How To Handle Ectopic Pregnancy

Pregnancy begins with a fertilized egg and the fertilized eggs attaches to the lining of the uterus. 

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants grows outside the main cavity of the uterus.

Ectopic pregnancy mostly occurs in a fallopian tube which carries eggs from the ovaries to the uterus. 

This type of ectopic pregnancy is called a tubal pregnancy. 

Sometimes ectopic pregnancy occurs in other areas of the body, such as the ovary, abdominal cavity or the lower part of the uterus (cervix), which connects to the vagina.

The fertilized egg can't survive, and the growing tissue may cause life-threatening bleeding, if left untreated.

Symptoms

Symptoms might not surface at first. However, some women who have an ectopic pregnancy have the usual early signs or symptoms of pregnancy as a missed period may occur, breast tenderness and nausea.

If you take a pregnancy test, the result will be positive. Still, an ectopic pregnancy can't continue as normal.

As the fertilized egg grows in the improper place, signs and symptoms become more noticeable.

Early warning of ectopic pregnancy

Often, the first warning signs of an ectopic pregnancy are light vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain.

If blood leaks from the fallopian tube, you may feel shoulder pain or an urge to have a bowel movement. Your specific symptoms depend on where the blood collects and which nerves are irritated.

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World Health Organization Releases Method To tackle Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH)

This is excessive bleeding after birth of a child and this has affects millions of women globally and this has been the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths.

Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results is over 70 000 deaths every yearly.

To the survivors, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for a long period of time even years.

“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. 

“This new charts will pave a path to the world in which more women will have a safe delivery and a healthy future with their families.”

The methods aims to help countries tackle stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. 

Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

The cause and the high risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.

Other risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. 

If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. 

Health facilities and other necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.

“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. 

“Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”

A woman is estimated to die every 120 minutes from causes relating to pregnancy or childbirth. 

There has been limited progress in reducing these deaths since 2015 and the world is off-track for meeting related Sustainable Development Goal targets.

Priority actions include: the development of new and broader guidance for PPH covering prevention, detection and treatment; research to deliver innovations and to increase access to proven interventions; the establishment of a new procurement mechanism to improve the supply of high quality medicines and commodities; advocacy and awareness-building, and, at the country level, training and facility-based improvements.

This method has taken through extensive consultations involving more than 130 experts across diverse fields, while implementation will be guided by an interdisciplinary steering committee.

WHO and partners will provide specialized technical support to countries to adapt global guidelines into national policies, starting where there is the highest burden of maternal deaths.

WHO acknowledges the contributions and commitments of several partners, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Financing Facility, MSD for Mothers, Unitaid, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), Jhpiego, Laerdal Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

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Benefits Of Tiger Nuts, Dates And Coconut

Yoruba call it OFIO, Hausa call it AYA, Igbo call it AKI AWUSA. There are lots of benefit of tiger nuts that should come to mind.

The homeland of the plant is North Africa and the Mediterranean. The reason tiger nuts are very useful for pregnant women.

Eating it regularly, you get a lot of vitamins and prevent many diseases.

It’s interesting that during the excavation, archaeologists discovered this plant near Thebes (the capital of Ancient Egypt). It was in tombs formed in the II-III millennium B.C. In addition, Pliny, Theophrastus and Herodotus mentioned the plant in their works. Thus, tiger nut is a plant with a centuries-old history. How can it be useful for us today?

Benefits of tiger nuts

It is a valuable food product with medicinal properties. Actually, there are a lot of advantages of tiger nuts. It helps to activate brain cells, increases energy has positive impact on immune system and much more, tiger nut tea cleans the body from toxins.

It’s a source of natural protein, vitamins, minerals. Tger nuts are eaten raw or recycled into butter. By the way, it’s not worth than olive oil in quality and nutritional value. It smells like almond. It is used in cooking and in cosmetic industry too.

