Posts Tagged ‘Uterus’

Leg Cramps during Pregnancy – causes, tips and treatment.

Leg cramps are a common problem for many women during pregnancy. Most leg cramps are caused by fatigue of carrying the weight that is put into textron during pregnancy. As you gain more weight, leg cramps may increase. Cramps can also be aggravated by pressure from the expanding uterus on blood vessels that return blood from the legs to the heart and from nerves to the legs. Leg cramps can occur at any time, but most likely it occurs at bedtime.
Leg cramps start during the second trimester and may get worse as the pregnancy progresses and the belly gets bigger. While, these cramps can occur during the day, but they are most noticeable at night and they can interfere with the ability to sleep well at night.

Causes:
Several things can lead to painful leg cramps during pregnancy.
For starters, the muscles that withstand the increasing weight of your baby, and probably feel the tension. Growth of the uterus (womb) is also putting pressure on the main vein in your legs. This, combined with the effects of progesterone, a hormone of pregnancy, affects the blood flow and therefore, the muscle tone in the legs.

Leg cramps may also be happening because they lack certain nutrients and salts such as calcium or magnesium. You can have low levels of these circulating in the blood because your baby is getting what it needs from supplies and leaving your body short of these nutrients.However, it is unclear whether taking supplements such as calcium or magnesium salts, helps prevent cramps.

Tips and Treatment:
Person must try these tips to fend off leg cramps:
- Avoid standing or sitting with legs crossed for long periods of time.
- Stretch the calf muscles regularly during the day and several times before going to bed.
- Rotate the ankles and toes when you sit, eat dinner or watch television.
- Take a walk every day, unless the doctor has advised not to exercise.
- Avoid getting too tired. Lie on the left side to improve circulation to and from the legs.
- Stay hydrated during the day by drinking fluids regularly.
- Try a warm bath before bedtime to relax the muscles.

There are lot of home remedies that can also help to cure the problem:
- Soak your feet in warm water every day before going to bed. This helps to relax the calf muscles and prevent cramps and swelling in the evening. Add the mint to the water and soak your feet in reliving the pain instantly. If your feet swell during the day, then you must use a compression of hot water and a towel or a hot water bottle on the feet to soothe muscles. Sitting for the day and complete their tasks in this way or take a short nap to make sure your body some rest.
- Taking a magnesium supplement in addition to a prenatal vitamin may help some women avoid leg cramps. Well, having leg cramps is a sign that you need more calcium, and calcium supplements. Although it is certainly important to get enough calcium, there is no good evidence that taking calcium supplements help prevent leg cramps during pregnancy.

If you have a cramp, immediately stretch the calf muscles: Straighten the leg, heel first and slightly flexible toes toward the shins. It may hurt at first, but will relieve the spasm and pain will gradually disappear. A doctor can also be called for help if the signs continue to persist for long time.

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Treatment options available for treating Uterine Fibroids

Uterine fibroids are the most common pelvic tumors in women, occurring in approximately 30% of women over the age of 35. Although fibroids are benign (non-cancerous), they may produce a wide variety of symptoms including excessive bleeding leading to iron deficiency anemia, pain and pressure sensations, and even obstruction of the bowel or urinary tract.
While it is often easier to treat smaller fibroids than larger ones, many of the small fibroids never will need to be treated.

Treatment with medicines

Abnormal vaginal bleeding caused by fibroids may require scraping of the uterine cavity in a procedure known as a D&C. If no malignancy (cancer) is found, this bleeding often can be controlled by hormonal medications. You may be given nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, oral contraceptives (birth control pills), gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists, or RU-486.

Surgery

Surgery options for treatment have both risks and benefits.
- Myomectomy is the surgical removal of the fibroids only. This can be accomplished through hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, or, less frequently, an open procedure (an incision in your abdomen). The surgical approach depends on the size and location of your fibroid.
- Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus (and fibroids). It is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the treatment of fibroids and is considered a cure. Depending on the size of the fibroid, hysterectomy can be performed through your vagina or abdomen.
- Uterine artery embolization, or clotting of the arterial blood supply to the fibroid, is an innovative approach that has shown promising results. This procedure is done by inserting a catheter (small tube) into an artery of the leg (the femoral artery), using special x-ray video to trace the arterial blood supply to the uterus, then clotting the artery with tiny plastic or gelatin sponge particles the size of grains of sand.
- In a laparotomy, an incision is made in the abdomen to reach the uterus. The advantage of this is that large fibroids can be quickly removed. The surgeon is able to feel the uterus, which is helpful in locating myomas that may be deep in the uterine wall. The disadvantage of a laparotomy is that it requires an abdominal incision.

Fibroids – Benign tumors in women, types and its symptoms.

Fibroids are benign tumours, which grow on the outside, inside or within the smooth muscle in the wall of the uterus. They are not cancers. In very rare cases, a rapidly growing fibroid may become cancerous. This happens to one in a thousand pre-menopausal women, although the risk rises to one in a hundred for women diagnosed with rapidly growing fibroids after menopause. Fibroids are very common and can affect 20 percent of women over the age of 30.

Fibroids often occur in women with elevated levels of estrogen. These elevated levels are usually due to the fact that the liver has been unable to process the food properly to get rid of the excessive estrogen. A diet which puts stress on the liver is one which is rich in saturated fats, with dairy products and red meat forming a large part of it; along with sugar based foods like chocolates.

Some fibroids can be as small as a pea, but others can be as large as a seven- or eight-month-old foetus.
Fibroids are given different names depending on where and how they grow:
- Submucosal fibroids grow on the inside of the womb and extend into the uterine cavity.
- Intramural fibroids grow within the uterine wall (the wall of the womb).
- Subserol fibroids grow on the outside of the womb, on the lining between the uterus and the pelvic cavity.
- Penduculated fibroids can be attached either to the inside or outside wall of the womb, and they are characterised by a stalk

Symptoms of Fibroids

The two most common symptoms of fibroids are:
- Heavy menstrual bleeding : Women with fibroids often have longer periods, which may last seven or more days. These periods may be unusually heavy, sometimes requiring a woman to change her pad or tampon hourly.
- A feeling of pressure in the pelvis : When a fibroid grows large, it can cause a feeling of pressure in the pelvis. Pressure can cause frequent urination, pain during intercourse, constipation, abdominal bloating, abdominal pain and/or back ache.