What is Rh factor?
Every person’s blood is one of four major types. A, B, AB, or O. Blood types are determined by the types of antigens on the blood cells.

Rh describes the factor that is found on the red blood cells of most people. People with the Rh factor are Rh positive, those who do not have the factor are Rh negative. Approximately 85% of the United States population is Rh positive and about 15% is Rh negative. The type we are is determined by our parents just like eye color. The Rh factor does not affect a person’s general health. Rh factor can be determined by a simple blood test which only requires a finger stick.

When is Rh important?
Rh is important when donating blood or receiving a blood transfusion and during pregnancy. Rh negative blood donors are always in demand because Rh negative patients need Rh negative blood. Rh positive patients can receive blood from either Rh positive or Rh negative donors. In pregnancy, Rh is especially important when an Rh negative woman carries an Rh positive fetus.

What if I am Rh negative and pregnant?
If an Rh negative woman is pregnant with an Rh positive fetus, her body will produce antibodies against the fetus’s blood, causing a disease known as the Rh disease. Sensitization to the disease occurs when the woman’s blood is exposed to the fetus’s blood. The antibodies attack and destroy the Rh positive red blood cells of the fetus, a progressive anemia develops and in severe cases, there can be heart failure or even death. This hemolytic disease usually does not affect the first pregnancy, but once a woman has produced antibodies, all future Rh positive pregnancies are at risk. Antibody production can be prevented by giving Rh Immune Globulin (Rhlg or RhoGam).

 
What is RhoGam and what does it do?
RhoGam is a solution containing Rh antibodies which is injected into the Rh negative mother during pregnancy and just after delivery, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or induced abortion.
Once the antibodies have been given, the immune system sees no need to act and the woman’s body does not make her own antibodies even though Rh positive red blood cells from the fetus got into her bloodstream.

Is protection necessary after each pregnancy?
Yes. With each pregnancy the Rh negative woman has a chance of being exposed to the red blood cells of her fetus. Unless it is known for certain that the fetus is Rh negative, the woman should receive protection. Before birth, miscarriage or induced abortion there is no way of knowing the baby’s Rh type unless both parents are Rh negative.

Is RhoGam Safe?
Yes. RhoGam has an excellent safety record. Before it was made available for general use, it was tested in medical centers around the world. Millions of women have received RhoGam safely and delivered healthy babies. RhoGam is prepared by a process that has not been shown to transmit hepatitis or other infectious diseases.

Rh disease is preventable through this simple injection of Rh Immune Globulin.

What is Rh factor?
Every person’s blood is one of four major types. A, B, AB, or O. Blood types are determined by the types of antigens on the blood cells.

Rh describes the factor that is found on the red blood cells of most people. People with the Rh factor are Rh positive, those who do not have the factor are Rh negative. Approximately 85% of the United States population is Rh positive and about 15% is Rh negative. The type we are is determined by our parents just like eye color. The Rh factor does not affect a person’s general health. Rh factor can be determined by a simple blood test which only requires a finger stick.

When is Rh important?
Rh is important when donating blood or receiving a blood transfusion and during pregnancy. Rh negative blood donors are always in demand because Rh negative patients need Rh negative blood. Rh positive patients can receive blood from either Rh positive or Rh negative donors. In pregnancy, Rh is especially important when an Rh negative woman carries an Rh positive fetus.

What if I am Rh negative and pregnant?
If an Rh negative woman is pregnant with an Rh positive fetus, her body will produce antibodies against the fetus’s blood, causing a disease known as the Rh disease. Sensitization to the disease occurs when the woman’s blood is exposed to the fetus’s blood. The antibodies attack and destroy the Rh positive red blood cells of the fetus, a progressive anemia develops and in severe cases, there can be heart failure or even death. This hemolytic disease usually does not affect the first pregnancy, but once a woman has produced antibodies, all future Rh positive pregnancies are at risk. Antibody production can be prevented by giving Rh Immune Globulin (Rhlg or RhoGam).

 
What is RhoGam and what does it do?
RhoGam is a solution containing Rh antibodies which is injected into the Rh negative mother during pregnancy and just after delivery, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or induced abortion.
Once the antibodies have been given, the immune system sees no need to act and the woman’s body does not make her own antibodies even though Rh positive red blood cells from the fetus got into her bloodstream.

Is protection necessary after each pregnancy?
Yes. With each pregnancy the Rh negative woman has a chance of being exposed to the red blood cells of her fetus. Unless it is known for certain that the fetus is Rh negative, the woman should receive protection. Before birth, miscarriage or induced abortion there is no way of knowing the baby’s Rh type unless both parents are Rh negative.

