Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD is a family medicine practitioner in Olympia, WA specializing in family medicine. Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD is affiliated with Providence, PROVIDENCE HEALTH AND SERVICES WASHINGTON and Providence Medical Group West Olympia Family Medicine.
Depression
Everyone knows what it feels like to get the blues once in a while. But depression is a serious illness that is more severe than a bad day and lasts much longer. Symptoms of depression stop a person from being able to function and enjoy daily activities for weeks or months at a time. It can happen to anyone, and it isn't something that people can control by force of will or "snap out of it."
Some common symptoms of depression include:
We don't yet know what causes depression, but it's thought that it is a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and social influences. Because of this, the most effective treatments for depression combine medication with psychotherapy. Therapy, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy, can be extremely helpful in resolving the negative thoughts and feelings that come with depression. It gives patients new tools that they can use themselves to cope when their depression is making them feel down.
Some of the common medications used to treat depression include antidepressants such as SSRI's (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft) or atypical antidepressants (Cymbalta, Wellbutrin). It's important to remember that these medications have different effects on everybody, and no one medication works right for everyone. Patients may have to try a couple before finding the one that works just right for them. If the first medication they try doesn't work, they should talk to their doctor about trying something else. In extreme cases where medication is not enough, electro-convulsive therapy and hospitalization may be the answer to keeping a severely depressed person safe.
Depression is a difficult illness to deal with, but it is more common than believed and there are many people who can help. With the right treatment, individuals with depression can get back to fully enjoying life again.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are mental and physical illnesses that impact behavior, emotions, and thoughts about eating, food, body appearance, and weight. These disorders are characterized by preoccupations with food and physical size, resulting in dramatic lifestyle changes and adverse health effects. In the past, eating disorders were often diagnosed using BMI (body mass index), or by assessing someone's weight. Eating disorders specialists now recognize that eating disorders may occur in people of all sizes. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder (BED).
Anorexia nervosa, frequently referred to as anorexia, is a disorder where people severely restrict the types and quantity of food they eat. Those with anorexia have an extreme fear of eating and gaining weight and may repeatedly weigh themselves or engage in harmful behaviors such as excessive exercise or starvation. Those with anorexia often find themselves preoccupied with food, but unable to consume a healthy amount of it. This results in symptoms such as abnormally low BMI, vitamin deficiency, fatigue, fainting, and amenorrhea (lack of menstruation in women). Anorexia may cause bluish discoloration of the hands, brittle and falling out hair, yellowish skin, and lanugo (fine, downy hair). Left untreated, anorexia can lead to organ failure, brain damage, and even death.
Bulimia nervosa, typically called bulimia, is a disorder where people binge (eat large quantities of food) and purge the food that they just consumed by vomiting, laxative abuse, fasting, or excessive exercise. This behavior is usually motivated by a feeling of powerlessness over eating and a fear of weight gain or desire for weight loss. Bulimia can occur in underweight, normal weight, and overweight people. Symptoms of bulimia include acid reflux, intestinal distress, dehydration from purging, amenorrhea, and dental erosion from vomiting. Some people with bulimia have swollen parotid glands (salivary glands near the cheeks) and red scars and marks on the backs of their knuckles. Electrolyte imbalance from bulimia can be particularly severe and may lead to heart attack or stroke.
Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder. People with BED feel that they are unable to control the amount of food they eat and may continue to binge after reaching a point of fullness. BED binges (consuming large amounts of food) are often accompanied by feelings of sadness, guilt, and shame. Symptoms of BED include obesity, acid reflux, weight gain, and dissatisfaction with one's body. People with BED tend to experience cycles of negative emotions and binges. Binges or BED episodes can be provoked by stress, boredom, restrictive dieting, depression, and other triggers.
Other common eating disorders include:
Many people with eating disorders do not consciously develop them, and have difficulty seeking treatment. For this reason, it's important to detect and treat eating disorders as early as possible. Treatment for eating disorders can vary from therapy visits to inpatient treatment, depending on the disorder and its severity. Treatment aims to not only restore physical health and correct negative behaviors, but to also promote psychological well-being and self-confidence.
Sexual Health Issues
Sexual health is a broad and loosely defined term that encompasses several extremely different areas of medicine. Sexual health not only includes physical health related to the act of sex, but also emotional, mental, or identity issues that can interfere with healthy sexuality. Because this scope is so broad, a huge number of health care professionals can accurately say they work in the sexual health specialty. Some of the many varied conditions included in sexual health include intimacy disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health, LGBTQ issues, and sexual violence.
Sexual intimacy disorders are those that cause problems with the act of sexual intercourse, such as erectile dysfunction or vulvodynia. Erectile dysfunction, the inability to get or maintain an erection hard enough for sexual intercourse, is extremely common. It affects fully half of men over 40 to some degree. It is treated with medications, devices, or surgery. Vulvodynia, burning pain in the vulva that can be made worse with sexal activity, has no known cause. It is treated with oral or topical medications.
Sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, are bacterial or viral infections that are contagious in the bodily fluids exchanged during sexual contact. Barrier methods of contraception, such as condoms, help prevent the spread of STDs. HIV is a virus that can be caught from an infected person's sexual fluids or blood. When the virus infects the body, it interferes with the immune system and causes the disease known as AIDS. There is no cure, but anti-viral medications can help people with AIDS live a long and healthy life. Herpes is also a virus found in sexual fluids, called HSV-2. It causes blisters that come and go on the genitals. There is no cure for herpes, but anti-virals can minimize outbreaks. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are both bacterial infections. They are extremely common and often have no symptoms. The most common signs of an infection are burning pain and discharge. Gonorrhea and chlamydia can be treated with medications.
