LGBTQ HealthLink

Each week HuffPost Gay Voices, in a partnership with blogger Scout, LGBT HealthLink and researcher Susana Fajardo, brings you a round up of some of the biggest LGBT wellness stories from the past seven days. For more LGBT Wellness, visit our page dedicated to the topic here.

First VA Clinic For Trans Vets Opens

Big news coming out of Ohio. The VA just opened its first clinic geared towards the health and wellbeing of transgender veterans. Sadly, it’s only open one day a month. Fingers crossed the clinic expands — there are an estimated 134,000 transgender veterans out there and all of them deserve quality medical care.

Health Care Enrollment Now Open!

It’s back! From now until Jan. 31 enrollment is open for health care through the federal exchanges. Most people are eligible for at least some level of subsidies. Health care at a cheaper, lower rate than most private plans — what’s not to love? Go to www.healthcare.gov to sign up.

What’s Sexuality Like After Prostate Cancer?

A new study looked at the sexual quality of life among bi and gay men after getting treatment for prostate cancer. The findings weren’t good. Sexual performance, orgasms and sexual confidence all were impacted and they had trouble finding physical, psychological or social support.

How Does Mental Health For Sexual Minority People Stack up?

A new systematic review of published studies looked at the mental health of sexual minorities vs. straight people. They found that, overall, sexual minorities were at higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicide attempts or suicide and substance use problems. The one exception? Alcohol abuse was either the same or lower for sexual minorities, especially men. As other studies have confirmed, bisexuals were uniformly at the highest risk for health problems.

Early Analysis Of National Data Looks At Chronic Conditions

The likelihood of getting a chronic health condition differs by orientation, a new study found. Cancer was 4.7 percent more common in gay and lesbians than bisexuals. Pulmonary disease (a lung problem), however, was 8.1 percent more common among bisexuals than gays or lesbians and 7 percent more than straight adults. Gender identity wasn’t collected on the original survey so researchers couldn’t examine it.

Chronic Pain Among Young Adults

Likelihood of chronic pain for young adults differs by sexual orientation, says a new study. Researchers found that gay men and “mostly heterosexual” women were more likely to get headaches than straight people. Both “mostly heterosexuals” and bisexuals had more joint pain than straight people.