Common problems of the female reproductive tract

Some common reproductive problems affect solely women. These conditions can be dangerous if untreated so each lady should be aware of their symptoms and the manners in which a specific reproductive condition can be recognized.

Apart from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), other conditions can affect the health of the female reproductive tract.

A gynecological examination is needed to identify the condition. Urine displacement usually demands surgical intervention.

VAGINAL INFLAMMATIONS
Nearly all women have suffered from some sort of inflammation during one stage of life or another.

The female reproductive tract has a very delicate balance, which can be disturbed effortlessly. Any undesired change or hygiene negligence can lead to inflammation.

Sexual activity, the use of inappropriate soaps and intimate gels, the usage of tampons and menstrual pads can all lead to some sort of infection. If untreated, these infections can even lead to fertility, so they should be kept under control.

Lower abdominal pain, a burning sensation, problematic urination and unusual secretion can all be the signal of inflammatory processes taking place. A consultation with a gynecologist is a must if any of these symptoms is obvious.

FEMALE GENITAL TUBERCULOSIS
Genital tuberculosis is an infectious disease. Tuberculosis microbes reach the reproductive tract after they have affected another organ – the lungs or the diaphragm.

The process starts about 10 years after tuberculosis occurs. It can affect the uterus, cervix or the vagina. If the condition appears during childhood, the teenage girl will have smaller than usual and thicker uterus.

Female genital tuberculosis leads to menstruation irregularities. It can affect the ovaries and eventually lead to infertility.

Some of the symptoms include abdominal and back pains, which do not occur during menstruation or as part of the woman’s PMS.

PELVEOPERITONITIS
Pelveoperitonitis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the pelvic region. It can occur as the result of an abortion, a cold or a medical reproductive manipulation.

This inflammation can often accompany the first menstruation of a girl. Its symptoms include dizziness, vomiting and general fatigue. It can also lead to diarrhea and abdominal pain. Pelveoperitonitis can also cause fever.

VAGINAL YEAST INFECTION
According to studies, about 60 percent of women suffer from a vaginal yeast infection.

Keep in mind that such infections can often occur without any accompanying symptoms. Improper personal and sexual hygiene, the use of hormonal medications and antibiotics can lead to such infection.

Women who are overweight and the ones suffering from diabetes have higher risk of developing a vaginal yeast infection.

PMS could be treated with small dose of Prozac, say researchers

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have discovered that a small dose of the antidepressant can eradicate the mood swings and irritability associated with the problem.

They say it could prove to be a breakthrough for the 75 per cent of women affected by PMS, who suffer psychological changes such as anxiety, mood swings, tiredness, irritability and depression. The drug has been successfully tested in rats, and researchers today called for the first human trials to be undertaken.

“This is an enormous problem, both for women and their partners,” said Dr Thelma Lovick, reader in neuroscience at the University of Birmingham, who revealed the research at the British Science Festival in Birmingham today.

“We can’t do anything about the physical pain, but the irritability and other psychological problems disappeared.”

Dr Lovick’s group found the problems were caused by hormones overexciting the brain circuits involved in regulating emotions. A steroid substance called allopregnanolone normally inhibits activity in those circuits, but levels of it fell sharply during the rats’ menstrual period, causing the symptoms of PMS.

“My idea was that if you could stop levels falling sharply in the brain, you could avoid these problems,” said Dr Lovick. “You want a small dose, a quick fix for the days that things go wrong.

“I would like to put together a trial, which could be done in months — Prozac has already been through all the safety tests.”

However, as Prozac is off-licence, drug companies are unlikely to make much money from it, which could hinder their willingness to run trials.

Health Reform Is in the Making, Starting Now

Debate about health care reform has focused mainly on the politics of its passage. But the impact of the new federal law deserves much more attention.

For women, the reform law ranks alongside such advances as the creation of Medicaid and Medicare in 1965 and the recognition of women’s legal right to abortion in 1973. Like these landmarks, the law increases self-determination and economic security for women while diminishing anguish, danger and financial burden.

The law is not perfect. It might have, but does not, include birth control in the preventive care options that it renders more affordable for Americans.

Yet even this omission points to the law’s potential benefits–if patients, providers and advocates stay involved in its implementation.

The law creates flexibility for states to increase access and care options while lowering costs. It also codifies basic safeguards in federal law with special importance for women. Some just took effect Sept. 23.

Since last week, insurers cannot drop people when they get sick, ending a practice that has threatened women with particular severity. Breast cancer and even pregnancy are among conditions that have prompted some companies to cancel women’s coverage precisely when they need it most, according to investigations by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Such practices are now against the law.

Ban on Lifetime Coverage Caps
Also coming into force last week was the ban on lifetime caps of coverage. This safeguard ends what are sometimes life-threatening denials of care for people who experience multiple illnesses, a relapse of their condition or a severe accident. Highly restrictive annual caps on coverage are now also illegal.

