Women's Health // Current

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2 days ago

20 scary old-school surgical tools

That, ladies, is a Victorian-era speculum. Makes you appreciate modern gynocology ...

nazbags
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More Creepy Ads: Fertility is our Birthright

"The moment we pass from womanhood to motherhood, we cross a threshold. For many of us, that step is filled with wish and... more

catchiecoo
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Boys campaign to save tennis star's giant boobs

No joke. Nearly 2,000 people have joined the Facebook group to stop Simona Halep from getting a breast reduction surgery. The... more

abbym0308
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Exposing Fake Women's Health Clinics: My Visit to a Local Crisis Pregnancy Center

If you are a student, you probably see so-called crisis pregnancy center ads all the time on campus. They read something like,... more

slarabee
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LeRoy Carhart, Nebraska Doctor, Plans To Offer 3rd-Term Abortion

A Nebraska doctor said Wednesday that he will perform third-term abortions in Kansas after the slaying of abortion provider George... more

slarabee
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An Open Letter to the Wichita Shooter Who Killed Abortion Provider Dr. George Tiller

To the shooter:

If you are reading this, I know you feel justified in your act of entering a church with a loaded gun, and shooting a doctor to death in front of his family and friends. I know you felt righteous in your motives as you sped from the scene in your blue Ford Taurus, your head spinning with all the Pro-Life slogans and fund raising letters, expertly designed to induce such hate. You probably even thought Bill O'Reilly might call you a hero.

I can imagine your motivation, thinking the killing of this one man would save the lives of babies who have not yet even been conceived. But you are wrong. The murder you committed will not change women's minds, or their determination do what they know in their hearts is right. When a woman makes the decision to have an abortion, she does so with great reverence, forethought and clarity. Women have done this since the beginning of time, and will continue to do so regardless of your misplaced passions or judgment. Women like Julia, who spoke before the Texas legislature on the subject of late term abortion: Julia knew she needed an abortion to save her dear and much loved baby from needless suffering. The baby in her womb suffered from a condition known as arthrogryposis. In her testimony Julia explained:

The ultrasound showed that Thomas had clubbed hands and feet. His legs were fixed in a bent position and his arms were permanently flexed straight. He had a cleft palate and swelling on his skull -- a condition that would likely kill him in and of itself. Due to his inability to move, Thomas's muscles had deteriorated to 25% or their usual size, and his bones to 25% of their usual density.

My husband and I were sent home to grapple with the news and face an unwelcome decision: whether or not to continue with the pregnancy. By the time the amnio results came back, we had two days left to make a decision before hitting the 24 week mark -- after which, no doctor in Texas would terminate a pregnancy. The results were devastating. Our son had no chromosomal disorder. There was no explanation at all for his condition, and as such, no way to predict the scope of his suffering. We would have to make our decision based strictly on what the ultrasound had revealed.

My husband and I decided that we would have to use the golden rule. We would do for Thomas what we would want done for us in the same situation.

We tried to look at the evidence as honestly as we could. Even the best case scenario was abominable... Thomas would lead a very short life of only a few years at the very most. During those years he would be in constant pain from the ceaseless, charley-horse-type cramps that would rack his body. He would undergo numerous, largely ineffective surgeries, just to stay alive. He would never be able to walk or stand; never grasp anything, never be able to hold himself upright. He wouldn't even be able to suck his own thumb for comfort. And this was only if we were lucky. The more likely scenarios tended toward fetal death and serious health complications for me.

We made our decision with one day to go and left for Houston where we would end Thomas's suffering in one quick and painless moment. Though we wanted to stay at home that was no longer an option, as all of the hospitals were religiously-backed and there was no time to convene an ethics committee hearing.

In Houston, God graced us with some of the most compassionate people we'd ever met. The first was our maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who confirmed that the prognosis was even direr than originally thought. In a procedure very similar to an amniocentesis, Thomas's heart was stopped with a simple injection. In that moment, as I held my husband's hand, I met God and handed him my precious boy to care for, for all eternity.

Follow link for the rest of Julia's story at The Huffington Post.To the shooter: If you are reading this, I know you feel justified in your act of entering a church with a loaded gun, and... more

slarabee
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7 responses

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1 month ago

George Tiller's Clinic To Reopen, 'Resume Normal Operations'

After a week of closure to mourn the death of murdered physician Dr. George Tiller, the clinic he founded, Women's Health... more

slarabee
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1 month ago

School Makes Teen Reveal Pregnancy

How far should a school go to get help for a pregnant teen? A mom in Texas says her daughter's school crossed a line when... more

retro_Syl
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13 responses

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1 month ago

The Pre-teen Girl Mystery

Girls have been hitting puberty earlier and earlier since the 1950s, but new research shows the trend suddenly speeding... more

atomiclegion
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11 responses

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1 month ago

UK Woman 66 Becomes Oldest Mum

Quote: THIS pregnancy poses an enormous risk, but the urge to be a mother can be overwhelming. " Damn....Learn to... more

blueghost09
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2 months ago

Number of women binge drinkers 'has almost doubled in recent years'

Almost one in six women now drink more than twice the recommended daily limit of between two and three units of alcohol. Men... more

slagface
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2 responses

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2 months ago

Telling Pregnant Women Not to Drink is Sexist?

