St. Louis: PCOS - Inositol and Fertility

St. Louis,

An inexpensive B vitamin can help a woman get pregnant.

Women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a leading cause of infertility, may ovulate more often if they take the B vitamin inositol. Two research groups in Italy, both led by Enrico Papaleo, have done excellent studies with the dietary supplement myo-inositol and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), showing significant benefit. This is great news for women who suffer from this disorder as it gives them an alternative to the diabetes drugs that American doctors typically prescribe for PCOS.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is one of the leading causes of infertility. It also tends to cause hair growth where it’s not wanted, acne and difficult menstrual cycles. Although a few months of avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates and getting daily exercise almost always resolves PCOS, American doctors instead tend to prescribe diabetes drugs such as metformin to help regulate insulin levels. (It’s so much easier to write a prescription than it is to help women deal with diet and exercise.) This is unfortunate as these types of drugs have a lot of side effects and don’t address the underlying issue. Myo-inositol is a good middle-of-the-road approach.

Myo-inositol, a form of inositol, is a member of the B-complex family of vitamins. It’s not an essential vitamin, as it can be manufactured by the body, but it tends to be deficient in women with PCOS, and restoring it can help regulate insulin enough to restore normal ovulation and thus fertility, and assist with weight loss.

Here’s the Research

These aren’t large studies, but they’re nicely done. Inositol is very safe so there’s no harm in trying it, but if you’re already on a diabetes drug talk to your doctor first. If you want to get off a diabetes drug, do it gradually and under your doctor’s supervision.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the Sept-Oct 2007 European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, 92 women were split into two groups, and the placebo half got folic acid, while the test group got folic acid plus 4 gms daily of myo-inositol, for 14 weeks. The myo-inositol group had a significantly higher rate of ovulation, higher HDL (good) cholesterol, and they lost weight, while the placebo group gained weight. It’s important to note however, that the heavier a woman was, the less effective the treatment was.

The other study, published in the Dec 2007 journal Gynecological Endocrinology, put 25 PCOS women on a combination of folic acid and inositol (2 gms combined) for six months. The results were reported as follows, “Twenty-two out of the 25 (88%) patients restored at least one spontaneous menstrual cycle during treatment, of whom 18 (72%) maintained normal ovulatory activity during the follow-up period. A total of 10 singleton pregnancies (40% of patients) were obtained.”

Based on these two studies, myo-inositol seems to be a remarkably effective treatment for PCOS, and for restoring fertility. Even better, it doesn’t have side effects and it’s relatively inexpensive. For women who are trying to get pregnant, it’s ideal to combine this treatment with improved diet and exercise, so that the insulin problems aren’t carried into pregnancy.

Source by Virginia Hopkins

PCOS - Inositol and Fertility

St. Louis: Is ADHD Right Brained, Left Brained or Mixed Dominant?

St. Louis,

Are you left brained, right brained or do you have an ADHD brain with mixed or cross dominance? Very little research has been done of eye/ear/hand/foot dominance and ADHD but Developmental Ophthomologist have studied the effects of cross dominance on attention and working memory for quite a long time. They have found that when our brains are cross-lateralized, mixed dominant or cross dominant, our executive functioning (memory, attention, organizational skills, spatial skills) suffer.

It was once thought that being left handed predisposed people to a diagnosis of ADHD. Studies have not born out these findings but research studies do indicate that ‘anomalous lateralization’ or cross dominance is more often found in people with ADHD and this mixed dominance can cause considerable havoc in brain functioning.

Cross dominance is the phenomena where your handedness and/or dominant foot are not on the same side as your dominant eye and ear. An example would be someone like my inattentive son who kicks and writes with his right foot and hand but his dominant eye is his left eye. Your dominance is thought to be congruent if the hand that your write with and the foot that you kick with are on the same side as your dominant eye.

You can test your dominance by taking an object and dropping it to the floor and then stepping up to kick it. The foot you just used is your dominant foot. If you have someone throw this same object to you from across the room and you then catch it, the hand you used to catch it is your dominant hand. To determine your eye dominance, take your camera and hold it up to take a picture. The eye that you used to look through the view finder is your dominant eye. Turn your head to hear music in the other room, the ear that you used to better hear is your dominant ear.

Developmental Optometrist believe that the brain develops better when there is a dominant hemisphere. Researchers are not certain why this is so but it appears that establishing a dominant eye, ear, hand and foot may lead to a better organized brain and a brain that develops at a normal rate whereas the mixed dominant brain develops more slowly and is less well organized.

