Consulting your doctor is very important if you suffer from epilepsy and want to get pregnant. The medications you take for your epilepsy may cause complications and may be harmful for your unborn baby. So, it is very wise and essential that you consult your neurologist or family physician before you try to get pregnant.
Most of the time, women with epilepsy are able to have healthy babies. However, they are at greater risk than non-epileptic women to have more complications during their pregnancies and labor. During pregnancy, some epileptic women even with their continued use of epilepsy drugs may suffer from an increase in seizure activity while other women may not suffer any seizures at all. The reason for this may be because during pregnancy, a woman may experience a lot of vomiting which may cause low concentration of anti-epileptic medication in her bloodstream. Therefore, it is very important to seek your doctor's advice because any increase in seizure activity would be very harmful for the baby. People with epilepsy are also most likely to fall and suffer from lack of oxygen during seizures. So, having a seizure during pregnancy could be very dangerous.
Women with epilepsy also have increased chances of giving birth to a baby with defects. These defects are caused by the anti-epileptic medications and may cause deformities in the face, limbs and fingers and toes. Your baby may also be born with ventricular septal defects and neural tube defects. So, consult your doctor about the abnormalities before you get pregnant. Your doctor may recommend you to take ultrasound and an amniocentesis test, which identify birth defects.
Finally, before you get pregnant, you doctor may also recommend that you take a dose of Folic acid every day to help minimize abnormalities in your unborn baby. He or she may also advise you to take Vitamin K to guard hemorrhage in the newborn baby. So, before you get pregnant, set up an appointment with you physician and discuss with him the possibilities and complications of having seizures during pregnancy. Also, speak to him or her about your medication about adjusting your drug dose or changing your drug dose. However, always keep in mind that you never to change your drug dose without consulting your doctor.
Source: womens-health.co.uk
Epilepsy during pregnancy
Premature Births Mean Less Fertile Individuals
Premature babies are considered those born before 37 weeks. Even if there are a lot of studies showing the short term effect on the health of the babies of the premature births, a new research investigating about 1.2 million births in Norway pointed the effect of a premature birth in the health of the adults. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that premature babies have an increased risk of dying as children and to reproduce as adults. The academic results of the premature born people were lower, too.
Boys have a risk of premature birth 60% higher, which is accompanied in short term by potentially lethal conditions, like the respiratory distress syndrome. The American-Norwegian team monitored 60,354 premature births. In the case of babies born very early, at 22 to 27 weeks, mortality levels were, by the age of six, 5 times higher in boys and 10 times higher in girls. By the age of 13, the boys of this category had a mortality level 7 times higher than their full-term counterparts, while the girls were not impacted by the premature birth.
In the case of those born between 28 and 32 weeks, boys had a 2.5 higher likelihood of dying compared to their full-term counterparts, while mortality rate was not affected in the case of premature girls. The overall death level for all premature born children was relatively low, around 1%.
But the prematurely born individuals had lower chances of finishing secondary school and to have their own children. 14% of premature-born men and 25% of premature born women had their own natural children, compared to 50% of the full term born men and 68% of the full term born women.
The cause of premature birth are not clearly known, but poor diet and lifestyle are involved. Moreover, individuals analyzed in this research were born as far back as 1967, when intensive care units for premature babies were not common.
Still "premature birth is a bigger problem than people think. These findings support the argument for further research to be done into finding the causes of premature birth, so that more babies can be given the best chance of being born healthy," Jane Brewin, the head of the UK leading baby charities, Tommy's, told BBC News.
Source: news.softpedia.com
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) - Treatment and Prevention
Treatment
UTIs are treated with antibacterial drugs. The choice of drug and length of treatment depend on the patient's history and the urine tests that identify the offending bacteria. The sensitivity test is especially useful in helping the doctor select the most effective drug. The drugs most often used to treat routine, uncomplicated UTIs are trimethoprim (Trimpex), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Septra, Cotrim), amoxicillin (Amoxil, Trimox, Wymox), nitrofurantoin (Macrodantin, Furadantin), and ampicillin (Omnipen, Polycillin, Principen, Totacillin). A class of drugs called quinolones includes four drugs approved in recent years for treating UTI. These drugs include ofloxacin (Floxin), norfloxacin (Noroxin), ciprofloxacin (Cipro), and trovafloxin (Trovan).
