Media Coverage

That’s because studies have linked the drug to a heightened risk of birth defects, such as malformations affecting the heart, particularly when it’s used in the first trimester. But a “major challenge” in that kind of research is separating the effects of medication from any effects of the underlying mental health disorder, said Dr. Katherine Wisner, a perinatal psychiatrist and professor at Northwestern University in Chicago. The new study compared women who used lithium in the first trimester with women who also had bipolar disorder or depression but did not use the drug. The goal was to zero in on the effects of lithium itself.

Doctors think there are several different mechanisms behind why you might get a migraine, although “it’s not completely understood,” said Dr. Katherine S. Carroll, a neurologist and migraine expert at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. It’s believed that there’s a wave of electricity that spread across a person’s cortex (the wrinkly, outer layer that surrounds the brain), leading to the release of inflammatory mediators, Carroll said. These irritate the nerves in the brain, including the trigeminal nerve (the largest of the cranial nerves), creating the migraine’s pain.

“I see it fairly frequently,” says Dr. Scott Dresden of Northwestern University’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “Patients try to stab the pit, the knife slips off the pit and they stab the hand. Or patients do a sort of hacking motion with the long blade of the knife into the pit, and hack into the webbing between the thumb and the forefinger instead. Those are two really common ways this happens. And they can be pretty nasty.”

Clinical services may not be sensitive to men’s parenting needs. Further, mothers might limit men from being engaged in prenatal and postnatal services. Yet, men have a vital role to play during infancy. To help address the above barriers, Michael Yogman and Craig Garfield, pediatric faculty at the Harvard Medical School and Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, respectively, recommended that health care professionals engage in father-friendly practices. These include acknowledging fathers’ presence at health care visits, welcoming fathers directly, educating fathers about parenting and encouraging fathers to assume childcare roles early on.

Dr. Christina Boots, an assistant professor of reproductive health and infertility at Northwestern Medicine’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said about 200 Northwestern patients froze eggs in 2017. A quarter were for medical reasons — cancer treatments, for example, can create infertility, and many patients preserve options. The remainder were women who froze eggs for nonmedical reasons. “You’re single, or your career’s just starting to take off, so you want to take some time,” Boots said. She said doctors at Northwestern are just at the beginning phase of seeing patients who must decide what to do with excess eggs, embryos or sperm they no longer need. “We’ve only been doing (egg freezing) for five years on a regular basis,” she said.

According to a recent Northwestern Medicine and University of Michigan study, the phrase “less money, less life” also applies. Data revealed that a sudden loss of net worth (also known as wealth shock) in middle to older age is associated with a significantly higher risk of death. To be more precise: Lose 75 percent or more of your total wealth in two years and you are 50 percent more likely to die in the next 20 years. “This is the first study that looks at wealth loss in the long term,” said Lindsay Pool, author of the study and research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

For women, hormonal changes that come with menopause may play a role. Menopause results in a drop in estrogen, which can cause changes in brain function, which not everyone is able to adapt to, he says. Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern Medicine, says job-related concerns can play a role for men in particular, who have higher rates of suicide overall.

In a conference room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on a recent evening, a group of men sat down for a class on pregnancy and childbirth led by Dr. Craig Garfield, a pediatrician who specializes in studying new fathers.The class is one of many that Northwestern offers to new parents, including some that are designed for moms, for grandparents and — in the case of one class called “Bowser & the Baby” — for dog owners. Dr. Garfield’s parenting class is for expectant fathers, most of whom are here after their pregnant partners signed them up for it.

Dr. Crystal Clark, a psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. […] I do worry that this could be a trigger. We give a lot of publicity to people who have committed suicide – particularly those with celebrity status … And those who are already struggling with suicidal thoughts, who have experienced suicidal thoughts in the past, this could definitely be a trigger for them. And they see this as well, maybe a way out and a method they could use to end their suffering.

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare and Centegra Health System said regulators blessed their merger plans, with the union becoming effective Sept. 1. Centegra is a three-hospital system based in Crystal Lake with a medical staff of 175. Its pending deal with the Chicago health care giant stretched out over two years, compared with the more typical months-long approval of other hospital mergers. With Centegra, Northwestern’s system will have 10 hospitals.