There are test that tell you if you are primarily right brained or left brained and these tend to indicate that you are primarily right brained if your dominant eye, foot, and hand are on the left and to indicate that you are primarily left brained if the opposite is true. The brain dominance issue is very important because how we best learn is determined by our brain lateralization.

Mixed dominance is generally treated with exercises aimed to strengthen both sides of the body. These are called “crossing the midline” exercises. Square dancing cross the midline, tennis and tether ball cross the midline, doing figure 8s on a great big white board is an exercise that crosses the midline.

Cross dominance is treated because people who are cross dominant may have spatial perception issues, dyslexia, auditory processing issues, clumsiness, working memory problems, learning problems, attention problems or none of the above.

Treated cross dominance can be an asset and need not be an impairment. My spouse is cross dominant and is a physician, an artist and a musician. Cross dominant individuals can, actually, have the best of all worlds because, in the best case scenario, they have strength on both sides of the brain. Ambidextrous people are often mixed dominant and are often drawn to right brained fields such as art and left brain fields such as engineering.

Studies have shown that people with ADHD are more likely to be cross dominant. This need not be an impairment and may in fact, be an asset.

Source by Tess Messer

Is ADHD Right Brained, Left Brained or Mixed Dominant?

St. Louis: How to Treat and Prevent Non-Diabetic Hyperglycemia

St. Louis,

Hyperglycemia is the medical term for high blood sugar. In most cases, hyperglycemia goes hand in hand with diabetes. However, there are other causes that can be found for the condition. The definition of what is considered a high amount of sugar often varies by the medical establishment.

In most cases, it is considered any level that is over 180 on a blood glucose test. This level would be high if you have been fasting for at least four hours, as levels this high can be common after a meal. There are specific causes and treatments for non-diabetic hyperglycemia.

Many eating disorders, such as bulimia, can lead to hyperglycemia. In this case, the high amount of sugar found in the blood would be most commonly found during the binging phase of the process. With this disease, most people will binge eat, which is the process of consuming large amounts of food in a short period.

In most cases, the foods chosen are high carbohydrate foods and simple sugars. These foods can quickly raise the blood glucose level as the body will not have enough time to produce a high enough insulin level. In this case, the best option for preventing hyperglycemia is to get a handle on the eating disorder and this is usually no small task.

However, the hyperglycemia is a direct result of the disorder. If you are facing this condition, you need to eat small meals through out the day to get your levels back under control. Contact your physician for help with management.

Hyperglycemia can often be found in people who have an infection or inflammation due to an illness. When a person is ill, the body will release endogenous catecholamines, as well as other hormones that can raise levels of sugar in their blood. For this reason, it is possible for normally healthy people to have high blood glucose level.

This is why no one should ever be diagnosed with diabetes based on one blood sugar level. It is possible for one high reading to be a product of illness and stress on the body. This condition is usually detected by your physician during blood tests.

In this case, it is often hard to determine whether the symptoms you experience are from the flu or from raised blood glucose levels. This is why you should seek medical treatment for help in determining what the issue is. If you doctor does discover that your illness has caused a rise in blood sugar levels, they might suggest insulin for a short period or you may need to adjust your diet while you are ill.

It is very possible for illness, stress, and certain habits, to have an impact on blood glucose levels. These levels do not always mean a person has diabetes or that they will develop it later on. Your doctor should determine if you are experiencing Hyperglycemia due to other factors or if this is an ongoing condition that deserves a diabetes diagnosis.

There are tests that can measure your blood sugar levels over several months to help determine if this is an isolated event or an ongoing condition. Only your doctor can help make this determination.

Source by Philip Lim

How to Treat and Prevent Non-Diabetic Hyperglycemia

St. Louis: Women in Their Early to Mid 40s Can Get Pregnant - Listen to the Success Stories!

St. Louis,

If you like a lot of women in today’s’ world have left having a baby till later you may need a little extra help to get pregnant.

Your eggs are as old as you are.

Because women are born with all the reproductive eggs they will ever need for having babies they age with us. If you are 40 years old so are your eggs. Sometimes because the eggs are getting a little older problems can ensue so we need to do everything we can to get them as healthy as possible.

Self help

This starts with us as we can do a lot to increase our own personal well being giving the eggs a better chance at fertilization. It is a well-known fact that as women get older the chances of becoming pregnant are slimmer but by working on us from the inside out the chances of conceiving become a lot better.

Fertility treatments expensive and not guaranteed

I know a lot of women go through fertility treatments when they are older and one of them is IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) where eggs are taken from a woman and fertilized with the male sperm in a laboratory then placed back into the womans’ uterus. The idea being they can choose the best egg under the microscope to fertilize. This is an expensive and time consuming process with no guarantees as some women spend years on this program waiting for that all important news that they are finally pregnant.

