Botox for Breast Lifts

Botox is a wonder drug, if you listen to Botox proponents. It’s not only being used to fill in wrinkles, it is truly helping people with physical problems, such as muscles that spasm and cause contractions. And now, there’s even another use for Botox (Clostridium botulinum toxin type A): breast enhancement.

Last year, news reports out of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) annual meeting reported that injecting Botox into the pectoralis minor muscle in the chest, causes the back muscles to lift the breast, giving the appearance of a breast lift. It only works, however, on small-small breasts (A or B cups).

The technique also helps fight against slouching, say doctors and patients. Of course, proper posture does the same thing, right? But the women who had the procedure did say that it’s more difficult to slouch after they’ve had the injection. Botox into both breasts: one to two thousand dollars. Fixing your posture: free.

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Women Who Walk Have Lower Stroke Risk

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Women, do you like to walk? Do you walk regularly? Do you walk briskly? If you do, you may be lowering your risk of having a stroke, say researchers. This is good news for women who prefer walking as a form of exercise over others, such as swimming, biking, or jogging.

A long-term study, called the Women’s Health Study, has been looking at women and their lives for several years. According to a study published online in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, almost 39,000 women, 45 years or older, who were in the group reported their physical activity and health status. Five hundred seventy nine women experienced at least one stroke during the 12-year period.

The research involved about 39,000 female health workers 45 or older enrolled in the Women’s Health Study. The women were periodically asked about their physical activity. During 12 years of follow-up, 579 had strokes. What was found was women who reported regularly taking brisk walks had a 37% lower risk of having a stroke than those women who did not walk regularly. And those who walked at least two hours every week, regardless of pace, had a 30% lower risk.

Women who said they walked briskly had a 37 percent lower risk of stroke than those who didn’t walk. Women who reported walking at least two hours a week at any pace had a 30 percent lower risk. This is an encouraging finding because many women prefer walking and up until now, some women have been led to believe that vigorous exercise is needed to have any health benefits. However, this isn’t necessarily the case.

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Photo: MorgueFile.com

Repeat STI Rate in Urban Girls Almost 100%

I know, we don’t want to think of our daughters, especially in their teens, as having sex. I also know that many of them do have sex. So, whether you’re ready to deal with it or not, here are a few numbers you should be aware of:

Half of urban teenage girls may acquire at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections (STI) within two years of becoming sexually active.

Ok, some might say. STIs can be treated. The rebuttal to that is: yes and no.

Sure, some STIs can be successfully treated. But, there’s a big “but.”

1. The STI has to be identified.
2. The girl has to be willing to have it treated.
3. The girl has to seek treatment.
4. The girl has to be sure that she completes the treatment properly.
5. The girl has to be sure that it has worked.

Oh, and one more step: Read more

Fibrocystic Breast

Women will in general have some lumps in their breast; the lumps will more than likely be found in the upper outer area of their breast. These lumps are common, but do not increase their risk for breast cancer.

Past studies showed there was a higher risk for breast cancer in women diagnosed with fibrocystic breast, more recent studies have shown that these women are not in a higher risk category.

Fibrocystic breast are usually not found to be malignant, but the lumps may cause you some discomfort.

The cysts or fluid- filled sacs caused by this disease will tend to get larger during the end of your menstrual cycle, due to the fact that your body is retaining more fluid.

Cysts may be so small that you can hardly feel them, while others may be the size of an egg. Larger cysts can be moved around and change their shape. Fibrocystic tumors will have a firm, smooth rubbery feel to them they also have a definite shape and can be moved with little pressure applied to the surface of your skin.

Lumps may be found if a woman experiences any of the following:

• If you have had an injury or some infections in your breast at some point you may also find lumps in your breast.
• Fibroadenomas: Younger women may experience lumps caused by these benign tumors as well.
• Lipoma: lumps caused by fatty tissue.
• Intraductal Papilloma: blocked milk duct.

As yet researchers have not proven what may cause cysts, but it seems as though they appear in younger women when their hormone levels are higher. Generally cysts will disappear after a woman has gone through menopause.

Fibrocystic breast symptoms

• Breast that are sensitive or tender to the touch.
• Painful or non painful lumps in the breast.
• Evidence of discharge from the nipples.

Viagra for Women? Well, Sort of

Viagra for men – and the similar drugs that followed after – is a huge, huge money maker for big pharmaceuticals. You have to give them credit. They found a need and they filled it; they rose to the challenge (pun intended ).

But now, the target is women. Women do experience sexual dysfunction. Many women would love to have satisfying sex lives but don’t because of various issues. While some researchers are actively working on medications to help women with their sexual desire, some discover a treatment by accident, as did researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

The researchers were looking at a medication called flibanserin, an antidepressant. But what the researchers found by pooling information from three separate trials, was that flibanserin also helped boost sexual libido in women who were living with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder. In fact, the medication turned out to be a lousy antidepressant, but an effective libido-enhancing one.

Women who have difficulty with sex drive often live in silence. Their inability to enjoy sex isn’t quite as obvious as a man who can’t develop or maintain an erection. But the inability or the lack of desire to have sex in women can be just as devastating as erectile dysfunction is in many men.

According to this article, Viagra for women? Drug developed as antidepressant effective in treating low libido, between 9% to 26% of women, depending on age and menopausal status, have hypoactive sexual disorder (low sex drive).  The article says, “The researchers concluded that treatment with 100 milligrams of flibanserin once a day was associated with significant improvements versus placebo in the number of satisfying sexual events.”

What do you think? Would you take a medication to increase your sex drive?

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FDA Approves Lysteda to Treat Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

PRESS RELEASE

FDA Approves Lysteda to Treat Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Lysteda tablets (tranexamic acid), the first non-hormonal product cleared to treat heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia). Lysteda works by stabilizing a protein that helps blood to clot.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is reported each year by about 3 million U.S. women of reproductive age. Women with uterine fibroids may experience heavy menstrual periods. But in most cases, there is no underlying health condition associated with the condition.

“Menorrhagia can be incapacitating for some women,” said Kathleen Uhl, M.D., FDA’s associate commissioner of women’s health. “Heavy menstrual periods can cause pain, mood swings, and disruptions to work and family life.”

Tranexamic acid was first approved by the FDA in 1986 as an injection, under the brand name Cyklokapron, and is used to reduce or prevent bleeding during and following tooth extraction in patients with hemophilia, a hereditary bleeding disorder caused by the lack of a blood clotting factor.

The most common adverse reactions reported during clinical trials by patients using Lysteda included headache, sinus and nasal symptoms, back pain, abdominal pain, muscle and joint pain, muscle cramps, anemia, and fatigue. There was a statistically significant reduction in menstrual blood loss in women who received Lysteda, compared with those taking an inactive pill (placebo).

Use of Lysteda while taking hormonal contraceptives may increase the risk of blood clots, stroke, or heart attack, according to Scott Monroe, M.D., director of the Division of Reproductive and Urologic Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Women using hormonal contraception should take Lysteda only if there is a strong medical need, and if the benefit of treatment will outweigh the potential increased risk.

Lysteda is manufactured by Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals of Newport, Ky.

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