Contraception

What you may not know about me, is that the uterus is my favorite organ.

I love all the things that the uterus can do. I love helping women get pregnant, taking care of babies, and helping women prevent pregnancies when they are not wanting to have a baby. Today, I would like to talk about the options for contraception.

First, a helpful chart:

This shows that family planning (going off of your cycle), and spermicide, are the least effective methods of birth control.

Next comes barrier methods, which still have a high fail rate.

After barrier methods, are the prescription medications, that a lot of women are interested in.

There are combined oral contraceptive pills, that still have a fail rate of 9%. This rate is so high because it is hard to take a pill every single day, and there are a fair amount of medications that do interact with oral pills.

Then there is the depo-provera shot. This is effective for 90 days at a time. It has with it an associated 2-4lb weight gain, and can cause some osteoporosis, which tends to be reversible after the medication is stopped. It has a fail rate of 6%.

Next come two rings. One is the NuvaRing, which is a vaginal ring that is placed inside the vagina for 3 weeks at a time, and is removed after 3 weeks to have a period. It has a fail rate of about 9%. Women need a new prescription after every month to get a new ring. Some women complain about the fit of the ring. Next, is a different ring called Annovera. With this ring, it is very similar to the NuvaRing, but does have some advantages. With one prescription, one ring, the woman can use it for 13 months. The ring goes inside for 3 weeks, and out for 1 week, like the NuvaRing, but then she washes it, and uses it again for the following month. With the Annovera, it tends to cause less weight gain because of the way the hormone is derived. It is also a lot cheaper because you are only needing to buy the prescription once. Also, it's fail rate is only 2%, a lot better than NuvaRing.

Annovera

Sterilization is the next most effective, with the vasectomy for guys and the tubal ligation for women.

Surprisingly, both the IUD and the implant are more effective than the surgeries, and they are also reversible.

For IUD, there is the Mirena. It goes inside of the uterus and thickens up the mucus keeping semen from going inside of the cervix. It can prevent pregnancies for 5 years. It has a fail rate of about 0.2-0.5%.

And lastly, the most effective method of birth control is the Nexplanon. It is a progesterone only small 4cm rod that goes right under the skin in your arm. It can help prevent pregnancies for 3 years, and has a fail rate of 0.28%.

Nexplanon

All of these forms of birth control can also be effective methods in helping control periods, making them less frequent, less painful. Feel free to contact us directly if you want to learn more.

Injuries happen to the best of us

As some of you may know, I have been working on a couch to 5k running program. My dad helped me find it, and with only needing to participate a minimum of 3 times a week, helps me fit it within my schedule of seeing patients, learning Spanish, and spending time with my family.

Recently, the program has had me ramping up the amount of running I've been doing. And, I had been ignoring my body. After some of my runs last week, I could barely walk. Even when I went in the pool after running, it still hurt a lot. So, I finally listened to what my body was telling me to do, rest.

Why do we get injured? It is actually more common than people may think. This especially happens if we don't properly train, stretch, and put too much on our body at once. That's where I've been struggling. I'm the person who comes home from work, quickly changes, goes for a run, and comes home, and works with children, ignoring water and stretching. I can no longer do that. Stretching is very important. It helps keep muscles loose and helps improve pain. Also, drinking enough water can also help you recover quicker. 

Another thing I have learned by accident that can help me recover quicker, is wearing compression stockings. They compress the areas of pain and swelling and improve healing. They are also useful for treatment of varicose veins, and other leg swelling.

I have diagnosed myself with patellofemoral syndrome. It presents with anterior knee pain, and it worsens with squatting, running, and by doing stairs. It sometimes has a catching sensation. This condition tends to occur when individuals increase the amount of training. Treatment in the acute phase is to rest, and to modify the activity that was causing the pain. For me, that means rest, compression, and elevation when I can. After this initial phase ends, I need to work on strengthening my hip abductors, and my quadriceps. 

I will continue to press forward, and never give up. I feel like a lot of people give up when problems face us. Keep pressing forward, keep running the race, and we will succeed. Let's face another day together!

Run like the wind

I both like and dislike New Year's resolutions at the same time. I like them because it helps people become motivated to do something new, and I dislike them because a lot of people start something, and then stop. I do not want to be one of those individuals. Therefore, instead of calling it a New Year's resolution, let me share about a lifestyle change I am working on.

Running. I love running. When I was younger, I absolutely hated it. It wasn't until I was in high school that I started running with my dad. That lead to me participating in track and cross country. I was never the fastest runner, but I could always keep on going, for miles and miles. I loved being able to explore new areas of my surrounding cities via foot. I was able to run almost 2 half marathons. The first half marathon I ran in, I did not cross the finish line. This is because a few weeks prior to the half, I had injured myself while training and I ignored it. I ended up passing out, having a seizure, and finishing breaking my left fibula in multiple locations. Reading the medical reports later, I was very unstable when I ended up in the hospital. About a year after my first half, I was able to run my second half, and actually complete it. That encouraged me that maybe someday, I would be able to achieve my goal: of running the Boston Marathon.