The natural choice

This is why so many women are becoming aware of more natural options. Some are forced to confront a more holistic approach, as they do not have the kind of finance required to see conventional fertility treatments through.

Chinese acupuncture for infertility

One treatment being quietly brought to the frontline of modern medicine is Chinese acupuncture. This is where long thin needles are placed in energy or meridian points in the body. (It is fairly painless) The Chinese believe that if the body is sick then the energy flow throughout the body is out of balance so they manipulate these points to restore the balance of health. They also use Chinese herbal medicine along with this treatment and the success rates with helping infertile women have babies is enough for modern medicine to consider acupuncture as an addition to conventional fertility treatments. Some women who have been on the IVF program for a long time have tried acupuncture as a last attempt to get pregnant and have been successful.

Looking After Yourself Is The Key

Have you noticed there are women in there forties who look younger than their years? For some it may be genetics but for the majority it is a healthy lifestyle that keeps them looking good. These women tend to eat really well making sure they have a good intake of fruit and vegetables along with supplements and they probably exercise regularly as well. They would be aware of how smoking ages a woman very quickly and as does too much alcohol. These women have a positive attitude to life and believe in themselves also.

You can get pregnant

So even though they may be 42 years old their reproductive eggs could well be younger in terms of health. What you do to help yourself can make such a difference if you want to get pregnant for the first time when you are older. You need to get your mindset in place that it is achievable.

Another factor in older women is their FSH (Follicle Stimulating Follicle) levels The pituitary glad in our bodies is responsible for releasing this hormone which encourages the growth of eggs in a woman and sperm in men. Without this hormone men and women would not be able to procreate. Testing the levels of FSH can determine how many healthy eggs are available for reproduction. This is done with a blood test generally on the second or third day of your menstrual cycle. High levels of FSH suggest that you have what is called a low ovarian reserve. (Not many viable eggs) In a conventional fertility center aggressive treatment by way of drugs or IVF may be used to help a woman conceive but there are other ways to achieve this also.

Chinese herbal medicines improve egg quality

Chinese herbal formulas are used to take high FSH levels down by nourishing the liver and kidney. These medicines are used to also nourish the reproductive system, which causes the eggs that have been lying dormant to develop to the point they are ready for ovulation. Acupuncture alongside with these medicines send more blood to the ovaries and uterus improving the quality of those all-important eggs that can make an older woman pregnant.

The great thing about using these natural methods is that they tend to reverse infertility permanently as they get to the source of the problem. Women have reported getting pregnant very quickly after beginning natural treatments like those described.

Source by Linda E Cole

Women in Their Early to Mid 40s Can Get Pregnant - Listen to the Success Stories!

St. Louis: Am I More Likely to Have a Boy Or a Girl Baby?

St. Louis,

I recently heard from a woman who was trying to become pregnant. And she wanted to know if she was more likely to have a boy or a girl baby. She explained that girls run in her family while boys run in her husband’s family. She told me that she ate breakfast foods and recently had blood work which showed she had high testosterone. (She had read that both of these things make boys more likely.) Since she had some variables which indicated that she might be more likely to get pregnant with a girl and others which pointed to a boy, she wanted an outside opinion as to which might be more likely.

Actually, I didn’t think any of the factors that she described were going to come into play. Rather, I pointed to the 3 variables which I believe almost always matter the most in terms of your baby’s gender. In my opinion, whether you have a boy or a girl baby really comes down to only a few things which I will discuss in the following article.

The Odds Of Having A Boy Or A Girl When Only Mother Nature Is Involved: If you’re not going to a clinic and you are just letting nature take it’s course, then your odds are pretty much even. And if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. This sort of equality is important for the human race. Statistically, about 51% of babies that are born today are boys and 49% are girls. But, more girls than boys survive so this fact evens out the odds even more. And, since men (and fathers) have roughly equal amounts of X (girl producing) and Y (boy making) sperm chromosomes, then this makes it even more likely that your chances of either gender are roughly equal.

Making It More Likely That You’ll Have A Girl Or A Boy Baby (Depending On Which You Want:) In my strong opinion, there are things that you can do to change nature’s odds in terms of your baby’s gender. The whole key is making the trip to the egg easier for the sperm chromosomes that will produce the baby sex or gender that you want and harder for those you don’t want.