Is RhoGam Safe?
Yes. RhoGam has an excellent safety record. Before it was made available for general use, it was tested in medical centers around the world. Millions of women have received RhoGam safely and delivered healthy babies. RhoGam is prepared by a process that has not been shown to transmit hepatitis or other infectious diseases.

Rh disease is preventable through this simple injection of Rh Immune Globulin.

Measuring the effectiveness of the birth control pill

Birth control pills are the most popular and widely accepted form of contraception. These pills are synthetic forms of the hormones estrogen and progesterone and they stop the ovaries from releasing eggs thus stopping ovulation and fertilization is avoided.

Different brands of pills are available in packs of 21 or 28 pills. Although the birth control pills have shown a 99.7% success rate, it does depend upon how regularly and timely the pills are taken. The birth control pills are taken from the first day of the menstrual periods or the first day after an abortion. One pill is taken every single day till the entire pack is finished. If a 28-day pack is used, a new pack should be started immediately after the old pack is over. If using a 21-day pack, one pill has to be taken for 21 days and a gap of 7 days given before starting on the new pack immediately.

Mistakes in taking the pill on time reduce the effectiveness of the pill and may result in pregnancy. The most common way for a woman to get pregnant while still on the pill is to starting the next pack 1 day late. If this happens, 2 pills should be taken as soon as possible and 1 pill thereafter each day. If the next pack is started 2 days late, 2 pills should be taken per day for 2 days and then continued as usual. In both cases, a backup form of contraception is advisable for 2 weeks. If the new pack is started 3 or more days late, the clinic should be consulted.

The other way to mess up the protection of the pill is by forgetting to take the pill during the cycle. If 1 pill is missed, it should betaken as soon as possible and the next due pill should be taken as usual. This might mean taking 2 pills in a day. Many women miss 2 pills in a row in the first 2 weeks and this increases the chances of conceiving. If this happens, she should take 2 pills on the day she remembers and another 2 pills the next day and then continues as usual. Extra precaution for birth control should be taken for a week in both cases. If she misses 3 or more pills in a row anytime, 1 pill should be taken every day till Sunday. On Sunday, a new pack of pills should be started and the old one kept aside. Back-up contraception is advised for 2 weeks.

Birth control pills also have their efficiency reduced if they are taken in conjunction with certain medications like medicines for migraines, tuberculosis, anti-seizure or even antibiotics. Back-up contraceptive methods are advisable in such cases and the medical provider should be provided with all the relevant medical history before starting on the pills.

Birth control pills are highly effective in controlling pregnancy provided they are strictly taken regularly without missing a dose.

Breast cancer is more than just a serious medical problem for women. For most it means a shattering of their lives, threatening to cut short their existence. For others, better made and well prepared, the cancer is nothing but a challenge to test one’s resolve as well as the chance to solicit support and compassion from people whom a woman holds dear. But apart from the support a woman may get, there is the stark reality that breast cancer is an aberration of their normal and healthy way of life. For some who are least prepared for its onset, breast cancer represents the loss of hope. 

Although breast cancer is most commonly prevalent in women, the cancer also affects men although such cases have been rare. Compared with women, a man may better take the consequences of the disease because it does not in any way affect their ability to play their role in childbearing, although the survival rates in both sexes are roughly equal.

How Breast Cancer Develops

Breast cancer starts in the cells of the breasts and spreads rapidly to the other parts of it. The main terror with breast cancer is that they affect the functioning of the other body organs, which causes the victim to gradually lose vitality, resulting to death in the long run. As of the present, there seems no effective way to counter breast cancer although combinations of treatments and experimental drugs have been promising. 

Signs of Breast Cancer and the Validation Process

The first sign of having breast cancer is the presence of a lump that feels differently from the surrounding tissues. Discovering the lump early is the key to treating the cancer better because around 80 percent of breast cancers are detected through the presence of lumps. On the other hand, once a lump or lumps have been discovered, medical confirmation will come through a mammogram, which is conducted by a physician. Once confirmed, the physician will recommend any possible treatment to the cancer. Other indications of having breast cancer include changes in breast size and shape, wrinkling of the skin, inversion of the nipple, and nipple discharge. Though pain may also be present, pain alone is an unreliable sign because other breast-related problems also cause pain. 

