GynoFiles

Many women with uterine fibroids complain of fatigue. Uterine fibroids cannot affect your hormones, and they might be causing pain and pressure symptoms that can wear you down , but it's really the anemia that causes fatigue. Anemia is a common consequence of uterine fibroids and irregular bleeding because of these fibroids. Regardless of symptoms people with anemia should be treated. So those with heavy periods should have a blood count to see if they are anemic or not. In many women correction of the bleeding, or treatment of uterine fibroids corrects the associated anemia. Particularly if the anemia is modest and your diet is rich in foods that contain iron. In some women, their iron stores become so depleted that the anemia cannot correct easily. If you have various GI conditions or 'stomach issues' it may make oral iron tough to tolerate, and other treatments are possible. In women facing uterine fibroid surgery the correction of anemia should ideal...

Some women will actually experience fainting during their menstrual period 1. Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is a medical problem of fainting, it can be due to a number of factors both neurologic and cardiac and is also known as the 'common faint.' . To be diagnosed with the actual condition of VVS you have to have recurrent fainting, and it is mostly seen in young women of reproductive age but is also commonly seen in athletes. Stress and other physiologic triggers exist. 2. This is not a condition of painful periods , although it is possible that pain could cause fainting. Vasovagal syncope or VVS is a condition of fainting from other conditions. Some women only have, or have worsening, fainting or almost fainting: syncope and presyncope in medical jargon, around menstruation. 3. The medical cause is not fully understood. The condition is perplexing, it seems to be due to lack of enough blood getting to the brain. 4. Here's what to look for if it happens to you. F...

IUDs are an excellent choice for contraception. The long term effectiveness of IUDs is not in question, and their safety record is extremely good. The copper IUD is approved in the US for 10 years of use but it's efficacious for at least 12 years of use, and there are small studies that show that even after  20 years of keeping your copper IUD there is a very low risk of pregnancy! Getting the IUD has gotten easier too as a new study has showing that using a numbing shot aorund the cervix can make the IUD insertion both easier and more likely to be accomplished. One disadvantage of the copper non-medicated IUD is that menstrual bleeding does increase by up to  50% in some women. Normal blood loss is up to 80 cc per month, if you have a light period normally, for instance 40 cc of blood loss, increasing by 50% would mean you will have 60 cc periods. but if your period is normally 80 cc you might bleed 120 cc which in most women with a good diet and perhaps some extra iron wi...

Sometimes you just want to read in bed, or cuddle, or perhaps get an early night of sleep, but your legs are twitching and you just can't. It may be due to a medical condition called restless leg syndrome (nocturnal myoclonus). Restless leg syndrome is characterized by uncomfortable sensations in the lower legs that persist unless the legs are moved. The symptoms can include numbness or actual cramping. These sensations usually occur shortly after going to bed but may also occur during the daytime. The urge to move the legs can last for an hour or longer, and prolongs the time it takes to fall asleep. Severe cases may cause interruptions in sleep throughout the night. Restless leg syndrome most often occurs in middle-aged and older adults, but there is no specific association with menopause. The cause of the disorder is unknown, but it is a contributing factor in menopausal sleep disturbance for many women. The problem seems to be exacerbated by many factors including low ir...

Anemia is a condition in which you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to your tissues. Having anemia can make you feel exhausted or it can just accompany other serious illness. I read a figure that 2.5 billion people globally are anemic. The World Health Organization estimates that 42% of women in the non-industrial countries are anemic and about 20% of women in industrialized countries are anemic. Anemia can cause low blood pressure. Most anemia is caused by low iron and can be detected by a simple blood testing at your physicians office called a hemoglobin. Complete blood counts (CBC),, measurement of iron and ferritin, as well as some of the B vitamins and the rate you make new red blood cells are used for more in depth testing.Thre are other types of anemia. Often the anemia is caused by heavy menstrual bleeding, and that is the first thing your gyno will check for if you feel feint. Eating a health varied diet can help deter anemia, and a...

The Danish Cancer society the MERMAID 2 project has been looking in to a woman's risk of pre-cancer or cancer of the cervix based on whether they have high risk (HR) or low risk (LR)  HPV on a test. They also want to compare risks from women with normal pap vs women with negative HPV test. They found that negative HPV is a better predictor of having no cervical cancer in the next decade. Low risk HPV infection of the cervix has been shown to be associated with mild precancerous changes, but has never been shown to predict cancer or progression to carcinoma in situ or CIN III, the most advanced cervical pre-cancer. Thus the publications from the MERMAID 2 project and others have stopped endorsing testing for the low risk types of the HPV virus. Generally women getting a pap test have about a 1/100 risk for CIN III over the next decade. For women with Low Risk HPV there was only 1.7% risk vs 1.1%, over the 8 years of the study. So only about 1/2% difference in pick up of high grade ...

Are you a planner? Do you want to plan when you will have your next baby? Science and superstition can help you plan! Most of us think that we have sex for the holidays with a bit more abandon, so lots of babies born in the fall. But a new study says, maybe there is something else to the seasonal birthday phenomenon. Almost 6500 semen samples were collected in Israel to try to answer the question of seasonal birth patterns.In the animal world seasonal birthing is very common, so they reasoned it might be with humans too. I have always told patients that bursts of sex: 9 months after New Year's Eve, ( months after the New York City Blackout....translates into more babies born with identical birth dates. But in analyzing sperm counts by season, it turns out in the study by Eliahu Levitas and co-workers, men produce their best swimming sperm in the winter. And there was a low of fast swimming sperm in the summer, which improved by fall, and was best in the winter. So apparently the...

You can't be too rich, or too thin, or too low a blood pressure, right? Wrong, on several accounts, but anyway, the blood pressure. Can your blood pressure ever be too low? Yes. Women can be tired, light headed, dizzy, and faint from pressures that are chronically too low. And sometimes it's a simple fix. I read a figure that 2.5 billion people globally are anemic. The World Health Organization estimates that 42% of women in the non-industrial countries are anemic and about 20% of women in industrialized countries are anemic. Anemia can cause low blood pressure. Most anemia is caused by low iron and can be detected by a simple blood testing at your physicians office called a hemoglobin. Serum ferritin testing and complete blood counts (CBC) are used for more in depth testing. Often the anemia is caused by heavy menstrual bleeding, and that is the first thing your gyno will check for if you feel feint. 

Uterine fibroids, uterine polyps, and hormonal imbalance get so much talk on gyno blog, if we have a heavy menstrual period we assume it's one of those conditions. And it would be smart for your gyno to rule out that cause. But there are other, less common, and more hidden causes of bleeding. Could it be a deficiency of Factor VIII needed for clotting? Von Willebrand factor which carries Factor VIII can be low. When this factor is low, it leads to Factor VIII to be low which can cause bleeding. It check for on a blood test about 1 percent of women will have this. Bleeding Bleeding Bleeding on your Period? Yes, VWF deficiency can be a cause, but not commonly. Actually having this be a cause of your bleeding is less common, approximately 0.01 percent, but when other causes cannot be found, it's something to look for!