For example, if you want a girl baby, then obviously, you want very much to discourage or weed out the boy or Y sperm. And, these Y sperm do have their vulnerabilities. They live for a longer period of time and are weaker. Specifically, time, distance, and acidity are all enemies of theirs. So, to discourage them, you would want to conceive early in your fertility cycle, make yourself more acidic, and use shallow penetration when you have sex (and are trying to conceive.)

Conversely, if you want a boy baby, then you need to diminish these vulnerabilities. So, you would want to have conception sex late in your cycle. You would want to make yourself alkaline. And you would want to use deep penetration when you are attempting to conceive.

A Way To Determine If You’re More Likely To Have A Boy Or A Girl Child: After I gave the reader all of the above information, she did understand it. But, she still asked me: “but how do I know which odds are better right now? I mean, is there any way to tell if I’m more likely to get a son or a daughter if I got pregnant today?” That’s debatable in some circles. But, you could certainly test your PH (using PH testing strips) and see if your reading is alkaline or acidic. To recap, it should be acidic for a girl baby and alkaline for a boy.

However, just seeing the reading that you were hoping for doesn’t assure your preferred gender. You’ll also want to get your timing down and use the appropriate sexual positions. And, if you didn’t get the reading you hoped for or your reading isn’t as optimal as it should be, you can always change your diet or try a douching regimen to change this to something that gives you the odds that you want. Additionally, you really should continue to test both PH and ovulation right up until the day that you attempt to conceive because both can change pretty quickly and you want to make sure to get your odds as high as they can possibly be.

Source by Sandy Dean

Am I More Likely to Have a Boy Or a Girl Baby?

St. Louis: How Safe Is Sex During Pregnancy?

St. Louis,

When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the questions uppermost in the minds of the couple is whether they will be able to enjoy any sexual intercourse in the following months. Some couples dread pregnancies as it could put a dampener on their sexual life. But the good news is that pregnancy may not necessarily intervene in your sexual life at all. There are several misconceptions about having sexual intercourse during pregnancy and that is why couples develop wrong notions. However, most of these notions are quite unjustified.

The first thing one must understand is how pregnancy affects the body of the woman. Pregnancy occurs when the male sperm fertilizes the egg cell of the female. This fertilized egg is called as the embryo, which gets implanted in the uterus. Pregnancy brings about a host of changes in the woman, the first of them being the pause in the menstrual cycles. The embryo develops into the fetus. In order to protect the fetus, the amniotic cavity develops around it. The amniotic cavity is a fluid filled cavity meant for supplying the fetus with all the nutrients it requires for its development. At the same time, in order to prevent further fertilizations, the uterus opening, i.e. the cervix, is blocked off by a layer of mucus.

Now we know the changes that take place in the uterus when pregnancy occurs. Nature provides the growing fetus with all the protections necessary. The mucus layer cuts off the growing embryo from the rest of the outside world.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no harm in having sex when a woman is pregnant, and this could continue till late in the pregnancy. First and foremost, there is no way the penis or the seminal and vaginal fluids can come in contact with the embryo and cause any infections. This is because of the mucus layer that blocks off the cervix. Also for this very same reason, there can be no dislodging of the embryo inside the uterus in any manner.

However, care must be taken with the sexual positions that are adopted. The missionary position must be avoided, since in this position there is a tendency to lay more pressure on the uterus. The missionary position is the one in which the male lies on top and both partners are belly-to-belly in contact. Also the woman-on-top position must be avoided. Any other position in which pressure is not exerted on the woman’s uterus is acceptable.

It is necessary to speak to the doctor about sexual intercourse when the woman is pregnant. This is because though there are no technical problems with sexual intercourse during pregnancy, there can be some biological problems linked with the past of the woman. Like if the woman has had a premature birth in the past, then the doctor would advise the couple to refrain from penetrative sexual intercourse in the last three months of pregnancy. Women with miscarriages previously must not indulge in penetrative sexual intercourse during the first three months. And women who have a short cervix (this can be ascertained with a sonography test) must abstain from sexual intercourse throughout the pregnancy.

Yet sexual intercourse during pregnancy takes on a new meaning as the couple soon realizes. Since the woman’s body undergoes numerous changes – including the increase in the size of the breasts and the hips – the male partner may become more aroused. Hormonal changes may also induce the woman to become more libidinous during pregnancy. At the same time, on an emotional level, the partners develop greater love for each other in anticipation of their shared joy.

But the contrary of this case can also be seen. During pregnancy, some women might become too preoccupied with their thoughts to become interested in sexual intercourse. They may be intrigued by the changes in their bodies, and even scared of them to an extent. If such a situation arises, then it becomes the man’s responsibility to put the woman at ease.