How Breast Cancer Affects Other Organs

Sometimes breast cancer is categorized as a metastatic disease, which means that the disease has spread beyond the organ that was originally affected. With breast cancer, the common metastasis includes the liver, lung, bone, and brain. Because of the possibility of the cancer spreading to other organs, a lot of symptoms are considered non-specific because they may or may not point to the presence of breast cancer. These non-specific symptoms include the following:

1) Unexplained weight loss
         
2) Fevers and chills
         
3) Bone and joint pains
         
4 ) Jaundice

With the proper knowledge on breast cancer, every woman can be protected from the disease that ranks as the leading cause of death among cancers for women.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is also called menorrhagia. This is a medical term for prolonged menstrual bleeding and for the menstrual periods that are both heavy and prolonged. This condition is also called hypermenorrhea. This also refers to losing 80 milliliters or more of blood during your menstrual cycle. This condition is a common concern for those pre-menopausal women, but there are also few women who experience severe blood loss.

The Symptoms of Menorhaggia

Almost all women have experienced heavy bleeding in many of their periods. If you have experienced heavy and excessive bleeding for a lot of months in a year, it is recommended that you visit a gynecologist. Here are some of the other signs and symptoms of this condition:

* The menstrual period lasts for 10 days or more.
   
* The menstrual flow involves heavy blood clotting.
   
* The heavy periods interfere with your regular lifestyle.
  
* There is a constant pain in the lower abdomen whenever there are heavy menstrual flows.
   
* Symptoms of anemia like tiredness, fatigue, or short breathing patterns are observed.

 The Common Causes of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

The menstrual cycle differs in every woman. On average, menstrual flow happens every 28 days and lasts for about 4 days. There are some women who have cycles between 24 and 34 days, and it could last a little longer or shorter. However, if there is a wide variation in the timing and in the duration that you may find abnormal, you may want to check for the symptoms because you might be suffering already from heavy menstrual bleeding and you may not know it yet.

Here are some of the top causes of menorrhagia or excessive and heavy menstrual bleeding. You may want to consider checking each because you may be suffering from this disease, especially if you have an irregular period:

* Hormonal imbalance during adolescence and in menopausal stage
   
* Uterine fibroid tumors
   
* Cervical polyps
   
* Endometrial polyps
   
* Chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease called lupus
  
* Pelvic inflammatory disease

* Cervical cancer
   
* Endometrial cancer
  
* Bleeding disorder of a person
  
* Anovulation or the failure of the ovaries to produce, mature, and release eggs
   
* Endometrial hyperplasia, which is the thickening and buildup of the uterine walls
   
* Abnormal functioning of the thyroid or the pituitary gland
   
* Pregnancy complications like miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy
   
* Changes in the use of birth control pills or estrogens
   
* Use of an intrauterine device
   
* Recent trauma or surgery that involves the uterus
   
* Pelvic inflammatory disease
   
* Stress, change in diet and exercise routine, recent weight loss or weight gain, travel or recent illness

 The Treatment of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Here are some of the many treatments used for heavy menstrual bleeding:

* The use birth control pills for a few months.
   
* Performing hysterectomy or removing the uterus, where risks have been reduced by following measures to lessen the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis after surgery.
   
* A surgical procedure called endometrial ablation. This helps relieve heavy menstrual bleeding, but it can cause sterility and it no longer triggers menopause. Its long-term effects are also unknown.

 But if the degree of bleeding is just mild, it may be a good reassurance to know that no serious underlying cause can be blamed for the condition and that it will most likely go away in time.

Pros and cons of both oral and vaginal abortion pill

Amongst the many controversies surrounding the methods of doing abortion, another issue raises its head, that of the safer choice of an abortion pill. Abortion pill can be administered in two ways, oral or/and vaginal and the debate here is of which is the safer option.

To understand the safety of either of the pill we must first grasp the basic facts about the abortion pill itself. The abortion pill or medical abortion involves the ingestion of mifepristone or RU 486 to end the pregnancy and a second drug called misoprostol to help the body expel the pregnancy tissue.

Although termed a safe and effective procedure there are certain side effects of this abortion pill which a patient should be aware of before taking the plunge. Heavy bleeding, headache, nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting are some of the more common side effects of the abortion pill and the rare ones include injury to the cervix or the fallopian tube which may affect future fertility.

RU 486 is given orally followed by misoprostol later. Misoprostol is given either orally or vaginally. Earlier the pill was administered vaginally only because it was more easily absorbed there. Although it was found that administering the pill vaginally lessened the side effects like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and also increased the efficacy of abortion for women beyond 49 days gestation, it resulted in bacterial infections in many cases.

This infection was one of the more serious complications arising from the usage of the abortion pill as some deaths were also reported. When medical abortion was first started, there was almost no concern about the threat of infection as there was no use of instruments either in the cervix or the uterus unless the abortion remained incomplete and surgery had to be done. But gradually it became evident that serious infections could occur when the pill was given vaginally.

