Category Archive: Women Health

June 11th, 2021
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Postpartum Shapewear

Motherhood is a bitter sweet journey. It changes you inside and out.  After giving birth, your body goes through massive changes from the shape of your breasts and body to your clothing size, your skin texture (you’ll notice unsightly stretch marks on your midsection, hips and butt), hip width and for some women, even their fingers expand to the extent that they can no longer wear their wedding ring.

As you adapt your new life with a baby, it may feel overwhelming with the lack of time you have for yourself, your spouse and other kids and the lack of sleep. Some women even battle with postpartum blues.  To top it all, you may have postpartum pain and backache.

To help manage pain, many new mothers wear a postpartum wrap or postpartum abdominal band waist trimmer.

 

Postpartum wraps have been worn by women all over the world for ages after child birth.  Benefits of wearing postpartum wraps are:

1.  As light body support after child birth. When tissues and organs start to go back into place, a belly wrap can help you feel better.

2.  Light compression from postpartum wraps can support your natural transverse abdominal muscle when you can’t contract yet.

3.  Provide support for your core and pelvic floor. While postpartum wraps compress, it’s gentle and targeted to hold your ligaments and muscles in place and speed recovery after childbirth.

4.   Some women experience back pain after childbirth. Wearing a postpartum wrap help with abdominal support and alleviate back pain.

5.   They assist with spinal alignment encouraging the organs, uterus and muscles to get back into normalcy after childbirth.

6.  They help to improve body image and posture.

A medical study from 2012 showed that wearing postpartum girdles can help women safely strengthen their core over time, especially when used in combination with physical therapy.

Postpartum wraps and other shapewear that help to enhance bodily feature can be easily sourced from online apparel stores or specialized waist trainer wholesale shops.

If you decide to try wearing a postpartum wrap, make sure it’s not too tight.  This is because extra compression puts more pressure on your pelvic floor, which is especially weak after childbirth and also holds a lot of weight during pregnancy.  If you have incontinence, leaking or vaginal prolapse, be cautious about using these belly wraps.

Remember that the best way to help your body recover after birth is to rest as much as you can, eat only wholesome and nourishing food, drink enough clear fluids and have a positive mindset.

 

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MFMSCL, Women Health
December 11th, 2020
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How Emotions Affect Period And Other Issues

The past few months have been very difficult for me.  I went through many rough patches and have been extremely stressed out over many issues. This year has been a  tough year for me. It does not help that I am a high-strung person who’s really good at worrying.   I could feel my emotions running strong and deep from time to time and as a result,  noticed changes to my health.  I had heart palpitations, painful lumpy breasts and a difficult menses this month with blood clots.

I’ve been trying very hard to control my emotions and have been taking steps to de-stress. I try to exercise in the morning sun every morning, which I find extremely therapeutic for me.  I try to do things that make me happy and though our finances have been impacted by the continuous partial lockdown imposed by the Government to curb the spread of Covid-19, I sometimes try to splurge a little on myself and on the kids, all in the name of finding a little joy. Life is short. There’s no better time to enjoy life a little than now.

Several years ago, I met a very amiable and knowledgeable acupuncturist who practices Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  She does acupuncture for Cass and me. I always found it therapeutic talking to her as she has an extremely calm and positive disposition.  She would always tell me that in TCM, emotional stress is the cause of many major diseases suffered by women like breast cancer, cancer of the reproduction organs and fibroids.  I had a large benign uterine fibroid that was growing rapidly and she would always advise me to control my emotions.  In TCM, uterine fibroids are caused by negative emotions.  I had the fibroid removed by a Laparoscopic Myomectomy surgery 3 years ago.

In TCM, negative emotions experienced excessively or over an extended period of time is identified as a major cause of disharmonies in menstruation, pregnancy, labor and menopause.  As emotional stress disrupts the natural cycles of energy transformation and circulation within our body, it can cause our Qi and blood to stagnate or rebel – which may manifest as PMS, irregular periods, amenorrhea (no period), delayed periods, heavy menstruation, or dysfunctional uterine bleeding.

