Owning Pink Bloggers
What's Up Down There? Blog
BOOBS: An OB/GYN Answers - What’s Normal, What’s Not?
Lissa Rankin, October 5, 2010
October is breast cancer awareness month, when we all pay homage to boobs, shining a light on the need to prevent and cure breast cancer. As an OB/GYN, author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, and a professional artist who cast the torsos of women with breast cancer for my touring Woman Inside Project, I’m devoted to empowering women to love, honor, respect, and know their breasts. When I was writing my book, I solicited the anonymous questions women would only ask if their gynecologist was their BFF, and reviewing the answers, I realized that 80% of what women wanted to know was some variation of the question “Am I normal?” Here, in honor of breast cancer awareness month, I want to help you understand what’s normal -- and what isn’t -- for all the boobilicious women out there who are longing to know.
Read More...Why Treating Yeast Infection Symptoms Won’t Cure You
Lissa Rankin, October 1, 2010
Right now, I’m on a book tour for my book What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend. These days, unless you’re a celebrity, publishers don’t pay for a book tour, so I’m blessed that Monistat – a product I’ve used and recommended for years – is sponsoring my tour of colleges around the United States, where I’m helping to educate young women about their bodies.
Because of this sponsorship, the Owning Pink team has said the word “Monistat” at least 1000 times in the past few months, so much so that one of the women on our team said, “If the law of attraction is true and I keep saying Monistat, do you think the Universe is gonna slap me with a yeast infection?” We all giggled when she followed her comment with “But don’t worry. I’ll Candida for the team if I have to!”
Read More...Can Menstrual Cramps Change Your Brain?
Lissa Rankin, September 28, 2010
While on the road promoting What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend (on shelves now!), we've heard a lot of fabulous questions about today's topic: periods. And not just periods, but the crazy-making, emotional rollercoaster, why-am-I-feeling-like-a-pyscho part of periods delicately described as "mood swings". Yep, menstruation isn't all cleansing and woo-woo -- sometimes it just feels awful. And guess what? Scientists say that a woman's time o' the month is actually changing her brain! Read on...
For almost ten years, I fed my body continuous birth control pills because periods hurt, and as a doctor-in-training, I was simply too busy to be bothered by even mild menstrual cramps. So by the time I stopped my pills in order to try to get pregnant, I had forgotten how much menstrual cramps suck. The first period wasn’t so bad, but by the third one, I was grabbing my hubby, throwing him on the bed, and screaming “GET ME PREGNANT – NOW!”
Read More...The Other F Word
Lissa Rankin, September 25, 2010
Two more days, gorgeouses, until What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend leaps off shelves and into our hands (and hearts). In anticipation of the big launch day (Tues, Sept 28), this week we are pleased to publish exclusive excerpts and blogs by our very own Dr. Lissa Rankin. Today's excerpt is all about the F word -- not that one, the other one -- Fertility. So what does an OB/GYN have to say about her own fertility journey? As per usual, maybe not what you'd expect. Read on to find out!
From the time I was young, I cursed my uterus.
Cramps plagued me when I was trying to do rounds at the hospital, and blood would leak out of my tampons and onto my scrubs in the middle of a surgery. Seeking a way to escape my own womanhood, I discovered that I could take birth control pills daily and never get a period. Why hadn’t anyone ever told me this? After I uncovered this secret, I sent my uterus to a dark recess of some basement closet and didn’t bleed again for a decade. Every now and then, my uterus (I affectionately call it Yoni) would cry out for me, but I pretty much ignored her. I wasn’t a very good friend.
Read More...Are You There God? It's Me Lissa
Lissa Rankin, September 23, 2010
Fo' real? FOUR DAYS until the release of What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend! In anticipation of the big launch day (Sept 28), this week we are pleased to publish exclusive excerpts and blogs by our very own Dr. Lissa Rankin. Today's excerpt is all about the time of the month we women have come to know and love so well (sarcasm, anyone?) -- yep, the menses. What was your first period like? Scary? Awkward? Exciting? Read on to hear about the teenage Lissa's much anticipated first experience with Aunt Flow...
