Health Blog and Health Product Reviews

With PMS, or pre-menstrual syndrome, affecting almost 30% of all menstruating women, it’s no wonder that looking for a way to alleviate the symptoms is a high priority for females. Instead of having to wait for PMS to be over, women can take a more proactive approach to managing this time of the month. And for those 5 to 10% of women that also have more severe forms of PMS, any additional things they can do to help offset their signs help not only them, but everyone in their lives.

What is PMS

PMS is a syndrome that occurs once each month for many women. It can vary from being barely noticeable to being something that’s a bit more obvious in some cases. With over 150 symptoms associated with PMS, it can be hard to make an official diagnosis. Some of the more common symptoms include:

Water retention
Weight gain of up to ten pounds in some women
Moodiness and crankiness, angry outbursts
Abdominal pain and bloating
Food cravings and appetite changes
Breast tenderness
Acne
Headache

These symptoms signal a change in the body’s hormone levels preceding menstruation. As the body begins to get ready to produce an egg during the cycle, the body temperature can increase and these symptoms can occur until the egg is released into the fallopian tubes for fertilisation. When the egg is not fertilised, it is shed along with the built up lining of the uterus to produce a period. When this happens, hormones return to normal levels and PMS symptoms subside in most women.

For many women, the symptoms begin about a week before their period or even earlier and for a longer period of time. In some severe cases, women can experience extreme changes in mood and ability to reason. Those cases require prescribed medications in order to help the woman feel better during this time.

Treatments Used to Treat PMS

It’s not necessarily possible to treat PMS without eliminating the menstrual cycle altogether. Since PMS occurs when hormone levels fluctuate, in order to prevent it, you would need to create a cycle in which hormone levels are steadier. During pregnancy, for example, this can occur.

To mimic the hormonal effects of pregnancy, some women will begin to take birth control pills as a way to lessen their PMS symptoms. These pills are synthetic hormones that create the idea in your body that hormone levels are steadier and can reduce any ill effects from the menstrual cycle in addition to preventing pregnancy.

There are also prescription medications that are being used to help in severe cases of PMS as well as some over the counter medications that can help reduce moderate PMS symptoms.

The Usefulness of Fish Oil in PMS

Some studies on the effectiveness of fish oil seem to indicate that something other than hormones might be playing a role in PMS symptoms. Chemicals called eicosanoids seem to be produced in higher amounts during the onset of PMS, the discovery of which might lead to more effective treatments. That said, in fish oils, there is a chemical compound called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) that is derived from the Omega 3 fatty acids. This seems to help regulate the levels of these chemicals in the body, thus reducing the effects of PMS.

In one study, women were given fish oil or a placebo for two months, nothing their PMS symptoms and then the two groups switched pills to see what would happen. The women that took fish oil in both parts of the study reported less pain and fewer PMS symptoms.

The anti-inflammatory effects of fish oil in the body can also help in PMS pain as well as cramping during the actual menstrual cycle. By helping to reduce the inflammation in the body, the pain can be lessened dramatically. But instead of using fish oil as a sort of analgesic, it’s best taken on a regular basis throughout the cycle to balance the levels of EPA in the body.

What Women Need to Know

The female body is often more difficult to understand as the reproductive cycle can affect other parts of the body so easily as evidenced by the issues with PMS. Fish oils can help in other ways as well. Women who are going through menopause will also experience dips in their hormone levels, often resulting in problems that look and feel a lot like PMS. To help reduce these effects, taking fish oil has become a more popular piece of advice from doctors and gynaecologists.

Conclusion

The use of fish oil in the prevention and regulation of PMS symptoms has been proven effective in a number of studies. While the female body might still be difficult to explain, nature seems to have provided its own answer to the problems of the menstrual cycle. Fish oil is side effect free and inexpensive to use without a trip to the stirrups of the doctors office.

Simon jones is an expert in fish oil. For more information about fish oil and how it can help please come and visit our site http://www.mind1st.co.uk/fish-oil-and-PMS.asp

Mental health is really about how we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us, and about how we behave and interact with others in our day to day lives. It isnt easy to define exactly what it means to have good mental health as people will interpret what it means to be mentally healthy in different ways. On the other hand, there are some signs and symptoms that can indicate when someone has a mental health problem, when their mental functions are not performing as well as they could, and we see evidence of alternations in their thinking and behaviour.

Take depression for example, even though there is no set pattern and each person will be affected differently; there are some simple clues that we can look out for.

What it means to be depressed

Depression is a lot more than feeling a bit fed up and down in the dumps, which is something we all experience from time to time and is a natural part of the ups and downs of life. To be clinically depressed means that we cannot just shake off our low mood and get on with our lives, the depression persists and starts to interfere with our normal daily routines and we can no longer enjoy activities and pastimes that used to be pleasurable.

We may find it hard to get up in the morning to go to work or school, and we may have difficulty getting to sleep at night and when we do get to sleep, our sleep might be disturbed
Our relationships with family, friends and work colleagues can suffer and our self esteem may be low and we dont feel good enough
We could find ourselves worrying constantly and feeling anxious and panicky for no particular reason
Our eating patterns can change and we could see fluctuations in our weight as we may eat a lot more or lose our appetite
Maybe we are tearful and cry a lot, or we may find we cannot get in touch with our emotions and feel numb and unable to express our emotion
Some of us may become more aggressive and hostile or irritable for no real reason
Life may seem too difficult and so we struggle to cope with even minor tasks
We may feel guilty and worthy of blame and punishment
Our memory and concentration might not be as good as it was and we find it more and more difficult to make decisions
Other physical symptoms such as headaches, and various other aches and pains may convince us that we have something else wrong with us

Regardless of the different ways that some of these symptoms can affect us, the main factors that point to depression are the same. Major depression is likely to be diagnosed if the symptoms of depression have persisted for more than two weeks accompanied by low moods and a lack of pleasure in pursuits that were once enjoyed and the symptoms are severe enough to interfere with normal daily routines and activities.

