Your Health: Breast,
Heart and More...

Women's bodies are amazing, but they also have the potential to contract some pretty nasty ailments.  Be sure that you are vigilant in looking out for signs of a problem while also doing everything you can to stay healthy.

BREAST HEALTH

Do your monthly exam, and do it correctly.  You can find plenty of examples of how to conduct your monthly breast exam either through your doctor's office or online.  A couple of key things to remember include:

• You're doing this to make sure you are familiar with how your breasts normally feel, and that's why it's so important to conduct your exams on a regular basis.
• Doing your exam during your period may not be a good idea since the shape and feel of the breast can change during this time.
• If you feel something, make an appointment right away.  Don't wait it out to see if there is a change.

This is definitely an instance when you need to step up and take control of your health.

Breastfeeding does not make you immune to cancer. Medical professionals used to claim that women who breastfeed were immune to developing breast cancer later in life, but this is no longer accepted as fact.  Studies have shown that breastfeeding can in fact lower your odds of developing breast cancer, but it does not completely erase the threat.  Breastfeeding is the best choice for your baby…this is generally regarded as fact…but you should be aware that there are some interesting health issues that may pop up while you are in the process of nursing a baby.  Breast infections can occur in nursing mothers, and some of them can become quite serious. 

Most breastfeeding-related ailments can be remedied easily as long as you seek medical care as soon as possible.  For example, mastitis is an infection that occurs in the breasts of some nursing women and can be extremely painful.  The treatment includes antibiotics and frequent pumping or nursing of the milk from the infected breast in order to relieve some of the pain.  If left untreated, however, the infection can get worse, it can spread, and might result in a breast abscess that needs to be drained.  These types of breast infections are usually the exception to the rule, as most women nurse their babies with nary a problem. 

The thing to remember is that you should seek medical assistance any time the breastfeeding seems to become painful or different than it used to be.  You don't want to allow a potential infection to go unchecked because it can result in something much more serious if not treated by a doctor.  Besides, your baby is counting on your breasts as a source of nourishment, so if you allow an infection to get out of control you might wind up having to wean your baby a lot sooner than you had originally planned to wean him or her.  The upside of breastfeeding - other than the obvious joy of providing food to your baby and all the bonding that comes with it - is the fact that breastfeeding can burn up to 500 calories a day.  What a great trade off! Don't let talk of infections and other breast maladies dissuade you from giving it a try, but do keep in mind that potential problems may arise and you need to be vigilant about staying healthy.

Let's talk about implants.  Sure, women generally want to be as attractive as possible, and for one reason or another many men find large breasts attractive.  If you were not blessed (or cursed, as some women would claim) with an impressive bosom then medical science can correct the problem for you.  There are plenty of risks associated with breast implants.  You may be old enough to remember the huge debacle with silicone breast implants when implants started to burst and leak within women's bodies and cause all sorts of medical problems.  Women thought these implants were safe and then the next thing they knew it was discovered that they were most certainly not safe.  This is not to claim that the same thing will happen with the implants being used today, but as a woman you should be skeptical about any surgery you will have that you don't actually need. 

Any operation that involves you being put under with anesthesia is no joke.  You also have to take into consideration that if your implants are too large you are going to be plagued with back problems.  If you still decide to go forth and have implants done then be sure that you don't simply go with the lowest bidder.  Horror stories abound of women having botched implants done that left them looking uneven, incredibly fake, or even monstrous.  Choose a doctor who a friend or other trusted source personally recommends and don't forget that this is a medical procedure that will require recovery time.

HEART HEALTH

Women have heart attacks.  Who is the stereotypical heart attack victim? Most people think of middle-aged businessmen who are stressed out beyond capacity.  Tell someone to picture someone having a heart attack and the person will probably describe a scene of a silver-haired gentleman, wearing a business suit and doubled over in pain while his loving family surrounds him.  The truth of the matter is that women have heart attacks too…in fact, coronary heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States.  Obviously, heart attack and other heart problems are something that you need to be concerned about. 

When your doctor urges you to exercise and eat right, he or she isn't doing it just because that's what doctors are expected to say.  Your doctor is trying to help you keep your heart healthy so that you don't wind up a statistic.  Heart disease is a very real threat to you as a woman, and you need to realize this and do what you can to minimize your risks.  Remember that if your heart suddenly stops functioning after years of neglect then it's pretty much "game over" for you unless doctors can do something to get it functioning correctly again.  Your heart isn't something you want to ignore.

Certain medications increase your risk.  If you know that you are at a higher risk of developing heart disease - or if you have already developed heart disease and are dealing with it now - you need to be vigilant in checking to make sure that any medication you take (prescription or otherwise) is not something that will put you at a higher risk for a heart attack or stroke.  There are certain medications that should not be taken by people with heart disease.  Any time a doctor attempts to prescribe a new drug to you, be sure to talk about the effect it may have on your heart condition. 

