Dynamic Solutions For Women

It’s that time of year again – the clocks go back, the heating comes on, it’s impossible to dry your laundry without using the tumble drier … and it’s flu season once more.
And for the second year in a row, pregnant women are being urged to get vaccinated against swine flu because of the risk the disease poses to foetuses and newborns.
Whilst it may go against every instinct you possess (which may be to avoid anything unnatural and unknown entering your bloodstream whilst pregnant, knowing that whatever you ingest or are jabbed with also goes to your baby), you are at five times a greater risk of having a stillbirth if you contract swine flu for which you require hospital treatment; newborns are also four times more likely to die within 28 days of birth if their mothers contracted the virus during pregnancy.
Doctors are using this data to highlight how important it is that pregnant women get the seasonal flu vaccine (which also vaccinates against swine flu). Other ‘high risk’ groups are also advised to get the jab – the elderly, the very young, those with respiratory diseases like asthma.
H1N1 (swine flu) is predicted to be one of the main flu strains that will dominate the flu season of 2011/2012.

Research by the Imperial College London has found, after studying the womb linings of over 100 women who were struggling to fall pregnant or who were suffering from recurrent miscarriages, that there may be an enzyme that increases fertility and miscarriage.
They refer to this enzyme as a ‘fertility switch’ – because it seems to ‘switch’ on fertility if high levels exist, and ‘switch’ off fertility (and therefore leads to miscarriage) if there are low levels of the enzyme present.
They say that this could explain otherwise ‘unexplained’ infertility in women – such women may have not enough levels of enzyme SGK1. Women with ‘unexplained’ infertility (i.e. women who do not have any obvious or apparent reasons, like polycystic ovary syndrome, for failing to get pregnant) account for about one in six women who are trying to get pregnant. About one percent of all women who are trying to conceive experience repeated miscarriage.
Lead researcher Professor Jan Brosens, said that the research paved the way for further work into how to reduce unexplained infertility and miscarriage:”I can envisage that in the future, we might treat the womb lining by flushing it with drugs that block SGK1 before women undergo IVF. Another potential application is that increasing SGK1 levels might be used as a new method of contraception.”
Infertility is defined as failure to conceive over a two year period or longer. It is believed to affect somewhere between nine and fifteen percent of women worldwide, more than half of whom will see a doctor with a view to improving their chances of falling pregnant.
The women in the study were found to have high levels of SGK1 if they were struggling to fall pregnant, whilst those with low levels of SGK1 were the ones who were suffering from recurrent miscarriages.
The researchers did some more tests, this time involving mice, and found that the levels of SGK1 fall naturally during the ‘fertile window’ (i.e. during the period of time in which it is biologically possible to fall pregnant normally). The researchers concluded that this natural decline in the enzyme was vital to allow embryos to be received by the uterus and develop into foetuses. They said that treatment to enable conception (which might involve blocking SGK1) would have to be carefully balanced so that enough SGK1 was allowed in the womb to ensure that the pregnancy ‘took’.

Anaemia is a condition that occurs normally when a person has too little iron in their blood. The iron deficiency might be due to a loss of blood (e.g. because of internal or external bleeding, or from very heavy periods over a long time). If a person’s diet does not have enough iron in it to replace the iron lost during a heavy bleed, anaemia occurs. Pregnant women often suffer from anaemia and are advised to take supplements only under the guidance of their GP.
Taking iron supplements (or eating food rich in iron) may not be sufficient to boost your iron levels, though. To absorb the iron properly and make the best use of it in your body you also need Vitamin B12 and folic acid (older people have difficulty in absorbing Vitamin B12 from their diets and may need supplements). You should also avoid drinking tea as the tannin in the tea and the calcium in the milk prohibit the absorption of iron into the blood.
There are other, less common causes of anaemia – for instance, damage to the bone marrow by leukaemia or aplastic anaemia can cause a deficiency in iron, or sickle cell anaemia which is an hereditary condition.
A person can suffer from anaemia for months without suffering any symptoms, but when symptoms do appear they tend to include:
lethargy
weakness
dizziness/faintness
headaches
shortness of breath
palpitations
brittle nails
sore mouth
pale appearance

People tend to get most of their iron from their diets via red meat, and vegetarians in particular have to take care to ensure that they get iron from other sources. Fortified cereals usually contain iron, and supplements are widely available off the shelf.
Treatment depends on the cause. If it’s simply a lack of dietary iron, then adjusting the diet to include iron-rich foods will help. These include:
red meat, liver
leafy green vegetables
eggs
dried apricots
oily fish like sardines
fortified breakfast cereals
wholemeal bread
The other nutrients essential for iron-absorption can be found in:
meat, poultry, cheese, eggs, fish, milk fortified breakfast cereals (Vitamin B12)
broccoli, leafy green veg, pulses, wheatgerm, nuts (folic acid)
Supplements are also widely available.
Vitamin C helps you to absorb iron, so drink orange juice or eat oranges.

October is Breast Awareness month and as always attention is being drawn by professionals to the need for women to be breast-aware and know the symptoms that might signify breast cancer.
A poll of 1,000 women conducted by Breakthrough Breast Cancer found that fifty per cent were afraid of breast cancer but twenty per cent could not name any signs or symptoms that might indicate that they had the disease. Fifty-six per cent of the women surveyed do not check their breasts regularly: most simply forgot, some had never thought to do so, and some said they didn’t know what they were supposed to look for.
There is no right or wrong way to check your breasts: just make sure you feel them regularly (including under the armpits) so that you know what is normal for you. Breast tissue is naturally lumpy and bumpy and so you need to familiarise yourself with what is normal for you so that you would spot anything new.
As well as feeling for new lumps or bumps, you should also check for any change in size or shape of your breasts, and for any inversion (turning-in) of the nipple.
An ambassador for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and former sufferer Bernie Nolan, said, “People assume finding a lump is the only way to spot breast cancer, but there are other vital signs women should be aware of. I noticed my breasts had changed shape and immediately went to see my doctor. I cannot stress enough how important it is to get to know your breasts so you can easily notice any unusual changes. I really want all women to learn about Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s Touch Look Check message so they can be breast aware.”
Here are the signs you should look out for and that you should see your doctor about if you notice them:
any change in the size or shape of a breast;
dimpling of the skin on your breast;
a change in the shape of your nipple or if it turns inward when it doesn’t normally;
a lump;
discharge from the nipple, especially if it has blood in it;
a lump or swelling in your armpit;
a rash on the nipple or aereola.
These signs could indicate something harmless but need to be checked out because they can indicate cancer and the earlier you are seen the better your chances of full recovery.
There is another type of breast cancer that is relatively uncommon: inflammatory breast cancer has different symptoms – the whole breast can look swollen and red and be sore and/or hard. The skin can resemble orange peel. Another uncommon type is called Paget’s disease, the symptom of which is mainly a red, scaly rash that can be itchy – it can be confused for eczema.
Look out for all of these symptoms and examine yourself at least once a month. Choose the same time of your monthly cycle so that hormonal changes that may make your breasts change don’t make it harder for you to know what is normal.