Burning mouth syndrome- an often overlooked condition of middle age

A blog about photos and what the story they tell.

Estrogen. Let’s talk about the positive. More people in perimenopause are finally having their symptoms taken seriously and addressed. And in 2025, the FDA removed the black box warning on estrogen products—a pretty big shift. Back in 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative study linked hormone therapy to increased risks of heart attacks, strokes, and pulmonary embolism. That study changed practice overnight. But over the following decades, more nuanced research showed that those

Have you heard about this Tik Tok trend? (Yes. Yes. I am in the know). Mom—what were you like in the ’90s? ahem… cue Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls … and begin In the 1990s, I was: 1) Ditzy (on purpose). I had been a full-on nerd growing up—mathletes, teacher’s pet, the whole deal. But in the ’90s, being smart wasn’t exactly cool . Life goals involved being like Kelly Taylor, not Andrea Zuckerman (Thursday night 90210 viewings were quintessential ’90s dogma). Then, my sophomor

“Hair” raising topic ahead. As estrogen decreases, its ratio to testosterone changes—and suddenly, hair changes enter the picture. There are two main things that can happen to hair in perimenopause and menopause. First: thinning or loss of hair on your head (we will talk about this in a future blog). Second: extra hair growth on your face. Bold and beautiful: A striking illustration captures the confident expression of a bald woman with vibrant red lips and a bright orange co

This past weekend, I visited my college. It was a real college visit for my youngest, and while I’ve been back to campus a handful of times since graduating nearly thirty years ago, it was the first time I was there in an official capacity: as the parent of a prospective student. As I walked the campus, I realized I wasn’t just revisiting my college years—I was imagining what I hoped my son would carry into his own, IF he decided to come here. A mother and her son stroll acr

Ok. So it’s March. Colon Cancer Awareness Month. We’ve already talked about colonoscopies. We’ve also talked about some of the less glamorous side effects of anesthesia. Apparently, I have chosen this month to become your friendly neighborhood poop-and-propofol correspondent, so let’s move on to alternatives to the colonoscopy. Illustration of the human digestive system, highlighting the structure and arrangement of the intestines within the abdominal cavity. Image created by

Any time you undergo a medical procedure, there are risks. And it is the doctor’s job to review those risks. In my previous post, I recommended colonoscopy screening for all people at average risk starting at age 45. When you give consent for a colonoscopy, you are acknowledging that there are several risks including (but not limited to) bleeding, infection, and perforation. But in this piece, I want to talk about a more subtle “side effect” or “risk” that is rarely discussed

Ok. It’s March. It’s Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Let’s get into this shit…literally. The colon (also known as the large intestine) is about 5 feet long. That’s almost as long as me! You may remember from high school biology that the colon is the organ that absorbs water and some vitamins from waste as it moves through your body. And at the end of that long, noble journey? Poop. (And yes, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people say “poo” instead of “poop.” I don’t know w

Thanks to social media (and sometimes my children), I occasionally manage to catch onto a trend before it becomes outdated. This is not a skill I had in high school, so I consider it a midlife achievement. Yesterday I was scrolling Instagram and came across a post about a 23-year-old woman from India, Sithara Jahan. She asked her strict parents for permission to go on a girls’ trip to Kashmir—something she was absolutely sure they would say no to. And surprisingly… they said

Sometime in my 40s, I started waking up with pain in my fingers. The joints ached, and I had to negotiate with them first thing in the morning before they would fully straighten. It wasn’t just my fingers. My back carried a dull, persistent ache when I got out of bed, and my ankles felt… less trustworthy. Those days of bounding down the stairs two steps at a time? Gone.Now I reached for the handrail and descended carefully — and, uncomfortably, images of my grandmother flashe

Since being born during the bicentennial year in a small hospital in Hoboken, New Jersey, I have traveled to India eight times—five during childhood and three in adulthood. Last night, when I couldn’t sleep (jet lag, perimenopause, and a new bed), I found myself thinking about how, on each trip, I’ve seen India through a different lens. And to be honest, that realization frustrated me. In my fiftieth year of life, wasn’t I capable of seeing things consistently? Was it strange

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that there are two cancer-preventing vaccines. The first is the Hepatitis B vaccine, which I discussed in a previous blog post ( https://www.rx4trauma.com/post/preventing-cancer ). The second is the human papillomavirus vaccine, or HPV vaccine. Illustration of a virus particle prominently displaying its spike proteins against a light blue background. Photo created by AI. There are over 100 types of human papillomavirus. Some cause benign warts, wh

Okay—picture this. I’m standing in the grocery store with my arms crossed over my chest. Slowly, I start swaying left to right, arms still folded. I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching. To an outsider, it probably looked like I was rocking myself, deeply unsettled by something in the frozen food aisle. A woman confidently stands with arms crossed in the freezer aisle, amidst the neatly organized frozen goods. This photo was generated by AI. A dance move?

GLP-1 receptor agonists are everywhere right now. They’re talked about on social media, in exam rooms, and at dinner tables. But they aren’t new. This class of medications was originally developed to treat diabetes. GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide-1 . I like to think of it as a key. And the GLP-1 receptors? Those are the locks. These locks live all over the body—in the brain, the pancreas, the heart, and the gastrointestinal tract. When the key fits into the lock, a fe

In the second half of 2024, the GLP-1 buzz was everywhere, and I started to quietly wonder if it was something I should consider. Almost immediately, doubt set in. Read more about GLP-1s here. https://www.rx4trauma.com/post/a-key-a-lock-and-a-shift-in-how-i-feel-about-obesity I had taken Ozempic back in 2022 and ended up in the emergency room. I’m fairly certain my husband declared—very firmly—that I should never take it again. On top of that, despite everything I’ve written

In the 1980s, the explanation for obesity was simple: overconsumption and inactivity. And to be fair, that wasn’t wrong. But it also wasn’t the whole story. Obesity is far more complex than “eat less, move more.” Most of the time, it’s the result of multiple factors working together—many of them outside a person’s control. Let’s talk about a few. A conceptual illustration highlighting the diverse factors contributing to obesity, featuring a silhouette of a pregnant woman surr

When I was in residency, I took care of a woman who had obesity.Notice I didn’t say she was obese. Semantics matter. A wide open mouth surrounded by speech bubbles featuring random gibberish words, illustrating playful and nonsensical communication. Obesity is a disease—just like hypertension, diabetes, or cancer. But it is not what defines a person. A person cannot be obese; they can have obesity. For far too long in this country, we’ve labeled people as “obese,” reducing th

In August, when we dropped off our first college freshmen, I expected grief. I knew the house would feel lonelier, the dinners quieter. I didn’t anticipate the house being cleaner-but I’ll admit, that was a welcome surprise. The emotional shift of fall felt inevitable, as predictable as the leaves changing color and dropping from the trees. What I didn’t expect were the January blues. A serene winter night scene with a full moon illuminating a snow-covered landscape, where ba

Ever since I became a doctor, people have asked me the same questions again and again: What can I do to prevent cancer? What tests can I take for early detection? Should I get full-body scans to look for a possible tumor? Can I do blood tests to screen for every type of cancer? Illustration of a human skeletal system highlighting disease-affected areas, with visible redness indicating inflammation or disease in the shoulder region. (Image created through AI) So let me ask you