Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman's Guide to Better Health

by Mary I. O'Connor M.D., Kanwal L. Haq M.S.

Overview

A practical and extensive resource guide by Mayo Clinic Press for women who want to understand and take charge of their own health, presented in short, easy-to-digest chapters.
 
Women do not always receive the same healthcare as men. In fact, for too long medicine has not recognized that numerous health conditions — like heart disease, stroke, stress, mental health and more — impact women differently than men. Orthopedic surgeon Mary I. O’Connor and medical anthropologist Kanwal L. Haq want to change that by empowering women with knowledge about the current landscape of women’s health, and showing them how to actively engage with their healthcare team.
 
In a groundbreaking publication, Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health, O’Connor and Haq have enlisted 111 leading women physicians and health experts from all across the country to create a practical resource guide for women to improve their health and obtain better healthcare.
 
Taking Care of You is refreshingly supportive and jargon-free, with colorful illustrations to help the reader better understand what can often be dense medical information. Its unique approach includes three main sections:

WOMEN AND THE CURRENT HEALTH LANDSCAPE includes topics like:

• What exactly is “women’s health”
• How to find the right healthcare team
• How to use the internet for medical information
• When to go to urgent care versus the emergency department
• And much more

COMMON CLINICAL CONDITIONS IMPACTING WOMEN focuses on 55 non-reproductive clinical conditions that impact women more than men, or differently than men. They include:

• Breast, lung, cervical, and ovarian cancer
• High blood pressure, cholesterol, blood clots and stroke
• Anxiety, depression, obesity and metabolic syndrome
• Thyroid disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis
• Painful sex, pelvic inflammatory disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, urinary tract infection and incontinence, uterine fibroids and abnormal vaginal bleeding

Each chapter is divided into subsections that explain: 

• What is the condition?
• Can it be prevented? 
• How is it treated? Why does it matter to women? (Including differences related to sex, race and ethnicity)
• Questions to ask your clinician and healthcare team
• Pearls of wisdom from clinical experts

Taking Care of You focuses on activities women can do everyday — like eating well, sleeping and exercising — and how to effectively engage in these pillars of health to take better care of themselves.
Taking Care of You is an easy-to-use and accessible guide to be shared between mother and daughter, sister, aunt, and grandmother — an essential resource for every woman, and those who love her.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945564147
Publisher:	Mayo Clinic Press
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	633,690
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Mary I. O'Connor, M.D., is an orthopedic surgeon, health equity leader, healthcare entrepreneur, and former U.S. Olympic athlete (Women’s Rowing, 1980). She is co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vori Health, a spine and orthopedic telemedicine company on a mission to empower all people to better health. After a distinguished career at Mayo Clinic where Dr. O’Connor was awarded Professor Emerita status, she went on to lead the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health and was Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Yale School of Medicine. A passionate advocate for health equity, Dr. O’Connor has led the national non-profit coalition, Movement is Life, since its inception in 2010 in its efforts to eliminate musculoskeletal health disparities. A graduate of Yale University, Dr. O’Connor obtained her medical degree from Drexel UniversityCollege of Medicine and completed her orthopedic residency and fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/MaryOConnorMD and LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/maryoconnormd/ 

Kanwal L Haq, M.S., is a medical anthropologist, community organizer, and non-profit consultant. She currently leads the NYC women’s health programs at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. An applied-research scientist dedicated to education and health equity, Kanwal utilizes community-based participatory research and implementation science to build more effective, efficient and equitable systems of care for women across the world. Her desire to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and community resources served as the catalyst for Taking Care of You. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Kanwal worked at Yale School of Medicine and completed fellowships at the United Nations, Americorps, and the UniversityTeaching Hospital (CHUK) in Kigali, Rwanda. Kanwal completed her B.S. in biological sciences from the University of Missouri and her M.S. in medical anthropology from the Boston UniversitySchool of Medicine. She can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/kanwallhaq and LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/kanwallhaq/ 

