Menopause is the point in a woman’s life when no more eggs are released from her ovaries and her period or menstrual cycle stops. The medical definition of menopause is no period for at least 12 months that is not due to any underlying medical condition. It is a normal part of the changes a woman’s body goes through as she gets older, and is caused in part by decreasing levels of estrogen and progesterone hormones. Menopause is usually a gradual process that takes place sometime after the age of 40. If it happens before 40, it is called premature menopause. The process typically starts with periods becoming shorter and more irregular, gradually leading to a complete cessation of monthly bleeding.

Women’s experiences during menopause vary greatly. Some women experience minimal symptoms, while others may experience many changes. These may include hot flashes, depression or irritability, reduced sexual desire, difficulty controlling the bladder, a racing heart, and difficulty sleeping. Changing hormone levels may cause or speed up the development of osteoporosis, weight gain and vaginal changes. Some women may go through menopause with minimal symptoms, while others make a difficult transition.

While a doctor can usually tell that a woman is going through menopause by the nature of her complaints, menopause can also be diagnosed by a vaginal smear that shows the vagina is thinning and drying. Blood levels of follicle stimulating hormone are highly elevated during menopause and also help to make a diagnosis. Since this is also the age during which breast and uterine cancers are more likely, a doctor may screen women for these cancers.

There are a number of treatments that are available to ease the effects of menopause, including lifestyle modification and hormone replacement therapy. The treatments a doctor recommends will depend on a woman’s symptoms and other conditions that may develop after menopause.

Menstruation is considered as a natural phenomenon which usually occurs in the girls during the stage of adolescence which starts by the age of 12 years. Menstruation thus reflects the start of the puberty period in the females. With the very occurrence of menstruation, the adolescent girls experience different changes which occur in them, both physical and psychological. Menstruation is a normal cycle which lasts for a number of 3 to 5 days which occurs after a length of 28 days in the normal span.

Unpleasant symptoms like cramps, migraine, abdominal pain, dejection, breast tenderness etc occurs during menstruation. These symptoms last for only a short span of time after which it is overcome. Menstruation helps in the process of cleaning and purifying the female body from the excess toxins and wastes. Menstruation however can be assumed as a normal process of change in the physiological system in the female body. The cycle of menstruation may vary from woman to woman. Some women may experience normal cycle of menstruation while others may experience some complications in the menstrual normal cycle.

Menstruation thus depicts the normal reproductive capacity in women. This natural phenomenon of menstruation which generally occurs during puberty virtually lasts till a woman reaches the stage of menopause. Menopause is thus the stage of woman’s life when one experiences the stoppage and the cessation of menstruation. This generally occurs as and when women reach the age of 45 in the normal basis. Menopause stops the fertility period in the women’s life.

Menstruation is in fact, a major course of change in a girl’s life. Menstruation turns a girl into a woman thereby enabling them to develop their fertility prospect. Menstruation is also known as menses in the regular term. It is a Greek terminology, which usually refers to the cycle of the moon round the earth which takes around 28 days. On the basis of this, thus the term menstruation has been evolved which reflects to the normal periodic cycle which occurs around after 28 days in a woman’s life.

Menstruation as it a monthly bleeding system, it flows out generally from the uterus which is connected with the cervix through certain small openings to the vagina. During menstruation, different parts of the woman’s body is involved like the pituitary glands, the fallopian tubes, the brain, the cervix, the uterus, ovaries and most importantly the vagina. It is very important to be stated here that during menstruation period, the hormone in the woman’s body experiences varied rise and fall.

Vaginal itching and burning during menopause is something that many healthcare professionals really feel is all within the woman’s head. One of many symptoms that causes the greatest total of discomfort for some menopausal women is menopause itching.

Some of the possible causes are::

Stress

Lack of sleep sickness

Poor consuming habits and too many sugar-laden meals

Being pregnant

Menses

Different medications like steroids and birth control pills.

There are lots of signs related to menopause, however one that does not receive much consideration is why some women have itchy pores and skin due to menopause. Early signs consist of abnormal vaginal bleeding hot flashes and mood changes. Menopause depression might have a number of signs and symptoms that would last for even two weeks. Both physical and emotional symptoms are experienced by the largest part of the women. You may experience a number of symptoms during premature menopause. But the signs need more some treatments because they are very horrible and painful. When menopause occurs generally between a woman’s mid-forties and mid-fifties signs that accompany it could wreak havoc in a woman’s daily life.

