Well, if she became sexually active at 16, she really should have a Pap by around age 19. Yes, it's because there are too many false positives that end up getting treated, most of which would have disappeared on their own. Even if the abnormalities progress, the natural history of cervical cancer is very long, and almost never occurs within three years of exposure. It's a tradeoff of risks. Doing screening too early results in unnecessary procedures that can have long term and permanent consequences. Waiting a few years carries the risk of missing a case of cancer. That risk is thought to be very, very low compared to the danger of unnecessary procedures. In England, the NHS won't even start screening until age 25, regardless of sexual history.

:lol::lol::lol: You wouldn't say that if you had met me. Trust me. :D I recently had my daughter tested, because she's a little bowlegged :confused: and was having some knee pain. Turns out her vitamin D was low, although she doesn't have rickets. So I've been doing quite a bit of research on vitamin D deficiency and supplementation. I am waiting on a few articles I had to request through ILI. My preliminary impression is that the current RDA is probably too low, and that 800-1000 mg is probably better. But the "research" is far from conclusive, there are *many* unanswered questions, and the more I read, the more skeptical I am about many of the vitamin D proponents' claims. I'll pm you with more info after I receive these last few articles. Might be awhile though. Oh, and I am not taking it, though I've started spending more time in the sun.

The recommendations are from 2002. Gardasil was approved in 2006. Paps are still recommended annually until age 30. The main change is when to start screening. They aren't just changing their minds randomly. New information is constantly available, and recommendations change based on the evidence. Like the pp said, most abnormalities clear up on their own, without intervention. That is fairly new information.

:iagree: Here is the most recent recommendation: Here is the rationale from the American Cancer Society: Most cervical cancer is very slow growing, and takes years to develop, so the risk of waiting is low. Not zero, but low.

You are very sweet. But you overestimate. :) Here are the general instructions for using BRI and ARI. I never used the flashcards, but we did write new words on the board and go over them a few times if he didn't get them right away. I highly recommend the notched card at the beginning. Maybe you are past that stage already though. We read each book once or twice a day at the beginning. When we got to the longer books, we did about 15-20 minutes per day. We read the book over and over until he could read them smoothly and fluently before going on to the next. If he is doing well with 3x a day, I'd keep that up. Sounds like you're doing a great job. I bought the whole series, but I'm hanging on to them. The first 52 books are available here, although someone once calculated this and figured it's almost as expensive to print them out as it is to buy them. There used to be a very helpful BRI group on Yahoo groups, but I don't know if it's still active. I unsubscribed to it last year. Regarding sunscreens- I'm just not sure. We are all dark (except my dh), rarely burn, and have never used sunscreen regularly. We only use it if we're in a situation where we know we'd burn, and those occasions are rare for us. I've always been leery about the chemicals in them and avoid them unless I don't feel we have an alternative. If we burned, my first choice would be to cover up with long, light shirts and hats. If skin has to be exposed, I guess I'd go with the recommendations here. I don't know enough about sunscreens to comment on the EWG information. I suspect there's another side to the story. Here is some interesting information about melanoma and sun exposure. It's complicated and I don't claim to know what's best.

:iagree:I liked the book "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen". It made me realize how I sounded from my kids' perspective.

I think kids who learn to read with whole word instruction just seem to figure the code out on their own. Some figure it out better than others. Phonics instruction is explicit teaching of the code. Seems a lot more efficient and less risky to explicitly teach it than to hope kiddo figures it out themselves.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: This poor boy is in terrible pain. I'd stop trying to punish him, and start looking for help.

I agree with the rinse. Around here, doctors aren't treating with antibiotics until you've at least tried the rinses for awhile. My dd recently had a sinus infection and it cleared up within a few days with the rinse.

I was riding that far when I was 14. My son (12) rides between 10 and 40 miles/day daily, but with his dad, not alone. I think I'd be okay with it. With a helmet, of course. :D

No. How someone feels about abortion is a matter of opinion. It isn't a question that can be answered by science. Whether vaccines cause autism is a question that can be answered (theoretically) by science. Either they play a role or they don't.

There are some others too: Pityriasis alba and Tinea versicolor are common.

Vitiligo.

I'm cooking a pork roast in the crock pot, but it isn't completely thawed. How do I adjust the cooking time? My settings are warm, low, and high.

Sure, you can be camping in the middle of nowhere and connect. It uses "Whispernet" technology, which uses cellular networks. I think anyplace a cell phone works, the Kindle will work.

You can do that with the Kindle too. I went with the Kindle, because I don't like touch screens in general. I've been happy with it.

:grouphug: Have you mentioned it to her? What does she say? I'd ask her to see her doctor.

This is what we do, also.

Ellipses?

It was required reading for my ps 7th grader. They watched the movie at school. She was very upset by it. I'm not especially pleased.

I'd leave it outside in the sun for a few days.

One week.

But the point is that people have been living in temperate climates where they'd have to cover themselves for protection from the elements for a good part of the year for a very long time. There are definitely recent changes in the amount of time people spend indoors during the summer, but I'm not so sure about winter. I wouldn't think that people living in northern North America or Asia would have got enough sun in the winter even 10,000 or 50,000 years ago. It is just curious from an evolutionary standpoint why we would have evolved in a way that results in most people being vitamin deficient. It suggests to me that it's a lot more complicated than we think. I have started looking at the literature, and after reading a bunch of stuff today, I remain unconvinced that mega-dosing is a good thing. I have a lot more to read though.

All the time. I'm sure people find me very annoying.

This is why I don't make meatloaf. Or eat it. :ack2: My dh makes it, but I can't watch. So I don't know how he does it.