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More Health Problems and Solutions
Women suffer from many health problems and on this page we will find solutions to many of those that undermine our self esteem and make us more unwell. Here, I am covering conditions like bladder weakness, excessive sweating Insomnia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Bartholin cysts and abcesses Globus Hytericusand many others will also be discussed. Some of them are not just health problems in themselves, but can be caused by other conditions like the menopause, thyroid and autoimmune conditions.
Bladder Weakness (Incontinence) This condition can certainly cause problems by adding to our stress and to anxiety and depression which in turn affect our health..... Big Time. One in 3 women have experienced bladder weakness and the reasons vary but while it is not seen as a health problem itself, it can be caused by other health problems. The main problem being that the pelvic floor muscles become weak and this affects the urethra causing it to leak. However, the most common cause of this is pregnancy. Hormonal changes during menopause also are a cause as vaginal mucous membranes become thinner and pelvic floor muscles weaken. This can disable our ability to hold on to our urine for any length of time. Result?...our health suffers. In order for pelvic floor muscles to remain strong, like any other muscle, they require exercise. Remember the midwives and doctors telling you to do your pelvic floor exercise? This time they were right!! They warned that it would affect our health but it all seemed so far away, we did not listen. Bladder weakness can cause embarrassment and misery as visits to the toilet and going out become a nightmare. Once again, self esteem drops and stress sets in and more health problems. No matter where you are, the urgency to find a toilet becomes paramount and we can feel like our bladder will burst. Lets face it, do we really need another condition to pile more stress on top of the stress we already have? A friend of mine told me (laughingly) that she has to put a bin liner on her car seat. She might have tried to laugh it off, but how do we really feel and how does it affect our health and well being? Also how many other women from around the world suffer from the same health problems? Some don't know where to look for the solutions. Not everyone has a computer or can use the internet. I know of many other women suffering from specific health problems of this nature, some younger than me, who have had children and now suffer from bladder weakness. God knows how many others there are out there who just don’t say, therefore allowing it to affect their health. What are our options? We can wear the specially designed pads. Tena and Depend are two brands of pad and they come in a variety of sizes and are very discreet. However they don’t solve the problem, but they DO give us confidence when we need to go away from home and are ideal for this purpose. They are also available by mail order. Many of us are simply too emarrassed to walk into our local supermarket or chemist and pick up a pack and that's fair enough. You can buy natural organic towels from Natural Collection which will help to cut down on the problem of candia and irritation as they are made from organic unbleached cotton and are my preferred choice over the more popular brands. Even if you buy them for no other reason, the solution they provide to problems regarding trips like shopping and the theatre or cinema or taking the kids to the farm, or whatever, they are worth their weight in gold.
We can improve the tone of our pelvic muscles....Boring? Yes but is does work. We all know how to squeeze the pelvic muscles, so I won’t go into the details, but did you know that we are supposed to do these exercises every day? We have been told many times by well meaning midwives and health professionals that this should be done after giving birth and that if we did not, it would affect our health. Be honest, how many of us really listened and are still doing them 10 years or even one year later? However, this will inspire you…..If you do these exercises every day, three times a day, research shows that 70% of women regain total control, so if done with determination, this WILL solve the problem. It can also benefit our health in other ways and improve our sex life. Remember that this will only apply to women who have bladder weakness due to weak muscles. Bladder Weakness due to other health problems may need a different approach. The way to do them is to squeeze, hold for about 10 seconds and release. Repeat this 10-12 times for each session and do the sessions 3 times a day. You will notice a difference within a few weeks. I certainly have and I was getting a bad name for myself!! If the bladder leaks when you cough then contract the muscles when you cough and you should notice better control. DO NOT stop doing the exercises or you will revert back. The exercise must be done FOR LIFE. This is hard to keep up but the alternative is far worse and finding another soltuion to our problem can only benefit our health overall giving us one less thing to worry about . To relieve the boredom and encourage you to do them and to make sure they are done, why not do them: In the car Whilst brushing your teeth Reading a book After going to the toilet. Whilst watching television Make a conscious effort and see and feel the difference. It really is that simple and they are one of the few exercises where you don’t need to exert yourself to see results. Until you have regained complete control, use the pads. They will give you back your confidence and no one need know. Exercises such as this require complete committment to work and you will need to do them every day, several times probably for life. Also, for an alternative to self exercising try a medically proven toning system that is well worth trying, it also lets you know that you are using the correct muscles Click here to buy Be Content or, alternatively try Aquaflex another clinically proven method Click here to buy Aquaflex
