Women Health Advice

Many medical conditions may lead to a disruption of sleep, or an excessive amount of daytime sleepiness, and are called sleep disorders. These may be caused by physiological or psychological factors. Some of the more common sleep disorders include: Snoring and Sleep Apnea Snoring may seem benign, but it may represent a difficulty in keeping the throat open while one sleeps. It's more serious companion, sleep apnea, is a chronic medical condition where the affected person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep. These episodes last 10 seconds or more and cause oxygen levels in the blood to drop. It can be caused by obstruction of the upper airway, resulting in obstructive sleep apnea, or by a failure of the brain to initiate a breath, called central sleep apnea. It can cause and worsen other medical conditions, including hypertension, heart failure, and diabetes. Insomnia Insomnia is an inability to obtain a sufficient amount o...

It can be downright painful to drag yourself out of bed at an hour earlier than you are used to waking. Sometimes it is simply necessary to wake and get up early, however. What are the best ways to do so? Discover how to accomplish this with simple changes—such as alarm clocks, morning sunlight, and caffeine—that you can implement immediately for lasting benefits. Changing Your Wake Time May Depend on the Purpose Consider whether you need to wake up early once, such as to catch an early flight, or if you are adapting to a new schedule that shall persist. This will help determine what solutions or techniques should be considered to help you. It may also be helpful to reflect on what your relationship to your alarm clock says about your personality. Difficulty waking may suggest underlying problems with the amount or quality of sleep. Making Long-Term Changes to the Timing of Sleep If possible, especially if this is a long-term adjustment to your sleep schedule, ...

Blood disorders involve problems in our blood or bone marrow. After birth, our bone marrow (fatty area in the middle of our bones) is the primary source of new blood cells. Often, problems with the way our bone marrow produces blood cells results in blood disorders. Blood disorders can occur from any of the four parts of our blood: White blood cells—which help fight infections.  Red blood cells—which carry oxygen to tissues. Platelets—which help stop bleeding. Plasma—which carries various components including procoagulant factors (that help stop bleeding) and anticoagulant factors (that prevent clot formation).  Elevated white blood cell counts are called leukocytosis and low counts are called leukopenia. There are five types of white blood cells, all of which may be affected: Granulocytes (also called neutrophils or segmented neutrophils)  Lymphocytes Monocytes Eosinophils Basophils  Many medical condi...

The neck and shoulder area is, to say the least, complex; it’s resplendent with many small but critical anatomical structures. Often, neck pain and/or neck and arm pain is associated with some type of problem that is going on in the cervical spine. Examples include degenerative or herniated disc, spinal arthritis in the neck area, soft tissue damage following a whiplash incident, and in rare cases, things like infection, tumors, or cysts. When shoulder pain is the complaint, possibilities that come to mind about the cause tend to be along the lines of bursitis, rotator cuff tear, impingement, or frozen shoulder. But what happens when you have a combination of neck and shoulder pain? Does that mean two things are wrong? Or can any of the conditions mentioned above—those that tend to be attributed to just one area or the other—cause symptoms in  both  areas? In a nutshell, when things go awry in either area, a number of body systems are involved, (although this is...

Are you in a world of pain? You're not alone. Four in five people suffer from an achy, breaky back. Here are the surprising culprits and how to feel better fast. It began as a twinge. Then the pain started to radiate down my back when I biked. Bothersome became dangerous when it hurt to turn my head; do not try cycling with impaired neck mobility. Yet I saw no reason to modify my fitness routine. I pedaled. I kickboxed. I lifted weights. And after about three weeks, I paid the price. One sleepless night, pain that felt like a knife in my back pinned me to the couch. Whether you're a week­end warrior, an elite athlete, or somewhere in between, there's a strong chance that eventually you'll deal with back pain, too. Here's why: Everyday activities that you do without thinking — sitting at the computer, slipping on a pair of shoes, crawling into bed at night — can make or break your spine health. Most aches are caused by strains (injured muscles or tendons) o...

Over the years I’m sure I’ve lost over 100 pounds — the same 10 pounds, 10 times! And so many of my patients tell me the same thing, I wonder how many American women (and their daughters) are on a diet on any given day. We spend billions of dollars a year on diets and weight loss products, yet nearly two-thirds of us are overweight — a trend that’s steadily inching upwards along with our waistlines! Never mind that all these weight loss efforts don’t work, we are putting ourselves through hell to get nowhere. I’ve seen women willing to sacrifice just about anything to lose weight – even their health and well-being. But when I tell women I have a solution for them that doesn’t involve suffering or a magical pill, many say, “Oh, come on, Marcelle, can I really lose weight the natural way?” The answer, I assure you, is “Yes!” I wholeheartedly believe you can lose weight, and that you can do it naturally without starving yourself, without eating food that doesn’t resemble food, withou...