Protect Our Babies, 98,000 Birth Defects

About 3% of babies born have a birth defect, by teen years, an additional 10 to 15% of birth defects are actually discovered! So these problems are both common, and difficult to understand. An important part of protecting the developing fetus is the prevention of these birth defects, and trying to understand what the medical community can do to prevent these defects has spun off into many avenues of scientific research. One thing that we always want to know when a baby has been diagnosed with a birth defect is whether this was a random occurrence, or whether the birth defect represents a part of a condition or syndrome that may occur again. EUROCAT study watches over 3 million births, and looks at 98,000 birth defects (congenital Anomalies) in 14 European countries over the decade that spanned 1995 to 2005. And mostly they are seeing and following defects that either have never been previously been reported or have been seen somewhere by physicians, but are extremely rare. These databases are extremely valuable and they show that there are not too many actual syndromes that occur, but tracking them accurately is the first step to a cure. In the US we have the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Their numbers as of 2012 indicate that one in every 33 babies is born with a birth defect. There are a few things studies like this have revealed is that about 10% of these conditions are caused by teratogens: or substances (could be a medicine, a herb or a poison like pesticide or preservatives) that cause the defect. Weeks 2 to 8 in fetal life is the embryonic period of time and we call the fetal period from 9 weeks until full term. Before implantation, large numbers of cells that are destroyed cause miscarriages, not birth defects. Once the embryo implants, that embryonic period: those most sensitive 6 weeks is when most of the structural defects occur. So very early in the pregnancy women have to be aware of all their exposures and discuss this with your gynos. Even commonly taken pain medicines like ibuprofen and aspirin are associated with a small risk of birth defects. Also environmental pregnancy risks are highlighted in in 2013 series of articles. At Women's Health Practice we also say that prepregnancy consultation is when to discuss these issues to try to minimize potential effects. For women who have a specific medication or chemical they want to check about here are some additional sources on the internet (the last two are by subscription):
www.perinatology.com/exposures/druglist.htm

http://www.otispregnancy.org/

www.motherisk.org/women/drugs.jsp

http://depts.washington.edu/terisweb/teris/

www.reprotox.org/

Passing Your Uterine Lining, Menstrual Period Norms

Decidual Cast Periods can be fairly easy, passing some tissue at a time, or off can come the whole lining in one piece called a decidual cast. Generally the lining of the uterus is only 6-8 mm thick at the time of the menstrual period, and it is shed gradually, a few cells at a time. The decidual cast is when the entire lining passes spontaneously. It's not uncommon, but it usually both uncomfortable, and alarming to some. But us women are designed to have some sort of periods Or Not? We have to pass tissue each month. Or Not? Are they good for us? Or Not? Do we want them? Or Not? Is this something that is individual? Or Not? It's a complex topic that I will be discussing a lot over my time in this blog. So lets start with basics: How much do we bleed and what are we loosing, and just what was this that the patient passed? And another basic: track your periods, and the Women's Health Practice site http://www.womenshealthpractice.com/media/pdf/menstrual_chart.pdf you...

Post-Endometrial Ablation Syndrome

If you have had an endometrial ablation and have developed symptoms of pelvic pain you might have post endometrial ablation syndrome. What is post-endometrial ablation syndrome? It is a constellation of symptoms due to entrapped blood or tissue within a uterus that has previously undergone an endometrial ablation. We are able to diagnose this at Women's Health Practic e but occasionally other conditions are causing similar symptoms. Other complications of endometrial ablation include pregnancy, risks from pre-existing conditions such as a polyp or fibroid, an infection of the uterus, or a pregnancy. If you have had a tubal ligation then it is possible that the condition could be post-ablation tubal sterilization syndrome. The ablation procedure is designed to destroy all lining tissue, but in fact there is no way to confirm the completeness of the ablation. It is thought that either residual or regrowth of the tissue is producing the symptoms of post-endometrial ablation syndrom...

You Have an IUD: But a Positive Pregnancy Test

Fortunately IUD pregnancy failures are rare. But if you have an IUD for contraception, and you get a positive pregnancy test, you probably ask yourself, what next? Well, make your gyno appointment promptly, this is a condition that is not typically an emergency, but it can be and it’s not handled over the phone or on a blog, or through self diagnosis! That being said, some researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas decided to look back at over 4100 women who had IUDs and of those 42 cases who became pregnant in their institution, over about a year period of time, to help understand what these women could expect when they got to their gyno and what actually happened to their pregnancies. Accurate pregnancy diagnosis, pelvic examination, and pelvic ultrasound were the cornerstones of the evaluations. They had very specific ways they looked at their ultrasound to prove there was no pregnancy in the fallopian tube, or partially in the fallopian tube...

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