What is the #1 Killer of Women? Not What You Might Think!

           Breast cancer. This word inspires much fear in most of us and so there is more awareness of this cancer than  just about any other cancer, and breast cancer causes, events, literature, and resources are very popular and high-profile. Indeed, over the years, a tremendous amount of time and money have been poured breast cancer awareness; many women (and a handful of men, as men can get breast cancer too) have come forward with survival stories and have deservedly heralded for theiir courage and strength. I know that lots of time and money are also poured into other cancers but I don't see that happening to near the degree that I see it with breast cancer. When any cause is personal to us, we are natually more passionate about it than any other cause because we can relate to it. And so when people survive a known killer or lose others to it, it naturally moves them to advocacy and action. I have seen more causes and posts, especially on Facebook, on breast cancer than on any other cancer. I have recently gone to a Wal Mart and I have even seen a Breast Cancer Awareness Bible in the Inspirational Books section!  And that is the first Bible of this kind that I have ever seen. There is even a click-to-give site devoted to breast cancer alone. many businesses will sponsor fund-raising campaigns, not to mention numerous nonprofits. And we all know about the famous "Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure" and the Susan G. Koman Foundation. Even Christian bookstores have become aware of this form of cancer, as shown by a few books, such as one titled, "When God and Breast Cancer Meet."
          Believe me, if breast cancer were the only killer of women, I would not begrudge it all the resources, time and tireless advocacy efforts that have and continue to be poured into it. But sadly, breast cancer is, by far, not the biggest killer of women! When I write this, I know that, when you experience a trauma or an illness, no matter what it is and how much awareness it ends up getting, it is never enough.
          What is this #1 killer of all women, especially of women past menopause? It is heart disease! Yes, it's true and at the end of this blog I will provide sources where you can verify this grim and unsettling fact for yourself. Now, we are all well aware of heart disease in men because, traditionally, doctors and other health experts have always taken heart disease in men seriously. Men have been taught to fear heart disease and cancer. I have heard it suggested that a reason that women have been led to fear breast cancer much more than heart disease is not only because it is life-threatening, but because of the cultural idea that the breast is the symbol of female physical beauty and so when that is threatened or gone, many women are devastated. And the fear is not only loss of physical beauty but also the fear of losing attactiveness to spouses or partners as represented by the loss of the perceived symbol of this beauty. A threat of the loss of physical beauty is seen as somehow, in my opinion, as more immediate and more real than the loss of life itself. Also, we typically fear the treatments for breast cancer or other cancers, such as chemotherapy or radiation. Heart disease in women does not seem as threatening because no threat to female beauty is seen as associated with it. Heart disease just seems more mundane, no doubt because, in the free world, it is so commonplace as a cause of death. I have seen far fewer resources and much less awareness about heart disease in women than I have seen about breast cancer. By far!  There are very few fundraising efforts about it, few businesses sponsoring any such and few causes devoted just to women's heart health. This is so unfortunate, for no doubt it is undiagnosed heart disease that kills more women than any of us know of. I'm not aware of how much training docors receive in medical school or during their residencies, concerning how to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease in women (Remember, the female body is not the same as the male body and doesn't this also apply to the female heart?). And so doctors tend not to take symptoms of heart disease in women as seriously or dismiss any female concerns as being "stress," "nerves, or even "PMS"! I think part of all this is because womenhood, itself (pregnancy, menstruation, premenstrual syndrome, menopause) as almost become a disease itself and has been medicalized.
          Health experts tell us that when women get heart attacks, symptoms might show themselves differently from those seen in men. And they also tell us that women are more likely to die of heart attacks than men are. So it seems to me that all women and those who care about them, need to be every bit as concerned, maybe more so, about heart disease than about cancer. However, a few years ago, I did see an Oprah Winfey talk show about women's heart health and so I give her credit for awareness, as one of the few high-profile people who have addressed this issue. Many more resources and much more advocacy and awareness need to go into women's heart health, diagnosis, treatment, and especially prevention. The government have done precious little in this area, including legislation or funding concerning women's heart health awareness, no doubt because because of the lack of of advocacy and awareness of citizens, including women. And health experts tell us that older women, at menopause, are every bit as vulnerable to getting heart disease as are men. During the childbearing years, we women have estrogen, a female hormone, to give us some protection against heart disease. At menopause, we lose this estrogen, a source of heart disease protection and so the heart disease risk climbs.
           I think that we all know that prevention is the key, as it is in most things, in fighting heart disease in both genders. And the methods of prevention for women as pretty much the same as for men: Eat a well-balanced, sensible diet that is low in fat, especially saturated and trans fats, exercise regularly, avoid smoking, control weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, try to keep stress at manageable levels, and more. So I won't go into any more prevention talk here, because so much has been said already. But far more needs to be done about the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women. If we women would fear undiagnosed heart disease and its likely consequence, death or serious disability, as much as we would breast cancer or other cancers, we may be more motivated to action to beat this #1 killer of women as well as men.
          In my family, heart disease, much more than cancer, has been the biggest killer. The women in my family, like no doubt so many other women, have never been diagnosed with heart diease though such a diagnosis and proper treatment may have saved many lives. I wonder how many more of us, like me, have a family history of heart disease rather than a family history of cancer. And a family history of heart disease should concern women every bit as much as men and we women should work as hard, as men, to reduce the risk factors for heart disease and heart attacks, that we do have control over. Through the media and literature, I have heard much earlier and much more frequently about breast cancer and the need for its prevention through doing breast self-exams and getting mammograms, than I have heard about heart disease in women and its prevention. This needs to change so undiagnosed heart disease will stop killing women.
          Because of this insufficient awareness and lack of resources, I have found only one website devoted exclusively to women's heart health, the rest of the resources being more a part of general sites. I hope that this one website will get many more views.

