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Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
My Body Went Through A Massive Change In My 40s. I Didn't Know What Had Really Happened Until Much Later.
I could tell as soon as I placed my towel on the lounge chair at the Cozumel resort that the middle-aged woman sitting beside me wanted to chat. After our brief conversation, my boyfriend and I continued to run into her and her husband, who were on vacation from their home in England, and soon our discussions grew more personal until we found ourselves comparing menopause stories. And as my new friend shared how tough the transition has been on her, I realized not only how beneficial it is for women to talk about menopause, but also how alone I felt during menopause because I had no idea it was happening. When painful fibroids led me to a hysterectomy at age 41, I asked fellow middle-aged friends for advice. However, other than the practical tips for taking care of myself during the recovery and the jokes about how much I was going to love not getting a period anymore, I didn't gather any insights on the long-term changes in my body or the anticipation of menopause. The six-week recovery was far worse than I anticipated. I was in constant pain, I couldn't sleep, and the pain medication made me so sick I had to stop taking it. Because I kept my ovaries — my total hysterectomy included the removal of my uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes — I stopped menstruating, but I didn't go into menopause. But for weeks I experienced night sweats, mood swings and a confusing sense of grief that I was suddenly infertile. Although those issues soon faded, I knew it was a preview of what would eventually come with menopause. At the end of the six weeks, I returned to work, chauffeuring my kids around, grocery shopping and exercising as normal life resumed. The hysterectomy, the pain, the grief and the post-surgical issues were behind me, morphing into gratitude that I was rid of the fibroids that had plagued me for too long. And, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed not getting a period anymore. All of these memories came flooding back when Emily from England confided in me on that beach in Mexico that she recently underwent a major surgery. 'I had a hysterectomy,' she said, lowering her voice as if she was revealing a dirty secret. 'I'm so sorry you had to go through that,' I replied. 'I had a hysterectomy six years ago. It was brutal.' 'You did?' Emily seemed surprised by my confession. 'So are you postmenopausal too?' Unlike mine, Emily's hysterectomy included the removal of her ovaries, so menopause jump-started for her immediately following the surgery. I explained to her that, while my doctor deemed my ovaries healthy and left them where they were, I had discovered a year earlier through hormone testing that I was postmenopausal at age 47. 'I didn't even know I was approaching menopause because I stopped getting a period after the hysterectomy and couldn't use that as a sign,' I told Emily. 'So learning I was postmenopausal and could have asked for help with my symptoms way earlier shocked me.' As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I realized not only how shaken I still was that I endured menopause without knowing it — without knowing to ask for help with my symptoms — but also how isolating my experience was because I didn't have conversations like this one, even with my doctors. After my hysterectomy, I repeatedly asked my gynecologist how I would know I was in perimenopause — the transitional period before menopause when the ovaries begin making less estrogen — and she repeatedly told me I would simply start noticing hot flashes. That seemed oddly unscientific to me, and I kept hoping I'd get a different answer every time I asked. There was no mention of hormone testing. When I actually did start experiencing hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes and insomnia, I decided to conduct my own research. With information from the Internet and a list of questions in hand, I booked an appointment with my gynecologist and requested hormone testing. My results came through my patient portal a few days later, and I didn't need a Google search to interpret what my numbers meant: I wasn't perimenopausal. I was postmenopausal. This can't be right, I thought. Sure, I had a hysterectomy, but my gynecologist assured me that it wouldn't speed up my menopause timeline because my ovaries remained and that I likely had many years before I had to worry about menopause. However, the numbers sitting in my patient portal didn't lie. I had unknowingly gone through menopause and was already on the other side. I don't even know when my perimenopause started or how long I was in that stage. My online research told me that women who suspect perimenopause should get a baseline hormone test and repeat it periodically to track the results because hormone levels fluctuate. But I only had one test with no need to repeat it. Once postmenopausal, always postmenopausal. Over a million women in