I’m lying in hospital, shaking with fear. There are no familiar faces, only doctors and midwives hovering above me, their mouths moving silently. The contractions keep coming, and I’m horribly confused. How can I be in labour when I would never have allowed myself to get pregnant? Welcome to my subconscious, which regularly reminds me of my terror of childbirth. The nightmares started in my teens, when I decided I could never cope wi ... Jump to full article >>

Steamboat Springs — This fall, six women graduated from “Baby and Me — Tobacco Free,” a program to keep women from smoking during and after pregnancy. Funded by a grant and led locally by Hope Cook, the prenatal coordinator for the North­west Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, the program gives expecting and new moms incentive and motivation to quit smoking and stay smoke-free. Missy Chotvacs was one of Cook’s fall graduates. She le ... Jump to full article >>

A new UK study suggests that exposure to tobacco while in the womb is linked to an increased risk of a child developing psychotic symptoms during their teens. The study was the work of researchers from Cardiff, Bristol, Nottingham and Warwick Universities and was published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. For the study the researchers looked at data on 6,356 12-year-olds taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Par ... Jump to full article >>

MUNCIE — The Tobacco-Free Coalition of Delaware County has been helping residents quit smoking for several years. For the past year, The Star Press has published success stories from people who have successfully quit smoking. “Success stories are a fantastic way to give hope to those who are burdened by the nicotine addiction,” said Cecilia Williams, coalition program coordinator. “Since one of the biggest challenges smo ... Jump to full article >>

Cigarettes may trigger prenatal gene changes, leading to lifelong health problems, study suggests Women who smoke while pregnant increase their unborn child’s long-term risk for health problems, including childhood asthma, cardiovascular disease and lower pulmonary function, and a new study may help experts understand why. Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found that maternal smoking ... Jump to full article >>

A woman who smokes during pregnancy and motherhood appears to boost her daughter’s odds of developing pancreatic cancer, the deadly disease that will strike an estimated 21,420 women (and 21,050 men) this year. Researchers from Harvard University and Imperial College London looked at pancreatic cancer rates in the Nurse’s Health Study, one of the nation’s oldest and largest studies of women and influences on their health. Altho ... Jump to full article >>

MedWire News: Children born to women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during pregnancy face an increased risk for asthma symptoms in early life, researchers warn. “Smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be a considerable risk factor for changes in growth and maturation of the fetal lungs and the later development of wheeze and asthma,” explain Paraskevi Xepapadaki (University of Athens, Greece) and team in the journal Pediatr ... Jump to full article >>

By Philip J. Goscienski, M.D – The Stone Age Doc Almost everyone is aware that cigarette smoking is a health hazard. Most people know that genetic factors play a role in disease. Few realize how these interact and how pregnancy sometimes depends on the interplay of lifestyle factors and the genetic makeup of the mother. A pregnant mother’s lifestyle choices can lead to serious disease notonly in her infant’s early childhood but in ... Jump to full article >>

Louise Lennersten wasn’t going to let pregnancy make her kick a snuff habit. The 26-year-old Swede switched to Onico, a nicotine-free brand that uses flavored vegetable fibers to imitate the taste of tobacco. Following the birth of her son Wilmer last month, she intends to return to real snuff, called snus in Sweden. “I was a smoker but switched to snus when my job didn’t allow smoke breaks,” Lennersten said. “This ... Jump to full article >>