Women patients who experienced health changes throughout their menstrual cycle had increased levels of antibodies towards progesterone and estrogen than menopausal women did. Women are affected by depression greater than men of their mid life. They might turn out to be fat of their center ages attributable to some menopausal issues but have the choice of full or partial hysterectomy. Women were afraid to talk about this transition even to their daughters. The signs that they normally encounter are vaginal discharge,burning with urination, abnormal vaginal bleeding, skin bumps, skin sores, swollen lymph nodes, itching of the skin.

Always check along with your private physician before taking any action regarding your health. A few non drug solutions to this problem are: getting plenty of sleep, reducing stress, rising exercise, maintaining the correct weight, a nutritious diet, reducing caffeine and alcohol and chopping out spicy foods. At all times seek the advice of your doctor or different health assistant for any questions you might have regarding your medical condition. Stress is a frequent contributor to the development of many health conditions, together with vaginal itchiness. Deliver your life into stability with tips about good nutrition, family fun, and healthy activities.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a lentivirus that is the cause of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). HIV causes the progressive destruction of immune system which leaves the body defenseless against opportunistic infections and cancers. Currently there is no cure for HIV or AIDS but antivirals are able to stop disease progression if they are taken daily and life-long. The World Health Organization has the disease listed as a pandemic and HIV infection prevention is a top priority for many health organizations in countries around the world. Africa has the misfortune of having largest number of infected persons in the world. Globally, 33 million people are infected by HIV, 7000 new cases of infection occur daily and 2 million people die each year from AIDS.

HIV is transmitted from one person to another through the exchange of infected body fluids such as blood and semen. Therefore, HIV infection prevention rests on employing safety measures that limit contact with infected fluids. The most common way HIV is transmitted is through sexual contact. Being vigilant about employing safe sex methods is the key to reducing the risk of becoming infected. Although the number of women spreading the infection is much lower than men, a person can still be infected through vaginal fluids that come in contact with cuts in the mouth or penis. Condoms should be used during vaginal and anal intercourse as well as fellatio. Sexual partners should used dental dams when performing oral sex on females. Partners should avoid kissing if sores or open wounds are present as the disease can be transmitted through saliva containing blood.

When we speak of condom, we usually think about male condoms. However, female condoms exist, but are not well accepted. A number of new female condoms are currently developed to address the common disadvantages of those on the market. However, wider use of the condoms in countries with severe HIV/AIDS epidemics depends on the commitment of governments and other major donors. To achieve its full potential, much greater effort needs to be made worldwide to make condoms more affordable, accessible and acceptable.

Male circumcision has also been proposed to reduce HIV transmission from women to men. However, circumcision is much less effective than condom use at preventing HIV transmission and it is estimated that it only prevents around 50 percent of infections.

Another common way HIV is acquired is through intravenous drug use. Many drug addicts share needles which provide the perfect conditions for transmission of HIV from person to another. For HIV infection prevention, many health agencies advise drug addicts to use fresh needles or at least to not share needles with other users. This also goes for anyone who takes intravenous medication such as insulin. Not only should needles not be shared, they should be properly disposed of to prevent the accidental spread of the disease to others who may share the same living or working space.

Pregnant infected women can prevent contaminating the foetus by taking antiretroviral therapy and having undetectable viral load. They should also not breastfeed as the disease can be passed along to babies through the milk. In 2009, around 400,000 children became infected with HIV, mainly through mother-to-child transmission. About 90% of these infections occurred in Africa where AIDS is beginning to reverse decades of steady progress in child survival.

Healthcare professionals are also at risk of contracting HIV through accidental exposure. Therefore, it is important to follow safety guidelines when working with patients. Always wear protective gear, such as gloves and masks, when working with bodily fluids, sores, and open wounds. Use safe collectors to get rid of used needles.

If all these measures were seriously implemented, we could curb down the evolution of the pandemic.

I want to start by discussing the most commonly, and erroneously, used method for inducing sleep: It is such a shame because, while they may work in the short term, they cause more problems that just insomnia in the long term.

Rarely do orthodox doctors tell us that 65 prescription drugs and more than 100 over-the-counter medicines contain sleep-discouraging caffeine. In the case of prescriptions, ask the pharmacist. In the case of over-the-counter medications, read the label-or you will be counting sheep until the cows come home!

No doctor can truly evaluate insomnia in a patient until the patient is drug-free. Sleeping pills prescribed by doctors (which add up to about 25 million prescriptions annually) interfere with normal sleep patterns and can actually cause the disorder.

