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April 17, 2014

How to have twin babies

how to have twin babies
Many couples want to conceive hope to have twin babies. They have many reasons such as ensuring that their children have a close sibling through childhood, or just wanting a large family. Multiple births occur in about 3 percent of all pregnancies in the US annually. Experts say that there are some steps women can do to increase their chance of having twins. There are some factors that play role in possibility of having twins: diet, ethnicity, genetics, and lifestyle. Here are some guidelines about how to have twin babies.

  • Take fertility drugs. They stimulate the ovaries to support more than one ovarian follicle each months towards maturity. The result is that more than one egg is released.
  • If you come from a family where no identical twins are common, then your family history and genetic endowment means that you've got a greater possibility of having them yourself. But identical twins can happen in any family.
  • Women who have previously had a baby have a higher chance of conceiving multiple pregnancies.
  • Ethnicity: be of American/African heritage. Women from these ethnic background have a distinctly higher rate of twin pregnancies.
  • The more times you conceive, the greater the chances of conceiving more than one baby.
  • Try to conceive straight after you have stopped taking the pill because the body is going through a hormonal readjustment phase.
  • For you who already have a set of twins, your chance of having twins again is higher.
  • Good news for taller women! They tend to conceive more twins!
  • Taking a folic acid supplement one month before conceiving.
  • Talk to your doctor. Assisted reproduction technology will help you get twin babies.
Source: Huggies, Wikipedia

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March 9, 2014

Chronic headache causes

chronic headache causes
Everyone has headaches from time to time, but if you experience a headache more days than not, you may have a variety of head pain, known as chronic headaches or chronic daily headaches. By definition, it's called chronic daily headaches when occuring 15 days or more a month, for at least 3 months. It can be divided into primary and secondary chronic headaches. To be considered primary (true) chronic headaches, they must also not be the result of other underlying condition.

Chronic headache causes
Until now, the exact causes of many cases with chronic headaches are not well understood. Primary chronic headache doesn't have an identifiable underlying cause. There is a part of brain that suppresses pain signals but doesn't work properly.
Secondary chronic headache can be caused by:
  • Inflammation or infection on the brain tissue or blood vessels around them, including stroke, meningitis
  • High intracranial pressure
  • Brain tumor
  • Traumatic brain injury
Chronic headache risk factors
  • Depression 
  • Sleep disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Obesity
  • Snoring
  • Overuse of caffeine
  • Abuse of pain killers
  • Regular use of physical postures that put a strain on neck or head
There are 4 types of chronic headache  and symptoms:

  1. Chronic migraine: affect only one side of head, cause a pulsating sensation, cause moderate until severe pain, induced by routine physical activity. The symptoms are: nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to sound and light.
  2. Chronic tension-type headache: it happens on both sides of head, cause mild until moderate pain, the pain is not pulsating but pressing or tightening, the pain is not aggravated by routine physical activity. In chronic tension-type headache, it doesn't cause sensitivity to sound or light and if there is nausea, it's mild only.
  3. Hemicrania continua: this type of headache cause pain only at 1 side that doesn't shift sides. Other characteristics are: daily and continuous with no pain-free periods, cause moderate to severe pain, responsive with pain reliever such as Indocin, sometimes the pain becomes severe with development of migraine-like symptoms. The symptoms are: tearing or redness of the eye on the affected side, runny nose, dropping of the eyelid or pupil constriction.
  4. New daily persistant headache: this type of headache becomes constant within a few days of the moment from the first headache. These characteristics are: hurt on both sides of head, cause mild until moderate pain, no pulsating pain but feels like pressing, and not induced by routine physical activity.
Chronic headache treatment
There are some preventive therapies that your doctor may recommend, such as:
  • Antidepressants. It can be indicated for chronic headache. It also treat the depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances
  • Beta blockers. It can treat episodic migraines.
  • Anti seizure drugs. It can prevent chronic headache as well as prevent migraines.
  • Nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs. It may be helpful especially if you're going through withdrawal from other pain killers. It can also be used periodically when the headache becomes more severe.

Source: Mayo Clinic
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January 6, 2014

Anti phospholipid antibodies and infertility

Infertility is the inability to conceive and have offspring. More specific, infertility is also defined as the failure to conceive after a year of regular intercourse without contraception. Evidence is emerging that inability to conceive or recurrent miscarriage in a healthy patient can provide an early clue of an adverse health condition.

anti phospholipid antibodies and infertility
Investigation to disclose the causes of reproductive failure can therefore assist with an earlier management strategies, so it can provide a long term benefit for women and restore their natural fertility. There are many causes of infertility, one of them is thrombophilia. How thrombophilia causes infertility remains unknown and poorly understood. After excluding other physical or anatomical causes such as fibroids, uterine scar tissue, congenital abnormalities, and polyps, assessment of medical history of the patient is an important next step.

Thrombophilias are disorders of blood coagulation that increase the likelihood of inappropriate clotting. It can be a concern during pregnancy because in pregnancy, blood tends to clot easily. Thrombophilia can be both congenital or acquired. The most common form of acquired thrombophilia is antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). In APS, there are antibodies against phospholipids in association with either vascular thrombosis or recurrent misscariage.

Laboratory test
For women with medical history of recurrent miscarriages, they are recommended to be screened for antiphospholipid antibodies. The most significant antibodies (immunoglobulin) involved in APS are lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin (ACA), and anti beta 2 glycoprotein 1 & 2.

Treatment
There are two options. First is oral antiplatelet (aspirin) and the second is UFH (unfractionated heparin). Combination of both therapies may reduce pregnancy loss in APS-positive cases by as much a 54% compared to aspirin alone.

Thrombophilia and contraception
Estrogen-containing medications can increase the risk of venous thromboembolism including deep vein thrombosis (DVT). So don't hesitate to contact your doctor to choose the best contraception for you.

How to avoid blood clot?
Control your weight, do not be overweight. Keep a healthy diet, avoid saturated fats. Keep your cholesterol level low. Stop smoking. Lower your blood pressure. Controll your glucose level (if you are diabetician). No more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
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