Health.com Mind and Body

OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

1. HOW TO ENTER: This contest begins 12:01 A.M. ET on December 30, 2011 and ends 11:59 P.M. ET on February 16, 2012. To enter online, go to www.health.com/samsung-galaxy-tab and follow instructions to submit your original essay stating in 50 words or less tell us in 50 words or less why you would love to own this 7-inch tablet with Wi-Fi and optional T-Mobile service. Limit one entry per person or email account. Entries become sole property of Sponsor and none will be acknowledged or returned. Essays should be submitted in English. Essays exceeding 50 words or handwritten may not be considered. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, illegible, or incomplete entries, or entries not received for any reason. By entering, Entrant warrants that his or her entry (1) is original and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party, (2) has not been published in any medium or (3) has not won an award.

2. JUDGING: All entries will be judged by an editor of Health magazine, based on the following criteria: Originality (25%); Creativity (25%); Use of language (25%); and Appropriateness to contest theme (25%). In the event of a tie, an additional “tie-breaker” judge will determine the Winner from among all such tied entries using the judging criteria above. Incomplete and/or inaccurate entries and entries not complying with all rules are subject to disqualification. Decisions of judges are final and binding. The Winner will be notified by email or telephone on or about March 5, 2012.

3. ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older at time of entry. Void where prohibited by law. Employees of Health Media Ventures Inc. and Samsung Group and Samsung Electronics and their respective parents, affiliates and subsidiaries, participating advertising and promotion agencies (and members of their immediate family and/or those living in the same of household of each such employee) are not eligible to participate or win.

4. PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE

Prize Terms and Conditions

One Winner will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 7.0 Plus. The T-mobile unit can have T-mobile service added to it by the Winner, but also runs on Wifi only if the Winner doesn’t opt to add service. T-Mobile service is optional.

Approximate Retail Value of Prize: $399.99 with Wifi version; $249.99 with T-Mobile Version (with contract)

All other expenses not specified herein are the responsibility of the Winner. ALL TAXES ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNER. The prize is awarded without warranty, express or implied, of any kind.

5. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: No transfer, assignment, or substitution of a prize permitted, except Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize (or prize component) for an item of equal or greater value at Sponsor’s sole discretion. Nothing in these official contest rules shall obligate Sponsor to publish or otherwise use any entry submitted in connection with this Contest. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. Entrants agree to be bound by the terms of these Official Rules and by the decisions of Sponsor, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest. By entering, Entrant represents that any essay and other materials submitted as part of Entrant’s Contest entry are original and will not constitute defamation or an invasion of privacy or otherwise infringe upon the rights of any third party, and that the Entrant owns or has the rights to convey any and all right and title in such essay and other materials. In addition, by entering, Entrant grants to Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to edit, publish, promote, republish at any time in the future and otherwise use Entrant’s submitted essay, along with Entrant’s name, likeness, biographical information, and any other information provided by Entrant, in any and all media for possible editorial, promotional or advertising purposes, without further permission, notice or compensation (except where prohibited by law). Potential Winners, as a condition of receiving any prize, also may be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release and where legally permissible a Publicity Release and confirmation of a license as set forth above within 7 days following the date of first attempted notification, certifying, among other things, the following: (a) entry does not defame or invade the privacy of any party; (b) entry does not infringe upon the rights of any third party; and (c) the essay, and other materials submitted are original and have never been published and entry has never won an award. Failure to comply with this deadline may result in forfeiture of the prize and selection of an alternate winner. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for Sponsor and its agencies to use Winner’s name and/or likeness, biographical information, essay or other materials submitted for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. By entering and/or accepting prize, Entrants and Winners agree to hold Sponsor and its promotional partners, its directors, officers, employees and assigns harmless for liability, damages or claims for injury or loss to any person or property relating to, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, participation in this Contest, the acceptance and/or subsequent use or misuse, or condition of any of the prizes awarded, or claims based on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion or privacy. False or deceptive entries or acts will render the Entrant ineligible. Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the immediate and unrestricted right to disqualify any entrant or prize winner, if either commits or has committed any act, or has been involved or becomes involved in any situation or occurrence which the Sponsor deems likely to subject the Sponsor, entrant or winner to ridicule, scandal or contempt or which reflects unfavorably upon the Sponsor in any way. If such information is discovered by Sponsor after a winner has received notice of his prize and before the prize is awarded, Sponsor may rescind the prize in its entirety. If a portion of his/her prize has already been awarded, Sponsor may withdraw the remainder of the prize that has been fulfilled. Decisions of the Sponsor are final and binding in all matters related to this paragraph. Sponsor is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the contest, or in the announcement of the prize.

