The pill is called Dronabinol, it consists of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is the main ingredient in marijuana.

Reportedly, the pill has been proven to provide relief for AIDS and chemotherapy patients.

I know everything about this baby. And I know…I was gonna say what it was. I know the baby’s name. Of course I know what it is, and I’ve seen HIS little face. She has a 4D picture…Oh.

The ‘Love & War’ singer recently confirmed her pregnancy and is in her last trimester.

No one really likes going to the doctor. There is always that fear your physician will find something wrong and if you are feeling some aches or pains, you hope you can ignore it and whatever it is will go away on its own, nothing more than a minor, passing inconvenience.

But ignorance is no excuse – especially when it comes to heart disease and African Americans.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S. For African Americans, nearly 45 percent of men and 47 percent of women have cardiovascular disease.

There are several risk factors that can lead to heart disease; a major one is high blood pressure. African Americans are more likely to have high blood pressure and develop it earlier in life compared to whites and left unmanaged, it increases the likelihood of developing heart disease.

People with type 2 diabetes, often caused by poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise, also are at an increased risk for heart disease and stroke. African Americans are 1.4 times more likely to develop diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. In the 65-74 age group, the risk is two-fold, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The National Stroke Association reports stroke is the fourth cause of death in the country, with more than 750,000 people experiencing a stroke annually. African Americans are two times more likely to die from stroke than any other racial group. Women of all races are more susceptible, with 55,000 more women suffering a fatal stroke each year than men. Statistics from the National Stroke Association show that 80 percent of strokes are preventable, with proper health care and a healthy lifestyle.

Diet, exercise, regular checkups are routinely recommended. But in case you missed the message the first dozen times, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin is calling on the public and health care professionals to join an effort to help African Americans stave off heart disease and related issues.

Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017, by educating the public and health care professionals and bringing together diverse partners from across the country to fight heart disease and stroke.

According to the Journal of the International Headache Society, who questioned 800 migraine sufferers and 200 headache sufferers about their struggles; over half of them claimed that after having sex with their partners their pain subsided.

Volgman, who is the center’s medical director, has published numerous articles about women and heart disease and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. WomenHeart is the nation’s only patient-centered organization supporting the 42 million women living with heart disease. The non-profit charity also provides all of these services for free.

“In 12 years of practicing cardiology before opening the Rush Heart Center for Women the message I heard from my patients was their doctors didn’t listen to them. Some women who came to Rush felt the doctors made a conclusion about what was wrong with them the minute they walked through the door. They were diagnosed, not with a problem with their hearts, but rather with a problem in their heads,” Volgman told Today’s Chicago Woman.

“Many women were told not to worry about their hearts since the problem was most likely just stress or anxiety. In my practice, 95 percent of these women turned out to have heart conditions, which were often missed by the previous doctors. It’s no wonder there have been more women than men dying from heart disease since 1984.”

According to the American Heart Association, every minute in the United States, someone’s wife, mother, daughter or sister dies from heart disease, stroke or other form of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

A third of women, overall, and nearly half of black American women are living with CVD. Heart disease death rates have declined steadily over the last 25 years for men, but the decline has been significantly lower for women, the AHA said.

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Dr. Rachael Ross is worried about the state of male-female relationships, based in part on a conversation with a teenaged patient who told her, when asked if he had a Valentine, that he liked a girl well enough for sex, but not enough for a relationship because “these girls be on them games.”

The image of Valentine’s Day is that of romance, flowers, candy and true love, but Ross said she feared that is not the growing trend.

“The future of male/female relationships appears to be headed in a terrible direction…it’s on a downward spiral,” Ross said in a recent Facebook post.

Ross is known as a no-holds-barred speaker known who openly discusses relationships, sex, health, abstinence &/comprehensive sex education for teenagers, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

For Valentine’s Day, she is interested in helping to keep romance alive and to show young people there is more to sex than just a hookup.

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Catrise Austin has been called the dentist to the stars, counting Toni Braxton, Anthony Anderson, Wendy Williams and Paula Abdul among her patients, and winning accolades for her celebrity and concierge service.

But Austin, author of a new book, “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile,” wants the average person to be educated about the importance of good dental health, as well as a winning grin.