Although there are hundreds of tranquilizers and many kinds of sedatives on the market, we have just begun to learn that many of these drugs do not offer natural sleep; instead they change the quality of sleep. Such interference can wreak havoc with a patient’s health, a matter that we should seriously consider when orthodox doctors offer us prescriptions for them.

At what was probably the high point of America’s craze for prescription drugs, in 1967 Americans spent about $300 million on tranquilizers and drugs to combat mild anxiety. Prescription sedatives were running about $70 million and would have been higher if the Drug Abuse Control Law of 1966 had not cut down on the indiscriminate refilling of old prescriptions.

Time-honored folk medicine tells us that a banana, a medium-sized tomato, or a handful of walnuts can beat sleeplessness.

Modern biochemists tell us why. They contribute to the making of serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter which produces a calming effect.

Some people I know follow the folklore method of luring sleep by eating lettuce. One friend puts a whole head of lettuce at her bedside and tears off chunks to nibble on. Soon she is fast asleep. If she wakes up during the night, she eats more lettuce and usually gets desired results.

Imagine lying in a field of daisies, the sun shining down on you. Make you sleep? NO? Well, the next best thing is a tea made of the daisies, camomile.

Camomile tea is a marvelous nerve soother and sleep gatherer.
It is also easily found, either fresh or in tea bags, in your supermarket.

A hops pillow, as strange as that sounds, will help you relax and fall asleep. Use a generous amount of dried hops and sprinkle with a little alcohol to charge the active properties of the herb. Envelope the greenery in a small cloth pillow and tuck it inside the pillowcase along with your regular pillow. It works!

Acne-the name itself spells disaster to teenagers. It is a major personality damaging crisis which afflicts people from all walks of life, especially those that come under the age group of ten to thirty five years.

Acne is caused by the increased production of hormones like testosterone and increase in the level of natural oil content of the body. It is also caused by factors like excessive stress, psychological disorder, irregular and fat rich eating habits.

Treatments available for this disorder are countless. Some of them are medicines applied topically, systemic drug intake, acne natural treatments, and in some extreme cases, surgical treatments.

Of these various options available, acne natural treatment remedies take the crowning place. This is because as the name suggests it is natural and free of chemicals that cause many harmful side effects.

Some of the commonly used acne natural treatment procedures are listed below:

o Tea tree oil which is also called melaluca oil is used in the treatment of acne due to its natural healing properties.

o Aloe Vera as we all know is a commonly used plant which is famous worldwide for its effect on the immune system and also for the role it plays in treating inflammation. In addition to this it also has skin healing properties that are useful in the treatment of Acne.

o Licorice is another such plant root which has been proven to play an important part in the healing of acne scars. Its extract is used to successfully clear blemishes.

o Olive oil has been used for centuries to heal infections like cough and colds. The leaves and oil are also effectively used in the treatment of curing acne naturally.

o Green tea is also another herbal product which is taken regularly for its antioxidant properties. In the case of acne, green tea has been found to help immensely. The extract of green tea leaves are the cheapest and also the most effective and excellent cure for acne.

o Apart from these, we have vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, herbs like mint and coriander, coconut oil.etc which can used to cure acne naturally.

The notion that high cholesterol is bad for you is receiving many challenges. An increasing number of medical professionals and researchers doubt this publicly accepted and heavily promoted argument. The past few weeks saw a couple of especially damaging studies that seriously challenge what most of us think we know about the dangers of high cholesterol.

Is it good to lower cholesterol?

First, a study released a couple of weeks ago linked low LDL cholesterol with increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. Remember, LDL is considered the ‘bad’ cholesterol and is what statin drugs reduce. The new study is preliminary and follow up in a much larger study is on the way. Still, the news flies in the face of most people’s opinions that high LDL is bad. The study’s author predicts that if the data holds true we could see a big rise in the rate of Parkinson’s disease from the massive use of statins.

Second, a study published this week argues that lowering cholesterol has very little to do with preventing death. Researchers report that men over 69 had no reduced death rates from statin drugs and that men under 50 benefited only very slightly (about 1 in 50). Women also showed no reduction in death rate with statin drug therapy.

How can this be true? It is definitely a hot topic of debate in the medical field right now. After all, the statin market pulls in $12.2 billion dollars a year. Any evidence against the benefits of statins will meet serious resistance.

What does cholesterol do in the body?

