I’ve lived with back pain for years. About a year ago something strange happened… I was visiting a friend of mine who had often complained of the same type of pain. She told me that she no longer hurt — ever. As you can imagine, I had to know what brought about the change. After…

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Almost 15 years ago, I got a call that no daughter would ever want to get. It was my dad on the phone, and I immediately knew something was wrong. “Your mom’s had a stroke,” he said. “You need to get here right away.” Thankfully my mom is still with us. She fully recovered, and…

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A lot of advances have made life easier, safer and just plain better. Take air conditioning for example. Right now, central air is my best friend — and we’ll become even closer before summer ends. The internet is another huge advance… information on almost anything is at your fingertips. But some advances, like ones used…

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It seems that when most of us think of aging, we only think of our outward appearance — the lines and wrinkles that appear on our faces, the sagging of our jawline and the expansion of our waistline. At best, we might think about how our joints creak or how it’s more of a challenge…

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One of my favorite traditions was always heading to the beach the week after school ended. We would load up the car with all our favorite foods, our boogie boards, swimsuits — and of course sunscreen — and spend a week of fun at the coast. The one thing my kids always knew I was…

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I’m one of the 10-12 million people in the U.S. living with hypothyroidism. In other words, my thyroid doesn’t work well enough to give me the energy I need to keep going, nor does it keep my metabolism running well enough to ward off weight gain. It’s something I’ve struggled with for years, only recently…

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I lived with a miserable problem for almost a year before I worked up the nerve to do anything about it. Instead of talking to my doctor or my husband about it, I just opted out of anything that might trigger an embarrassing situation. If my kids wanted me to play with on them on…

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A year ago yesterday was the anniversary of a very scary time for me. That night, the phone rang just after 11. Since no one ever calls me at that hour (they know that by 10 p.m., I’m out like a light), I knew immediately it had to be an emergency. And it was. One…

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I have to admit it. I love wine, especially with dinner. Just one glass of course. For years research has told us that drinking wine is a heart-healthy habit. After all, wine is made from grapes which are packed with the antioxidant resveratrol which is known to be cardioprotective. However, there’s one big problem that’s…

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I see the term “aging gracefully” being used quite often these days. It probably has different meanings for different people — but for me, aging gracefully is less about what’s on the outside and more about what’s on the inside. It means staying healthy, making sure my heart is in working order, my blood sugar…

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