GynoFiles

In the Netherlands about 25% of people bike to work, and yet in the US, we only have 3% of bikers to work. Like any other mode of physical activity: lower death rates, lower rates of obesity, more fitness and less reported fatigue! And more of us are biking for recreation and fitness, as with the trend for cycling classes and types of fitness cycling. But now and then biking to work in a day that you may not get in that cycling class has significant potential to up your calorie burn and improve your heart, your waist, and some studies say even your mind! For women, we have a couple of other considerations. And if you are starting to experience some sexual side effects that cannot be explained in other ways, you may need to speak to your gyno about your biking strategies, as we do know that we have to protect those genital tissues.  In real life: balance, clothing, protective lighting and sun screen are all special considerations on a day by day basis so that we can bike. And then ...

When Maya DiRado won the 400 IM at the Olympic Trials, the Stanford Swimmer didn't just turn heads because she was fast 9she was) or beautiful (she is), but she turned heads when the announcer calling her event revealed that at age 15 she had perfect math SAT!  In fact there are others we are watching at #SWIMTRIASLS16 as well: star freestyler Katie Ledecky also a Stanford recruit, and Katie Melli a breaststroker from Columbia, as well as countless others who have speed in the pool and speedy brain processing as well. Their secret weapon of brain power is their secret weapon of competitive speed as well. It's specifically how they train. Exercise has been proven to benefit our heart,our sex life, increase muscle power, shape our shape, and prevent all manner of diseases from hypertension to diabetes to PMS to depression and to Alzheimer's; but now there is medical proof that in fact steady exercise improves brain power.While we have always recommended for fitness that you ...

As a swim fan, the excitement building towards the swimming Olympic Trials gets me thinking about some of my favorite sports memories. And one came back to me as I was reminded about how important it is to engage our minds as well as our bodies if we want to be fit! Before Megan Quann ever won her gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games (now Jendrick) used to over and over visualize her 100 meter breaststroke race in her mind . Stroke for stroke, and in interviews she'd mention how her swims went. I could almost have to catch my breath and slow my speeding heart waiting for her to say the time she swam, visually! She would even mentally miss touches and turns if her visualization and stroke count was off. She was brilliant! Eventually science has shown, that the seemingly absurd statement of fake it 'til you make it really works. Our body is so responsive to our minds that visualization of yourself working out really works!  Detailed exercise studies show that brain signals contr...

Yes, pills are used for many healthy individuals to fight off risk, sort of like taking a vitamin. Generally speaking we think of most wellness care as eating better, exercising more, not smoking, and getting better sleep as part of  'therapeutic lifestyle changes.' But that's not enough power to fight off all the ravages of aging, genetics, and environmental damage, so perhaps turning to medication is what is going to be the most effective. The polypill is one good example of a pill for the healthy to prevent getting sick. It is directed at prevention of cardiovascular disease. And in the September 4th issue of JAMA 2013 it's back in the news, although almost two decades have passed in the efforts to get a polypill that will really work. The polypill was proposed over 10 years ago by Drs Wald and Law in a study in the British Medical Journal, when it was tested the medication included  three half dosage anti-hpertension agents, with other agents including a intermed...

Too much exercise can be disruptive to the menstrual cycles, but for overall calorie consumption, heart health, and confidence there is nothing better than a girl in sports. One study even showed that girls in sports have "more shapely hips" meaning better overall hip joints and pelvic bone health implying that sports when growing up helps us become better birthing moms! But girls do have special considerations when it comes to sports issues. These things are tracked by  U.S. high school sports-related injury data were collected for 20 sports using the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance System, High School RIO TM Girls will have more injuries when compared to boys in the same sport. Knee injuries are known to be more common in girls. Athletes have been shown to have more abnormal cycles. As a group athletes are more likely to skip occasional cycles or even go months without any menstrual cycle at all. It's due to the suppression of ovulation, so t...

The treatments that are supposed to treat depression have now been shown to not beat out not treating...more precisely, they aren't beating out placebo! In the new trial results from STAR*D  some antidepressant treatments didn't beat placebos. So what's going on? Could it be you aren't on the right medicine, what about needing dose adjustments, what about counseling, what about your hormone levels? Bottom line: you aren't your mom, your sister or your friend: simply put you are you and most likely you and your gyno have to make decisions that are very customized to your care. So check back with your gyno and check back often.