the United States enter menopause each year. And according to an AARP national survey, 90% of women ages 35 and over experience one or more menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, vaginal dryness and sleep disturbances. Not only that, but menopause puts women at an increased risk for other health issues, like heart disease, stroke and osteoporosis. Yet, a 2023 study revealed that approximately 94% of American women reported never learning about menopause in school and 49% didn't feel informed about menopause at all. Furthermore, a recent study released in February 2025 that addressed the fact that women feel both unprepared to face menopause and unsupported by their health care systems during this phase, found that 'a significant number of individuals aged 30–45 years experience perimenopause-related symptoms.' The results highlight the need for more perimenopause education, even for women in their 30s. When focusing on physicians' roles, another study found that only about 20% of doctors in American obstetrics and gynecology residency programs had formal menopause training. So even if women seek professional advice and treatment for their menopause symptoms, there's a good chance their doctors won't fully know how to properly provide it. Given my own lack of knowledge surrounding menopause, my gynecologist's lack of guidance, and my conversation with Emily, I'm not surprised by these statistics. After receiving my test results, I went on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for a year. A few short weeks after applying my first estradiol patch, the shift was life-changing. The night sweats and hot flashes stopped. My moods leveled off, and I no longer fought bubbles of rage building up at the slightest stressor. My sleep improved, and I lost some weight. I was no longer baffled by my body and my emotions, no longer wondering if all my symptoms were a figment of my imagination, no longer waiting for a doctor to offer some insights. Most importantly, I learned that it was up to me to advocate for my health — because no one else will. The more I shared with Emily during our vacation chats about my hysterectomy and menopause, the more she shared about her journey. Her surgery recovery was slow and painful. Months later, she still struggled at her job, where she worked with young children and wasn't able to sit on the floor with them like she once did. Her instant menopause led to instant weight gain, her moods were all over the map, her sleep was disruptive, and she wasn't sure her HRT was working. She was exhausted — physically and emotionally — with a sense of hopelessness that she would never feel normal again. Maybe worst of all, she'd been keeping it all inside, trying to push through, not confiding in anyone but her husband, who obviously couldn't relate. Tears shimmered in her eyes as I empathetically told her I went through everything she described. I too wondered if the HRT would work, but eventually my symptoms abated. I too struggled with weight gain, but I found that walking 10,000 steps daily, lifting weights and cutting down on sugar helped me lose those stubborn pounds. And I too felt alone, but talking with other women and doctors about menopause without shame or embarrassment can temper that loneliness. I look back and realize I wasn't proactive enough when I first suspected I was menopausal. Combine my silence with the fact that my doctor never suggested regular hormone testing after my hysterectomy or offered me a checklist of other symptoms besides hot flashes, and the result is that I likely suffered unnecessarily for months — possibly years. Emily thanked me for helping her feel less alone, a feeling I wish I'd had while enduring the worst of menopause. I never saw her again after that heart-to-heart talk, but I hope she's back in England healing, practicing patience and kindness to herself, and maybe sharing her experience with other women so they feel less alone with their menopause too. While I'm encouraged that more studies are being done and more news segments are calling attention to menopause, women's health needs to be discussed more, at every age and stage. We know our bodies. We know when something needs to be addressed by a doctor. And we need to know that it's up to us to advocate for our own health. Heather Sweeney's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The TODAY Show, Newsweek, Business Insider, Good Housekeeping and Healthline, among others. Her memoir, 'CAMOUFLAGE: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage,' will be released in fall 2025. You can learn more about her at and follow her on Instagram, Bluesky and Threads. Do you have a compelling personal story you'd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we're looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@ Sometime In My 50s, I Became Invisible To Men. Here's What I Didn't Expect To Feel. I Went Through Menopause At 44 And I Was Shocked By What It Did To My Body I'm 70 And I've Lived Alone My Entire Adult Life. Here's What Everyone Gets Wrong About Single People.