A British medical and legal expert, Dr. Colin Gavaghan, claims that telling pregnant women that can not have the occasional drink is both medically inaccurate and sexist. He claims there is no clear cut evidence between light to moderate drinking and damage to the fetus. Heavy drinking is still a no-no.

The article reads:

"Doctors' advice on the issue, including that of the Chief Medical Officer for England, is paternalistic and could be damaging in the long-term as the public loses faith in their expertise, he said.

Dr Gavaghan said: "The British Medical Association expresses concern anything less than a recommendation of total abstinence risks being interpreted as a 'green light' for heavier drinking.

"But the opposite possibility must also be considered, that if they are seen to be exaggerating risks that recent and well publicised studies have shown to be negligible, their advice on genuine risks will carry less authority.

"It may, in short, be important for bodies like the Department of Health and BMA to consider whether they are in danger of 'crying wolf', with the attendant risk that genuine warnings of real dangers will be treated less seriously."

In 2007 the government changed its stance and, despite the lack of new evidence, recommended total abstinence during pregnancy closely followed by similar advice from the British Medical Association. "

Well, this does imply that one gender is scrupulously monitored during the fulfillment of their biological imperative? Are pregnant women patrolled by public opinion about being a good mother for conception on? Preaching complete abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy seems to indicate that women chronically misinterprets facts and that "some drinking" would automatically be assumed to mean "all drinking". What does this say about the medical profession's opinion about a woman's decision making capabilities?

If you are pregnant, your life and behavior alters- is it fair to say that BTW... along with some new stretch marks, you can't have a glass of wine? Or is it just that alcohol use comes with a built-in set of paternalistic rules? Kids can't drink. You have to have rules about how, when and where you sell it.A British medical and legal expert, Dr. Colin Gavaghan, claims that telling pregnant women that can not have the occasional drink... more

catchiecoo
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7 responses

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3 months ago

Aussie teen charged with aborting foetus herself

A 19-year-old girl who allegedly took an abortion pill illegal in Australia was charged with organising her own miscarriage and... more

abbym0308
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7 responses

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3 months ago

Run and Hide from Your Next Pelvic Exam?

This story, by a blogger at The Guardian's website, details her trip to the gynecologist for her first pap smear in 10 years.... more

catchiecoo
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3 responses

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3 months ago

Stop contraceptives to get fit!

According to U.S. researchers, young women seeking a sculpted, muscular body may want to avoid taking oral contraceptives.... more

lisako
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6 responses

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4 months ago

More Women Suffering From Stress

"Women's mental health is deteriorating as increasing numbers seek help from psychiatrists, new figures show. The... more

kirstie
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4 months ago

Even 1 Drink A Day Ups Women's Cancer Risk

A study of nearly 1.3 million British women offers yet more evidence that moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of a handful of cancers.

British researchers surveyed middle-aged women at breast cancer screening clinics about their drinking habits, and tracked their health for seven years.

A quarter of the women reported no alcohol use. Nearly all the rest reported fewer than three drinks a day; the average was one drink a day. Researchers compared the lightest drinkers - two or fewer drinks a week - with people who drank more.

Each extra drink per day increased the risk of breast, rectal and liver cancer, University of Oxford researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The type of alcohol - wine, beer or liquor - didn't matter.

That supports earlier research, but the new wrinkle: Alcohol consumption was linked to esophageal and oral cancers only when smokers drank.

Also, moderate drinkers actually had a lower risk of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and renal cell cancer.

For an individual woman, the overall alcohol risk is small. In developed countries, about 118 of every 1,000 women develop any of these cancers, and each extra daily drink added 11 breast cancers and four of the other types to that rate, the study found.

But population-wide, 13 percent of those cancers in Britain may be attributable to alcohol, the researchers concluded.

Moderate alcohol use has long been thought to be heart-healthy, something the new research doesn't address but that prompts repeated debate about safe levels. U.S. health guidelines already recommend that women consume no more than one drink a day; two a day for men, who metabolize alcohol differently.

