sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Science journalist, with bylines in Nature, National Geographic, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Houston Chronicle. I cover a mixture of health topics, with a focus on conditions such as autism, ADHD, ME/CFS, POTS and Long COVID.
321 posts
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Access is a huge issue, and it’s heartbreaking to watch, knowing how much it can help patients.
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The Ozempic trial for chronic kidney disease was stopped early for efficacy: the death rate in the placebo group was so much higher it was no longer considered ethical to continue the trial.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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I wrote an article last year about the non-weight loss benefits of GLP-1s, and I came away from it with the conclusion that weight loss is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s showing promise for issues such as addiction, chronic kidney disease, infertility…the list goes on.
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And without requiring their wives to do all the shopping/cooking.
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He is
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My husband used to have a jogging route that included all of the neighborhood cats who wanted pets
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That’s the best kind of dangerous
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One of the hills I am willing to die on as a journalist is that facts have meaning, and that forming opinions about these facts is part of being human. We owe it to readers to be transparent about what these facts mean, and what the context is, but forming opinions is perfectly legitimate.
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Same. Pfizer always gave me a fever of 102, the one time I got a Moderna, I got a fever of 104, but Novavax leaves me with just a sore arm. I will cry if I can’t get it for my next booster.
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When my son got RSV as a baby, he bounced back in no time. For me, it turned into bronchitis. I wish they’d make the vaccine available to more people.
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I know I’m about to get a migraine when I start getting excessively thirsty. It’s wild sometimes, the signals that your body sends you.
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That’s awful, I’m so sorry.
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I would like to be able to eat and drink without fear of becoming violently ill from food poisoning. Why is that too much to ask?
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I also hear a lot of POTS worrying about becoming deconditioned, when they are currently at a high enough level of activity. People don’t realize that the bad effects of deconditioning come when you have been bed bound for a period of time.
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And unfortunately, the fact that our medical system is failing so many patients is a big reason why quacks end up gaining a foothold. When you are dismissed, belittled and sick to boot, you end up becoming susceptible to quacks.
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I agree. No one wants to be sick, and it’s terrifying not having an answer.
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I can believe it. I have a track record of seeking out medical care just before major crashes. I think the urgency is my body’s way of telling me that things are about to get worse soon.
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I’m not surprised. I remember when that study came out showing that people with “health anxiety” died earlier. My interpretation of that study was that “health anxiety” was probably just people recognizing they were sick, even when their doctors didn’t.
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I hear a lot of dismissal about the “worried well,” when my suspicion is that a number of them have legitimate reason to be worried, even if they aren’t quite sick yet. People know their bodies.
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Our leaders: “Women may die for giving birth, but that is a risk we are willing to take.”
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I’m in the same boat. I’m grateful I can do what I love, but the fact that it’s not sustainable without support is definitely one of the reasons for our profession’s lack of diversity, which hurts us all.
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In my experience, there are a significant number of people who, when they learn about the science, readjust their thinking about IACCs. It’s often a matter of finding ways of phrasing/describing it so that it makes sense.
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It’s such a different calculation for severe patients
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Thank you. I am always grateful when I get the opportunity to cover these illnesses, and especially grateful for editors that are willing to follow the science.