Health Highlights: April 1, 2015

• Tweet
• Pin It

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Singer Avril Lavigne Has Lyme Disease

Pop star Avril Lavigne says she has Lyme disease.

In an interview with People magazine, the 30-year-old musician said she began feeling ill last April and doctors told her she was likely dehydrated and exhausted from touring, ABC News reported.

But her symptoms became worse and Lavigne said she knew there was something more serious going on.

“I had to fight,” she said in the interview. “I had doctors tell me I was crazy and they didn’t want to test me. I had to learn about it completely on my own.”

“She has rarely left her home,” said People staff writer Patrick Gomez, ABC News reported. “She says she has been unable to breathe. It is hard to stand and she is barely able to brush her teeth.”

—–

Joni Mitchell in Hospital

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was taken to an intensive care unit in a Los Angeles-area hospital on Tuesday after being found unconscious in her Bel Air home.

It wasn’t immediately clear what was wrong with the 71-year-old folk singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, the Associated Press reported.

“Joni was found unconscious in her home this afternoon,” according to a statement on Mitchell’s website. “She is currently in intensive care undergoing tests and is awake and in good spirits.”

In December, Mitchell told Billboard magazine that she has a rare skin condition called Morgellons disease, which prevents her from performing, the AP reported.

—–

Doctors in Arizona Must Tell Women Drug-Induced Abortion May be Reversible

Arizona is under heavy criticism for becoming the first state to require doctors who perform drug-induced abortions to tell women that the procedure may be reversible, even though many doctors say that is not true.

The rule was included in a law signed Monday by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that is meant to prevent health insurance plans offered in Arizona through the federal health exchange from providing coverage for most abortions, The New York Times reported.

The science behind the new rule for drug-induced abortions is unproven or wrong, most doctors say.

The rule is based largely on the research of Dr. George Delgado, who claimed that he saved the pregnancies of a number of women after they had started, but not completed, the two-step process involved in such a drug-induced abortion, The Times reported.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

• Tweet
• Pin It