Often, a UTI can be cured with 1 or 2 days of treatment if the infection is not complicated by an obstruction or other disorder. Still, many doctors ask their patients to take antibiotics for a week or two to ensure that the infection has been cured. Single-dose treatment is not recommended for some groups of patients, for example, those who have delayed treatment or have signs of a kidney infection, patients with diabetes or structural abnormalities, or men who have prostate infections. Longer treatment is also needed by patients with infections caused by Mycoplasma or Chlamydia, which are usually treated with tetracycline, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMZ), or doxycycline. A followup urinalysis helps to confirm that the urinary tract is infection-free. It is important to take the full course of treatment because symptoms may disappear before the infection is fully cleared.
Severely ill patients with kidney infections may be hospitalized until they can take fluids and needed drugs on their own. Kidney infections generally require several weeks of antibiotic treatment. Researchers at the University of Washington found that 2-week therapy with TMP/SMZ was as effective as 6 weeks of treatment with the same drug in women with kidney infections that did not involve an obstruction or nervous system disorder. In such cases, kidney infections rarely lead to kidney damage or kidney failure unless they go untreated.
Various drugs are available to relieve the pain of a UTI. A heating pad may also help. Most doctors suggest that drinking plenty of water helps cleanse the urinary tract of bacteria. During treatment, it is best to avoid coffee, alcohol, and spicy foods. And one of the best things a smoker can do for his or her bladder is to quit smoking. Smoking is the major known cause of bladder cancer.
Recurrent Infections in Women
Women who have had three UTIs are likely to continue having them. Four out of five such women get another within 18 months of the last UTI. Many women have them even more often. A woman who has frequent recurrences (three or more a year) can ask her doctor about one of the following treatment options:
* Take low doses of an antibiotic such as TMP/SMZ or nitrofurantoin daily for 6 months or longer. If taken at bedtime, the drug remains in the bladder longer and may be more effective. NIH-supported research at the University of Washington has shown this therapy to be effective without causing serious side effects.
* Take a single dose of an antibiotic after sexual intercourse.
* Take a short course (1 or 2 days) of antibiotics when symptoms appear.
Dipsticks that change color when an infection is present are now available without a prescription. The strips detect nitrite, which is formed when bacteria change nitrate in the urine to nitrite. The test can detect about 90 percent of UTIs when used with the first morning urine specimen and may be useful for women who have recurrent infections.
Doctors suggest some additional steps that a woman can take on her own to avoid an infection:
* Drink plenty of water every day.
* Urinate when you feel the need; don't resist the urge to urinate.
* Wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria around the anus from entering the vagina or urethra.
* Take showers instead of tub baths.
* Cleanse the genital area before sexual intercourse.
* Avoid using feminine hygiene sprays and scented douches, which may irritate the urethra.
* Some doctors suggest drinking cranberry juice.
Infections in Pregnancy
A pregnant woman who develops a UTI should be treated promptly to avoid premature delivery of her baby and other risks such as high blood pressure. Some antibiotics are not safe to take during pregnancy. In selecting the best treatments, doctors consider various factors such as the drug's effectiveness, the stage of pregnancy, the mother's health, and potential effects on the fetus.
Complicated Infections
Curing infections that stem from a urinary obstruction or other systemic disorders depends on finding and correcting the underlying problem, sometimes with surgery. If the root cause goes untreated, this group of patients is at risk of kidney damage. Also, such infections tend to arise from a wider range of bacteria, and sometimes from more than one type of bacteria at a time.
Infections in Men
UTIs in men are often a result of an obstruction—for example, a urinary stone or enlarged prostate—or from a medical procedure involving a catheter. The first step is to identify the infecting organism and the drugs to which it is sensitive. Usually, doctors recommend lengthier therapy in men than in women, in part to prevent infections of the prostate gland.
Prostate infections (chronic bacterial prostatitis) are harder to cure because antibiotics are unable to penetrate infected prostate tissue effectively. For this reason, men with prostatitis often need long-term treatment with a carefully selected antibiotic. UTIs in older men are frequently associated with acute bacterial prostatitis, which can have serious consequences if not treated urgently.
Prevention
The following measures can reduce the risk for bladder infections and other UTIs:
* Avoid products that may irritate the urethra (e.g., bubble bath, scented feminine products).
* Cleanse the genital area before sexual intercourse.
* Change soiled diapers in infants and toddlers promptly.
* Drink plenty of water to remove bacteria from the urinary tract.
* Do not routinely resist the urge to urinate.
* Take showers instead of baths.
* Urinate after sexual intercourse.
* Women and girls should wipe from front to back after voiding to prevent contaminating the urethra with bacteria from the anal area.