Austin, who also is a highly sought-after dentistry expert and motivational speaker, created an educational program and dental consumer self-help guide and was the first dentist in the country to also offer HIV testing to patients during routine dental checkups.

Her attention to health issues beyond dentistry is warranted.

According to the American Academy of Periodontology, oral health is related to other conditions, including stroke, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and certain forms of cancer. Sometimes a dentist can detect a problem during a routine checkup before the symptoms become apparent to you or your physician.

The academy reported that even though approximately three out of four Americans suffer from some form of gum disease – from mild cases of gingivitis, to the more severe form known as periodontitis – only about three percent seek treatment for their gum disease.

Forty-eight percent of lower-income Americans (i.e., those who report household incomes of less than $20,000), according to one study, said they had not seen a dentist in the previous year. Further, one in eight Americans reports having difficulty with normal daily activities because of problems with his or her mouth, teeth and gums, according to the study, and half of Americans said they were currently experiencing one or more oral health conditions.

Community clinics and dental schools often offer low-cost options for those who put off going to the dentist because they lack health insurance. The academy also offers a free online risk assessment test.

“I work tirelessly, tirelessly to get information out…there is connection with your dental health and your overall health and my message and my passion is to get you guys to understand that and to know why it’s so important to go to the dentist,” Austin said when she was honored in 2010 with a BOSS Network award at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in New York.

“And while it’s sexy to work with the entertainment industry,” Austin said, “my passion is to let you guys know that I am here for you.”

Click here for answers to your dental questions.

-Written by Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb

The psychologist and contributing editor and consultant for Black Health Matters believes that black Americans should receive great medical care when warranted, but that it is more important to teach those who are not affected by disease to prevent it and reduce their individual risk factors.

As BlackAmericaWeb.com has pointed out before, black Americans have poor health outcomes in nearly every major disease indicator, either being at higher risk for developing a disease or being more likely to die from it.

(Written by: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com)

Click here for more and answers to your heart  health questions.

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Carolle Jean-Murat, a renowned gynecologist, noted healer and shaman writes that for years she repressed the rituals, beliefs and spiritual grounding of the Voodoo tradition with which she was raised.

Eventually, though, Jean-Murat began to incorporate the traditions into her healing practice.

She also spent 25 years writing “Voodoo in My Blood: A Healer’s Journey from Surgeon to Shaman,” a memoir that explains that Voodoo is not the black magic, animal sacrificing, pin-sticking dolls experience that informs the stereotype of Voodoo.

Jean-Murat grew up in Haiti during the 1950s through the repressive reign of “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier, which divided her family between the educated elite and the practitioners of Voodoo, which was illegal at the time after the Catholic Church was declared Haiti’s official church.

Over time, however, Jean-Murat said, experiences with Voodoo ceremonies stuck with her and she turned to it more and more to help her work and personal life. Voodoo was finally declared legal in 2003.

Jean-Murat settled in San Diego after undergoing training in Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica and post-graduate training in Wisconsin. She quickly developed a reputation as an exceptional ob-gyn, but for years she never shared that whenever a patient entered her office, she could intuitively see the cause of the problem, even before conducting an examination.
She felt uncomfortable trying to make her intuitive powers fit in with Western medicine and eventually quit the traditional practice and created the Dr. Carolle’s Wellness and Retreat Center of San Diego. Her practice has expanded to include female veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sexual trauma during their tours of duty.
Jean-Murat also provides  free gynecological care to Haitians and to underserved women through Catholic Charities and the St. Vincent de Paul Village, as well as Native-American Health programs.

In 1993, Jean-Murat also founded the Health Through Communications Foundation and its Angels For Haiti Project to provide the undeserved with education and health-care. For details, visit http://www.HealthThroughCommunications.org.

Click here for answers to your “Get Well Wednesday” questions.

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There is good news on the horizon in sickle cell research.

Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are exploring a number of ways to stop the disease in its tracks and develop treatment options for young children diagnosed with the ailment.

A disease that primarily affects black Americans, sickle cell disease is caused by a recessive trait in which blood cells are crescent shaped, rather than flat discs. Patients often suffer painful attacks that affect the long bones and the chest and can last from several minutes to days at a time.

Click here for more and answers to your sickle cell anemia questions.