Women and Heart Disease Website
http://womenheart.org/

Comprehensive fact sheet page that answers many women's heart health questions
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/heart-disease.cfm

Face sheet page with many links to resources
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heartdiseaseinwomen.html

Will You Accept Me?

          Acceptance. This is a gift where one person extends to another unconditional favor of the other who he or she is, not for what he or she is. It means valuing another, first and foremost, because he is a human being and not because of what he can do for you. It means that another person can safely disclose his or her personal or private thoughts and emotions and will not be judged or rejected. Acceptance is not to be confused with condoning the inappropriate, wrong or even criminal things another has done in the past or may be doing now, but does mean that even if you have to show "tough love" to another, that you will not reject him. This sounds like it is simple enough, so why have a blog about this? Well, if we accepted each other as people created equal, why is there racism, prejudice, discrimination, and stigma? Why are there so many suicides, divorces, job-hopping, church-hopping, friend-hopping, and why is self-disclosure of many devalued personal qualities still so risky? So maybe this blog on acceptance remains relevant.
          We all assume every child's right to be accepted by both his or her parents. This is why society has set up so many projects, organizations, resources for the purpose of preventing and ending child abuse. When children grow up without being accepted by one or both parents, it will affect him for life. Unless he or she is fortunate enough to possess unusual gifts or talents and opportunities to develop them, along with finding caring adults who take an interest in them, he or she will grow up with lots of baggage, including major trust issues, fears and anxiety and/or anger, self-hatred, even rage and bitterness. When children are not accepted by the adults in their life, we all pay for it later, when we find ourselves at risk because of bullies (of all ages), predators, pedophiles and other kind of criminals.
           It is rejection that motivates a number of shootings in schools, workplaces, the home and other settings. Don't get me wrong: I'm certainly not condoning the experience of rejections as any excuse to use killing self or others to "solve" one's problems. Rejection only provides an explanation for many crimes, violent and nonviolent. It explains lots of bullying that is done, especially in schools, workplaces and the home. It is commonly said that when people feel accepted and valued ffor who they are, they do not need to bully. The point here is that feeling rejected is a potent and demoralizing experience that fuels depression, anger, even bitterness and rage, anxiety, fear, trust issues, and more.
Feelings like these can and do motivate desperate acts that one otherwise would not do, unless one is able to find the resources and support to work through rejection and his baggage.
          I'll always recall that, when I was much younger, I saw a program about the heinous criminal, Charles Manson, that at the end of this program, his reaction to receiving his life sentence was "This is my home." Manson grew up rejected by his parents and was known as "No Name Maddox."
          Acceptance is growing toward the growing number of immigrants in our free societies, thanks in part to churches and nonprofits and other projects which have, and continue to, work hard and dedicate their efforts to re-settle these immigrants and help them assimilate into our culture. These immigrants often are able to use their educational backgrounds to set up their own businesses and achieve success. In face, the very fact of their not only acceptance but often even greater success than any "natives" causes a frequent undercurrent of resentment toward "foreigners" who are often seen as taking resources away from "our own" who are need similar help. I have seen instances where churches have funded placement for the children of immigrants into their church-based schools, a thing that they don't normally do for other children.With the economy being as it is, immigrant reform is a subject of debate. But it is possible to accept and value immigrants and anyone who is foreign-born while supporting measures that crack down on immigration for economic reasons.
After all, our God has created each and every one of us. But we need to continue to help resettle immigrants and help them fit into society.
