The Health Blog

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Being pregnant doesn’t mean you have to stop breastfeeding your child. Long ago doctors believed it actually took nutrients away from the baby inside you, however that is not the case. Even today we have people that believe this and they will argue with you the entire time.  Only you can decide if you should stop breastfeeding your toddler or not. Don’t let someone else make that decision for you.

Reasons to Stop
A few reasons you might want to stop breastfeeding may be if you are feeling constantly drained of energy. Or maybe your child has started to bite. Sometimes your milk will just dry up, this is your body’s way of telling you that it has had enough and to take a break.  Mastitis could play a big role in making you stop immediately as well. Mastitis is an infection in the breast when it isn’t expressed enough and gets engorged.

Stopping or Weaning
If you do plan on stopping because you are pregnant, make sure it is for the right reasons. If your child has reached a certain age, it might be best. But never just yank it away from them.  Your child could wonder why it is being taken away. Wonder if they had done something or become discouraged about the new baby coming. Some children decide to wean themselves, which is a big help to you and you won’t feel so guilty about it. You can choose to do it cold turkey, or slowly wean him/her off. Cold turkey can have some bad results.  Try limiting his/her feeding times to certain hours and gradually as time passes take away more. Your child will quickly stop on his/her own and it won’t be a traumatic event.

Talking to most women over 50 you will quickly find that menopause and weight gain are linked in their experience. It is very common to put on weight at this time and while some of this may be due to lifestyle changes, that does not explain why suddenly we develop a tendency to put on weight at different parts of the body, especially the abdomen, while any weight gained when we were younger tended to be centered on the hips.

The truth is that hormonal changes do have a part to play in this, although the process is not completely understood. At menopause a woman stops ovulating, her monthly menstruation periods end, and her body produces much lower levels of the female hormone estrogen which is responsible for the ovulation process. Low estrogen has been shown to cause weight gain in animals and it almost certainly is the reason why our bodies change shape. While women of childbearing age store fat in the lower body, after the menopause they store it on the abdomen instead, like men. This leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

At the same time, both men and women tend to find muscle turning to fat as they grow older, and the metabolism slows down. This means that if you do not adjust your eating habits you will probably find that your weight increases. A person of 60 just does not need as many calories as a person of 40.

Hormone therapy with estrogen is sometimes prescribed to control menopausal symptoms. Many women will be surprised to hear that studies have shown that hormone therapy does not cause weight gain. Some women experience bloating and water retention in the early stages of hormone therapy but this is usually temporary and they have not gained any fat. Hormone therapy can reduce the risk of heart disease by preventing the changes in storage of body fat around the abdomen and lowering cholesterol. However, hormone therapy has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in some studies.

If you find that you are gaining weight around the menopause, there are several things you can do.

- Eat a healthy, low fat diet with plenty of fiber, avoiding sugar.

- Take regular exercise. As people get older their physical activity levels naturally drop. Work often becomes less physically demanding, there are no kids to run around after, we take less active holidays and do things more slowly. 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day will help to balance out the effect of this.

- Maintain your muscle strength and mass. Use weights for arm muscles and walking or cycling for legs.

- Accept the changes to the shape of your body. If you are not overweight, but simply have a thicker waist and slimmer legs, that is fine.

Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or your fitness levels are low. Your doctor can also help with symptoms of the menopause and weight gain.

What is gestational diabetes?

There is a third kind of diabetes, though it is much less common than types I and II. It is called gestational diabetes because it begins during pregnancy, which doctors call the gestational period.

What are the risk factors for gestational diabetes?
- If a woman has someone in her family who already has diabetes, she is more likely candidate for gestational diabetes.
- If a woman is over 30 years old and especially if she is overweight.

Why does it happen only during pregnancy?
Pregnancy is a time of additional stresses to the human body. the body may fail to produce enough insulin to meet the need during this time. Approximately one percent of all women may develop symptoms of diabetes during the last half of pregnancy.