Correlation of Stress With Your Breasts 
During particularly harsh periods of anxiety, pressure and stress, you can experience breast pain.

What causes it?  Research has found correlations between the impact of stress and estrogen levels, meaning that increased stress during a specific time during the menstrual cycle could cause excess discomfort.

What’s the treatment for stress related breast pain?  You simply have to remove stress from your life and get ample sleep each night! This was what my gynae told me.  However, we all know that it isn’t that simple.  Women have to find ways of managing anxiety, stress and invest in sufficient sleep each night.

Five Emotions that Affect Menstruation
There are five emotions that have a profound influence on women’s menstrual health:

  1. Sadness and grief
  2. Worry
  3. Anger / Hatred
  4. Fear
  5. Guilt

If we allow our emotions to flow through us naturally and if only we could prevent the above five emotions from holding us ransom, we will be a happier, healthier and more content person.

On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to harbor negative emotions, these emotions will stagnate, knot, sink or rebel, causing various emotional and menstrual disharmonies.

As human beings, it is not easy to stop negative emotions from controlling our minds but it can be done through practice, meditation, prayers and talking about it with a good friend or loved one.

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Women Health
June 22nd, 2018
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Cold & Flu Symptoms During Menstruation (Period Flu)

A woman’s body goes through a cycle every month during the pre-menopausal years in which it prepares for pregnancy. If pregnancy does not occur, the lining of the uterus is shed, resulting in a period. A woman’s monthly menstrual cycle can cause many physical and emotional symptoms. This can include mood swings, fatigue, stomach cramps and cold and flu-like symptoms. For some women, the symptoms are mild while in others they can disrupt everyday life. If cold and flu symptoms occur during menstruation, there are various remedies that can be tried.

Short Red Hair Woman Blowing Her Nose

If you feel sick before a period, you are just one of the many women who suffer from various symptoms before getting their periods. It is more common to hear from women who get sick with nausea, vomiting, as well as diarrhea or constipation during their periods.

Symptoms from menstruation can begin days before a period occurs and last throughout the period. To help manage symptoms, it may be helpful to keep track of them, along with what makes them better and what makes them worse.

stock photo, girl, pillow, sick, flu

Some women do ask: Why do i get sick or feel malaise before my period? Some get throat pain before periods, while others have flu-like symptoms with a slight temperature. Here’s some information about the strange symptom of falling sick-before-period faced by some women.

Hormonal Changes: Estrogen and Progesterone are the two hormones that are at their peak when a woman’s body is preparing for a possible pregnancy (just before a period). This increased level of the two hormones has been deduced to be the major cause of the flu-like symptoms, especially the throbbing headaches that you experience before your period. Also, hormonal birth control pills that you might be consuming are another cause for these headaches before your period.

In some cases, taking time during menstruation to exercise and practice relaxation techniques can help to calm symptoms down. Other patients may need prescription or over-the-counter medications to control the pain.

The menstrual cycle can also cause widespread weakness, fatigue and trouble sleeping, claims the National Woman’s Health Information Center. This may or may not be accompanied by a loss in appetite and irritability.

If these symptoms occur, it is important to get about eight hours of sleep each night and to try to eat a healthy diet with exercise. It may also be helpful to speak with a health care provider about taking folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, vitamin B-6 and/or vitamin E supplements.

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Hormonal Imbalance, Women Health
March 29th, 2018
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Stress Causes PMS

Premenstrual Syndrome or PMS symptoms are not a normal part of life.  Symptoms are generally warning signs from our bodies that something is out of balance. More and more women are struggling with PMS because two major factors: diet and stress levels have changed in our modern lives.  Stress levels are at an all-time high for women and never before have there been so many pre-packaged, GMO and low-nutrient foods available.  All these, along with stress wreck havoc to a woman’s body.

Stress can be one of the more debilitating symptoms of PMS. It doesn’t seem to care whether or not you’ve suffered from it in the past; it can just strike you down at random and make an ordinary day suddenly overwhelming.