Tiger nuts are rich in fiber

This is one of the main reasons why you should eat tiger nut. The product has high fiber content. It consists about 33%. A study conducted in 2009 showed that 100g tiger nut flour has about 60 g dietary fiber. There is predominantly the insoluble dietary fiber that is higher unlike other well-know fiber sources. For example, oats, carrots, jack beans, apple, rice and so on.

Health benefits of tiger nuts in case of lactose intolerance

The good new for those who can’t take cow milk. If it is contraindicated for you, tiger nuts milk will help you. The benefits of tiger nuts milk are rather significant. It doesn’t contain lactose and everyone can drink it. This type of milk is rich in calcium and good for children because it contributes to bone building. It has high nutrition value and fat content.

High content of E and C vitamins

Studies showed that tiger nuts contains a lot of vitamins and minerals. Vitamin C, E, and also potassium and phosphorus were founded in this food product. The doctors recommend to drink yogurt made of tiger nut milk and cow’s milk because of high content of E and C vitamins.

Source of magnesium

Magnesium is very important for good functioning of our body. It’s scientifically proved. It’s also known that 100 g flour of tiger nuts has about 15% of magnesium. Due to this tiger nuts are useful for nervous system, muscle function, maintain the level of sugar in body, and also has positive impact on bones.

Rich in Arginine

The tiger nuts are also rich in amino acids. One of them is Arginine. It helps to normalize blood vessels functioning and good blood flow as a whole. The doctors recommend to eat tiger nuts in heart diseases, muscle cramps, clogged arteries, headaches and so on.

High content of potassium

Potassium is an inherent part of our health. We should eat food that contains these minerals. In this case, tiger nut is very good. It provides normal functioning of our organs and cells. Please note, that this is also very good for heart.

Benefits for diabetics

As we said earlier, tiger nut flour contains insoluble dietary fiber. It means that tiger nut helps to regulate blood sugar level. It’s very important for people who suffer from diabetes. Are tiger nuts fattening? If they are useful for diabetics, they can’t be harmful for those who want to be in form or lose weight. The main rule is to eat them in moderation.It’s also due to high content of monounsaturated fatty acids.

Benefits for digestion

Tiger nuts are used for treatment of different digestive problems. If you have some irritable bowels, stomach upsets or something yet, eat tiger nuts.

Benefits of tiger nuts in pregnancy

Tiger nuts are very useful for pregnant women. This food product helps to fight lethargy and apathy during pregnancy. It gives a charge of vivacity and saturates a body of pregnant woman with all necessary vitamins. Tiger nuts reduces blood sugar level, immune system and has positive impact on nervous system. To avoid negative consequences, it’s better to consult a doctor.

You can also make drink from tiger nuts, dates and coconut. It contains a lot of vitamins and saturates the body with all necessary substances. Here you will find one of the recipes you can use to make this drink. It’s good for those who can’t drink cow’s milk. Some Nigerians say that it’s even more delicious than usual milk.

Benefits of dates and coconut

We can talk about benefits of dates and coconut for a long time. These plants has not less benefits than tiger nuts. The coconut, for example, also contains potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin E, C, folate and fiber. The pulp of coconut improves digestion and vision, restores strength, increases immunity. It also prevents the occurrence of cardiovascular and oncological diseases. It has an anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial effect. The coconut is useful for skin. Women often use coconut cream and oil to improve, refresh and tone up their skin. The benefits of coconut is invaluable.

As for dates benefits, they contain a large amount of dietary fiber (6.7 g per 100 g of product). Dietary fibers normalize digestion, clean a body from toxins, have positive impact on immunity. They are recommended as a substitute of sugar. They are useful with rich energy value - 277 kcal in 100 grams. They are nutritious give energy and strength. Due to calcium, dates provide strength of bones, skeleton and teeth.

Now you know about health benefits of tiger nuts, dates and coconut. The proper nutrition is an important part of health. The previously mentioned food products can help you to keep yourself in good form and feel good. Besides, healthy food is more delicious than junk food. You just need to realize their benefits and see the result. Eat right!