Vaccine to Prevent
In the future, scientists may develop a vaccine that can prevent UTIs from coming back. Researchers in different studies have found that children and women who tend to get UTIs repeatedly are likely to lack proteins called immunoglobulins, which fight infection. Children and women who do not get UTIs are more likely to have normal levels of immunoglobulins in their genital and urinary tracts.
Early tests indicate that a vaccine helps patients build up their own natural infection-fighting powers. The dead bacteria in the vaccine do not spread like an infection; instead, they prompt the body to produce antibodies that can later fight against live organisms. Researchers are testing injected and oral vaccines to see which works best. Another method being considered for women is to apply the vaccine directly as a suppository in the vagina.
From Many Source
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) - Who is at risk?
Some people are more prone to getting a UTI than others. Any abnormality of the urinary tract that obstructs the flow of urine (a kidney stone, for example) sets the stage for an infection. An enlarged prostate gland also can slow the flow of urine, thus raising the risk of infection.
A common source of infection is catheters, or tubes, placed in the urethra and bladder. A person who cannot void or who is unconscious or critically ill often needs a catheter that stays in place for a long time. Some people, especially the elderly or those with nervous system disorders who lose bladder control, may need a catheter for life. Bacteria on the catheter can infect the bladder, so hospital staff take special care to keep the catheter clean and remove it as soon as possible.
People with diabetes have a higher risk of a UTI because of changes in the immune system. Any other disorder that suppresses the immune system raises the risk of a urinary infection.
UTIs may occur in infants, both boys and girls, who are born with abnormalities of the urinary tract, which sometimes need to be corrected with surgery. UTIs are more rare in boys and young men. In adult women, though, the rate of UTIs gradually increases with age. Scientists are not sure why women have more urinary infections than men. One factor may be that a woman's urethra is short, allowing bacteria quick access to the bladder. Also, a woman's urethral opening is near sources of bacteria from the anus and vagina. For many women, sexual intercourse seems to trigger an infection, although the reasons for this linkage are unclear.
According to several studies, women who use a diaphragm are more likely to develop a UTI than women who use other forms of birth control. Recently, researchers found that women whose partners use a condom with spermicidal foam also tend to have growth of E. coli bacteria in the vagina.
From Many Source
Myths about pregnancy
Pregnancy myths may vary from generation to generation and from region to region. Myths your grandmother in Texas claims are true might be different from what your uncle in Alaska believes. Here are a few of the most common pregnancy myths:
Myth: Standing on your head after sex can increase your chances of becoming pregnant.
Truth: Although some experts say that lying down after sex for 20 to 30 minutes can boost your chances of conception because it keeps the sperm inside you, standing on your head has not been proven to aid in conception (and you might hurt your neck while trying to do it!).
Myth: The shape and height of your belly can indicate your baby's sex.
Truth: The popular belief that women carrying boys carry low and that women carrying girls carry high just isn't true. The shape and height of your belly is determined by your muscle tone, uterine tone, and the position the baby is in. That's why someone may think you're having a boy because you're carrying low, when actually the baby just dropped lower into the pelvis because you're closer to delivery. So, what's the most accurate way to determine your baby's sex? Talk to your doctor about getting an ultrasound.
Myth: Fetal heart rate can indicate your baby's sex.
Truth: A normal fetal heart rate is between 110 and 160 beats per minute (bpm), although some people think if it's faster (usually above the 140 bpm range) it's a girl and if it's slower it's a boy. But there have been no studies that conclusively show that heart rate is a predictor for a baby's gender. Your baby's heart rate will probably differ from prenatal visit to prenatal visit anyway - depending on the age of the fetus and activity level at the time of the visit.
Myth: The shape and fullness of your face during pregnancy can indicate your baby's sex.
Truth: Every woman gains weight differently during pregnancy, and every woman experiences different skin changes. If people tell you that because your face is round and rosy you're having a girl, they might be right - but it's just as likely that they're wrong!
Myth: If you experience heartburn during pregnancy, your baby will be born with lots of hair.
Truth: Because it's extremely common throughout pregnancy, heartburn isn't an accurate predictor of whether your baby will be born with lots of hair.
Seeking the Truth
As you go through your pregnancy, it can be fun to collect and record various people's tales. However, for medical advice pertaining to pregnancy, you should always consult your doctor first.
And keep in mind that every woman's pregnancy is different, which means that your doctor can provide you with information tailored toward your personal medical situation. That's information that friends, family, and strangers at the mall won't have when they tell you their pregnancy predictions.
So, enjoy the stories - but talk to your doctor before you do anything that could affect the health or well-being of you or your baby.
From: kidshealth.org