And preventive health care will now be free and not subject to a deductible for people joining a private plan. Preventive services include breast and cervical cancer screening and HIV and STD testing. Our health centers deliver these services to hundreds of Angelenos each day. For Medicare participants, preventive care will be free and not subject to deductibles starting in the new year.

Also in effect now is the requirement for plans to allow children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ plan. Barring children because of preexisting conditions is also illegal. A ban on such exclusions for everyone else gains force in four years.

The phase-in underscores how benefits of the law, just like the $1.3 trillion in cost savings for taxpayers, increase with time. So do its incentives for patients and providers focused on women’s health to stay involved in the law’s implementation.

That’s the message of an Oct. 5 conference that Planned Parenthood Los Angeles is co-hosting to outline actual gains and long-term opportunities for caregivers and consumers under the law. History shows that advances in health care for women do not come in a moment, or with the stroke of a pen. We make progress through extended involvement in our communities to address unmet needs, through coalitions to identify shared interests and solutions and with policymakers to fix problems and implement changes.

Lessons from History
The history of Medicaid shows why the time is right for sustained involvement and advocacy in preventive and reproductive health care in the health care system that is starting to emerge.

Today it is a much broader, and much stronger, safety net than the outline Lyndon Johnson signed into law as part of the Great Society.

The state and federal partnership to cover needy Americans now includes more than 5 million women of childbearing age. And 70 percent of those enrolled over age 15 are women.

Starting 10 years ago, low-income women not otherwise eligible for Medicaid gained access through the program to treatment for breast or cervical cancer. What made this improvement possible? Sustained pressure by patients, health caregivers and allies who listened.

Access to safe and legal abortion holds a similar lesson. The 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade recognized a basic privacy right for women in deciding whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy in its first three months. The decision almost immediately shifted abortions from dangerous, self-induced or unsanitary conditions to medically supervised, less costly and safe clinical settings. Women’s injury and death rates plummeted.

Only sustained advocacy and organizing has preserved the core of this basic right against attacks in and outside the law. And continued involvement will be needed to overcome a recent decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to go beyond the text of the new reform law and bar abortion coverage to some poor women under one of its provisions.

The new reform law is slow to take effect and imperfect in its provisions.

But the concrete protections it puts in force and the improvements in care that it sets in motion are big advances for Americans, especially women. Like the fruit trees we grow by the thousands here in California, this one promises great bounty well into the future if we know its potential and stay around to help it flourish.

This article was contributed by Sue Dunlap and Adrianne Black who are co-CEOs of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, the largest provider of reproductive health care in the largest county in the nation, serving more than 120,000 women and men each year.

Activcare Physical Therapy Set to Open Women’s Health Clinic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 04, 2010 – Activcare Physical Therapy Set to Open Women’s Health Clinic

RALEIGH, NC: Brad Hancock, MPT, of Activcare Physical Therapy, announced the Women’s Health Clinic is scheduled to open October 12, 2010. It will be located at 3100 Blue Ridge Road, Suite 204 in Raleigh. The physical therapists there have specialized training which will benefit women with a variety of medical conditions. These therapists use every facet of their physical therapy training to evaluate and treat female clients, promoting and enhancing health through the life span.

Activcare currently operates a general physical therapy clinic at 3200 Blue Ridge Road providing patients from all walks of life with comprehensive general physical therapy services. “We have listened to our referring physicians and female patients regarding the need for specialized services for women and are responding by opening a Women’s Health Physical Therapy clinic,” said Hancock. “Our staff at this new location is specialized physical therapists that treat women’s health issues.”

The scope of the practice will include rehabilitation, education, prevention and wellness for health concerns of women including: incontinence, pelvic/vulvar pain, prenatal and postpartum musculoskeletal dysfunction, osteoporosis, pre/post therapy for breast and gynecological surgeries, dyspareunia, fibromyalgia, pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and other pain syndromes.

“It is our goal to improve the quality of life in the women we treat through healing, education and empowerment,” said Hancock. “We strive to help the women in the communities we serve in all that we do.”

For more information about Activcare Physical Therapy, visit www.activcarept.com or call 919-786-7434.

About Activcare Physical Therapy
Activcare Physical Therapy, with three convenient locations in Raleigh and Fayetteville, NC provides physical therapy services with a strong emphasis on orthopedic injuries, geriatrics, women’s health, neurological, incontinence, general conditioning/cardiovascular, balance and vestibular disorders, foot and ankle biomechanics and spine treatments including cervical decompression therapy. Our quality therapy services provide continuity of health services and positively influence their patient outcomes. Activcare provides patients from all walks of life with world-class, comprehensive physical and occupational therapy services that improve function, encourage independence, and enhance quality of life. For more information, visit www.activcarept.com or call 919-786-7434.