          What often is overlooked, even in churches who claim to represent a God Who welcomes ALL people in Christ, is that there are many people "among our own" who often struggle with feelings of being strangers in a strange land because they face prejudice, stigmas, ignorance, and lack of accommodations because they have qualities not valued by society. Traditionally, people of racial minority groups, even "our own," have faced much prejudice and discrimination, but thanks to lots of political activism, legislation, courageous advocacy, and awareness, much of this has decreased. Racism is so commonly discussed that I do not feel the need to address it here, only to assure you that it remains alive and well, with an undercurrent of it apparent in how many of us treat the current US President. For he has been the object of many facial slurs, many not fit to be printed. Why have people been so quick to proceed with witch-hunts even about his birth certificate, among other things? Could part of all this be an unconscious racism and jealousy that a man of color hold the highest office in the free world? In fact, it is so bad that on Facebook there is a cause devoted to end the dishonor shown to the President.
          People with various forms of mental illnesses find that acceptance is not a thing to be taken for granted and so it is acceptance that they long for, before anything. There has been a long-time stigma surrounding mental illnesses, though the stigma of certain mental illnesses, like depression (the clinical variety and bipolar disorder) is lessening because of much advocacy and awareness about them. But because of the true crime cases where the suspects and/or the victimizers are often people with suspected or officially diagnosed mental illnesses, the stigma continues and is aggravated every time such a case makes the media headlines. There is a widepread misconception that mental illnesses make a person a threat to society, but most often, the person is a danger to himself because of suicide rather than to others. A diagnosis of most mental illnesses or a history of mental health issues, including receiving psychiatric services or pychiattric residential care, remain risky things to disclose, especially when applying for goods or services like insurance or employment or in romantic relationships. So people will go to great lengths to "remain in the closet" about their mental health issues.
          People with epilepsy and a number of other neurological or medical conditions that remain stigmas, can't take accetance for granted. Many will go to great lengths to cover up their conditions, knowing that self-disclosure of them is risky and exposes them to rejection, prejudice and discrimination. For those with epilepsy, self-disclosure is as risky as disclosing most mental illnesses and often it slams the door shut on many opportunities, including driving, employment and insurance.
When accetance is found, it is so rare that it is treasured. There is a nonprofit, The Talk About It! Foundation, that exists just to undo the stigma of this medical condition.
          People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD's) and other learning or behavioral disorders remain so stigmatized that many go to great lengths to "pass as normal" and over up their differences and challengers, since self-disclosure is risky. Yes, there are a few fortunate peope with ASD's and other, related, differences, who have achieved success, even celebrity status. But for every intance of this, there remain many, many more of these, especially with ASD's, who are unemployed or work in jobs that don't use their abilities or languish in jail or prison, because ignorance of their disabilities has led to injustice. Yes, there are now many more resources and organizations that through advocacy, bring awareness to autism and to other, related learning and behavioral issues. But much more needs to be done. So, for many of these people accetance remains a treasured gift never to be taken for granted.
          Acceptance is essential not only for emotional health but even physical survival, as without it one will have a much harder time finding employment, getting a Driver's License, housing, among other things. If the stigmatized person is fortunate enough to be able to depend on family or friends, his or her quality of life will still be much diminished. The surefire way of working toward acceptance for all is to reduce stigma and this can only be done through breaking codes of silence, as has and is being done concerning sexual crimes, addictions and other things that used to be among the "unmentionable." We need to "talk about it"!
          As for my own experience with this, I have found self-disclosure, especially recently, to be unsuccessful. Growing up with with a history of learning and behavioral issues, epilepsy, and a history of placement in stigmatizing special school and a few residential settings, I have found that disclosing these as well as my present challenges is risky and has slammed the door on opportunities to give and receive support. The words autism, epilepsy, emotional problems, and brain injury, are words that scare people and fuel their prejudices or stereotypes. But non-disclosure and "staying in the closet" will only ensure that these things will remain stigmas for future generations.
          The Bible is clear, that God is the One Who has created each and every one of us and this alone is reason enought to accept each other.