6. INTERNET: Sponsor is not responsible for lost or late entries nor for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind, or inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by Sponsor or presenter on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site or any combination thereof. If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, the Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to select winners from eligible entries received as of the termination date. CAUTION: Any attempt by a contestant to deliberately damage any Web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the game is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such contestant to the fullest extent of the law. If there is a dispute as to the identity of the Entrant, the prize will be awarded to the authorized account holder of the email address. The “authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person to whom the email address is assigned.

7. GOVERNING LAW: This Contest is governed by the internal laws of the state of New York without regard to principles of conflict of laws. All cases and claims pertaining to this Contest must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the City of New York, without recourse to class action suits.

8. SEVERABILITY: If any provision of these Rules is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction or appointed arbitrator, such determination shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision herein.

9. WINNER’S LIST: For name of Winner, log onto www.health.com/samsung-galaxy-tab after March 26, 2012, available for a period of 30 days.

10. SPONSOR: The Sponsor of this Contest is Health Media Ventures, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 5th floor, New York, N.Y. 10020.

One morning when I was in my 20s, I woke up to the familiar sound of a banging radiator and the unfamiliar sensation of spinning. A half beat after I opened my eyes, I felt a strong swell of nausea. To my single 25-year-old mind, this was the stuff of nightmares. I dragged myself to a drugstore and bought a pregnancy test. Negative. So I resigned myself to waiting it out.

It proved to be a long wait.

Weeks later, I developed abdominal pain. Next, a urinary tract infection that had no regard for antibiotics. My doctor ran tests, looking for red flags—an elevated white blood cell count, a thyroid hormone out of whack, something. But they were all normal. Stumped, he referred me to specialists: a urologist, a gynecologist, a gastroenterologist. I had an endoscopy, a barium X-ray, a colonoscopy. And the theories flew: ulcers, endometriosis, lupus. They kept me up late at night, wondering if the most recent theory would be the diagnostic version of Mr. Right—but without the joy that implies. I just wanted an explanation.

My doctors prescribed even without a diagnosis. I took a drug to speed gastric emptying, prescription antacids, even a drug that put me in faux menopause. Nothing worked. And the side effects were awful. I had hot flashes. My stomach was raw from antibiotics.

My father, an oncologist with a policy of not treating his family, watched anxiously from the sidelines. "Stop seeing specialists," he advised. "They only think about their 10 inches of the body." So I stopped seeing doctors. I still had my symptoms, but I made sure I was always near a bathroom. In that way, I achieved semi-normalcy.

Then one day, five years after that first wave of nausea, sitting in a pizzeria sipping water and eating soup, the smell of pizza hit me full force. I wondered what it would be like to eat without feeling sick. A wave of anger and determination hit me. It was time to resume the search for a diagnosis.

I thought hard about what I wanted in my next doctor the way some people envision their ideal spouse. I wanted to find an internist, someone who looks at the bigger picture. I found one who had studied acupuncture in China; he spent an hour asking me questions. One was whether I’d traveled before I got sick, something other doctors had asked me, and to which I’d always answered no. It’s a flow chart–like question meant to address the issue of parasites. If you haven’t traveled, they check negative and move toward another explanation. "You know," he said, "I think we ought to test for parasites, anyway." With the way people travel these days, he said, they can bring parasites to us.

One week, a blood test, and a stool sample later, I had an answer: Entamoeba histolytica, a parasite common in undeveloped countries with contaminated water. It can be transmitted by an infected person who has skipped washing his hands after going to the bathroom, then handled your food. Two weeks of the right antibiotics and the symptoms were gone.
Now, like someone who’s made a bad choice in spouses on the first go-round, I am exceedingly careful about whose hands I put myself in. I can’t fix a medical system reliant on tests. But I can pick doctors who listen, ones who actually think—and not just test—their way to an explanation.