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While Sugar Consumption During Pregnancy Is Not Safe

It is no news that pregnancy shows the stages of motherhood that is just about to begin.

However, during pregnancy, you need to be careful regarding your consumption, dress code and the products you use! Women need to be particularly careful about what they consume after conceiving.

Discarding junk food and taking foods with key nutrients is important as it is consuming  at the right time and in the right amounts.

The development of the foetus and future health prospects depends a lot on diet followed by the mother.

Is the consumption of Sugar good While Pregnant?

Women consume a good amount of sugar through various dishes and drinks they consume due to the fact that they believe that men should not consume more of sugar because of malfunctioning while for women they have no issues.

However, sugar intake needs to be kept within limit after a woman has conceived.

Excessive sugar consumption can be counter-productive both for the woman and the foetus she is carrying in her womb.

Drawbacks Of Excess Sugar Consumption In Pregnancy:

1. Aggravation Of Pregnancy Symptoms:

Eating too much sugar during pregnancy can be harmful. When you get pregnant, occasional vomiting, heart burn and mood swings are natural.

However, when you keep on consuming excessive sugar through foods the symptoms can persist and become aggregated.

The best way is keeping them under check by eating small amounts of sugar after you conceive.

2. Nutritional Deficit:

During pregnancy, it is normal for women to develop a craving for specific foods. These include pickles, Ice creams, burgers and so on. Most of these are laden with extra fat and sugar.

When you indulge in sugary foods, the nutritional intake takes a nosedive. It is detrimental both for the mother and fetus.

3. Aggravates Feeling Of Tiredness:

It is commonplace among pregnant women to feel lethargic and devoid of energy at times. Eating much sugar can only heighten this feeling. Sugary drinks and foods generally contain sucrose, which causes blood glucose level surge followed by a fall in energy.

4. It Can Make Baby Craving For More Sugar:

Research has shown women who crave for sugary foods in pregnancy, have kids who grow up as sugar craving lot too. This actually paves way for obesity and related ailments in the long run.

5. Weight Gain:

Eating sugar during pregnancy causes weight gain.While all women gain some amount of weight during pregnancy, those who intake, excess sugar put on more weight than usual. They also find it harder to shed the excess flab after childbirth.

Tips To Reduce Sugar Consumption In Pregnancy:

Doctors advise low-sugar intake when you are pregnant. It helps in keeping blood sugar levels in check and promotes a healthier weight gain.

It also helps battle gestational diabetes – a condition, some women get afflicted with during pregnancy.

This however does not mean you should stop taking sugar in any forms when you conceive.

Below listed are a few helpful tips women can use to consume sugar safely in pregnancy:

1. Limit Consumption Of Sugary Snacks And Foods:

It will be tough for women with a fetus in womb to stop eating sugary foods altogether, owing to strong cravings that can arise. However limit eating pastries, cakes, ice creams and sweet snacks as much as possible.

2. Include Sweet Fruits In Your Diet:

When a sugar craving hits you in pregnancy, eat sweet fruits like mango, strawberry and pineapple. They contain natural sugar, but you will also get a lot of vitamins and minerals in the process. These are beneficial for the health of both mother and fetus. You may also make fruit juice at home but do not add sugar and be content with the natural sweetness of the fruits.

3. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners:

Pregnant women need to evade using artificial sweeteners. They can be harmful and some studies have shown the reasons Using healthier alternatives like coconut sugar and honey is a better idea for them.

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Unwanted Pregnancies, Abortions Among Youths, Pupils and Students Raises Concern

Zoe Choosers Foundation founder has observed that the trending of unwanted pregnancies among youths, students in Kwara State is impacting negatively on educational development in the state. 

File photo

Some experts in healthcare delivery units in Kwara State have expressed concern over the increasing rate of unwanted pregnancies and abortions among primary and secondary school pupils in Kwara State, PUNCH reports.