Table of Contents

Why we wrote this book 7

How to use this book 8

What is 'women's health'? 9

Part 1 Women and the current health landscape

1 The role of social determinants in women's health 14

2 Challenges faced by women of color 20

3 Special considerations: Sexual and gender minority women 25

4 Is Google your first responder? 28

5 Who are clinicians? They're not just physicians 35

6 Finding the right clinician 39

7 Shared decision making and you 45

8 Telemedicine: Getting the most out of your care 49

9 Urgent care versus the emergency department 53

Part 2 Common conditions impacting women

10 ACL tears 60

11 Anemia 66

12 Anxiety 71

13 Asthma 79

14 Blood clots 84

15 Breast lump 90

16 Breast cancer 96

17 Carpal tunnel syndrome 102

18 Cervical cancer 107

19 Chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis) 112

20 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 119

21 Colorectal cancer 127

22 Constipation 134

23 Dementia 140

24 Depression 146

25 Diabetes 153

26 Diverticulitis 159

27 Endometrial cancer 165

28 Endometriosis 170

29 Fibromyalgia 176

30 Gastroesophageal reflux disease 181

31 Hand and thumb pain 187

32 Heart disease 192

33 Hepatitis C 199

34 High blood pressure 204

35 High cholesterol 212

36 Hip osteoarthritis 217

37 Hip labral tear 223

38 Irritable bowel syndrome 229

39 Knee osteoarthritis 235

40 Knee meniscus injury 241

41 Low back pain 245

42 Lung cancer 251

43 Lupus 257

44 Migraines 263

45 Multiple sclerosis 269

46 Neck, pain 274

47 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease 279

48 Obesity and metabolic syndrome 284

49 Osteoporosis 289

50 Ovarian cancer 295

51 Painful sex 300

52 Pelvic inflammatory disease 305

53 Pelvic organ prolapse 309

54 Peripheral arterial disease 315

55 Polycystic ovary syndrome 319

56 Rheumatoid arthritis 325

57 Shoulder pain 330

58 Stroke 337

59 Thyroid disease 343

60 Urinary incontinence 350

61 Urinary tract infection 359

62 Uterine fibroids 364

63 Vaginal bleeding (abnormal) 370

64 Vaginal infections 376

65 When your illness is a mystery 383

Part 3 Taking care of you

66 What contributes to your health? 390

67 Nutrition 394

68 Sleep 400

69 Physical activity 406

70 Purposeful activity 410

71 Social relationships 417

72 Mindfulness 422

73 Acupuncture 426

74 Vaccines 429

75 Medical Research 439

76 Personalized medicine 444

77 Our connectedness 451

78 You are a health promoter! 454

Selected sources 457

About the authors 483

Acknowledgments 485

Index 486

Editorial Reviews

Taking Care of You is refreshing in its approach to empowering women with practical knowledge of medical conditions, highlighting the impact of sex and gender differences in medicine, and encouraging diverse participation in clinical research trials to advance our knowledge of women’s health.”
Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., Former Director, Office of Research on Women’s Health, NIH

 “The medical system was not built to care for women. Taking Care of You was written by women for women and not only dives into this current failure of modern medicine but goes in deep to that next critical step — what women can do to get the lifesaving care they need.”
Alyson J. McGregor, M.D., Professor of Emergency Medicine and author of Sex Matters

“Taking Care of You is an illuminating and groundbreaking book packed with eye-opening evidence-based insights from two leading trailblazers on women‘s health that will change how we think and address this critical issue for generations to come. It brings into clear focus why women have never been able to reach their full health potential and what we can do to ensure every woman is given a fair opportunity to thrive in our society. This is an essential resource for all health equity champions.”
Daniel E. Dawes, JD, Executive Director, Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and author of The Political Determinants of Health

“This book is an excellent resource for all women, and highlights areas where race and ethnicity, in particular, impact women.”
Elena Rios, M.D., M.S.P.H., MACP, President & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association

 “Taking Care of You breaks down in a very clear and concise format information every woman should know, including information about common health conditions and ways in which women can be effectively empowered to make the right decisions for themselves. This book is a must-read for women of all ages.”
Garth Graham, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FACC, Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health Google/ Head of YouTube Health

“Taking Care of You has the kind of information that women need to obtain more equitable healthcare. The mission of this book is aligned with that of the White Institute to support, educate and advocate for those individuals impacted by healthcare disparities. I sincerely believe that my fellow humans can utilize this book to empower themselves and their communities to achieve better health.”
Augustus White III, MD, PhD,  CEO Emeritus August A. White III Institute
Ellen and Melvin Gordon Distinguished Professor of Medical Education and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and past Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
 
“Taking Care of You is an insightful guide to help women understand and advocate for their health, as well as gain an understanding of the many healthcare inequities that exist in women’s healthcare today. I’d highly recommend this resource to any woman!”
Jennifer Gates, MD Candidate 
 
*It is my privilege to recommend this service driven publication . Dr. Mary O’Connor has spent her entire career advocating for Medical equity. This book is further deposit on her life mission of making health care available to the marginalized and disadvantaged. I encourage those who have a heart for changing the medical landscape to explore the insights captured on these pages. I have no doubt that this effort will help us reach our goal of accessible heath care in America and beyond. 
Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson
Chair, Conference of National Black Churches

“This is a timely book is full of important information, practical guidance and perspectives to help guide the health journeys’ of all women who strive daily to better care for themselves, their families and communities.” 
Wayne J. Riley, M.D., MPH, MBA, MACP
President Emeritus, American College of Physicians
President, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University 

As a women’s health advocate, I have always encouraged women to advocate for themselves as we do not receive the same health care as men, whether it is diagnosis, treatment or access to healthcare. That's why I was thrilled to see this book by Dr. Mary O’Connor and Kanwal Haq. They have very elegantly addressed topics that matter most to women so that women can take charge of their health and improve their lives and wellbeing.
Monica P. Mallampalli, PhD
CEO and Founder
Institute for Women’s Health Strategies
 

From the Publisher