Archive for the 'HEALTH ISSUES' Category

Pre-pregnancy physical activity may not influence whether or not a woman will have persistent low back or pelvic pain after pregnancy, suggest researchers from Sweden.

However, about half of the women with persistent lower back or pelvic pain 6 months after delivery reported similar levels of leisure-time physical activity as did women without post-pregnancy back pain, reports author Dr. Ingrid M. Mogren of Umea University.

Mogren collected data at 6 months postpartum from 464 women who had reported recurrent or continuous lumbar spine or pelvis pain for more than 1 week during pregnancy.

Overall, 82 percent of these women said they participated in some form of physical activity before pregnancy, according to the report in BMC Public Health, a journal published by BioMed Central.

As noted, Mogren found no significant differences among these women in current leisure-time physical activity. About 43, 53, and 45 percent with recurrent, continuous, and no pain, respectively, reported current physical activity.

On average, the women began post-partum physical activity 2.6 months after childbirth and reported being physically active 3.4 times per week.

Obesity did appear to affect current physical activity. Mogren found a higher proportion of non-obese women (body mass index of less than 30) versus obese women (30 or greater) reported current physical activity.

Does it seem like everything going wrong during your pregnancy?

Most women think that something is going wrong with various changes that take place in their body and suffer with tension headaches during their precious pregnancy period.

However, it is purely your imagination and it is only because of pregnancy hormones effect on your mind.

So, if you are really worried about tension headaches, find effective ways to get rid of tension headaches during pregnancy.

1. Apply cold compress on your face, eyes and also at the back of your neck to get better relief from headaches. This is one of the best ways to get rid of tension headaches during pregnancy.
2. Surround yourself with beautiful things so that you can avoid negative thoughts and as a result you can avoid tension headaches successfully.
3. Go for a walk to visit beautiful places like beautiful gardens, where you can enjoy the awe of flowers, butterflies, kids playing etc. This way you can stay away from thinking negative.
4. You can also apply eucalyptus oil on your forehead, whenever you feel extreme discomfort with tension headaches.

Morning sickness is the nauseous feeling every woman experiences during her first trimester.

It usually makes it very difficult to get enough vitamins to your body, but eating the right foods can help quell it.

To help you out, here are a few options that don’t always taste good but can certainly provide essential vitamins and make you feel fuller.

1. Raw vegetables and salads: Eat lots of salads, prepared properly with raw vegetables, either as side courses or main meals. Or add raw vegetables to sandwiches regularly.
2. Suckers: Not a healthy food to eat during pregnancy, but it can help you overcome very bad morning sickness.
3. Peanuts or peanut butter: Peanuts or peanut butter are high in protein and are a great, healthy way to ward off morning sickness.
4. Egg bagels: Toast them or just warm them up with a little melted butter in the microwave oven. Egg bagels are the only food you can eat consistently while you are pregnant.

If you don’t feel satisfied with these foods, talk to your healthcare provider about supplements or treatments that may help you overcome morning sickness.

Did you notice that you put on weight in your first trimester of pregnancy? Gaining right amount of weight is good sign of healthy baby development.

It is entirely inevitable to gain weight during pregnancy, whether you like it or not.

However, it can be concern for you if you weigh more than required.

How much weight gain is appreciable during pregnancy?

Weight gain during pregnancy should be gradual and most of those extra body pounds should be added in your last trimester.

According to many health experts, in your first 3 months of pregnancy period, you can gain about 2 to 4 pounds and in the following months of your pregnancy, you should gain 3 to 4 pounds every month.

However, weight gain during pregnancy also depends up on your height and weight before pregnancy or BMI (Body mass index), before you confirm with pregnancy.

If you are underweight before conception, you should gain approximately 28 to 40 pounds during your pregnancy. On the other hand, if you are overweight or obese before conception, you should restrict your weight gain up to 15 to 25 pounds.

Most of the pregnant women experience heartburn at some point or other during their entire pregnancy period.

Heartburn during pregnancy takes place due to number of reasons like increased levels of body hormones, poor diet and many more.

However, it is quite possible to avoid it during pregnancy. Just follow these simple tips.

1. Avoid foods that trigger heartburn. These foods include citrus fruits, tomatoes, mint products, spicy foods, fatty and fried foods and also chocolate.
2. Don’t rush to complete your meals faster. Chew thoroughly and take your own time to eat food.
3. Smaller and frequent meals are highly recommended during pregnancy. It can help your stomach to feel full and also prevents heartburn.
4. Drink a glass of milk after having meals because calcium has amazing soothing properties and potentially prevent heartburn after eating meals, particularly at nights.
5. Alcohol should be completely avoided at all costs, as it is very harmful for you and also for your unborn baby as well. It also leads to heartburn and potentially puts at various health risks.
6. Avoid tightly fitted clothes and prefer loose clothes.

Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who gain more than the Institute of Medicine-recommended amount of weight are at increased risk for undesirable outcomes, including preterm delivery and cesarean delivery, research shows.

These women are also more likely to require medical therapy to control their diabetes.

A “paucity” of information exists about the association between pregnancy weight gain and outcome in women with GDM, diabetes that develops during pregnancy and resolves after delivery, the study team notes in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

To investigate, Dr. Yvonne W. Cheng, from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues performed a study in which they reviewed the medical records of 31,074 women with GDM and single pregnancies.

The women were enrolled in the Sweet Success California Diabetes and Pregnancy Program, which provides comprehensive educational, nutritional, psychosocial, and medical services offered by a multidisciplinary team.

One third of the women had weight gain below the IOM guidelines, based on their prepregnancy weight; one third gained weight within the guidelines, and the remaining third gained weight above the guidelines.

According to Cheng and colleagues, the women who exceeded the recommended weight gain, were more likely to have a primary cesarean delivery compared with the women in the other two groups.

As far as pimples are concerned, there are many reasons to get pimples during pregnancy.

At times, pregnancy brings on acne or even it makes worse if you already have. These particular changes in your skin conditions are mainly due to higher levels of androgens in your body.

Androgens prompt the sebaceous glands in your skin to get bigger and improve the production of excess sebum in your skin.

As a result, you can get pimples and even acne during pregnancy. Here are few steps that you can take to control pimples during pregnancy.

1. Get enough sleep: When you are pregnant, plenty of rest is very essential to keep yourself fit and healthy. It also helps to keep skin healthy and look refreshed.
2. Use mild soap or cleanser: Gently wash your skin with mild cleanser or soap twice in a day. Don’t scrub your face with wash cloth; rather use your hands to wash gently.
3. Drink lots of water: Keeping your body hydrated is very essential, particularly when you are pregnant. So, drink lots of healthy fluids particularly water to get rid of pimples during pregnancy.

Heavy babies have more birth complications; they are also more likely to become overweight or obese children and adults.

A study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research of more than 40,000 women and their babies found that women who gained more than 40 pounds during their pregnancies were nearly twice as likely to have a heavy baby.

The study found that more than one in five women gains excessive weight during pregnancy, doubling her chances of having a baby that weighs 9 pounds or more.

“Too many women gain too much weight during pregnancy. This extra weight puts them at higher risk for having heavy babies, and these babies are programmed to become overweight or obese later in life,” said study lead author Teresa Hillier, MD, MS, an endocrinologist and senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Oregon and Hawaii.

“A big baby also poses serious risks for both mom and baby at birth–for mothers, vaginal tearing, bleeding, and often C-sections, and for the babies, stuck shoulders and broken collar bones. ”

Continuous glucose monitoring as part of antenatal care for women with diabetes improves maternal blood glucose control and lowers birth weight and risk of macrosomia* (excessive birth weight in babies), according to a study.

During pregnancy it is important that women with diabetes keep their blood glucose under control.

If not, there may be an increase in the amount of glucose reaching the baby, which makes the baby grow faster than normal, and may cause difficulties at birth as well as an increased longer term risk of insulin resistance, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Evidence suggests that measuring glucose more often improves outcomes, but the optimum frequency of blood glucose testing is not known.

Dr Helen Murphy and colleagues examined whether continuous glucose monitoring during pregnancy can improve maternal glucose control and reduce birth weight and risk of macrosomia in babies of mothers with diabetes.

They recruited 71 pregnant women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes from antenatal clinics in the UK.

The women were randomly assigned to standard antenatal care (intermittent self monitoring of glucose levels using the finger prick technique) or intermittent monitoring plus continuous glucose monitoring (using glucose values from subcutaneous tissues measured electronically every 10 seconds, giving up to 288 measurements a day).

Are you experiencing the condition of swollen ankles and feet? Usually, this condition is known as edema during pregnancy. This happens when the excess fluids collect in your tissues.

Having certain amount of swelling during pregnancy is normal as you retain more water at this time.

Also, some changes in your blood chemistry can lead to shift of the fluid into the tissues.

Also, the pressure of the growing uterus on your pelvic veins and vena cava can slow the return of blood from your legs, thus leading it to pool.

This causes the fluid from the veins to enter into the tissues of your feet and ankles.

When does edema occur in your pregnancy?

You will experience swelling at any point of pregnancy. But, the condition is noticeable around the fifth month and it can become severe during the third trimester.

Particularly, during the end of the day you will experience more swelling in your ankles and feet. The factors that trigger edema during pregnancy include:

• Diet lack of potassium
• Diet rich in sodium
• Caffeine consumption in large amounts
• Long days of activity
• Standing for longer periods