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Health Female Adda
1 year ago
Warning Signs: Serious Aches and Pains
In the spectrum of pain, the two ends are childbirth in a cab (paramedics please!) and a stubbed toe (cured with a yelp). But the really dangerous pains are the ones that feel innocent enough to ignore yet are actually the smoke signals to a health fire that could be burning inside you. Chances are, the majority of your minor pains are no reason to reserve the corner plot. But to protect yourself, you need to know how to make sure your harmless pains are just that — and nothing more.

Tummy Turmoil

Make Sure It's Not... What feels like indigestion after eating a fatty, fried, or greasy meal may actually be your gallbladder trying to contract and squeeze bile out in response to that beef chalupa. But the bile can't get out because gallstones — solidified bits of cholesterol and other matter — are blocking the exit. The result: "It's kind of a dull, vague pain that can wax and wane over several hours," says Beth Schorr-Lesnick, M.D., a gastroenterologist in Yonkers, New York. The pain, felt just below the rib cage on the right side, may even radiate into the right shoulder blade. Thanks to estrogen, we're also three times as likely to develop gallstones as men (20 percent of us will have them by the time we're 60), and being on the Pill and being pregnant raises the risk. Ignore it and the pain will worsen — it's almost like childbirth going on in the upper right part of your belly. An ultrasound or sonogram will detect gallstones, and your doctor will likely schedule a laparoscopic cholecystectomy to remove the gallbladder (done under general anesthesia and about a 2-day hospital stay, it's now one of the most common surgeries in the United States). To help thwart stones, eat more insoluble fiber. A recent study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology reports that a 5-gram increase in insoluble fiber intake drops your risk of developing gallstones by 10 percent. Good sources include whole grains like quinoa, nuts, and the edible skins of fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, apples, berries, and pears.

Sore Throat

Make Sure It's Not... Tea, honey, or lozenges may be well and good to relieve the curl-up-in-bed soreness. But know this: a heart attack can also grab you in the gullet. University of Rochester researchers recently found that during a heart attack, women reported feeling discomfort in their throats 12 times more than men. (And 90 percent of women who had heart attacks reported that they experienced "new" or "different" symptoms.) "Often, women will say that their heart attack symptoms were not the type of intense pain they expected, but rather an uncomfortable feeling — more of a tightness or heaviness," says Kathleen King, R.N., Ph.D., a professor of nursing at the University of Rochester. Throat pain may result from the same thing that causes chest pain in heart attack sufferers: lack of blood flow to the heart, says Paula Johnson, M.D., a cardiologist and executive director of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Yet heart attack pain manifests itself differently in men and women (35 percent of heart attacks in women go unnoticed or unreported), and many women don't recognize the subtle signs, which also can include nausea, sweatiness, and fatigue. To better protect yourself, oil up: A study in the journal Chest found daily supplements of 2 grams of fish and soy oils, which contain heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, significantly improved participants' heart function in just 2 weeks.

Burning Belly

Make Sure It's Not... Stomachaches typically come from hunger, nerves, indigestion, or whiny interns. But if you feel the discomfort underneath the notch of the sternum, the burn could indicate an ulcer. Try this test: "With an ulcer, when you eat the food kind of buffers it and relieves the pain very promptly," says Patricia Raymond, M.D., a gastroenterologist in Chesapeake, Virginia. You can't blame your mother-in-law, boss, or traffic for this one. Most ulcers form when a type of bacteria — called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) — burrows in your stomach lining, weakening a protective layer of mucus and then allowing acid to eat at that lining. If you don't treat it, you risk perforating it (requiring surgery) and you also increase your risk of gastric cancer. In fact H. pylori may be responsible for up to 55 percent of gastric cancer cases. A blood test or a no-needle breath test can detect the bacteria, and then antibiotics will usually clear it up. While you're at it, pucker up: In one study drinking a tall glass of cranberry juice every day for 90 days significantly suppressed H. pylori. "It looks like it works by decreasing the adhesion of the bacteria to the stomach," Dr. Raymond says.

Sore Gums

Make Sure It's Not... You can stop strong-arming your toothbrush, but the truth is even a little soreness in your gums suggests periodontal disease, which destroys gum tissue and the bone that keeps your teeth in place. Symptoms like pain, bleeding, and even bad breath may surface only when your hormones are imbalanced — for example, during menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, or while on birth control pills. If soreness lasts for more than a few days, get checked, says Kenneth Krebs, D.M.D., president of the American Academy of Periodontology. Otherwise you're at higher risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, respiratory diseases, and infertility. Save your smile and choose automatic over manual. A study published in the British journal The Cochrane Library found that electric brushes with heads that rotate in one direction and then the other were 11 percent more effective at removing plaque and 6 percent more effective at reducing gingivitis (early-stage periodontitis).

Major Cramps

Make Sure It's Not... When menstrual cramps make you feel like you've got a blender spinning inside, you usually chalk it up to a bad month or bad genes. But some experts say that severe cramps may indicate endometriosis. The cause is unknown but the danger isn't. "Endometriosis can affect other organs, and that can lead to infertility," says Ozgul Muneyyirci-Delale, M.D., director of the Center for Treatment and Study of Endometriosis at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. What's more, the National Institutes of Health reports that women with endometriosis are more likely to have allergies, asthma, and immune diseases. One caveat: Severe cramps don't automatically mean you have endometriosis. While surgery is the only way to diagnose endometriosis, your doctor may suggest other options for pain relief. Studies have shown that taking 200 milligrams of vitamin E twice a day a couple of days before your period arrives and through the first 3 days of bleeding may relieve cramps.

Hoarse Voice

Make Sure It's Not... We usually write off that Demi Moore voice as a sign of an oncoming cold or the end of a Springsteen concert. But hoarseness — however subtle or sporadic — lasting more than 2 weeks (the time it takes viral infections to clear up) may signal an underlying problem like hypothyroidism or reflux. "People can have hoarseness as the only sign of reflux," says Mona Abaza, M.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology at the University of Colorado. But it could also be caused by simply speaking loudly (like in a crowded restaurant). "You can have small hemorrhages in your vocal folds, and they can be the start of polyps or nodules," Dr. Abaza says. If not tended to, these noncancerous, fleshy growths cause chronic hoarseness. See a doctor if symptoms last more than 2 weeks and drink lots of water to keep your throat lubricated. Avoid cold medications with antihistamines, alcohol, caffeine, and chocolate, which tend to dry out and further irritate your vocal cords. Caffeine does it by stimulating your body to get rid of its excess water, while antihistamines have a drying effect on the mucous membranes, says Clark Rosen, M.D., director of the Voice Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Eye and Ear Institute.
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