Gabrielle Kassel

Several states explicitly allow people under age 18 to receive prescription birth control without parental involvement. Some states reserve the right to notify a parent or legal guardian with few exceptions, while others have unclear legal status.
“Depending on the state you live in, you may or may not need parental consent to access birth control,” said Laura Purdy, MD, OB-GYN, chief medical officer at Wisp, a telehealth platform focused on sexual and reproductive health.
“If you need to acc...

Although it’s possible for PID to clear up without treatment, it’s extremely rare. It’s best to consult with a healthcare professional as soon as possible to confirm the diagnosis and begin treatment.
When detected early, PID is typically cured with a simple course of oral antibiotics. Advanced cases may require intravenous antibiotics and hospitalization,says Michelle Forcier, MD, a gender-affirming clinician with virtual healthcare service FOLX.
Proper medical treatment will cure the infect...

PID is a serious infection of reproductive organs. It can cause a number of symptoms, including foul-smelling and differently-colored vaginal discharge.
The vagina is often dubbed a self-cleaning machine. That’s because, in healthy individuals, the vagina expels discharge that helps rid the canal of potentially-disruptive bacteria, dirt, and dead skin cells.
Healthy discharge is typically described as:
clear or milky
mucus-like or slimy
odorless
Underlying infection can cause unexpected chang...

Your home gym just got so much more versatile.
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If you’re trying to save money on a gym membership, make movement more accessible on busy days, or simply live too far from an exercise facility to schlep there regularly, odds are you’ve got a home gym. But is your gym set-up as beefy as it could be? Probably not. Sure, resist...

Experts believe that statistics show lower than actual figures due to the various systemic, legal, social, and emotional roadblocks to reporting.
“Domestic violence of all kinds is incredibly underreported,” says Giordano. “Therefore, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how widespread it is.”
“Survivors may not report for a wide variety of reasons,” she says. For instance:
fear of what the abuser might do if they report them
lack of awareness of the resources available for support
feelings of ...

Some research suggests hormonal birth control can affect mood, stress, and overall mental health. The potential impact varies by method and from person to person.
All hormonal birth control methods contain a synthetic version of progesterone called progestin and a synthetic version of estrogen, such as ethinyl estradiol.
These synthetic hormones can impact different areas of the brain, says Bassam Zeina, MD, PhD. The hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis, for example, regulates reproductive fun...

Some research suggests that hormonal contraception may make cervical cells more susceptible to HPV. More research is needed to understand the potential link, but there are steps you can take to reduce your risk.
Oftentimes — 9 times out of 10, to be exact — HPV will clear up on its own within 2 years of exposure. Exposure typically occurs from vaginal or anal sex, but oral sex and intimate skin-to-skin contact can also transmit the virus.
But if the virus lingers, it can end up on the cells i...

We put 20 chafing creams to the test, and these protected even the most sensitive skin.
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Warm weather may bring about many mood-approved wins (looking at you, Vitamin Sun). But as anyone who’s ever had a swim-suit induced yeast infection knows, it can also bring with it some body-made bummers — chief among the...

"Head Over Feet" may be the best Alanis Morisette song, a euphemism for falling in love, and an amusement park lover’s favorite orientation. But it’s also the position your body may go into during a wide variety of yoga positions, known as inversions.
In yoga, inversions are any positions or poses that, as their name suggests, invert your body from the upright and standing position it is commonly in, says yoga instructor Kelly Aguilera, lead teacher of Sacred Roots Teacher Training. “They’re ...

arked by belly bubbles and cheek-to-cheek smiles, budding romance is among the most intoxicating of human experiences. So much so, in fact, that there’s a dedicated term for the surge of emotions (and the resulting physiological response) that you might experience while crushing on a new partner: new relationship energy, or NRE. But much like the honeymoon phase, that feeling certainly won’t last forever. And as it fades, it can cause some of that relational spark to disappear along with it… ...

When asked about being a role model for young women, newly-crowned 2023 Fittest Woman on Earth, Laura Horvath said: “It's a lot of pressure, but I'm just very happy that my body can do this.”
“And I'm not looking at the new “Barbie” movie, 'Oh, I want to look like that.' I want to look like what I look like. And I just want to prove that my body, whatever it looks like, can do these amazing things,” she continued.
These words no doubt resonated with Jessi Kuhlman, bringing a smile to her face...

All sorts of strength-training hang-ups can prevent people from achieving their goals. One such foil that so many of us encounter and just can’t seem to shake? That not-so-fun post-lift feeling of muscle tightness.
Ahead, physical therapists and certified strength and conditioning specialists explain why your muscles can feel tense after hitting the weights—and what you can do to keep your body limber as you make gains.
About Our Experts: Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., is a physical thera...

Keeping a contraception journal — and otherwise tracking your birth control use — can be a great way to understand your body better. But it’s important to do so in a way that doesn’t put your privacy at risk.
A “contraception journal” is a broad term used for any organizational tool that allows you to track information about your sexual, as well as overall, health and well-being, says general practitioner Adiele Hoffman, medical advisor Flo Health, United Kingdom.
While the term “journal” imp...

Some research suggests that hormonal contraception may make cervical cells more susceptible to HPV. More research is needed to understand the potential link, but there are steps you can take to reduce your risk.
Oftentimes — 9 times out of 10, to be exact — HPV will clear up on its own within 2 years of exposure. Exposure typically occurs from vaginal or anal sex, but oral sex and intimate skin-to-skin contact can also transmit the virus.
But if the virus lingers, it can end up on the cells i...