Speaking during an event held at the Government Girls’ Day Secondary School in Ilorin, the state capital, on Wednesday, the Founder, Zoe Choosers Foundation, Abimbola Obaje, observed that the development is impacting negatively on educational development in the state.

Obaje noted that despite advocacy programmes and health campaigns organised by non-governmental organisations in the state to raise awareness for the dangers of early pregnancies and abortions among teenagers, some pupils had either lost their lives or damaged their organs in the process of abortions.

She said, “There are many non-governmental organisations that give out contraceptives to pupils.

Although some of them preach abstinence, abortion is still very rampant even among teenagers in primary and secondary schools.

“In some of the schools I have visited, I found some pregnant female pupils. This bothers me a lot.

I believe that the most common reason why pupils indulge in abortion is the social stigma attached to unplanned or early pregnancy.

Many of them are afraid that their parents will disown and send them packing if their pregnancies are discovered. That is what leads them to attempt an abortion.

“Some of these girls go to quacks to abort their babies. Some of the girls die in the process or get their uterus ruptured.

Also, there are many post abortion diseases that these girls get infected with. We need to show them love.”

Obaje urged parents and guardians to ensure that they expose their children and wards to sex education so as to prevent early pregnancy and abortion.

“Nowadays, children are exposed to a lot of things, including the social media and television.

I know some parents are saying that they cannot talk to their children about sex, but I believe that if these kids are educated about such things when they are still very young, they learn how to handle some situations in the future.”

She also called on the Federal Government and religious organisations to engage in more enlightement campaigns on the dangers abortion.

Also, the co-Founder, Abi-Clinics, Mrs. Taiwo Oshodi-Abikan, said it was imperative to expose pupils to sex education and the dangers of early pregnancy and abortion.

She said, “We have heard of cases of severe bleeding among school girls due to poorly handled abortions.

This is unhealthy for the development of the girls and the general society. We need to have proper sex education, especially in our homes.

"Parents and their children need to communicate with one another, so they will know how to prevent unwanted pregnancy in the future.

On the other hand, government should provide more facilities that are open to planned parenthood.”

SOURCE: NIGERIA NEWS UPDATE

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Stress During Pregnancy Affects Baby’s Health

A new study has reported that babies are physically affected by the stress level of the mother during pregnancy. It has been previously found that adversity in the womb enhances or hampers offspring development and performance.

Researchers from The Universities of New Mexico and Göttingen, as well as the German Primate Center, have now proposed a hypothesis that largely predicts why there are highly variable patterns in the growth rates of disadvantaged offspring across 719 studies on 21 mammal species.

“The idea is that prenatal stress affects offspring in two different ways depending on the timing of the stressor during pregnancy — yielding different outcomes before birth, after birth, and after weaning” says Andreas Berghänel, evolutionary anthropologist at The University of New Mexico and lead author of the study.

For example, prenatal maternal stress late in gestation causes mothers to invest less energy in their offspring, which leads to slower grow in the womb and during infancy. Once the baby has reached nutritional independence, however, they are no longer affected directly by their mother’s provisioning, and consequently grow at the same rate as non-disadvantaged offspring. Thus, maternal stress late in gestation leads to slow growth during dependent phases, but doesn’t affect growth later.

By contrast, prenatal maternal stress early in gestation additionally causes the fetus to be entirely reprogrammed to deal with a reduced life expectancy. To “make the best of a bad job,” the early challenged offspring switches to an accelerated pace of life and grows and matures faster than unchallenged offspring to ensure that it reproduces before it dies. Once set on the fast track, the offspring under early prenatal maternal stress remain on this trajectory even after weaning and therefore overshoot the usual body size for age throughout development.

“These new results may bear some translational value for understanding why girls start their menstrual cycles earlier in poorer neighborhoods.” In combination, an infant’s acceleration of their developmental processes together with a deceleration due to reduced maternal investment could then cancel each other out during phases of intense maternal investment — gestation and lactation. It is not until the infant is nutritionally independent that the programming effects become clear.