My dad had run the Boston Marathon when my mom was pregnant with me in 1988. My dad is my inspiration when it comes to physical activities because he never gives up and always perseveres. Fast forward, and I have now completed medical school, residency, got married, and had 2 children. I am now working in a medical office, and I give people advice about their health. But, I am not the most healthy individual. I have not worked on my physical health in years. I am changing that.

My dad has found for me a free couch to 5k running program. That, along with an app that allows me to track my progress, mileage, time, and calories burning, is a start to getting me back to where I want to be. I currently weigh 263lbs, which is the heaviest I have ever weighed, even when I was pregnant. I am not motivated just about losing weight. I am motivated to be able to spend quality time with my boys, and chase them without getting tired. To be able to become pregnant again, and maybe not have a huge baby this time. To keep myself from developing diabetes and hypertension. To be an example to those that I work with, and the patients that I care for. These are my reasons. I also realized that I will be more successful in my goal if I talk about it, post about it, and take pictures. So, here's to completing my third day of running!!

Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy

So, what exactly is a DO and why are you different from an MD?
I am a doctor of osteopathic medicine, which means in addition to the type of treatment that you would receive from an MD, I have been trained in a technique known as Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy, or OMT for short. OMT was created by Dr. A. T. Still in 1892. The idea behind OMT is that the mind and body are interconnected, and when something goes wrong in one part of the body (dysfunction) it affects the rest of the body.
OMT specifically is a therapeutic use of hands to help restore normal structure and hence function. Dr. Still came up with the practice after having a bad headache one day in his childhood, and the only way he could fall asleep was by using a rope under his head. He fell asleep, and when he awoke, he no longer had a headache. He used that ideology of interconnectedness, along with belief that medicine should be patient oriented, and not disease oriented. Many of the OMT techniques are similar to treatments you can receive from a chiropractor. In fact, D. D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic treatments, took classes on Osteopathy which heavily influenced his ideas that would later go on to become the chiropractic discipline in 1895. So, if you are familiar with what a chiropractor does, then OMT will feel very familiar to you.
So, what can you treat with OMT?

I have treated many things from headaches, back aches, sprained ankles, knee pain, constipation, nursing difficulties, swelling, etc. I use my hands, and various pressure techniques to help realign the body back to the way it is intended to be. I sometimes use popping techniques (called HVLA) to help realign the back or the neck. I also tend to use varying amounts of pressure to help the muscles relax. It can be a helpful adjunct to treatment of pain.

OMT at Transcend Medical Group Pantego

Learning Spanish

Prior to a few months ago, I have not used Spanish in years. I took Spanish in high school, and learned the basics of nouns, pronouns, and conjugations. I used my knowledge to test out of needing to take a language in college, and then promptly forgot most of it. Fast forward, and I complete residency, and land my first job in Pantego, Texas, where many of the patients speak Spanish. Oh boy. Instead of staying la gringa, I have started working on my medical Spanish.

I kept this program that is free, online, offered from my alma mater, LECOM, called Canopy. It has interactive programs where I can hear the Spanish spoken, practice speaking it, practice writing it, and then test my knowledge through telenovelas. It has also helped having two wonderful colleagues who are fluent in Spanish and do not seem to mind me practicing my Spanish on them.

Some of the words I have found muy dificiles, son estreñimiento, inmunización, y estetoscopio. I am currently in the middle of learning about diet and diabetes. I love learning new palabras, especially seeing their links to the Latin language. So, if you ever see me muttering away to myself, and repeating over and over the same phrase, know that I am studying Spanish. Let me know if anyone has any recommendations on improving.

Welcome to Pantego

My name is Dr. Alicia J Harbison, and I have my doctor of osteopathic medicine, specializing in family medicine. I have completed training caring for patients in all ages and stages of life. I have helped bring many children into the world through my experience on the labor and delivery floor. I am passionate about health care that is individualized for each person. My goal is to help every person live the best life that is possible.

I graduated from Messiah College in 2011 with a bachelor's of science degree in biology. During my time in Messiah, I was immersed with people from all areas of the country, and had a few life-changing experiences. I studied abroad in May of 2009 to Zambia, learning more about Healthcare in the developing world. I later on spent 4 months living in Rwanda, and one of those months I worked diligently with surgeons in a rural hospital in Kibogora, Rwanda. I got to learn first hand what it is like to struggle and live in poverty.

I went to Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, located in Erie, PA and graduated in 2016. I then moved on to a family medicine residency through Guthrie Clinic/Robert Packer Hospital, located in Sayre, PA. I had many patient experiences from births to deaths, delivering news of new cancer, to improving dementia symptoms and depression. I have always enjoyed taking care of people.

I am currently practicing in Pantego, Texas, which is a small city located inside of Arlington, Texas. My husband's family lives on the east side of Dallas, and we wanted to be closer to family. I have a few staff that work with me, and we all strive to treat every patient with the respect and dedication that they deserve. Pantego serves a lot of Hispanic patients, so I have been working on improving my Spanish.