"You have to balance all those things out," said Dr. Philip J. Brooks, who researches alcohol and cancer at the National Institutes of Health. "This kind of information is important for people to know and to consult with their physician about the various risk factors they have."A study of nearly 1.3 million British women offers yet more evidence that moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of a... more

Buddah_Funk
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1 response

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5 months ago

IVF Effectiveness May Depend on Age

Did you know a woman’s odds of conceiving a baby, even through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), significantly drops after the age of 40? Because of the advancements in fertility treatments and procedures, many women may not realize that even though fertility treatments are a viable option, they cannot overcome the effects of aging. Not only do women feel the effects of their age with their fertility decreasing, they also see their odds of having a baby through IVF also decrease. However, women younger than 35 could potentially have just as good of odds of conceiving through IVF as another woman, of the same age with no fertility problems.

Over 1 million babies have been born because of successful IVF procedures, with the first “test tube” baby being born over 30 years ago. With the growing number of women entering the workforce and taking on prospering careers, many are making the transition to motherhood later on in life. While in many aspects waiting to have a family until later in life may seem to be very beneficial, in some aspects, such as childrearing age, may contribute to a large risk. Factors of age could possibly prevent a women’s dream of motherhood, or at least through pregnancies of their own.

Over 113,000 IVF treatment cycles are performed in the United States annually, and this figure continues to grow at a steady pace. The process costs in the neighborhood of $12,000 for each attempt and on average requires seven cycles of treatments, which can be physically and emotionally challenging. For each procedure, a woman undergoes several weeks of hormone injections, to stimulate their ovaries, and sometimes they must have their eggs extracted, to be fertilized in the lab, in order to produce viable embryos. If viable embryos are obtained, then they are placed into the mother’s womb in hopes of a baby.

Before undergoing fertility treatments, majority of couples want to know their odds of actually bringing home a little bundle of joy. Beth Malizia, M.D. with the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, along with Alan Penzias, M.D., senior author and a reproductive endocrinologist at Boston IVF and BIDMC, and coauthor Michele Hacker, ScD., MSPH, recently released the largest study ever, to try and clarify the accuracy of IVF and more accurately project the odds for parent hopefuls. The new study released in the January 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first to evaluate a broader spectrum of women. The study evaluated over 6,000 women, including older women and those using either frozen or fresh embryos, from 2000 to 2005, at a large Boston clinic.

Over 3,100 babies were born by the end of the study out of 14,248 cycles. After six IVF cycles, overall the cumulative live-birth rate was 72 percent, based on the more optimistic estimate that assumed those patients who didn’t return for IVF treatments would have the same odds of having a child as those who continued with treatments. If researchers took the more conservative approach and assumed that those women who did not return for further IVF treatments did not have babies, then the percentage dropped to 51 percent. However, Dr. Penzias said the more accurate rate is probably somewhere in the middle of the two estimates.Did you know a woman’s odds of conceiving a baby, even through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), significantly drops after the... more

music_fan
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5 months ago

The American Fertility Association launches campaign to educate younger women.

When I first read the title of this article "New Fertility Campaign Targets Younger Women" my knee jerk reactions was "what women are just baby factories? we have to just make kids? whats this all about?!" then I actually read the article.

The AFA is starting a program to educate younger women about infertility diseases which can greatly affect your life outside of having kids. I myself suffer from two of the most common ones, Edometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) so this issue is very close to my heart.

Women are not properly educated on their reproductive health, which as I mentioned, effects a lot more than you ability to give birth. Even if you never want children you have to on the watch for infertility diseases since they can cause a myriad of other health problems. Whats sad is gynecological health isnt really discussed much in this country because anything to do with the female reproductive system is viewed as "dirty" and "taboo." Younger women often dont consider their reproductive health because they just assume that nothing can go wrong until they hit their 40s and have to start watching for menopause or breast cancer. Many women develop gynecological diseases in their teens and 20s that can cause infertility if not caught early. I myself was diagnosed at the age of 15 with Endometriosis and PCOS at the age of 18. Many women I know have lived for years in pain due to undiagnosed fertility related diseases simply because both they and their doctors are not educated enough on gynecological diseases.

What the AFA is doing is creating a safe and non threatening environment to engage younger and encourage them to be more proactive about their reproductive health. Although the campaign unfortunately seems to put a little too much focus on the biological clock and thinking about pregnancy, I applaud it for trying to get women engaged and educated on their own bodies.

Read the article and let me know what you think...should young women be engaging in discussion on reproductive health? Or is it putting too much pressure on having kids?When I first read the title of this article "New Fertility Campaign Targets Younger Women" my knee jerk reactions was... more