Antidepressants Blog » Women’s Health

THE NATURAL THERAPIES AND PMS: INTRODUCING THE GENTLE ALTERNATIVES

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:55:54 +0000

Doctors admit that they do not have all the answers to PMS. Some of their medications work and others don’t -and often they don’t know why. Many women, disillusioned with what conventional medicine has to offer, are turning to natural therapies in their quest for relief from distressing symptoms.There seem to be three main reasons for this:• Some women feel that medications that completely suppress the menstrual cycle are a rather drastic measure to take when all they want is relief from PMS.• Since the long-term effects of some medicines are unknown, many women would prefer a treatment that is less likely to be harmful.• Conventional doctors simply do not have the resources to deal with PMS. In the UK there are fewer than 20 clinics for PMS run by the free state-run ‘ National Health Service and these deal only with the most intractable cases. The majority of PMS patients are dealt with by family doctors who, with all their other commitments, usually find it hard to fit in full evaluation and treatment of PMS.*50\120\4*

PREGNANCY AND ALCOHOL

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:44:29 +0000

Of the 30 known teratogens in the environment, alcohol is one of the most dangerous and common. Alcohol can have harmful effects on fetal development.
More than 10 percent of all children have been exposed to high levels of alcohol in utero. All will suffer varying degrees of effects, ranging from mild learning disabilities to major physical, mental, and intellectual impairment. It takes very little alcohol to cause serious damage. Research has shown that even a single exposure to high levels of alcohol can cause significant brain damage in the infant. A disorder called fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Alcohol consumed during the first trimester poses the greatest threat to organ development; exposure during the last trimester, when the brain is developing rapidly, is most likely to affect CNS development. FAS is the third most common birth defect and the second leading cause of mental retardation in the United States. The incidence of FAS is estimated to be 1 to 2 of every 1,000 live births. It is the most common preventable cause of mental impairments in the Western world.
FAS occurs when alcohol ingested by the mother passes through the placenta into the infant’s bloodstream. Because the fetus is so small, its ВАС will be much higher than that of the mother. Thus, consumption of alcohol during pregnancy can affect the infant far more seriously than it does the mother. Among the symptoms of FAS are mental retardation, small head, tremors, and abnormalities of the face, limbs, heart, and brain. Problems that children with FAS experience may include the following:
-   Difficulty in structuring work time
-   Impaired rates of learning
-   Poor memory
-   Trouble in generalizing behaviors and information
-   Impulsive behaviors
-   Reduced attention span or distractible behavior
-   Fearlessness and unresponsive reactions to verbal cautions
-   Poor social judgment
-   Inability to handle money in an age-appropriate manner
-   Trouble with internalizing modeled behaviors
-   Differences in sensory awareness (hyposensitive or hypersensitive)
-   Language production higher than comprehension
-   Poor problem-solving strategies
Children with a history of prenatal alcohol exposure but with fewer than the full physical or behavioral symptoms of FAS may be categorized as having fetal alcohol effects (FAE). FAE is estimated to occur three to four times as often as FAS although it is much less recognized. The signs of FAE in new-borns are low birth-weight and irritability, and there may be permanent mental impairment. Infants whose mothers habitually consumed more than 3 ounces of alcohol (approximately six drinks) in a short time period when pregnant are at high risk for FAS. Risk levels for babies whose mothers consume smaller amounts are uncertain.
Alcohol can also be passed to a nursing baby through breast milk. For this reason, most doctors advise nursing mothers not to drink for at least four hours before nursing their babies and preferably to abstain altogether.
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TREATMENTS FOR EXCESSIVE BLEEDING: NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS.

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:57:20 +0000

Several nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (often shortened to NSAIDs) have been used successfully to reduce excessive menstrual bleeding. The NSAIDs concerned include ibuprofen, mefenamic acid, naproxen and flurbiprofen. (Some of these substances, for example mefenamic acid, are also anti-prostaglandin drugs or prostaglandin inhibitors.) While helpful, NSAIDs are not drugs to be taken lightly. The lowest possible dose of the least toxic NSAID should be used initially as this group of drugs produces side-effects in about a third of women, resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, dizziness and rashes.

Blood clotting mechanisms. Success in halving blood loss has been reported with several drugs that act on the body’s blood clotting mechanisms. They are of particular value to women with blood clotting defects. The drugs include tranexamic acid and ethamsylate. Once again, however, about a third of women on them experience side-effects of nausea, headache, dizziness, vomiting and rashes. Research studies have also raised the concern that these drugs may precipitate strokes in some women.

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NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR FERTILITY: ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:17:34 +0000

The Department of Health recommends that we should all double our intake of Omega 3 oils by eating oily fish two to three times a week. This advice is based on the fact that, as their name implies, these oils are absolutely essential to good health.

Essential fats have a profound effect on every system of the body, including the reproductive system, and they are crucial for healthy hormone functioning. From these essential fatty acids you produce beneficial prostaglandins which have hormone-like functions. Endometriosis, which is a common problem that stops some women conceiving, involves an excess of some negative prostaglandins which can be controlled by adding in Omega 3 fatty acids from fish or linseed oil capsules. It is thought that fibroids (another condition that can affect fertility), also responds well to supplementing with these Omega 3 fatty acids.

For men essential fatty acid supplementation is crucial because the semen is rich in prostaglandins which are produced from these fats. When scientists have compared sperm samples from men with a good semen analysis, to those with problems such as abnormal sperm, poor motility or a low count, the semen in the poor samples lacks adequate levels of these beneficial prostaglandins.

More and more research suggests that it is vital to supplement these fatty acids and not just rely on your dietary intake. Both you and your partner should start supplementing essential fatty acids three to four months before conception.

Because fish oil helps prevent blood from clotting inappropriately, supplementing with fish oil capsules can be beneficial to women who have recurrent miscarriages especially where the diagnosis has been linked to a clotting problem. So important are these essential fats that scientists have also looked at their role in pregnancy. They have found that they are crucial for brain, eyes and central nervous system development in the growing baby.

They are also believed to prevent low birth weight and decrease the likelihood of a premature birth with all its inherent risks, including cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, etc.

As these essential fatty acids are so vital, it is advisable to supplement them in your diet in their most readily absorbable form. You can get GLA (Omega 6) from evening primrose, borage, blackcurrant or starflower. Whichever supplement you choose, read the GLA content on the back of the container and aim for a supplement that gives you at least 150mg of GLA per day. With EPA (Omega 3), aim for a supplement that will give you at least 300mg per day.

If you are vegetarian or prefer not to take fish oil, the other way to get Omega 3 fatty acids is by taking linseed oil capsules. Linseed oil contains both Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids.

You should take l000 mg linseed oil or 150mg GLA and 300mg EPA a day.

Your partner should take 1 000 mg linseed oil or 150mg GLA and 300mg EPA a day.

Warning

Don’t supplement with cod liver oil capsules. In the sea, fish can accumulate toxins and mercury, which pass through the liver, the organ of detoxification. Oil taken from the liver is therefore likely to give higher quantities of these toxins than oil taken from the body of the fish. Buy fish oil capsules from companies, like BioCare, that regularly check their fish oil supplements for contamination.

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