Who gets depressed

No one knows why some people become depressed and not others and there is no single known cause of depression either. Depressive episodes can be triggered by biochemical, genetic, psychological, environmental and social factors or a combination of these. What is known is that certain groups of people appear more at risk of developing depression than others. These include the long term sick and disabled, those in poor living conditions, those with a history of depression in the family, the homeless, ethnic minorities and people in prison. Sometimes life circumstances can trigger an episode of depression such as redundancy, retirement, divorce, bereavement, problems at work or financial difficulties.

However, no one is immune to depression and someone can develop a depressive disorder even if they are not considered at greater risk. The reality is that any kind of mental health problem and depression can strike any one of us at any time of our lives.

Getting well again

One of the biggest barriers to recovery for someone suffering from depression or indeed any mental health problem is a reluctance to seek help. Many people are afraid of admitting that they cannot cope and so try and deal with it on their own but the symptoms are unlikely to just disappear and will continue possibly for years without appropriate help and treatment.

Any kind of mental health problem can be an intensely isolating experience as the individual concerned cannot help how they are feeling so the understanding and support of family and friends can be of enormous help for someone struggling to cope with their depression. However, the most important thing to remember is that depression is treatable and it is also fairly common.

Your doctor is the best person to advise you on what treatment options are available as he or she will be able to make full medical assessment in order to obtain a correct diagnosis and can take into account any other contributory factors that might need dealt with. Usually, treatment will consist of medication and perhaps some form of talking therapy or a combination of both.

Simon jones is an expert in depression and related disorders. For more information about depression please come and visit our site http://www.fightingdepression.co.uk

Life can frequently seem like a shark looking for something to devour and you’re the main course! There are bills to be paid, family to take care of and catastrophes on the news; the worry and strain can seem crushing. It can also feel as if you are the only one in the world going through such worries; however, you aren’t. You have a universal problem that many people experience in silence about. But there are many people and organizations that can help you find anxiety and stress relief.

It’s no embarrassment to have to go to the doctor and ask for help. If you can never calm down and are so consumed by worries that it makes having a regular life hard or not possible, you need to see your doctor right away. There is a stigma about seeking anxiety and stress relief. You may think you’re crazy or lazy; but you’re not.

If you had a broken leg, you would go see the doctor for help, wouldn’t you? Anxiety and stress relief should be sought after in the same way. If anybody teases you about being a mental case, ignore them. They are just voicing their own fears about their own sanity. Your doctor will understand; he or she sees patients with you similar problems almost every day.

Perhaps the doctor will prescribe medicines for your anxiety and stress relief. That doesn’t mean you’re lacking in some way for needing to take pills for a mental or emotional problem. Extreme anxiety and never ending stress can often be the signs of easily treatable physical problems.

You ought to have at least ten minutes of fun and luxury a day; after all look at all you have to put up with! If you can find ten minutes a day to treat yourself and be at ease with it, you can find fifteen minutes, and so on. This doesn’t mean you are self-centered; you are just teaching yourself how to feel good. By experiencing happy times, you can keep in mind what it feels like. With time and practice, you can tap into that calm and secure feeling whenever you need it.

Some people take a walk during this “me-time”. Some people read a book to gain anxiety and stress relief. Some people take a bath; others write a poem or engage in light exercise or take yoga classes. See what works best for you; you want something that takes you out of the clouds of doubts onto a little island of tranquility. Listening to music or mediating can bring this island about for many people. Anxiety and stress relief is within your reach. You only have to make a little effort to get it.

Scott Goodman writes about many different subjects. For more information and articles about stress, stress relief and other related information please visit Wicked Stressed Out!.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good bath or shower a lot and one of the worst things that you can notice while you’re in the bathroom is mold starting to grow on the ceiling or on the wall.

It appears as a splotchy growth that’s slowly creeping its way from one end of the room to the other and if you leave it untreated, it will cover your entire bathroom. You can scrub it off the walls with mold and mildew cleaner all you want to, but in the end if the infection has spread so far, you will probably have to replace the sheetrock in the bathroom.

Sheetrock (or drywall) is a porous surface and mold cannot be effectively removed from it by surface cleaning. The mold will infect the entire depth of the board and most of the time there is not anything that you can do except throw it away and replace it.

Something that has been popular in the past and even in a few homes now is putting carpet in the bathroom. This is a very bad idea, because no matter how careful you might be, your toilet, sink, or bathtub is going to overflow eventually and leave you with a mess of soaked carpet and padding.

Carpet needs to be dried as soon as possible when it comes into contact with water. Once the water dries naturally, the carpet will smell, especially if you are unlucky enough to have to live with only well water.

If you live in an older home and your bathroom does not have a vent to release the hot air and steam outside so that it does not attach itself to the sheetrock and become absorbed by it.

This is a worthy investment to make and it should not cost more than $50 to $70 and maybe half a day of time to install if you do it yourself.

Whatever you do, do not leave damp towels, rags, or clothing in the bathroom closet or on the floor, especially if you have carpet in the bathroom.

Your best bet is to use a plastic laundry hamper and put the dirty laundry in that and only in that so that even if the clothes do become moldy, it is not likely to infect the floor or the wall because of the plastic barrier.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.