When I hit puberty, I counted the days until my period began, just like all the other fans of Judy Blume’s coming-of-age story, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. Every morning, I hunted for those precious drops of blood, but again and again, I found nothing in my panties.
Read More...Chapter 4: Sex & Masturbation
Lissa Rankin, September 22, 2010
FIVE DAYS until the release of What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend! In anticipation of the big launch day (Sept 28), this week we are pleased to publish exclusive excerpts and blogs by our very own Dr. Lissa Rankin. Today's excerpt is the intro to Chapter 4 - Sex and Masturbation (i.e., the chapter we're all going to read first anyway). So, an OB/GYN must be a total sexpert, right? Read on to find out!
OB/GYN, Sex Goddess
A Gyno-Spiritual Approach To Menopause
Lissa Rankin, September 20, 2010
Holy Vagina, Batman! One week until the release of What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend! In anticipation of the big launch day (Sept 28), this week we are pleased to publish exclusive excerpts and blogs by our very own Dr. Lissa Rankin. Today's excerpt is on the time that shall not be named - well anywhere else, that is: Menopause. Check out Lissa's experiences and personal exploration of this time that most women dread and how we can embrace it with the kick-butt power and grace that make us uniquely female... Enjoy!
I used to dread menopause, as many of my patients do.
Who wants to endure hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, brain fog, insomnia, vaginal dryness, skin changes, and weight gain? But as this life transition draws closer to me, I find myself shedding my fear and beginning to embrace it. I would never want to move backwards in my life. Each year is filled with lessons learned and growth experiences. God forbid I should ever have to relive my twenties, full of insecurities, vanity, pride, and selfish choices. And my thirties, while vastly better than my twenties, were largely a time of walking through life like a zombie, asleep to my true calling, too busy DOING to just BE. Now, I’m in my forties, and I’m loving it. I’m getting smile lines and grey hair and age spots, but I really don’t give a flip. Sure, the radiance of youth may fade as we age, but we glow with a different kind of light as we step into who we are truly meant to be.
Read More...What's Up Down There? How Coochies Look
Lissa Rankin, September 13, 2010
Happy Tuesday, Pinkies! We are so excited to publish another fabulous excerpt from Lissa's book What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend in anticipation of the book's launch on September 28 (more info below). Enjoy this fabulous intro to Chapter Two that is all about, altogether now, coochies. Enjoy!
What's it like?
My best friend from high school once asked me, “What’s it like to look at vaginas all day long?”
I answered, “Really, it’s just a bunch of different haircuts.”
Read More...Gauging Your Risk For Breast Cancer
Lissa Rankin, September 8, 2010
Hello, Pinkies! 19 days until the launch of Dr. Lissa Rankin's book What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, on shelves September 28 (preorder here)! If you have a question you'd like Dr. Lissa Rankin to answer in her blog, please join the What's Up Down There posse in our Owning Pink community, and be sure to check the book tour page and Team Pink headquarters for all the deets on Lissa's upcoming travels...
Q: I don’t have a history of breast cancer in my family, but neither did my best friend who was diagnosed last year. Her experience really rattled me. I do my best to exercise, eat healthy and go for annual mammograms. But I’d still like to know if there’s a way to gauge my risk. Any suggestions?
Read More...Let's Talk About Coochies and Boobs
Lissa Rankin, September 6, 2010
Greetings, Pinkies! Today we are beyond thrilled to publish the full introduction of Lissa's book What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend in anticipation of the book's launch on September 28 (more info below). Enjoy!
Introduction: Let's Talk About Coochies and Boobs
Brrrrringgggg….The phone rings. Caller ID says it’s Chloe. I pick up.
All I hear are giggles. Then a snort, followed by a cackle.
“Chloe?” I say.
Chloe snorts again. I shake my head and smile.
I hear someone yell, “Don’t say vagina so loud!”
They’ve done this before. Chloe and Piper are in Manhattan celebrating some girl time away from the kids, obviously talking about sex over a few cocktails. Whenever they think up questions about their girl parts, they call me. They are my best friends, and I am a gynecologist.
Read More...
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