Author: Emma Yasinski

Emma Yasinski

I am a freelance science and medical journalist, fascinated by how the scientific process leads to incredible discoveries, but also can lead to publication bias leaning toward positive findings and minimizing negatives. With a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College and a Master’s in Science and Medical Journalism from Boston University, I’ve written about clinical trial transparency, organ donation, and basic molecular biology for publications like The Scientist, The Atlantic, Undark.org, Kaiser Health News, and more. At MedShadow, I research and write about the sometimes unexpected ways that medicines can affect us, and what we can do if and when it does.

When pregnant, chances are you will have a lot of questions. One of them shouldn’t be “can I take this drug while pregnant,” but sadly research is often lacking in this topic. Tylenol While Pregnant In the last week of September 2021, a group of more than 90 doctors and researchers published a call to action, cautioning against the liberal use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy. The studies suggested that exposure to the drug could increase the risk of a baby having neurodevelopmental, reproductive, and urogenital disorders. The authors added, however, that Tylenol has long been considered one of the…

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If you have heard about the latest craze of taking the supplement known as Ashwagandha for anxiety, you are not alone. There is certainly a buzz around this popular supplement. But what exactly is it, and what can ashwagandha do for you? Todd Miller had been taking Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, when he decided to add ashwagandha to his regimen about two years ago. He doesn’t remember where he heard about ashwagandha, but he says, “I always felt like [wellbutrin] made me sort of sluggish and slow.”  With ashwagandha, he says, he not only feels that his depression is managed, but…

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A woman wrote to doctors at the University of California Los Angeles asking whether stress could be behind her new irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) diagnosis. She’d been diagnosed during the pandemic. She’d just started a new job, then lockdowns had her working in addition to homeschooling her children. Like many of us, she’d been incredibly stressed.  Spoiler alert: the doctors cannot definitively tell her the cause of her irritable bowel, but stress is a known trigger that often precedes both diagnoses and flare ups. Over the past few years, researchers have begun to understand  more and more of the reasons…

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Usually, our immune systems protect us from all kinds of outside invaders like the bacteria that causes strep throat and the virus that causes COVID, but what happens when our immune system’s highly-specialized antibodies, white blood cells, and inflammatory molecules glitch and turn against us, attacking our body’s own tissues and organs? We get autoimmune diseases.  There are 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and they’re often difficult to diagnose. The symptoms of autoimmune diseases can vary widely based on the parts of the body that are affected. Often, the symptoms of autoimmune diseases, like painful swelling and inflammation, change from…

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Madeline Shonka told MedShadow it took her years to get an accurate lupus diagnosis. Even then, she had to go through trial and error with many different combinations of medications for treatment, all the while trying to decipher the best lifestyle changes to manage her condition. For example, she eventually discovered that making time for light exercise had a huge positive impact on her quality of life. Jill Dehlin, an RN who suffers from migraines, told MedShadow that tracking her symptoms helped immensely. “I recommend to everyone that I speak with to keep a journal or diary and keep track…

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When personal trainer and nutrition coach Erik was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), he says he felt almost betrayed: “The foods I consider paramount to my physical success are now turning against my body.” He says medicines haven’t helped much either, so he’s been experimenting with different foods and testing out an anti-inflammatory diet. None of those attempts have yet managed to end his first months-long IBS flare-ups. What Is IBS? IBS is “chronic abdominal pain with altered bowel movements in the absence of an identifiable cause,” says Aniruddh Setya, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Kidz Medical Service in Hollywood,…

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In 2018, two young men were found dead in their respective bathrooms in Texas after using a concentrated powder form of tianeptine.  Tianeptine is an antidepressant prescribed in Europe, Asia and South America. It’s banned in the US, but it’s found its way here. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the drug’s risks in 2018. Then in February 2022, the agency put out a new warning after scientists found a large increase in calls to poison control centers related to tianeptine poisoning. What is Tianeptine? Tianeptine, sold under the brand names of Coaxil and Stablon, is…

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✅ This article was reviewed and approved by Shamard Charles, member of our MedShadow Medical Advisory Board. Vickie Hadge wasn’t diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) until more than 10 years after her first symptoms appeared. For that first decade, when she knew something was wrong and she didn’t know what, she took her health into her own hands, adopted a vegetarian diet and took up yoga and meditation. When she was finally diagnosed with MS in 2017, she was prescribed a disease-modifying medication, Copaxone (glatiramer acetate). Since the diagnosis, she says, she has remained relapse-free. For that, she credits both…

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Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress, but for some people, it can become overwhelming and debilitating. People with types of anxiety disorder feel apprehensive and uneasy, and it’s common for them to experience negative thoughts that make them more fearful. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): More than 40 million American adults ages 18 and older have an anxiety disorder, and nearly one-third of adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their life. Anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with depressive disorders or substance abuse. Most people with an anxiety disorder also have depression.  Most…

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