Reproductive health refers to both contraception and infertility treatment. Contraceptives prevent and plan the timing of pregnancy. Some, such as a vasectomy or tubal ligation, are extremely effective at preventing pregnancy. Others, such as spermicides, are less reliable. Popular contraceptives include condoms, birth control pills, IUDs, and diaphragms. On the other side of reproductive health, infertility is the inability to carry a pregnancy to term after one year of trying. It can be due to problems in either the man or the woman, and both genders are affected equally. In total, about 15% of the population suffer from infertility. Infertility treatments include medications and surgery.
Gay and transgender people have a few specific health care needs that may sometimes fall under the sexual health umbrella. First, many LGBT people still face discrimination from healthcare providers, so providing supportive and appropriate care is an issue. Because of social attitudes surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, many gay and transgender people struggle with their identities. Rates of depression, substance abuse, and suicide are all higher in this group. Providing mental health support and counseling to those in transition is critical. Finally, transgender patients who are undergoing gender affirmation require sensitive medical health care, including surgical and hormonal treatment.
Sexual violence can be defined as any unwanted or non-consensual sexual activity. It ranges from sexual harassment to touching to rape. It affects women more than men and is widespread: 1 in 4 women report being victims of sexual violence at the hands of a partner, and as many as 1 in 3 girls report their first sexual contact as being violent. Sexual violence has lasting physical and emotional consequences for victims, but educating both girls and boys can prevent violence. Care for those who have endured sexual violence includes counseling and mental health support, medical care, and legal support.
Sexuality is more than a reproductive requirement -- it is a form of expression and identity. Sexual health blends all these aspects of experience together and helps people lead sexually fulfilling lives.
The most common conditions of Medicare patients that Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD treated during 2023 were hypertension and high cholesterol.
| Hypertension | |
|---|---|
| High Cholesterol | |
| Stroke | |
| Ischemic Heart Disease | |
| Depression | |
| Chronic Kidney Disease | |
| Asthma | |
| Osteoperosis | |
| Atrial Fibrilation | |
| Heart Failure | |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease | |
| Diabetes | |
| Dementia | |
| Cancer |
The highest averages of the most common conditions of Medicare patients that Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD treated were high cholesterol and hypertension.
| Hypertension | |
|---|---|
| High Cholesterol | |
| Stroke | |
| Ischemic Heart Disease | |
| Depression | |
| Chronic Kidney Disease | |
| Asthma | |
| Osteoporosis | |
| Heart Failure | |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease | |
| Diabetes | |
| Atrial Fibrillation | |
| Cancer | |
| Dementia |
She completed residency at Tacoma Family Medicine Program. She is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, Family Medicine and has a state license in Washington.
Residency: Tacoma Family Medicine Program (2023)
Board Certification: American Board of Family Medicine, Family Medicine
Licensed In: Washington
Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD is associated with these hospitals and organizations:
Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD appears to accept the following insurance providers: United Behavioral Health Medicaid* * Medicaid product only for Idaho, Aetna PPO, Regence BlueShield Of Washington Medicare Advantage HMO, Premera Medicare Advantage, Thurston County Corrections, Health Smart PPO, Regence BlueShield Of Washington PPO, United Healthcare Medicare Advantage, Cigna PPO, Kaiser Medicare Advantage, First Health-Coventry PPO, Premera, First Choice PPO, Carelon PPO, HCSC HealthSpring Medicare Advantage HMO, United Behavioral Health PPO, State Of Washington Department Of Corrections, Managed Health Network Medicare Advantage, Aetna, Wellcare Medicare Advantage-HMO, Regence BlueShield Of Washington TRIWEST, Managed Health Network, Pacific Medical Center TRICARE, United Behavioral Health Medicare Advantage, United Healthcare Medicaid, South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency, United Healthcare, Health Net Tricare, Humana HMO, Wellpoint Medicare Advantage, Providence Health Plan Medicare Advantage-HMO, Managed Health Network HMO-PPO, Humana PPO, Molina Medicare Advantage, Wellpoint Medicare Advantage Medicaid, Humana, Molina Medicare Medicaid, Kaiser, Naphcare, Evernorth PPO, Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO, Providence Health Plan, Coordinated Care Medicaid, Humana PPO, Aetna Medicare PPO, CIGNA PPO, Managed Health Network (MHN), Wellcare Medicare (HMO), Medicare Advantage, TriWest, Interplan PPO, United Healthcare Medicaid, OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions (United Behavioral Health), Humana HMO, United Healthcare, Medicaid, Humana, Cigna, Molina Healthcare, TRICARE, Providence, First Health, Aetna PPO, WellPoint, Kaiser Permanente, Regence BlueShield of Washington PPO and State of Washington Department of Corrections.
According to our sources, Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD accepts the following insurance providers:
Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD has an exceptional overall rating with an average of 5.0 out of 5 stars based on 156 ratings. We collect ratings and reviews of Dr. Erin Elyse Steele, MD from all over the web to help you find the right in Olympia, WA.
Dr. Erin Steele is a family medicine specialist in Olympia, WA. For her professional training, Dr. Steele completed a residency program at Tacoma Family Medicine Program. Dr. Steele can take several insurance carriers, including HealthSmart, Coventry, and CIGNA Plans. She has a closed panel according to Yext.
