Marla Ahlgrimm | Family History Matters

When you talk with your doctor for the first time, the office will likely ask you about your family health history. If you can’t answer these questions, you may be putting yourself at risk, says retired pharmacist Marla Ahlgrimm. Your family history is an integral part of who you are and can tell a lot about your health.

Q: How does my family history play a part in my health?

Marla Ahlgrimm: You inherit genes from both your mother and father, who inherited their genes from their mother and father and so on until the beginning of time. You can think of yourself as a puzzle made up of pieces from dozens of other people, including your parents and grandparents. You inherit physical traits, such as height and skin color, but you can also inherit diseases. Knowing your family history up to about your great-grandparents can help you gauge your risk for hemophilia, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and much more.

Marla Ahlgrimm | Hormones and Arthritis

Your hormones play a role in everything you do, says Marla Ahlgrimm. That includes how you feel when you get sick or begin to experience the discomfort of certain conditions, such as arthritis. Here, the women’s health author and hormone expert explains how these invisible chemicals can contribute to pain.

Q: Is arthritis common in women?

Marla Ahlgrimm: Yes, it is. And rheumatoid arthritis is even more common. It’s estimated that for every man that experiences rheumatoid arthritis, three women will also suffer. Hormones may be the reason that the fairer sex is more affected.

Marla Ahlgrimm: Health is More than Your Body

Marla Ahlgrimm has been in the women’s healthcare industry for more than four decades. She is a retired pharmacist, self-help author, and hormone expert who believes that a healthy body is often a matter of choice. However, she also stresses that mental health plays a role in your body’s overall function.

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, women should pay attention to factors that affect their emotional well-being. Stress, poor relationships, and even a lack of sleep can throw your brain out of whack and strain your emotions.

Marla Ahlgrimm: Weight Gain and Hormones

It has been long asserted that weight gain is the result of eating too much and moving too little. However, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, there is much more to it than that.

The human body, specifically a woman’s body, is designed to have a body mass index of between 18% and 25%. This means that approximately that percentage of a woman’s weight is fat, which is necessary, especially during the reproductive years. But, as Marla Ahlgrimm explains, the United States is plagued by rampant obesity, which is defined as having a body mass index of greater than 30.

While traditionally doctors have treated weight gain as the cause of medical problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, it’s now being researched that weight gain may be a side effect of improper metabolic function. Specifically, some theorize that the endocrine system, the system which creates and routes hormones, may be to blame. Marla Ahlgrimm notes that the hormone cortisol, which is associated with stress, can affect the way the human body utilizes food as fuel.

When the body is unable to utilize food correctly, it turns the calories consumed into fat. For some individuals, understanding how they react to stress may lead to long-term weight loss and weight management.

Marla Ahlgrimm: Not all Drugs are Safe For Pregnant Women

Pregnant women are subject to the same types of health concerns as everyone else. And headaches, stuffy noses, and overall discomfort may even be more common in mothers-to-be, says Marla Ahlgrimm. It’s no surprise then that the vast majority of pregnant women have reached for an OTC medication at some point. But doing so without consulting with your doctor is dangerous.

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, certain medications, such as Tylenol, are typically considered safe for a developing fetus when used occasionally. However, women who take over-the-counter pain relief medicine more than three times per month during gestation may put their children at risk of behavioral problems, asthma, and other issues.

Marla Ahlgrimm cautions that medications available without a prescription are not necessarily safe for everyone. This includes supplements, herbal remedies, and vitamins.

What “Mite” That Be? Marla Ahlgrimm on Eyelash Mites

You likely already know that you have an internal biome, which is made up of billions of organisms that call your intestines home. What you may not be aware of is that there is another ecosystem thriving on the outside of your body. According to Marla Ahlgrimm, eyelash mites are just one of the many creatures that live on you, and they are more common in women than men.

Marla Ahlgrimm explains that eyelash mites, which are known among medical professionals as Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis, are naked to the human eye, and are perfectly normal. The retired women’s healthcare entrepreneur explains that these tiny mites live around the eyelash follicles and feed on oil and mucus, which are secreted from glands surrounding the eyes, and from facial pores.

Women with oily skin and those who habitually sleep in their makeup are more prone to these invisible intruders.

Although eyelash mites are found on perfectly healthy people, conditions that affect the mucous membrane of the eye and create inflammation and irritation can trigger an increase in their population. Marla Ahlgrimm also explains that cleaning your face regularly, both at night and in the morning, can reduce the facial oils these creatures need to survive.

Marla Ahlgrimm | Your Weird and Wonderful Body

The body is an amazing mechanism that science doesn’t fully understand. And sometimes, it can get downright weird. Retired pharmacist Marla Ahlgrimm shares a few interesting facts about the human body in the following brief post.

Humans have 154 fewer chromosomes than crayfish. But we have nearly four times as many as peas. Humans and slugs share 70% of our DNA.

The human stomach is lined with mucus. According to Marla Ahlgrimm, if this mucus were to suddenly disappear, the stomach would begin to digest itself.

Each human has a unique set of fingerprints, which are not present until a fetus is three months old. Human fingers make more than 25 million movement throughout the course of of a normal lifespan.

Women are less likely to have acne than men. Marla Ahlgrimm notes that men experience skin blemishes nearly twice as often as their same-age female counterparts.