ALT MEDICINE  Those who say migraines are just really bad headaches have never had one. A migraine — its introduction, its symptoms, its pain and its duration — is an altogether different beast. It comes on like fog to a bay, slowly, steadily and almost imperceptibly. Then you see it, the glitch in your vision experts call the “aura,” and you know what’s coming. The aura grows and, depending on the severity of the migraine, the sufferer can sometimes lose all of her vision, large swaths of her vision or maybe just her peripheral vision. Sight returns, only to be replaced by a sharp headache and nausea. Every light, no matter how dim, and every sound, no matter how quiet, causes pain. Hours, sometimes days, pass in this manner.

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FROM THE EDITOR  Too often, it’s hard to make healthy choices because “changing your life” is so overwhelming. There are so many specific must-dos, it can seem impossible to do anything right at all. So we’re left between guilt over things we haven’t done enough, like exercise, and things we’ve done a little too much, like eating. Another day passes with no progress. How about stepping back from trying to make a massive overhaul and just do something manageable? Read More>>

LIFESTYLES  As long summer evenings shorten and mid-day heat is balanced by a crisp chill at night, it’s all too clear the season is changing. As Sandi and Danny sang it so well in Grease… “Ah, ah, those summer nights…” Read More>>

COVER STORY  Drs. Lisa Shaffer and Bassem Bejjani know how to deal with a problem. They take it and break it down into smaller pieces. Very small pieces. Put it this way: The view through a microscope was too big. Read More>>

DIET & FITNESS  If you suffer from depression, anxiety or just pure frustration at what’s going on in your life, there’s good news: A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that exercising regularly can have a dramatic effect on your mood, perceived depression and your overall outlook on life. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  During the last 150 years, the world has experienced five influenza pandemics, which have varied greatly in their severity. One of the hallmarks of these pandemics is that most people do not have a preexisting immunity to the new flu strain, so more people become infected, more people are hospitalized and more deaths occur than with the seasonal flu. When so many people get sick, there can be serious ramifications on our health care, school and business sectors. Predicting the severity of a pandemic is impossible. That’s why public health officials take pandemics so seriously. Read More>>

INNOVATION  For millions of Americans watching Oprah last April, a quirky little moment occurred that has been reverberating around the country ever since. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, was her guest, via Skype, on the Earth Day show, talking about ways to save the planet and save some money. Oprah asked, “So what is the greenest way for us to save money when it comes to food?” Pollan responded, “One is very simple. Reduce your meat consumption. I’m not talking about going vegetarian. Even one meatless day a week — a meatless Monday, which is what we do in my household — if everybody in America did that, that would be the equivalent of taking 20 million mid-size sedans off the road.” Read More>>

NEWS  As executive director of the Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS) — which serves low-income as well as uninsured patients — Peg Hopkins believes she is at the front lines of health care reform.

Dr. Deborah Harper is a pediatrician working for Group Health in Spokane and is president-elect for the Washington State Medical Association. Soon she’ll be busy meeting with doctors around the state as part of her role as an advocate for better health care in Washington.

As the coordinator of a Spokane project called Health for All, clearly Ralph de Cristoforo promotes universal health coverage. Yet while he advocates health-care access as a universal right, he also views health care as an individual responsibility. Read More>>

PARENTING  Erika Meier knew that when her first child, Megan, started fourth grade, she would be learning about the “biological process of sex,” and she was prepared to answer questions. But now Megan’s 12, headed to middle school and an avid reader of teen fiction. Meier reads her book choices ahead of time to make sure they’re appropriate, and she was stunned by one of the current juvenile bestsellers.

“It dealt with a girl who chose to sleep around, drink and smoke,” says Meier. “And by the second chapter, there was a discussion of oral sex. I was so frustrated. I asked my daughter if she even knew what it was, and she didn’t.” Read More>>

PARENTING  Face it: Kids are gross. And all those snotty and grubby and sneezy kids can easily turn an elementary school into a giant petri dish. A study by NSF International found that a school cafeteria tray had 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. And drinking-fountain water spigots had the most bacteria of all — over 2.7 million per square inch. Read More>>

PARENTING  My child was recently diagnosed with kidney stones. It was awful. What can we do to prevent this from ever happening again? Read More>>

PEOPLE  The clanging chatter of health care reform is nothing new to John Driscoll — it’s always been there as he’s navigated the choppy waters of the health care industry as a case manager, a health care administrator and in his current posts in the Washington State House of Representatives and as the executive director of Spokane’s Project Access. Read More>>

SENIORS  “My role is to keep the highways healthy — I like to think,” Amy Doneen says. But she’s not wearing an orange vest and toting a trash bag — no, Doneen is talking about the practice she’s built here in Spokane that centers around keeping arteries clean and clear. Healthy. Free of any obstruction that could turn into a heart attack or a stroke. Read More>>