For those that can’t regain control there are other options and since stress incontinence (SUI) and urge incontinence (UUI) require different treatments it is important to know which one you have. Stress incontinence is to do with the pelvic floor muscles and treatment is as detailed above although drug treatment is also available for medium to severe SUI called Yentreve (Duloxetine). There is also MUI which is a mixture of the two conditions. Drug treatments are available for UUI including Versicare (Solifenacin), Oxybutinin and Tolterodine (Detrusitol) However, drug treaments are not the be all and end all and often have many side effects. Surgery is another option and the most common type is called a Colpo-suspension. This is a fairly major operation and can bring it’s own health problems. Another fairly new type of operation is TVT (Tension-free vaginal tape) This can even be carried out under local anaesthetic although general anaesthetic can also be used. It involves making two vaginal incisions and inserting the tape which lifts the middle of the urethra in turn reducing stress upon it. As with all operations, there can be problems including injury to the bladder, difficulty in emptying the bladder and urinary infection. Tape erosion is also a small possibility. Remember that this is a relatively new operation and therefore there is not enough statistical information to provide us with all our answers. Before emarking on any kind of surgery for your specific health problems try to find an alternative solution. I say this because some operations can actually make things worse causing more problems. Please see my Cystitis and Bladder infection page for ways to erradicate this problem naturally For further support on Bladder Weakness
Click here for more information
At the moment (17 July 2007) I am researching excessive sweating. It is a problem that I have had on and off for the last 5 years, probably due to menopause or hormone imbalance but although it has improved since the use of natural progesterone, occasionally it can still be quite bad. Strangely enough, it is better when I don't wear deoderant, but I have found a brilliant deoderant called Bionsen Deo total Body Active minerals which I would say has almost cured the problem and is completely natural to boot. It can be safely used on the whole body and even on feet. I have only used it under my arms and spritzed it around the top half of me. I won't use feminine deoderant in the vaginal area as I am too scared of candida, but I am sure this product would not activate candida. I may try it for the purpose of the website. (more fool me) At first glance, it may be quite off putting. It is a clear plastic container with what looks like a load of crystals inside and no liquid. You wonder what on earth it can do and how it can stop you smelling of sweat or keep you dry. Lets skin breathe as it's supposed to. You fill it with water yourself from the tap and shake it before use to activate. Economically it is fantastic as it can be refilled up to 5 times before you need to buy another one. I have only filled it once since purchasing and have been using it for around 6 weeks and still have plenty left.!! You may be put off by it's innocent and strange appearance, and claims (and small size). Don't be!! It's astringent powers last up to 36 hours so you don't even need to use it every day. It was voted product of the year in 2006. Downside? None as far as effectiveness. However the pump is prone to blocking because of the crystals but this can easily be sorted out by either pumping warm water through or soaking in hot or very warm water. This has never put me off. A stunning product, 100 per cent natural and alcohol, preservative and fragrance free. Buy it now and try it too. Cost? Around £3.99 It is available in all good chemists (and some bad ones too) and is the one time I go into Boots, superdrug or high street chemists as I buy all my toiletries online from health shops. It is also available from leading supermarkets like Waitrose, Sainsbury, Tesco and the wholesale outlet Makro, though no doubt some of the health shops sell it too. I have used some pretty powerful deoderants in the fight for dryness and no sooner have I put them on than the armpits start sweating. When I wear synthetic fabrics like polyester, viscose or lycra mixes (which I don't so much these days), the sweat is not only worse, but there is a strange almost chemical odour to the sweat and it's hard to define where it is coming from. All over, possibly. Since changing to natural fabrics only like cotton, this has disappeared. Combining this with the Bionsen Deo Total Body Active Minerals, well, I am not only completely odour free, but the sweating has reduced by around 60-70 per cent!! There are a lot of dangerous chemicals in antiperspirant deoderants, including aluminium which has also been linked to breast cancer. I do not recommend them at all. You are spraying them onto an area which is full of glands where the chemicals in them are then absorbed. Some of these chemicals have been found in breast tumour biopsies, so beware of using them as you can't get any more proof than that.
Bear in mind too that excessive sweating can be due to other health problems like hyperthyroidism or other autoimmune disorders. It is also a problem associated with the menopause. It is minor health problems like these that many people worry about and of course can make you depressed as the more you worry about it, the more you sweat!! It is extremely embarrassing and lowers self esteem. It can affect your life in a major way and once again cause other health problems like anxiety panic attacks and depression and affect your social life due to the sufferer withdrawing from occasions they would otherwise enjoy. My young 13 year old daughter also worries about it and will not take her jumper off in school in case she has a wet patch under her arm. She worries in her physical exercise classes and when the weather is hot. I am researching this particular product below as I can identify with the symptoms mentioned and indeed I could only wear black and white clothing for fear that the sweat would show through my clothes (especially red). He promises to cure the problem in less than two weeks with a 100 per cent guarantee. I can identify with the low self esteem he mentions and the paranoia so think it is certainly worth a try. Take a look for yourself. I have not tested this out myself as I am happy with the Biosen Deo total body active minerals at present, but if this does not work for you, I would say it is worth a try. (anything is worth a try as it could be the solution for you)
Please Click here to see a method that may cure excessive sweating
To read about Digestion please click HERE
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