Don't ever assume that your doctor remembers every condition you have! Some doctors see a wide variety of patients on a daily basis and it is entirely likely that your doctor may occasionally need a little help in remembering what medical conditions you have.  If you plan to purchase an over the counter medication that you haven't tried before then you may want to talk to a doctor or pharmacist to make sure it's okay for you to take.

Exercise for a healthier heart.  Losing weight and looking good is not the only reason that you should exercise; neither is increased energy levels or more overall stamina.  The best thing you can do to keep your heart as healthy as you can is to exercise regularly and make sure that you do plenty of cardio exercise where you reach and maintain your target heart rate. 

When you exercise your  body you're giving your heart a workout too, so consider how your body feels after you have consistently exercised for a while and then you can imagine the benefits that your heart gets too.  The more efficiently your heart works, the easier it can pump the blood through your body.  It's when you live a sedentary lifestyle that your heart has to work harder and harder to get the blood to pump through your body, and if you combine this with high cholesterol levels and other factors then you're essentially a heart attack waiting to happen. 

Even if you do not have a family history of heart disease you still need to get exercise in order to make sure that your heart is as healthy as it can be.  Your heart is an important part of your body - one of the most important parts, actually - so it makes sense that you should do whatever you can in order to make sure that you're giving your heart every opportunity to operate at its best.  If you have no other reason to exercise, at least do it for the benefit of your heart health.  Remember that even something as simple as a walk around the block after dinner is far better than nothing.

Pay attention to your family's heart history.  If your family members - particularly your parents and grandparents - suffered from heart disease or dies as a result of heart ailments then you should know that you have a higher possibility of someday developing heart problems than someone else without the family history does.  For this reason you need to be vigilant about keeping your heart healthy.  Almost nothing is inevitable, after all, so just because a good portion of the people in your family developed heart disease does not necessarily mean that you are doomed to the same fate, especially if you are proactive in your quest for good health.  Be sure to exercise, eat right, and try to avoid unnecessary stress in your life, and you have a great chance of staying away from the same problems your family members had with their hearts.

ALL THE OTHER STUFF

Bladder infections can happen quite often.  Women are prone to bladder infections, and there is nothing pleasant about this particular ailment.  Bladder infections are painful and can spread to other parts of your body if not treated.  How do you know if you have a bladder infection? One of the telltale signs is a burning sensation when you urinate, or having the intense feeling of needing to urinate but only having a short trickle come out.  Sometimes the urine will appear cloudy. 

The only way to know for sure if you have a bladder infection is by submitting to a lab test ordered by your doctor, but any woman who has had a bladder infection probably knows way before the doctor confirms it.  You will probably be treated with antibiotics, which will treat the infection but may open you up to a yeast infection.  How can you avoid bladder infections altogether? Grandmothers swear by cranberry juice, but making sure you drink plenty of liquids (preferably water) is one of the best things you can do.  Talk to your doctor if you have further concerns about bladder infections and the things you can do to prevent and treat them.

You are what you eat.  You know that you're supposed to eat healthy foods.  You also know that you should include fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet while avoiding sweets and foods loaded with fat and sodium.  These recommendations are commonplace, so there is really no reason to spend a lot of time explaining the ideas surrounding them.  Instead, emphasis should be placed on why you may not be following these recommendations.  Are you too big a fan of sweets? Do you not like the taste of vegetables? Is it just too easy to head to a fast food drive-thru instead of cooking up something healthy at home?

Whatever your reasoning behind not eating as healthy as you can, it's not a sufficient reason, plain and simple.  You are potentially shortening your lifespan when you don't eat healthy foods.  You are not allowing your body to function at its highest potential when you stuff yourself with empty calories instead of the types of food your body really needs.  You need to figure out what you can do to motivate yourself in order to eat like you should.  Don't change your eating habits simply because you want to fit into pants in a smaller size…change your eating habits because you want to live a longer and healthier life.   

What medications are you taking? You may not have ever actually sat down and taken the time to think about this, but do you realize that every medicine and drug you ingest has to work its way through your kidneys? Have you also realized that too many medications and drugs can actually tax your kidneys and cause harm? You may think this is no big deal, but it is actually a pretty huge deal.  If you are like most women you probably have one or two prescription drugs that you take based on your doctor's recommendation.  You probably also have over the counter drugs that you use periodically for certain ailments, whether it's headaches or menstrual cramps.  Perhaps you also throw some herbal supplements into the mix, either because you want to take pills that purport to make your hair shinier or help you lose weight. 

You need to realize that everything you take not only has an effect on your kidneys, but these medicines might also react to each other and cause real issues.  Don't think that just because an herbal medication doesn't need a prescription that it won't interact with the other medications you take.  Try not to load up on pills because the culmination of several different kinds of pills may be to the detriment of your health.

Having great health isn't just about being able to run a lap faster than any other woman at the gym; it's also about knowledge.  You need to know what your family's health history is and you also need to know what ailments you may potentially encounter.

On the next page we will talk about Special Female Health Concerns.