Here’s what we do know. Cholesterol is not some evil molecule put in our body to kill us. Our bodies make cholesterol because they need it. It has a vital function and disrupting vital functions with drug therapy always causes side effects. Cholesterol is the starting point for making testosterone and estrogen (required for sexual function), cortisol (required for normal response to stress), aldosterone (required for maintaining water balance) and progesterone (important in female cycling and pregnancy). Cholesterol is also a stable part of membranes that surround our cells and it helps them maintain normal function.

So why do we mess with it? Statin drugs were originally developed to help people with familial hypercholesterolemia. This genetic disorder makes your body produce way too much cholesterol, so the use of a drug to slow down cholesterol synthesis can save these folks lives. While ‘normal’ cholesterol levels are a little under 200, people with familial hypercholesterolemia can have levels around 600 or higher! This obviously requires some intervention. However, statin therapy has since become a norm for almost everyone in their golden years and this large scale use is driving serious concerns.

HDL vs. LDL

What’s the difference between ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL) and ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL)? Well, because cholesterol is very greasy it is not soluble in the blood and must move around in protein and lipid balls that can be high density (HDL) or low density (LDL). The LDL form of cholesterol is easily damaged (oxidized) and when this happens, it can start to form plaques in the arteries. The HDL form actually picks up some of the plaques and helps to clear them.

So, thinking that we sufficiently understood the system we created drugs to minimize the production of LDL, which would presumably reduce plaques and reduce the chance of heart attacks. Sounds reasonable, right?

However, as with most of our biology, we really don’t understand the system that well. It turns out that messing with cholesterol manufacturing is turning out to cause many other problems that we didn’t anticipate. Unfortunately, this is usually the rule and not the exception when it comes to drug therapy.

What’s a guy or gal to do?

The question is what should be done about all of the people on statin therapy while this debate rages on? The best thing we can do is to ensure that doctors prescribing statin medications are on top of the issue and have thought seriously about the potential benefits and side effects of the therapy.

Patients must ask more questions to be comfortable that their doctors are proactively involved in continuing medical education and are not simply relying on brochures from the drug companies to dole out advice. Every therapy has an alternative. Only a good patient-doctor relationship can identify the best course of action for each individual. That’s why we don’t just answer questionnaires on medical kiosks – at least not yet.

Copyright (c) 2007 The Brain Code LLC

Although cholesterol serves many essential roles in keeping our bodies in good health it receives more attention when it is harmful to our bodies. It is harmful when there is too much in the body. We produce about 80% of the cholesterol that is needed by the body naturally in the liver. The rest is obtained through dietary means. However when too much cholesterol is consumed through dietary means then the cholesterol level becomes elevated and this can lead to health problems. Thickening of the arteries is a common consequence of high cholesterol. This can lead to high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. So what is a normal cholesterol level ? This article will give you the facts and figures according to the American Heart Association and explain what they mean.

The guidelines set out by the American Heart Association are as follows :

Total cholesterol :

Less than 200 mg/dl is a desirable outcome (mg/dl stands for milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood).

200 mg/dl to 239mg/dl is deemed to be borderline high risk.

240 mg/dl is considered to by at high risk to heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.

Total cholesterol includes both LDL and HDL cholesterol.

LDL cholesterol is considered to be bad cholesterol because it tends to stick to the wall of the arteries which leads to atherosclerosis and eventually heart disease.

The guideline for LDL cholestrol is :

Less than 100mg/dl is optimal

100mg/dl to 129 mg/dl is near optimal

130mg/dl to 159mg/dl is borderline high

160mg/dl to 189mg/dl is high

190mg/dl is very high

HDL cholesterol is considered to be good cholesterol because it helps transport excess cholesterol back to the liver where it is excreted.

The guideline for HDL cholesterol is the higher the better. The threshold is 40mg/dl for men and 50mg/dl for women. Any lower than those readings would be considered high risk for heart disease.

The key to reducing LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol is to eat a healthy diet of fresh and low fat foods. You should exercise regularly. Try to get 30 minutes of exercise per day. Quit smoking because it lowers the amount of HDL cholesterol in the body.

Individual dental care is really important for a person’s general hygiene. But a visit to the dentist can fill some people with trepidation.

There are many types of dentist roles and here we look at a few of them.

Firstly there is the pediatric dentist. To become a pediatric dentist you must first get a dentist degree and then study for an extra two years to attain your pediatric dentistry license. Without this license you cannot practice nor profess to be a pediatric dentist. The pediatric dentist role is mainly the oral care of children and adolescents.