What are the symptoms of gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes may not cause any symptoms, however, excessive weight gain maybe noticeable at some cases. Excessive hunger or thirst, excessive urination or recurrent vaginal infections can also be signs and symptoms.

A Look at the Common Medical Causes of Fatigue in Women

Do you always feel tired, physically and emotionally? There maybe several reasons why you always have fatigue. In women, the most common medical causes include:

1. Anemia, which is caused by lack of iron in the blood. This is the primary medical explanation for fatigue in women of childbearing age. The most common cause of anemia in women is iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen to tissues. IDA is due to insufficient iron. Your body needs the element iron to make hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen.

How do you know if you have IDA?
Aside from fatigue, it may present as inflammation or soreness of your tongue, brittle nails, unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or pure starch and poor appetite. This type of anemia is corrected through iron supplements. It’s always advisable to see your doctor before taking any medications. MayoClinic

Your physician may run blood tests two know if you have anemia. It’s not seen in the blood pressure, as misconceived by others.

A new study finds out. This study was a follow up on previous researchers on the effects of coffee, caffeine particularly, on expectant mothers. Previous studies suggest that drinking just a couple cups of coffee a day doesn’t pose much of a threat. However, the latest research proves this these findings wrong.

The study founds out that women who said they drank more than two cups of coffee per day had nearly double the risk of miscarriage compared with women who consumed no caffeine.

Depression that follows the birth of a baby is common, as new moms are overwhelmed by the changes in their bodies and routines.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers this list of reasons for why postpartum depression affects some new mothers:

* New moms can suffer from lack of sleep after the baby’s birth, which can lead to fatigue, stress and depression.
* New moms can feel overwhelmed by all of the new things to do, and by other changes in their lives. They may even feel unsure of their parenting skills.
* New moms may set unrealistic expectations for themselves.
* New moms have less time for themselves, with their partners, and less time to do what they want.

After delivering the baby, the perineum must be kept clean. Lochia may drain for up to four weeks, so pads should be changed frequently.

• Do not use tampons after delivery. Tampons may cause an infection.
• Take a bath or a shower once or twice daily. A sitz bath should be used after every bowel movement. A sitz bath involves sitting in shallow water, only deep enough to cover the hips and buttocks.
• Urinating can be painful after delivery. Squirting warm water over the perineum during urination may ease the pain. When finished urinating, gently pat the perineum dry.
• Cold sitz baths help reduce swelling and discomfort after delivery. Sit in a lukewarm or room temperature bath, and then gradually add ice cubes to the water. This prevents the uncomfortable, sudden sensation of ice water on the skin. Soak for 20 minutes at a time, up to three to four times a day. After the first two to three days, warm sitz baths will improve blood flow to the perineum. Check with your physician before adding medications such as epsom salts to the bath.

Cancer experts have identified a set of health problems that may be symptoms of ovarian cancer, and they are urging women who have the symptoms for more than a few weeks to see their doctors.

These symptoms, which are found more common in women, include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate A woman who has any of those problems nearly every day for more than two or three weeks is advised to see a gynecologist, especially if the symptoms are new and quite different from her usual state of health.

Women’s Health Magazine lists 100 simple ways to burn calories. Do five of them a day and you can lose a pound a week. The list shows us that it is possible to lose weight from simple daily activities.

1. Slather on lip balm 765 times.

2. Relive the ’80s. Lip sync George Michael’s Faith 16 times.

3. DVR an episode of Arrested Development and watch it commercial free. (Ten straight minutes of laughter can burn 40 calories–no joke.)

4. Watch the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. (Serious stuff doesn’t scorch as many.)

5. Wiggle while you watch for 40 minutes: Fidgeters burn up to 350 more calories a day than couch potatoes.

Genital Warts (human papilloma viris or HPV) are the most common sexually transmitted infection.

The following factors can put you at a higher risk for getting genital warts:

• If you have multiple sexual partners
• If you do not know the status of your sexual partner
• If you start to become sexually active at an early age
• If you are a heavy smoker and drinker
• If you suffer from stress as well as other viral infections (such as HIV or herpes)