We hear a lot about overuse of antibiotic treatments that may cause eventual harm, even as they treat the original complaint. The FDA even had to weigh in on dog antibiotic overuse! And in a report issued in September 2013 we have discovered there are over 2 million infections each year in the USA that are resistant to antibiotics! The CDC is warning people regarding these infections and the consequences of overuse of antibiotic treatments.  Once we thought all fungal (yeast) infections were very susceptible to the treatments available and that testing for susceptibility (like the culture tests we do for UTIs to say whether the antibiotics should work) didn't have to be done. But we are finding more cases of resistance, an there is a known way to check for susceptibility. But these tests are difficult, they may not be available in every laboratory, and they are mostly used for extremely ill individuals with systemic infections. For the average chronic yeast sufferer, the best ad...

You should always plan your pregnancy, and there is a lot on line, such at the World Health Organization about how to conceive a healthy pregnancy, or at ACOG , or read about it at Mayoclinics online . And then when you are ready, most women are really ready to hurry up and conceive. Well if hot times in the summer make you more interested in sex, good news, you are more likely to conceive a healthy pregnancy in the summer! A study was made of the seasonal variation in all births, and births in Switzerland recorded between 1876 and 1990 at the Folkhalsan Institute of Genetics, Population Genetics Unit, Helsinki, Finland. Over the one hundred years studied some series of decades had more seasonal variations than others! They noted for instance that there was an increase seasonal variation for births was noted for the period 1876-1930, with strong seasonal variation holding for 1921-1980, then less seasonal variation after that!. Twin births showed a strong seasonality for the perio...

Basil HPV exposure is almost universal, but even without vaccination, not everyone exposed tests positive and not everyone who tests positive will go on to develop abnormal pap smears or cancers. Other factors will determine whether you will test positive for HPV, and the list is mounting as to what these factors are. Smoking, menopause, poor immunity, frequent exposure to the HPV virus are just a few of the factors that have been associated with a positive HPV test.  Birth control pills have effects on the cervix and the uterus, and these effects have been well studied and discussed in many forums, they cause an enlargement of the sensitive t-zone area of the cervix that might make picking up an HPV infection easier. One group that has been particularly active in this research has been the International Agency for Reseach on Cancer . This group feels that taking birth control will increase your risk for cervical cancer by about double. But whether this directly is mediated ...

When women have very large fibroids they can cause many symptoms and need surgical removal. There are some cases that can now be done less invasive than performing open surgery, but open surgery is sometimes necessary.

Judging how heavy your periods are is difficult. And filling out forms can be one of the most challenging parts of the doctors visit. At the gyno office one of the first questions is, "are your periods normal?" and you need to judge that. So that requires you to know your normal, and a bit about others normal as well. Timing is important, just keeping the "menstrual calendar" is helpful, and yes, many cycles are 28 days. We've discussed the range of normal in a few posts. Judging the amount of bleeding is a different issue. Pad tests, used mostly in research, are very helpful, but it's a bit awkward. And when you are young or have other medical issues Pad Testing is difficult to accomplish. Pad testing means weighing for menstrual blood, and by the way we also say pad tests when you are older means weighing for pee. For accuracy, and knowing whether you've really passed clots or whether you soaked through the  pads, or just change your pad a lot, it...

The morning news was buzzing with a cure for Diabetes in Pregnancy, Infections in Pregnancy, and Preterm Laber (well, not a cure, but half the rate of complications). Women took 4,000 IU of the vitamin daily in their second and third trimesters showed no evidence of harm, but they had half the rate of pregnancy-related complications as women who took 400 IU of vitamin D every day, says neonatologist and study co-researcher Carol L. Wagner, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina. It's normal recommendations of Vitamin D levels have hovered between 200 and 400 IU for many years.Dr. Ruth Lawrence of the Dept of Peds fro the University of Rochester, and popular Breastfeeding guru, mentioned it could possibly be a cure for Toxemia. I'm raising my eyebrow now as I do hail from the state that brought us thenow infamous publication from researchers Dr.Silvio Aladjem and Dr. Judith Lueck who proclaimed in 1983 that the syndrome of Toxemia in pregnancy was associated with ...

What makes an athlete be ideal for or select a sport? Michael Jordan's sons shot hoop, but Mark Spitz prowess in the pool only figuratively fathered Phelps, his kids never became swimmers. Genetics of course a good indication of body type, but what other factors go into your ability to have a potential career in a particular sport? In Baltimore at the American College of Sports Medicine 57th Annual Meeting suggest that a comprehensive analysis of female bio-mechanics during early pubertal growth spurts can predict which athletes are most likely to experience anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears in the future. The news report went on to say " finding is important because it might allow for early intervention in high-risk athletes to prevent ACL injuries.""Before puberty, the incidence of ACL tears is equal in boys and girls. However, beginning at age 12, The ACL is one of those ligaments in the knee joint highly strained by lateral movement. If...