Editor's Diary

New Topic Blogs and an Invitation for Contributors

You may have noticed we've added several new topic blogs. Each blog has several contributors, including myself, who will post interesting news stories as well as commentary and feature articles on topics such as bone health, children's health, celebrity health, cancer, lung health, and more. Our latest additions are Weird Health News and Prescription Drug Watch.

In the spirit of Health Diaries being a health site predominantly "by the people and the patients" rather than medical professionals, all of these blogs feature commentary on health topics by real people. We never give out medical advice but we do express our opinions! If you'd like to apply to be a contributor to our topic blogs or to be a "guest writer" for a day, send an e-mail to editor AT healthdiaries.com.

Envita Natural Medical Centers of America

I was in Coffee Bean yesterday and got talking to someone about health-related issues. He told me about a doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona who runs the Envita Natural Medical Centers of America. The person in Coffee Bean said a friend of his was cured of terminal colon cancer at the center. I thought I'd let you all know about it in case you're researching possible alternative and integrative treatments for cancer. They also treat other diseases and disorders. I'm going to do some research and find out more about it. If anyone's had any experience with them I'd love to have your comments. I'd also love to hear about other integrative cancer centers with which you might have experience.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day! Love you, Mom!

Congratulations to Cody!

Congratulations on your new baby boy, Cody!!!

Got Bones?

May is Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month and in honor of that, we've launched a bone health blog called Got Bones?

In this collaborative blog, we'll be talking about bone health for both men and women, with links to news stories, interviews, and other information. We'll go beyond the news stories to talk about the latest research as well as talk about the different treatments for osteoporosis. We'll also give our opinions on these topics.

Anyone who has bones is invited to contribute and comment. We'd love to have several contributors. Oh, and if you don't have bones you might want to have that checked!

Got Bones?

Michael Moore - Sicko

Michael Moore is working on a new movie called Sicko. This time his target is the health care industry and he's looking for health care horror stories. I'm sure many of you have had some horrific experiences with insurance companies and HMOs, so here's your chance to tell the world about it. Moore writes on his site:

So, if you'd like me to know what you've been through with your insurance company, or what it's been like to have no insurance at all, or how the hospitals and doctors wouldn't treat you (or if they did, how they sent you into poverty trying to pay their crazy bills) ... if you have been abused in any way by this sick, greedy, grubby system and it has caused you or your loved ones great sorrow and pain, let me know.

Visit MichaelMoore.com to learn more and to send him your story.

New Look and New Blogs

Health Diaries is undergoing a bit of a makeover in time for Spring. The site should be easier to navigate and more user-friendly. The change is still in progress so some pages may not be updated with the new features yet. I expect the changes to be finished by the end of the week.

We also have new writers today on the topics of weight loss, hip replacement, and trichotillomania. Welcome Ben, Chas, and Kat!

New Writers on Raw Food and Lymphoma

I'm pleased to welcome two new writers to the site. Mara will be writing about eating a raw food diet in Journey to a 95% Raw Diet and Marilyn will be writing about her battle against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma using an alternative treatment in Lymphomaniac. Look out for several more new writers this week as well.

Dana Reeve and Lung Cancer

I was so sad to hear about the death of Dana Reeve. It's hard to believe that someone who gave so much of herself in caring for her husband, Christopher Reeve, would have her life cut so short. Add to that the fact that she leaves behind a son of 13 who has already been through too much and it becomes a great human tragedy. Because she didn't smoke, many people are wondering what could have caused her lung cancer. Some speculate that the stress of taking care of her husband might have caused it. Others have said she might have been exposed to harmful levels of radon gas, as are tens of thousands of others every year. Perhaps some unknown chemical exposure caused it. Whatever the cause, it's important that our awareness of lung cancer in women be heightened. Lung cancer kills more women every year than breast cancer, yet breast cancer receives much more research funding and awareness. Perhaps that is the one good thing that will come out of Dana Reeve's passing: the realization that lung cancer is not just a "smoker's disease" and that it is a bigger threat to women than breast cancer.

Got News?

If you ever see an interesting health or diet-related news story that hasn't been posted on the site or if you see an interesting health-related post or article on another site that you think deserves a mention, send the link to editor (AT) healthdiaries.com and we'll consider posting it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Record Your Side Effects

In the coming week or so I'll be adding a place where you can record your side effects from different medications. While most other sites print the "most common" side effects, it is befitting a site like Health Diaries, where personal experience is key, to create a section where people can post about the side effects they are experiencing. Before I launch the section, I'd like to have a few experiences to "get it started." Send your prescription medication experiences, good or bad, to editor AT healthdiaries.com. (Remember to replace the "AT" with @ - I post the email address like this to avoid spam to that email address).

Also, I'd like to remind you that you are all invited to submit health and fitness-related articles for publication on the site. Articles must not have been previously published and must be about your first-person experiences. We've received several great articles and I'll be adding them to their appropriate topics in the coming days and weeks. Tell us your experiences with medications, experiences with alternative treatments like acupuncture, or anything else you feel would be of value and interest to our readers. Email your submissions to editor AT healthdiaries.com.

Hope you're all having a great start to the New Year! The new member area is just about ready ... the wait is definitely worth it, I promise!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! See you on the flipside!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! I'll be back at work next week to *finally* unveil the new writers' area and other features. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a healthy and fun holiday!

Still Alive!

I survived my food poisoning and then caught a cold, but I'm still alive! The new Member Area will be up as soon as I fix a thing or two. There's lots of new stuff happening on the site that will be up by the new year.