Some couples could find sex during pregnancy too difficult to manage, due to the increase in the size of the couple. This could make the vagina difficult to access considering some sexual positions. The man may be reluctant to lie on top because of fear of harming the fetus, and the woman may not lie on top for fear of putting more weight on the man. Both of these situations could lead to difficulty in managing sexual intercourse.

Finally, it must be remembered that there are alternatives to sexual intercourse if things become too difficult. Mutual masturbation is one of the options. The couple can stimulate each other’s genitals by hands and lead them to orgasms. This could help relieve the sexual frustration. Oral sex can be performed without any problems. Though not advisable due to hygienic reasons, anal sex is also an option. But the most important thing is, the couple should develop stronger emotional bonds of love for each other. During pregnancy, it is best to make love with the mind than with the genitals.

Source by Dr John Anne

How Safe Is Sex During Pregnancy?

St. Louis: Pregnancy Help: Ease Your Way Into Your Second Trimester

St. Louis,

All of a sudden, you’re feeling better. Gone are the days of nausea and vomiting. Energy levels are rising and even sexual drive is returning. Emotionally speaking, you feel them normalizing, stabilizing. You feel so much better. Ahoy! Welcome to your second trimester.

Did you know that by the start of second trimester, around week 14, your baby is already learning to to smile and to frown?

Also, by Week 14, you might want to increase your fiber and water intake. The rapid growing of your baby may cause an increased pressure in your abdomen that could lead to constipation. You might also want to move to loose-fitting clothes, as moving might become tricky with your old clothes.

Sailing unto the 15th week, look out for possible signs of carrying multiples. 2% of pregnant women carry twins, triplets or more! See if your belly is larger than it should be, or if you’re putting on weight faster than other expectant mothers. And when you go to your care provider, check if your fundus is already halfway to your belly button.

Most mothers feel baby movements by the 22nd -24th week, but if you’re lucky, you can feel it even at the start of your second trimester. It’d be best to start asking your care provider for tests to determine if your baby has any genetic defects to look out for.

If you’re feeling sore in your belly area or your lower back, this is probably due to all that stretching your ligaments are going through. To ease some of the pain, try rocking your pelvis or stretching your back. And don’t forget your Kegel exercises!

Did you know that when your physician puts you under the Doppler, your baby is undergoing auditory stress akin to a person standing near a helicopter that’s taking off?

This is because by this time, your baby’s hearing is already developed. Also, notice that with your every visit to the doctor, he checks your urine for proteins and sugars? That’s because pregnant women are prone to gestational diabetes. It’s a condition wherein even though the body produces enough insulin, it fails to utilize it due to interferences within the hormone system brought on by the pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes can be the cause why you feel faint when you suddenly stand up. But you need to check on your iron intake too, because anemia can also cause hypotension.

And no, you’re not mistaken. Your feet really are getting bigger. The ligaments all around the body loosen up due to the excess weight and this causes your feet to puff up. I’m sorry ladies, but most of the time, it’s permanent. Also, try not to stand for long stretches of time. It might cause your legs to swell.

Did you know that by the end of the second trimester, your baby can recognize you voice?

It is highly recommended by doctors to talk to your baby. Do it as often as you want, since babies are actually comforted by the sound of your heartbeat and your voice. You could also try exposing the baby to music and find out what genre he/she likes.

Having difficulty in breathing? Don’t fret. This is your enlarged tummy squashing your other organs. Try slow but deep breaths. Don’t let small things bother you, as this will just pile up your anxiety and worries and contribute to your struggle.

Again, try to take up more fiber and water. With this you can avoid dry and itchy skin, dry eyes and hemorrhoids. If you spot swollen ankles, you’re okay. But if you see your face or fingers swelling up, this could be a symptom of preeclampsia. If your swelling doesn’t go away even after rest, see your doctor immediately.

Did you know that the slight increase in your blood pressure gives you that rosy skin and radiant look?

That’s why expectant mothers are said to be getting more beautiful and glowing. All that hydration with water and moisturizers also help in giving you that softer and silkier skin.

Finally, as you approach the end of second trimester, you might want to take note of the signs of premature labor. They are:

* Continuous or sporadic cramps that vaguely resembles that of your menstrual cycles

* Continuous or sporadic dull pain in your lower back

* Discernible uterine contractions

* A decrease in your pelvic pressure.

Always remember to maintain your healthy diet, do some gentle exercises and take care of yourself and your baby.

Note: This article may be freely reproduced as long as the AUTHOR’S resource box at the bottom of this article is included and all links must be Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.

Source by Portia David

Pregnancy Help: Ease Your Way Into Your Second Trimester