The American College Rheumatology (ACR) is a professional membership organization committed to improving the care of patients with rheumatic diseases and advancing the rheumatology subspeciality. Each year ACR has an Annual Meeting featuring sessions from leading rheumatology experts. The 2018 Annual Meeting took place from October 20-24 in Chicago, Illinois. At the 2018 Annual Meeting, ACR issued their inaugural Clinical Guidelines for Reproductive Health. These carefully researched recommendations were presented by Dr. Lisa R. Sammaritano, an attending rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery – Weill Cornell Medical Center and the principal investigator of the new guidelines. The new recommendations…
Author: Mariah Z Leach
Mariah Z Leach
Mariah is a writer, patient advocate, and mom of three living with rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. After learning firsthand how challenging and lonely it can be to face pregnancy and motherhood with chronic illness, Mariah became passionate about supporting women with chronic illness who are or want to become mothers. She launched Mamas Facing Forward in 2015 as a private Facebook support group, followed by this website in 2018.
Parenting is never an easy job. But raising kids can be even more complicated when one parent (or both) lives with a chronic illness. As someone who’s been there, guest writer Mariah Z. Leach – a wife, mother, and writer with rheumatoid arthritis – shares her advice on five steps you can take to make parenting with chronic illness a bit easier for yourself. Learn more about self-care, prioritizing, accepting help, finding a support network, and focusing on the positive while living as a parent with a chronic illness. 5 Tips on Parenting With Chronic Illness Mango Health Additional Resources…
Deciding to start a family is always a big decision. But it can seem even more daunting when one partner lives with a chronic illness, or even both do. As someone who’s been there, guest writer Mariah Z. Leach – a wife, mother, and writer with rheumatoid arthritis – shares her advice on five considerations you need to make before starting a family when you have chronic illness. In this article you can learn more about the importance of family planning, considerations during pregnancy, ideas for preparing for baby’s arrival, insight on breastfeeding, and advice on baby gear. Starting A…
This article explains how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires medications to be labeled concerning safety of use during pregnancy and breastfeeding – and if the first half of that sentence makes you want to fall asleep, please bear with me!! I totally understand how the nitty gritty of medication labeling standards might seem like it would bore you to tears! However, for women living with chronic illnesses…who may wish to become pregnant or breastfeed their babies, I think these changes actually represent a very exciting development! The FDA provides labeling standards to help doctors and patients understand…