my vaccine may work better or worse than other people.

I read these ahead of time, and was able to thoroughly have any questions answered. Questions I had included:

• When the test would be un-blinded and I would know if I got the real vaccine
• If I didn’t get the real vaccine, when could I get it

They were as thorough with their answers as they could be.

Covid Vaccine Administration

I was then given the Covid Vaccine. It was a simple jab to the arm, it did sting a LOT. I have gotten a lot of shots in my time. It didn’t feel “sharp” it felt “stinging”… so, take that for what it’s worth.

The pain was immediately gone after the shot.

Covid Vaccine Tracking

At the same time I was asked to track any symptoms over the next 7 days with an ediary that I installed on my phone.

I was also given my $100 dollars on a debit card which they would just reload each time I came in (convenient, right?).

After the vaccine was given, they watched me for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t have any negative effects and then I could leave.

The initial visit took about 2 hours, but they said it wasn’t as busy of a day.

I will return 2 weeks later for a quick blood draw and a covid test.

And then 2 weeks later for more blood, another covid test and my 2nd immunization.

Covid Vaccine Side Effects

Day 1

While the shot itself stung a lot. I didn’t hurt at all once she was done. I got the vaccine at about 1 pm on a Tuesday

Day 2

During the middle of the night I noticed my arm was sore. Similar to when you get a flu shot (not as bad as tetnus though).

That afternoon about 2 pm I noticed I felt a few chills and felt warm. I took my temperature and it was 99.2. I tend to run low, so this is definitely a low-grade fever for me.

Arm continued to be sore.

My stomach was a bit off at dinner time and I just felt an overall blah. However, nothing I couldn’t have powered through very easily. I, of course, chose to lay on the couch and watch netflix though.

Day 3

Still felt a bit warm in the morning, but temperature read 98.7 (still about a degree above what I normally run but “normal”)

Arm was still sore — but felt fine.

I did go on a short walk with my husband and I noticed I got winded a bit more than usual. Could just be the nurse in me looking for symptoms

Day 4

I now notice that my arm is red where they gave it. They gave it a bit off to the side and in the back where I don’t know if I just didn’t notice it before (I can barely see it). It is about 1/2 a cm of redness.

Otherwise I feel fine. No hot feelings and my temp was 97.2 this morning

I am asked each morning about symptoms in the last 24 hours including:

• Headache
• Nausea/Vomiting
• Sore Arm
• “Tender” arm (I am guessing this means at the injection site)
• Redness at the injection site
• I am asked to take my temperature with their provided thermometer each day and “chart” it in the app

First Week

By day seven my arm didn’t hurt at all. It is still a little bit red. No major symptoms, didn’t feel all that much like “crud” with shot #1.

Covid Vaccine #2

I got my 2nd vaccine in the series on December 2nd. In between the 1st and the 2nd I had a check-up where they did a blood draw and I saw the doctor briefly. I am paid $100 for every visit.

Day 1

This shot didn’t sting at all. She placed it better on my muscle, and I am pretty sure it was the same nurse the 2nd time. Hardly any pain with administration at all. Or for the next 12 hours.

Day 2

About 12 hours later, arm was mildly sore. I felt like it was LESS sore than the first time.

My temperature is always low, but it was a bit elevated the next night — but I felt pretty much fine.

Day 3-5

I did end up with a monstrous headache that weekend and just felt blech. Not sure if it was related, but I had a hard time getting it to go away.

Arm maybe ad 2-5 mm of redness. Less the 2nd time than the first, I think.

After that I have felt fine. The side effects on vaccine #2 were definitely far less than the first one.

How long am I in the vaccine study?

The study lasts 2 years. I will see them about 6 times in these first 3 months. In total I think I have 9 appointments. I will have a weekly phone call with them also.

If I were to have Covid symptoms it involves more visits.

Did I get the Covid vaccine?

There is a 33% chance that I got saline vs the Covid vaccine. I did ask them if they were testing doses or whatnot. They said no, that you either get the standard dose of the Covid Vaccine or you get saline.

So, officially, I have no idea. The study is a double-blind study. Which means neither the person administering the shot, nor myself know which vaccine I am getting.

They bring one vaccine up in a clear box with paperwork that matches my participant ID. It is obviously done by someone else I will never meet.

I mean, I am a nurse — so I am WELL acquainted with the effects of a placebo.

However, I felt my arm was 100% fine following the vaccine, and then awoke to a sore arm during the night. I did have a low-grade fever (confirmed on two other thermometers) and there is redness at the injection site.

There is no redness where they drew blood.

So, I tend to think I got it?

I am also VERY hopeful I got it. But I was also willing to be a saline person too. Just hopeful.

Was I Nervous to be a Covid Vaccine Trial Participant?

Initially, no. I was excited and hopeful.

But, once I got screened — that little voice in the back of my head said “are you sure?”

And then when they called that voice got a bit louder, especially as they disclosed the neurological symptoms seen in some participants.

The phase 1 study particpants are REALLY brave, as it was a small number on a never-before tested treatment.

In phase 2 they gave it to well over a thousand people.

So, as I am in phase 3 I feel like it is pretty well studied….

Of course, there is always me. As I always tell patients they can’t predict from a study what will happen to them. So, I was a bit nervous.

But I am a strong believer in vaccines.

I worked for a pediatrician right out of nursing school and gave probably hundreds of vaccines to crying kids because I believe in them.

As an RN later on I have probably given thousands at this point.

So, it’s time to put my body were my mouth is (?). Do I really believe in them? Do I believe they are important? Yes.

I also believe hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lives will be saved once vaccines are readily available. So, let’s do this.

FAQ’s about the Covid Vaccine Trial

Any other questions — ask me in the comments. I can either add them to the faq’s or answer there (as long as you’re not asking me if I prayed or telling me I’m evil — I will just delete those).

Also, if you want to watch the video — check out my Instagram Covid-19 Stories.

The post Covid Vaccine Trial: A Nurse’s Experience appeared first on Pulling Curls.