This new comparative study finds all of these predictions are supported in a large sample of studies that each measured the effects of prenatal stress on offspring size and growth compared to an unchallenged control group.

“We found that stress during late gestation reduces offspring growth during dependence, resulting in a reduced body size throughout development, whereas stress during early gestation results in largely unaffected growth rates during dependence but accelerated growth and increased size after weaning,” says Berghänel.

All stressors seem to have the same effect, and the results are stable across a variety of experiments. Whether mothers were exposed directly to stressors via food restriction or other adversities or were experimentally manipulated to increase their “stress hormones” for example, cortisol, the patterns of offspring growth across developmental stage relative to the timing of the stressor remained the same.

These new results may bear some translational value for understanding why girls start their menstrual cycles earlier in poorer neighborhoods, why teenage pregnancies are more frequent in disadvantaged families, and why adverse conditions during early development, particularly in formula-fed children, often lead to obesity and other metabolic health problems later in life.

Maternal stress during gestation causes numerous effects on infant physiology that extend well into adulthood. Empirical tests of this hypothesis across mammals suggest that the timing of the stressor during gestation and a simultaneous consideration of maternal investment and adaptive growth plasticity effects are crucial for a full comprehension of prenatal stress effects on offspring growth. The results support an adaptive life history perspective on maternal effects that is relevant for evolutionary biology, medicine, and psychology.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN

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Fruits That Increases Miscarriage

We are familiar with various fruits and we are in position to know that fruits are very good for the body and good for the health as told by the health expert. But considering this facts,  pregnant women should be very careful. 

In the first 3 months of pregnancy, pregnant women that have morning sickness often eat fruits to reduce symptoms of morning sickness. Some people consider eating fruits as a way to provide important nutrients. However, mothers should know that some fruits among foods that you provide for your body every day can cause high risk of miscarriage.

The following fruits should be avoided by pregnant women:

Pineapple

According to health researchers, in the first 3 months of pregnancy, pregnant women shouldn’t eat and drink fresh pineapple or pineapple juice because this kind of fruit can cause spasm for uterus and as a result, it will lead to miscarriage, diarrhea or allergy for pregnant women. The reason is that fresh pineapple contains Bromelain that can make uterus become soft and it will create substance that can destroy foetus.

In the first 3 months of pregnancy, pregnant women shouldn’t eat and drink fresh pineapple or pineapple juice.

However, if it’s past anticipating date of giving birth, pineapple can be useful for you. But, it doesn’t mean that using pineapple to stimulate giving birth because each of the fresh pineapple only contains a small amount of Bromelain. If you eat 7 pineapples per day, you can recognize spasm of uterus.

Longan

According to oriental medicine, longan has sweet taste. It is very useful, helps you tranquillize. Many people like longan; however, pregnant women shouldn’t eat this kind of fruit a lot. The reason is that pregnant women often have inside hot phenomenon, foetal derangement, bleed and have bellyache, have pain in low belly. It can even cause harm for fetus and lead to miscarriage.

In pregnancy, pregnant women shouldn’t take this much of this fruit.

Camellia

Camellia has sweet, acrid, sour taste, so it is very suitable with pregnant women that have morning sickness. However, this kind of fruit isn’t really good for pregnant women. According to result of many documents, camellia has effect in making uterus excited, it can improve uterus to pulsate. As a result, it can lead to miscarriage and premature birth.

Camellia isn’t really good for pregnant women.

Green papaw

Many researches show that green papaw or papaw that isn’t ripen completely contains a lot of enzymes and pus. They can make uterus have spasm, and as a result, it will cause miscarriage. Moreover, green papaw contains prostaglandin and oxytocin that are necessary for the body to start for time when babies are born. So if you eat green papaw, you can have miscarriage when it isn’t time for giving birth.

However, ripen papaw is good for pregnant women. Therefore, mothers shouldn’t consider ripen papaw as green papaw and abstain both of them.

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Follow Step By Step On Your Pregnancy

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