Both abortion pills were then started being administered orally only within 24 to 48 hours of the first one along with antibiotics and it was found that this cut down the risk of serious infection and possible death by almost 93%. Initially, antibiotics were given selectively to only those women whose tests showed that they had either of the two sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea or Chlamydia. But this changed to all women getting antibiotics as a rule without getting any testing done and it drastically brought down the rate of infection.

Oral ingestion of misoprostol means putting the tablet either under the lingua or in the space between the cheek and the gum where it should be left to dissolve by itself. Placing it between the cheek and the gum allows the drug to go directly in the bloodstream through the thin mucus membranes. The pill should not be swallowed. The pill should be allowed to dissolve for at least 30 minutes and can be swallowed only after this time frame.

Going by current surveys and medical opinion, it would appear that abortion pills taken orally are a safer bet than taken vaginally.

Know the facts about simultaneous breastfeeding and ingestion of the abortion pill

At times, a woman may find herself pregnant while still nursing a small baby and is thoroughly confused as to what to do. She may not have the support or the strength to carry a second pregnancy to term while the first child is still nursing. In such a case, she may wish to terminate the pregnancy either by opting for a surgical abortion or by choosing the abortion pill.

The main query which worries most nursing mothers is whether they could continue breastfeeding their infant even while terminating their accidental pregnancy. Before attempting to know this answer satisfactorily, however, it is first important to know the basic facts about both types of abortions so as to be armed with proper information.

A surgical abortion requires hospitalization as it has to be done under anesthesia. It is an invasive procedure requiring the usage of surgical instruments. Surgical abortion may mean aspiration abortion or a D& C.

The abortion pill is advocated as a safe and effective procedure for terminating a pregnancy and it involves the oral ingestion of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol which are FDA approved. It is a non-invasive procedure requiring no hospitalization or surgical assistance, except in very rare cases. The abortion pill is only given if the pregnancy is confirmed to be less than 9 weeks and the woman meets all the necessary health and logistics criteria.

The logistics criteria would include accessible and reliable communication and transportation facilities to the clinic, distance of hospital should not be more than 2 hours away from residence, maintaining follow-up clinical appointments and consent to aspiration abortion in case of incomplete abortion(some remnants of pregnancy tissue is left behind).

Due to the serious health risks which an abortion pill does carry, women with blood clotting or heart problems, severe anemia, diarrhea, adrenal failure, allergies to prostaglandin medications, suspected ecoptic pregnancy are not advised to undergo this type of abortion. Side-effects also include heavy bleeding, nausea, headache, vomiting and incomplete abortion.

Medical abortion normally takes place within 24-72 hours of administration of the combined drugs. Several women prefer the abortion pill to surgical abortion as it is less invasive and can be done within the privacy of one’s home as it requires no hospitalization. This factor may also become important for women with small children and no help.

However, a nursing mother cannot continue to breastfeed her infant while taking the abortion pill. She has to discontinue the breastfeeding for a few days because the drug misoprostol ends up in the breast milk and can cause diarrhea to the baby.

Surgical abortion, on the other hand, allows breastfeeding to continue except for the period when the mother is undergoing surgery.

Abortion pills have certainly made terminating pregnancies simpler, safer and more effective than in the past but a nursing mother has to stop breastfeeding for a few days if she has chosen to take the abortion pill for the sake of her baby’s health.

It is extremely difficult to measure the levels of human growth hormone (HGH) in our body. However, since HGH is converted into growth factors, measuring the blood plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is the best way to measure HGH. People with IGF-1 levels higher than 350 IU have normal levels of HGH and anyone with IGF-1 lower than 350 IU has HGH deficiency.

It was observed that a small percentage of males ages between twenty and forty have an IGF-1 count lower than 350 IU. Since HGH levels decline with age, males over the age of sixty are either partially or wholly deficient of IGF-1. At age 30, HGH decline levels decline dramatically and its level continues to fall so that at age 70, people would be deficient of HGH and thus vicissitudes of old age results.

In adults, age decline in HGH levels is associated with the development of age-related diseases. Studies show that HGH-deficient adults have higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. Treatment of HGH deficiency is important not only to delay aging but also for the health benefits. Dr. Mario McNally, endocrinologist, suggested five areas to look at when diagnosing low HGH levels in adults. Low scores in body composition, bone mineral density, exercise capacity, lipid profile and quality of life factors strongly indicate HGH deficiency. Read the rest of this entry…