Fox News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Poop cruise' documentary exposes 2013 ship nightmare featuring chaos, gross conditions
A newly released documentary on Netflix has continued to draw attention from viewers about how a vacation turned into a nightmare. The film covers the Carnival Triumph ship — which departed from Galveston, Texas, and set sail to Cozumel, Mexico for a four-night stay in Feb. 2013. The documentary, "Trainwreck: Poop Cruise," explores the incident in which an engine fire left 4,000 passengers stranded at sea without power and dubbed the incident the "poop cruise," according to Netflix's website. Passengers were stranded for about five days until finally making it to Mobile, Alabama. A Carnival spokesperson told Fox News Digital the incident from over 12 years ago was a teachable moment for the entire cruise industry. "A thorough investigation following the incident revealed a design vulnerability," the statement said, "which was corrected and led Carnival Cruise Line to invest more than $500 million across our entire fleet in comprehensive fire prevention and suppression, improved redundancy and enhanced management systems, all in support of our commitment to robust safety standards." The company's statement continued, "We are proud of the fact that since 2013 over 53 million guests have enjoyed safe and memorable vacations with us, and we will continue to operate to these high standards." The documentary features interviews with passengers, who shared their accounts of defecating in biohazard bags, seeing fights break out, having no power and revealing the chaos that unfolded aboard. Stewart Chiron, a Miami-based cruise industry expert known as "The Cruise Guy," told Fox News Digital the Carnival Triumph disaster was an unfortunate situation. A Carnival spokesperson said the incident became a teachable moment for the entire cruise industry. Chiron said the incident "highlighted the significant safety measures available at that moment in time and lessons learned, as it has never happened again." "The ship did exactly what it was supposed to do and preserved lives," he added. "While the passengers and crew were uncomfortable, they were safe. Food and supplies were replenished by other ships sailing in the area as it was towed to Mobile, Alabama." Viewers have taken to social media to share comments about the outrageous incident. "Not me, watching the Netflix documentary about the 2013 carnival cruise that turned into a poop cruise," said one woman on X. Another X user posted, "OK, listen, hear me out. Other than the crew, who all seemed GREAT, these people seemed unbearable and really dramatic." Said another person, "My favorite part of the 'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' situation was the part when all the toilets stopped working and they had no power, so they thought, 'We should open the bars and give everyone free booze.'" One X user wrote, "'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' on Netflix is a perfect documentary to show how Americans would not be surviving a war on their soil for a single week." The same user called out "the audacity, incapability to handle inconvenience and the absolute lack of community and empathy for others in a crisis." An X user posted, "Oh, the entitled cruise passengers are the worst!" "So, you've never been camping, done a missions trip, been hospitalized for any period of time, walked your dog, gone to a music festival? Just poop in the bag! You made the sewage problem so much worse," the same user added.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Trainwreck: Poop Cruise': 5 Things We Learned
You can tell a lot about people by how they behave in a crisis. And it's safe to say the voyage of the Carnival Triumph, better known as the Poop Cruise, was an icky, smelly, particularly grotesque kind of crisis — and that brought out some wild behavior. It happened way back in 2013, but chances are some of the details are emblazoned in your memory. The Triumph, set to cruise from Galveston, Texas to Cozumel, Mexico, suffered an electrical fire that knocked out the engine and air conditioning. And then, the coup de poop: the electrical toilets stopped working. This was definitely a problem with more than 4,000 passengers and crew onboard. And you thought Lord of the Flies was bad. More from Rolling Stone Watch Liam Payne Offer Guidance to Aspiring Musicians in 'Building the Band' Trailer 'Building the Band' to Premiere This Summer After Liam Payne Family Approves Footage 5 Things We Learned from 'Titan: The OceanGate Disaster' The story is told anew, and with a heaping helping of snarky humor, in the new Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, part of a series that looks at mishaps of varying severity (previous installments this season have focused on the 2021 Astroworld tragedy and scandal-ridden Toronto mayor Rob Ford). Not to belittle the trauma of anyone unfortunate enough to be aboard the Triumph, but this Trainwreck, premiering Tuesday, intentionally toes the line between tragedy and comedy. Here are five lessons learned and, er, highlights: An initial press release relayed news of a fire aboard the cruise, but it was under control. A cruise ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, with no engine power or AC: interesting, unfortunate, but not the stuff of sensationalist headlines. Then passengers started calling in with their own grisly details, which got a lot grislier once the tugboats showed up and tilted the ship just enough to set loose the previously-somewhat-contained human waste. Voila: Poop Cruise. Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin recalls in the doc that then-new CNN president Jeff Zucker made the decision to go all-in on the story. 'We needed eyeballs on the screen,' she explains. Only then did we get to hear Wolf Blitzer intone that 'Sewage is dripping off the walls.' Soon the hashtag #CruiseShipFromHell was ubiquitous. Oh, the humanity. If you don't believe us, take it from Hanna, a bartender aboard the Poop Cruise and star of some of the doc's most candid moments. 'There is so much sex on the cruise ship,' she says in the doc. 'So much sex, you don't want to know.' (Oh, but we do, Hanna. We do). 'Everything is hard and fun.' (So to speak). Later, Hannah admits she was not actually in her cabin when an alarm ('Alpha team! Alpha team!') signaled the crisis. She was in the bed of another crew member. And after a couple of days adrift, when the decision was made to serve free drinks, a newlywed couple could be spotted having sex on a deck chair for all to see. To be fair, panic had long since set in. Once news of the toilet malfunction was announced, a contingency plan followed: pee in the showers, and do what most people in the doc call 'a No. 2' in little red biohazard bags. (Never will you hear so many people speak in childhood euphemisms about bowel movements.) Nobody seemed to like the bag idea. Some opted to pop Imodium. Others went the grin-and-hold-it route. Once the free drinks flowed, some drunken revelers Tossed the full red bags overboard. Meanwhile, others tried to use the out-of-service toilets. Abhi, a Triumph chef with an endearing habit of saying things were 'fucked up,' describes the toilet horror: 'People were pooping on top of toilet paper, then pooping on top of that. It was layer after layer after layer. It was like a lasagna.' At the end of the doc, we learn that Abhi 'has never looked at lasagna the same way.' Things fell apart; the center could not hold; mere anarchy was loosed upon the Poop Cruise. There was the hurling of feces bags, and open fornication, and peeing (or 'going No. 1,' if you prefer) off the side of the deck. There was also food hoarding. Passengers fought over deck chairs and deck square footage. Once again, Hanna the bartender, who grew up in the Soviet Union, delivers the goods: 'It made me think that now all these Americans somehow can feel what it was like in a dictatorship country, where shit like this happens and it doesn't surprise anyone. Welcome to the Soviet Union, people.' Once the Bible study broke out, along with full-throated hymns, the whole thing came to resemble a Cormac McCarthy novel, or maybe a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Repent, Poop Cruisers! Repent! Once the Triumph was tugged safely to Mobile, Alabama, after five days stranded at sea, Carnival insisted that the fire was an accident, that recommended actions had been taken to prevent incidents similar to previous electrical malfunctions, and that the vessel was fully compliant and had been certified to sail by regulatory bodies. The company carried out fleet-wide safety upgrades aimed at preventing engine room fires, and changed its terms and conditions, removing caveats about wholesome food, sanitary and safe living conditions, safe passage, and a sea-worthy vessel. Passengers were given a full refund, transportation expenses, and a $500 payment. They were also offered a free cruise. Carnival spent $115 million cleaning, repairing, and retrofitting the Triumph. The vessel is now called the Carnival Sunrise, should you wish to book passage. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Carnival called the ordeal a 'teachable moment' for the entire cruise industry. 'A thorough investigation following the incident revealed a design vulnerability which was corrected and led Carnival Cruise Line to invest more than $500 million across our entire fleet in comprehensive fire prevention and suppression, improved redundancy, and enhanced management systems, all in support of our commitment to robust safety standards,' they wrote. 'We are proud of the fact that since 2013 over 53 million guests have enjoyed safe and memorable vacations with us, and we will continue to operate to these high standards.' June 24, 1:20 p.m.: This article has been updated to include comment from Carnival. Best of Rolling Stone Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best The United States of Weed Gaming Levels Up
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Another holiday hotspot slaps cruise passengers with tourists tax – with fee to QUADRUPLE in next few years