Women who say they feel stressed early in their menstrual cycle are more likely to report the cramping, bloating and mood swings of PMS — premenstrual syndrome — later in the month, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, along with researchers from other institutions, quizzed 259 women of childbearing age about their stress levels. The women were asked how often they felt unable to control their lives, and how often they felt nervous, for example. Study participants who reported a lot of stress early in the menstrual cycle were subsequently more likely than relaxed women to report moderate or severe discomfort before and during menstruation. Furthermore, all of the women in the study were followed for more than one cycle; among women who reported stress in one month and not in the next month, the more stressful month was, on average, followed by worse symptoms of PMS. 

PMS

It is not totally clear why stress might affect a woman’s physical comfort and mood even weeks later, before and during her period. But stress is a hormonal process, and so, of course, is much of the work of the reproductive system. Writing in the Journal of Women’s Health, the researchers say that stress may have an impact on PMS through several channels: perhaps by altering levels of ovarian hormones, or perhaps because the stress hormone cortisol has an impact on PMS symptoms. “Stress-reduction programs,” the researchers write, “may be an effective, nonpharmaceutical treatment” for both physical and psychological symptoms of PMS.

For some women, stress may play a role in causing irregular or missed periods. As stress levels rise, there’s a chance that your menstrual period will temporarily stop, a condition known as secondary amenorrhea.

When I took on a new job with a much higher position and salary years ago, the job came with increased stress. I had irregular meals, did not have the time to exercise and worked very long hours. Less than a year into the new job, I was diagnosed with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
and infertility. It took me 2.5 years before I conceived my eldest daughter, via IUI.

Stress early in the cycle is a risk factor for PMS and combating stress  with yoga, exercise, biofeedback, fun time, positive thinking or meditation may help prevent PMS symptoms or make them much more manageable. The symptoms may not go away completely, but stress-reduction techniques could make symptoms more manageable.

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Stress related illnesses, Women Health
November 11th, 2016
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Weight Gain And Water Retention Before Your Period

I  normally feel bloated, fat and have a gassy abdomen about a week lining up to my period.  This month is especially bad. I looked like a 4 months pregnant woman from my side view.  And what shocked me was that the needle on my scale went 2 notches to the right side! OMG!!  Also, my Aunt Flow gave me an unexpected visit 4 days earlier this month.  And the flow was very heavy. But by the second day, my weight dropped 2kg, back to where I was pre-period at 44kg, phew! 🙂   I can’t stop admiring my side view now, with a flat belly again. Now I can fish out my skimpiest bikini to flaunt 😉

Did you know that your monthly visitor affects the number on your scale?

omg-scale

Don’t worry—if your shocking weigh-in lands the week before your period, you can chalk it up to water weight.  Weight gain happens five days before your period, but you’ll be back to normal once you start.

Pre-period water weight can range from half of a pound to 10 pounds, usually averaging around five for most women.  That’s because the hormone progesterone—essential in the early stages of pregnancy—is to blame: when there’s no baby (aka when you get your period), these levels fall. As a side effect, each cell in your body retains an extra microscopic drop of water.

While it doesn’t lead to weight change, bloating caused by gas can magnify the situation by making you feel a size bigger.

You can combat these side effects the way you battle all bulge: with exercise. And drink a lot of water to help get rid of water retention. Also try and avoid fatty foods, alcohol and salt, which triggers your body to hold onto water.

Women who say they feel stressed early in their menstrual cycle are more likely to report the cramping, bloating and mood swings of PMS  later in the month, a new study shows. If you happen to be one of them, try to stave off stress from your life.  Take steps to banish stress from your life and if all these fail, get professional help.

If you suffer from weight gain and water retention before your period and wonder why this is happening, know you know the reason. After the heavy rain, you’ll see the rainbow.  Keep your chin up for your best days are ahead of you.  Most women usually feel at their peak in the first 7-10 days after their period.  I don’t know about you but I feel my best towards the end of my period before the whole cycle repeats again with mid-cycle bloatedness and ovulation pain followed by PMS pains.  Sigh, the pains of being a woman!

 

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Women Health