Second we have the special care dentist. To become a special care dentist you must study for 3 more years after your dentist degree. This role involves the oral care and treatment of those people that have special needs whether it is medical, physical, emotional or social needs.

Thirdly there is the forensic dentist. This role is slightly different as it involves being called upon to testify in court cases some of the time. These dentists tend to specialize in examining and evaluating evidence for legal cases.

These dentist’s can spend a lot of time checking dental records and dental structure to determine who certain people are when their identity is under question. They can also attain dental evidence in certain cases of malpractice.

Another dentist is the cosmetic dentist. This role involves the aesthetic side of dentistry. The cosmetic dentist tends to concentrate on shaping and forming teeth to give a more aesthetic look to people face. Their roles also include bleaching and whitening of teeth.

For the older people among us there is the geriatric dentist. These dentists’s normally diagnose and try to prevent any problems with the oral care of the elderly.

Last but not least we come to the veterinary dentist whose main concern is the oral care and treatment of the animal world.

Red Clover Benefits

Extracts from red clover have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine and Western folk medicines as a diuretic, cough expectorant (it helps clear mucus from the respiratory passages) and remedy for skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

But modern research has uncovered additional benefits, including an ability to help overcome symptoms associated with the menopause and prostate problems. It could even help in the fight against cancer.

Here’s how it works…

Blocking oestrogen to help protect against cancer

Red clover contains plant chemicals called isoflavones. These include geneistein, daidzein, formononetin and biochanin. Isoflavones are what are known as phytooestrogens (plant derived substances that resemble human oestrogen in their make-up but which are weaker).

Isoflavones act as weak oestrogens, which means they can bind to oestrogen receptors in the body. This blocks some of the detrimental effects of naturally – occurring oestrogen, which is far stronger and linked to cancer cell growth. In particular they have been found to lower the risk of breast, prostate and colon cancer.

Geneisten is probably the most extensively studies phytooestrogens. It boasts an impressive array of anti-cancer properties. It can revert breast and prostate cancer cells back to their pre-cancerous states and delay the growth of new blood vessels within tumours. This helps prevent them from spreading.

Red clover works quickly to kill cancerous prostate cells

In terms of prostate cancer, Australian researchers have found that a supplement derived from red clover, called Trinovin, helps prevent prostate cells from advancing to cancerous stages.

This news is promising, as the disease is responsible for the deaths of over 10000 men each year in Britain. Although prostate cancer can strike at any age, it is most prevalent in men over the age of 50.

The study was carried out by researchers at Monash University in Victoria, Australia and involved 20 prostate cancer patients who received Trinovin and 18 patients who made up the control group and received no treatment. The former were given 160mg of Trinovin for between one to eight weeks, before undergoing prostate surgery.

Before and after treatment, researchers measured the patients’ serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels – excess levels can indicate prostate cancer; Gleason score (grade of cancer); serum testosterone; incidence of cancer cell death, and excreted isoflavone levels.

The researchers found that among those patients taking Trinovin, cancerous cells were killed off up to five times more frequently than was the case for the control group.

Trinovin was found to be particularly effective in fighting early-stage cancerous cells.

Eat a diet rich in isoflavones

Numerous studies have suggested an important link between a diet rich in isoflavones and the maintenance of good health, particularly in terms of good prostate health.

For example, the incidence of prostate cancer is far lower in Asian countries (where the typical diet is high in isoflavone-rich foods like red clover, lentils, chickpeas and a range of beans) than it is in the West. Men is Asia consume approximately 20-50mg of isoflavone-rich foods each day, which is a great deal more than the typical British diet that only provides around 1-2mg.

Studies have also revealed that red clover isoflavones can help combat benign prostatic hyperplasia – enlargement of the prostate gland. One three-month study showed that red clover helped reduce prostate size and obstruction to the urinary passage and improved urinary flow by 10%.

Patients also reported improvements in their overall quality of life and no side effects were experienced. Red clover can provide much needed relief for menopausal and post-menopausal women

Recent research findings have found that red clover isoflavones’ weak oestrogen – like action can also helping the treatment of menopause symptoms. In January 2004 the North American Menopause Society recommended the use of red clover isoflavones to help alleviate night sweats and hot flushes in menopausal women.

In Japan, where the dietary isoflavone content is very high, menopause symptoms like hot flushes are rarely reported. Red clover has also been found to improve cardiovascular function in menopausal women.

The Bottom Line: Include more isoflavone-rich foods in your diet to help ward off prostate cancer and menopausal symptoms.