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.

Diabetes is one of the biggest challenges of our generation, and I’m at heightened risk for developing it. As some MedShadow readers might already know, I am one of the many women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS.) That condition puts me at a substantially higher risk than the average woman for developing diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 4.8% of people between the ages of 18 and 40 (with or without PCOS), and 18.9% of those aged 45 to 64, in the U.S. have diabetes. But by the time they’re 40 years old, more than…

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At MedShadow, we regularly interview patients about their experiences with medications. Time and time again, we have patients tell us that shortly after starting a new regimen, they gained weight. They don’t always know whether the drug directly caused their weight gain, but the timing is often suspect. Weight gain around your midsection is often associated with something called “insulin resistance,” a condition that researchers are finding more and more to be a side effect of drugs. Take Masonia Traylor, for example, who told MedShadow she gained 40 pounds after she switched to a new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medication.…

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Wegovy (semaglutide), a popular diabetes drug, has gotten a lot more popular over the last 18 months. In June 2021, it was approved for a new indication—weight loss for patients with obesity, even if they didn’t have diabetes. While it’s only indicated for those with obesity, celebrities with seemingly healthy weights have claimed to be giving themselves the at-home injections in hopes of fitting into particularly form-fitting outfits for special events. If you Google “wegovy” even once, you’ll likely start seeing ads on social media for telehealth companies that help manage weight, and of course, have doctors ready to prescribe…

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When Pat (now 71) was in her 40s, her vaginal dryness became so severe that the vaginal tissue would flare with even a gentle wipe. She’d been exposed to a drug called DES (diethylstilbestrol) when she was in utero, which caused myriad health issues as she grew up, and was likely behind the dryness. For her, coconut oil made a huge difference. “If only I had known I was not alone with this personal issue,” she says. Vaginal dryness is likely more common than you think. It can affect women of any age, but is especially prevalent among those who…

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✅ This article was reviewed and approved by Terry Graedon, member of our MedShadow Medical Advisory Board. Diabetes Drugs When Ron Carlson died on his motorcycle at 66, it wasn’t a slippery road or a distracted driver that led to his demise. It was hypoglycemia, according to the medical examiner who reviewed his death. Carlson, a diabetic, had been prescribed medication to lower his blood sugar, a job the drugs did too well. In Carlson’s case, it led to hypoglycemia that caused him to stumble, clutch the bike’s throttle for balance and then be flung across a restaurant parking lot.…

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Angela Ridgel, PhD, an exercise physiologist at Kent State University, usually helps patients exercise at the gym, while studying how it might improve their cognition and brain health. But many exercise routines on land, such as aerobic or stretching ones, for example, can be challenging for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), she says. “When you’re doing exercise [on] land, which is what we mostly do in my lab, that would have a tendency to make MS patients overheat and then exacerbate their symptoms,” she adds. So she teamed up with a doctor who specializes in working with MS patients to…

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When Lily was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 27, she blamed herself. “Why hadn’t I taken care of myself properly?” she thought. She had regularly skipped her annual Pap smears—a common procedure, in which the doctor collects cells from the vagina wall to test for signs of cervical cancer. “I didn’t think I needed to go,” she said. But when she started bleeding and experiencing daily pelvic pain, she finally visited her OB/GYN and found out that she had cervical cancer. She’s been treated, but regrets having postponed screening because the disease left her infertile. Lily is now an…

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A new chemotherapy drug promises to treat some patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have been unable to take the other two other chemo medicines because one can cause allergic reactions and the other is frequently in short supply.  This summer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fast-tracked the approval of Rylaze, a newer version of the chemo drug Erwinaze to treat ALL (leukemia) , made by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which was previously distributed Erwinaze. The agency approved Rylaze based on an ongoing Phase 2/3 trial of about 102 patients, with an average age of 10.  The rare disease…

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May 26 Update: Only 62.6% of patients taking methotrexate, an immunosuppressant drug used in some cancer patients, mounted an effective antibody response to Pfizer’s vaccine, according to a study Stephanie, a Stage 4 endometrial cancer patient who has undergone both chemotherapy and immunotherapy since 2019, has been especially cautious throughout the pandemic. “We know how deadly this virus is, especially for older people and those who are immunocompromised,” like herself, she says. “And if not lethal, the complications for Covid-19 survivors are severe.”  The jury is still out on how exactly the COVID-19 vaccine affects cancer patients. Yet some studies point…

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The immediate side effects of chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy that treat cancer are well known to those directly affected by them. The reactions can include debilitating nausea, fatigue and dizziness as well as hair loss. What you may not know is that certain adverse effects of these life-saving medicines can last a lifetime.  Over the last several decades, cancer treatment has improved dramatically. Since the 1980s, survival rates have grown for all cancers. However, as people live longer, researchers have found more signs that the treatments that kill cancer cells can also attack healthy cells as well as organs, leading…

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