DocSwiner's Superwoman Complex Blog

Published Wednesday, February 12, 2014by C. Nicole Swiner, Columnist By the age of 50, most women have experienced or are experiencing menopause. This feared phenomenon is a natural progression of a women’s menstrual cycle, and after a full year without a period, we consider it done. However, the stopping of menses is just one of…

Published Wednesday, February 19, 2014 by C. Nicole Swiner, M.D., Columnist Why didn’t you get a flu shot this season? I asked this question recently on my Facebook page, and people were surprisingly silent. This is interesting because, when asked in person, patients are very vocal about why they refuse to get the seasonal vaccine.…

Ask Dr. Swiner: Why do doctors commit suicide?   Published Wednesday, September 17, 2014 by C. Nicole Swiner, Columnist I may sound a bit dramatic, but the issue is a serious one; medical professionals are stressed. We deal with unfortunate and, oftentimes, unrealistic demands from insurance companies, management and, most of all, patients. It’s a fact…

I was raised in the South, and I can recall a distinct memory early on in medical school that inspired my topic for this article. I’ve also recently seen a lot of people suffering with this particular ailment. During my fourth year of medical school, a gentleman in a VA hospital was telling me about…

It’s summer time, which means time outside in the sun, and on the beach! We soak up some sunrays and some vitamin D, but it’s also time for protection of our skin. When many of us were young, we’d play all day long in the sun, and come inside with nice tan lines from our…

Why am I so stressed out? Is it just me, or does everyone seem stressed nowadays? I often have to check with myself and ask “Am I stressed”? And if the answer is yes, then I ask “Why?” My father brought an article to my attention last year, and he asked me to read it.…

“Chikun-what?” For the summertime, I’m well aware and well versed in infections to prepare myself for: summer “colds”, tick-borne illnesses, and even sexually transmitted diseases. However, when a patient of mine returned from vacation in the Carribean with suspected Chikungunya disease, I had to do some research. You may have heard by now about this…

How worried should we be about Ebola? This summer we’ve been saddened and scared by news of spreading Ebola in Africa and the 2 workers returned to the US. Just how afraid should we be? What do we know and don’t know about this potentially fatal and debilitating disease? From what we know, the Ebolavirus,…