A leading North American destination has become the latest hotspot to slap cruise passengers with a hefty tourist tax. Mexico, a stop on many Caribbean itineraries, will now charge cruise tourists a $5/£3.67 fee per passenger. That fee is set to soar to $21/£15.42 per passenger over the next three years and it has been introduced following criticism of cruise lines from Mexican officials. They've accused the cruise lines of failing to contribute enough to local communities in the ports they visit. Royal Caribbean and other major cruise lines have reportedly fought against the introduction of the tax, arguing that passengers already spend money in each destination. The tax will be paid in addition to the port fees that cruise lines already pay in Mexico. Officials argue that many airlines already charge a tourist tax within the price of a plane ticket to Mexico and they want cruise passengers to pay to. Cruising is booming in Mexico and according to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, around 3,000 cruise ships are scheduled to visit this year. The ships are expected to carry 10 million passengers between them with Cozumel, an island, the country's biggest cruise destination. The island is popular for scuba diving and features on many cruise lines' Western Caribbean itineraries. Local business owners are reportedly worried about the impact the tourist tax could have on the economy. Carmen Joaquin, the owner of a duty-free shop in Cozumel, told the New York Post: 'We, as business owners, were very concerned, because Cozumel lives on cruise tourism'. Business owners have also expressed concerns that a new private island designed by Royal Caribbean could impact their companies. The cruise giant is developing a huge site named Perfect Day Mexico in Costa Maya in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It's scheduled to open in 2027. The cruise line has said the exclusive island destination is set to be 'bigger and bolder than anything we have done to date'. Mexico is one of many destinations where cruise tourists are set to be stung with a tax. Tourists visiting Santorini and Mykonos will now be required to pay €20/£17.14 to visit the popular islands. The new tax will be charged during the peak holiday season, which runs until September 30. Norway has announced that local governments will be able to charge a three per cent levy on overnight stays and cruise ship visitors. The tax is due to launch in the summer of 2026 and has been designed in response to overtourism in the Nordic country. Cecilie Myrseth, Norway's trade and industry minister, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: 'It is not the case that we have year-round tourism throughout the country, but in some places, there are parts of the year that are particularly demanding, and the expenses that the residents have to pay for are particularly high.'
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruises Past Market Expectations in Boon for Shares
The world's largest cruise company sailed well beyond Wall Street's expectations in its latest quarter. Carnival raised its full year profit guidance on Tuesday as bookings appeared to show travellers are unwilling to let tariffs get between them and Tampa and they won't allow geopolitics to close off their seaway to Greece. READ ALSO: What Does Mamdani's Primary Win Mean for New York Real Estate? and Shell Dismisses BP Takeover Talks as Mere 'Speculation' The choppy waters predicted for the cruise industry this year were based on the very real risks of trade wars and real wars, and all the economic disruption that one or both of those things would cause to travel demand. In late April, those worries seemed justified when Carnival competitor Norwegian Cruise Line missed Wall Street's profit and revenue estimates when it reported its first quarter results and warned of cracks in the consumer spending hull. Cue Carnival's results on Tuesday, which had investors smiling ear-to-eye like the sunkissed revelers on the deck of the 1,132-foot Jubilee as it pulls up to Cozumel. The company's second quarter revenue of $6.3 billion was up 9% year-over-year, and net income of $565 million, up from $92 million in the same period last year, was $185 million better than the guidance it issued in March. Customer deposits were at a record $8.5 billion in the quarter, 2026 prices are at record highs and bookings are level with last year's record pace. In a call with analysts, CEO Josh Weinstein offered some background on the good news: April showers, in this case, brought a flowering of May bookings. Weinstein said travelers were hesitant to book in April after President Donald Trump announced a round of planned global tariffs, but demand returned in the weeks that followed, suggesting consumers are inclined to leave staycations back in the pandemic years. Carnival shares rose 6.9% on Tuesday, and the industry leader's good news helped propel peers Norwegian up 4.3%, Royal Caribbean up 2.5%, and Viking up 3.4%. In the last year, Carnival shares have risen 56% thanks to strong consumer demand, and continued resilience coupled with a deescalation in the Middle East, which threatened to drive up fuel prices, buttressed its appeal on Wall Street. Wait and See: Weinstein said the Middle East conflict hasn't impacted Carnival, but told analysts not to read too much into that yet: 'While it has not yet had any discernible impact on our business, this is all unfolding too quickly in real time to try to project how it could impact our future business.' What could dent cruise industry revenues could be a new, much less heated geopolitical trend: port taxes. In recent months Alaska, Hawaii, Norway, and Mexico have all introduced levies on cruise ships or passengers, with cruise ship industry lobbies filing lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions in attempts to block them. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Sign in to access your portfolio
