Kim Kardashian has been plagued by all sorts of rumors lately, usually involving her divorce, past relationships, present relationship with Kanye West, or various business deals related to her reality show career. The latest gossip could blow that silliness out of the water and sounds serious, people.

Now, be sure to take this with a grain of salt, considering that the source is an Australian tabloid called NW, but an "insider" says Kim is "freaking everyone out right now. She's taking Valium and sleeping pills. The last time she self-medicated was when she split from Reggie Bush, when everything felt impossible." Eek! The source goes on to say that Khloé found the pills and Kim's "secretly pleased Khloé found out because she'd have struggled to stop on her own."

While the entire story is questionable, the last point is, at the very least, intriguing.

Just when you thought it was safe to assume that 24-year-old Aimee Copeland's flesh-eating disease was a strange, isolated incident, two more cases of necrotizing fasciitis have popped up. The third victim in recent weeks to be struck with the bacteria is Bobby Vaughn, another Georgian, who had to have groin reconstruction (ugh!) and is now facing his sixth surgery today. Prior to Bobby, a woman named Lana Kuykendall contracted the bacteria after giving birth to twins in an Atlanta hospital.

Even though we've been assured that Copeland's case was so rare, and most people will never contract the disease, it really seems strange that these two cases have cropped up in areas nearby and so soon after Copeland was diagnosed. And yet, doctors say that the cases are independent of one another and have no common cause or link.

How could that be?

Ha!

I can't wait for the next time somebody eyes my enormous gallon jug of joe and smugly launches into a tirade about how much better I'd feel if I gave up coffee and how it's really quite bad for me and green tea is so much healthier.

Because I will look that haughty tea-drinker right in the face and say, "How very interesting! By the way, did you know I'm going to live longer than you? Have a nice day! Especially since your days are numbered and all." 

Then I'll smile sweetly and wink (actually, my eye will just be twitching from all the caffeine but I'll look like I'm winking).

Yes, my fellow java junkies, turns out our habit isn't such a bad one after all: A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that older adults who drink coffee have a lower risk of death overall than those who don't.

Woo-hoo!!

I love my friend Joan (not her real name) but I hate going to dinner with her. This is because Joan is allergic to fish. She's also allergic to any kind of nut. Also to mustard. And a bunch of other foods. Let's just say finding a place for us to eat is an or-deeee-al. But I feel really bad for her. This isn't just an allergy that will make her sneeze, she could die if she eats the wrong thing.

And there are a lot of people just like my friend. May is the month to be aware of them since it's National Asthma and Allergy Awareness month. In fact, if you're reading this, there's a good chance you have allergies or asthma, because 50 million Americans have them. That's one out of every 16 people. A-choo!

Has the tragic story of Aimee Copeland, the grad student fighting that flesh-eating bacteria, got you worried about contracting necrotizing fasciitis yourself? If so, it's probably wise to study up on the signs: Pain that's out of proportion to your injury, fever, chills, swelling, diarrhea and/or vomiting, and a sunburn-like rash.

But you're not going to get necrotizing fasciitis.

Or anyway, it's highly unlikely that you ever will, especially if you're healthy. There are an estimated 750 cases of flesh-eating bacteria reported a year in the U.S., and most are caused by a type of strep germ. The bacteria that caused Aimee's infection is even more rare. Only a handful of cases caused by that bacteria have been reported in the past few decades. And there are more reasons not to worry.

Wow. Sarah Hyland is the last celeb I would've thought was battling a chronic disease, but the 21-year-old Modern Family star reveals her lifelong struggle with kidney dysplasia in the new issue of Seventeen magazine (on sale May 22). Not only that, but she's currently recovering from the kidney transplant she had just last month (her dad was the donor!).

Hyland was diagnosed with kidney dysplasia at the age of 9, but had to wait years for her condition to deteriorate before transplant surgery became an option. That means the actress was forced to spend most of her life balancing a successful career with a serious illness.

And since kidney dysplasia can cause everything from extreme fatigue to dizziness, pain, shortness of breath and nausea, this wasn't always easy ...

Well, y'all, it's official! Simon Cowell has tapped Britney Spears as an X-Factor judge (in addition to youngin' Demi Lovato) in hopes of saving his floundering show. And while all sounds well and good between Camps Cowell and Spears, it seems like Simon didn't beat around the bush during negotiations. A source tells Perez Hilton that the producer "laid down the law -- he's paying for 'superstar Britney,' not the 'trailer-trash' version she's occasionally become known as." Ouch! 

But reportedly, Brit's team ensured Simon that he'll get what he's "paying for" (ew), and promised him that "she will be transformed. She'll be glammed up, slimmed down, and totally focused on the show." (By the way, doesn't it always sound like she's still being treated like a puppet after all these years? Sigh. Poor Brit. Anyway ...)

I've always been skeptical about chiropractors, you know, mostly because of that persistent "chiropractors are quacks" rumor. So even though I've had some back-breaking aches in my day, I've never gone that particular pain management route. Just because I figured it wouldn't do anything to help.

Forget helping -- as it turns out, going to the chiropractor can actually HURT.

According to a recent study, most of the "randomized clinical trials" done on chiropractic treatments "failed to report any adverse effects."

Meaning, all of the randomized clinical patients who went crawling out of their chiropractor's office feeling worse than when they went in? The researchers just didn't bother mentioning those guys.

Uh, yikes!?!? That's pretty scary. But that's not even the scariest part ...