Links round-up: Week ending October 22, 2011

[also-warriors.livejournal.com]

Welcome to our weekly links round-up. This is a compilation of items from the past week that may be of interest to VPers.

As a reminder, in lieu of trigger warnings, I use keywords describing the themes of the piece. Please skim these before deciding to read the excerpt or click through for the full article. Outside sources are not safe spaces, and mainstream source's comments should almost always be avoided. The links I highlight don't necessarily reflect VP's views, or even my own, for that matter. 

This week's round-up includes: racism/cultural appropriation and Halloween costumes; disability and health care access; racism and hospital births; the movement to end female genital cutting in Senegal; the Black Panther Party's free clothing program; self-love, community, and disability; study finds that same-gender attraction is common, even among straight-identified women; sensationalizing HBC studies; making labels pink doesn't actually help cure breast cancer

( Read more... )

What have you been reading (or writing!) this week?

If you'd like to see an article included in next week's round-up, send me an e-mail at recidivist@vaginapagina.com . Non-US and positive links are especially appreciated. (I can't fit all the awesome links people send, but I'll try to post any that I don't include to Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter.) You can also just take matters into your own hands and post in the comments!

Macrobid for a UTI

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

Hola VPistas,

Monday or Tuesday, I developed a UTI. I went to my university's student health center (I'm a grad student) Wednesday for some antibiotics. I was prescribed Macrobid/nitrofurantoin. However, the health center apparently just has an arsenal of pre-bottled antibiotics, and I was given a bottle of 20 pills (enough for 10 days). The MD I saw told me to just take it for 5 days, so I'd "have enough for another UTI" if I were to get one in the future (which is not unlikely...I've had several over the past few years) and if my symptoms weren't gone by the end of it, I could come back to the health center and get a 7-day prescription for Cipro. I thought that was a strange way to handle antibiotics, but whatever. I was already late for a meeting at that point and I didn't think to question her.

Anyway, I'm on day 4 of the Macrobid and while my symptoms have mostly gone away (the pain and frequency/urgency at least--I am still getting that weird itchy sensation that I can only assume is irritation on the inside of my urethra and bladder...which is a fairly normal symptom for me), I'm wondering if I *should* actually stop the antibiotics after tomorrow. In the past, when I've been prescribed Macrobid for a UTI, it's always been a 7-day course. And from what I've seen online, the standard dose of Macrobid for a UTI is indeed 2x100mg capsules daily for 7 days. I most certainly do not want to have a UTI-relapse and spend a week on Cipro, because a week of Cipro means a week of vomit-y unpleasantness for me.

So...is a 5-day course of Macrobid actually sufficient to treat a UTI, or should I take it for 7 days?

Gracias!

huge cyst/boil on vagina...ouch.

[littlemonster5.livejournal.com]

So I went running tonight and took a shower afterwards when I noticed a huge cyst a little bit above my clitoris. It had pus and immediately popped and started bleeding afterwards. I am pretty sure it's a cyst because it's under the skin and had pus. I did just sleep with somebody for the first time in over a year recently but it was protected. I think my skin might have gotten bothered from the contact though.

What are some remedies I can use to help speed up the healing process? Does anybody notice an increase in acne "down there" after sex (like a boil)? It's not overly painful, just annoying and it has swelled significantly :(


Thanks everybody!

Loestrin and Sleep

[nightmer.livejournal.com]

So, I switched to Junel 1.5/30 (Loestrin) about two months ago and haven't minded it too much so far (despite a few shifts in libido and weight, argh) except for the sleeplessness.  I went from being a night owl who could still fall asleep the moment I wanted to, to someone who lies in bed for hours and still usually stays up til 2 or 3.

I've found research that reports this is a common side effect, but no thoughts about how to alter it.  I was thinking that perhaps taking the pill at 10:30 PM might be adding to the issue, but don't want to switch my time to the morning without some corroboration.  Any advice for people dealing with hormone-related sleep problems?

Also, I had some mood shifts the first month but they seem to have gone away.  Did anyone who suffered from pill-related insomnia have it go away on its own?