Taking Drugs While Pregnant

Early pregnancy bleeding is surprisingly common, and it is always worrying. Therefore, care must be taken, as it may be dangerous to the life of the woman. There are many causes which are included in the following:

#1. Abnormalities of the cervix, such as erosion (ulceration), polyp (growth) and cancer of the cervix. In these conditions, there is a slight irregular bleeding with no pain. The woman should be referred to a doctor.

#2.  Abortion – in this, the woman has abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding which may be mild or severe. If this occurs in the first two months of pregnancy and the symptoms are mild, advice the woman to stay in bed until three days after all bleeding has stopped. If bleeding stops, this was probably a threatened abortion and the fetus may go on to term. Advice the woman not to go on journeys nor to do any heavy work, and to avoid sexual intercourse until about the 24th week of pregnancy. If bleeding and abdominal pain get worse, the fetus cannot be saved. This is an inevitable abortion; if possible the woman should be taken to the health centre or hospital. If this is not possible give Ergot two tablets, watch the condition and what is passed from the vagina. If a woman having an abortion develops fever, this is likely to be a septic abortion and is dangerous. She should be taken to the health centre or hospital without delay. Antibiotics or triple sulphia should be started. Read the rest of this entry »

Sunshine, not food, is where most of your vitamin D comes from. So even a healthy and well balanced diet, that provides all the other vitamins and nutrients, is unlikely to provide enough vitamin D. To get enough vitamin D you need to spend some time outside with some bare skin on most days during the summer months.

How is vitamin D different to other nutrients?

You make vitamin D under your skin when you are outside in daylight, which is the reason vitamin D is sometimes called the sunshine vitamin. By definition, a vitamin is a nutrient that we cannot make in our body. Vitamin D is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin. Very few foods contain vitamin D naturally.

What does vitamin D do in your body?

Vitamin D makes sure you absorb enough calcium for your bones and teeth. Even if you have a calcium-rich diet, without enough vitamin D you cannot absorb calcium into the body. Its importance as a hormone is also being recognised. It helps maintain a healthy immune system and reduces the risk of some forms of cancer. Population studies suggest that lack of vitamin D may increase the risk of chronic health conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

Read the rest of this entry »

Many women experience cramping during pregnancy. While cramping during pregnancy may be a sign something is wrong, often it is a normal side effect of pregnancy. How do you know if cramping is normal or not? Let’s look at cramping in more detail so you understand why it may happen and what is going on in your body during pregnancy.

Cramping In Early Pregnancy

During each of my three pregnancies, I experienced cramping during early pregnancy. During my first pregnancy this cramping concerned me to no end. I experienced cramping from pregnancy weeks 2 through about week 12. Sometimes my cramps were so severe I was confident I was going to have a miscarriage or get my period.

When I had my third child, I knew I was pregnant because I had cramping that was really bad right before I was supposed to get my period, but I had no period. Why does the body cramp so badly? There are many reasons. First, many different changes are occurring in your body during early pregnancy. As your body prepares for ovulation, you may feel cramping on one or both sides of your abdomen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pregnancy is very tricky it happens, when one does not want and does not happen when one desperately tries to get pregnant. So planning is a bit out of reach most of the times. When the woman after 4 to 5 years period of marriage fails to conceive, it becomes mandatory that medical help available should be sought.

Dial a Help:

Simple to complex methods are available like intrauterine insemination, hormone therapy for both the husband and lady after ultrasound investigation of the lady and sperm count and motility of the sperms, which can be determined by laboratory checkup of the semen sample.

About 20 years ago ‘test tube baby’ was hot news, now it is a reality. If other methods available fail, one can try test tube baby to at least have a baby to leave as your heir. The procedure is called in vitro fertilization, the objective is to get the egg fertilized in the laboratory and then to implant in the uterus. Hormone therapy is given to increase the success rate of pregnancy. The initial procedure has been improved upon and called Assisted Reproductive Technology. This new technology has successfully employed on a large scale.

Read the rest of this entry »

Un-planned Second pregnancy happens quite frequently in young couples and is a cause of tension because the first child is still milk feeding and has not reached an age to self manage any of the nursing functions. The mother is worried how to bring up the two children of small age. Some times the budget of the couple does not permit to have two children within a period of just say 2 years.

Momentary Feelings:

Such a situation is very embarrassing even just to talk of, actual condition is much more complex. The information, which one learns in the next month of missed period makes one difficult to believer or accept. There are very wild thoughts coming in mind what to do of this pregnancy, to carry it through or go for its termination. One parent proposes of carrying through, whereas the second parent insists for termination. For months no decision can be arrived at and the pregnancy proceeds to be delivered.

Read the rest of this entry »

What is a miscarriage?

It is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy that occurs during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, most commonly before 12 weeks. After 20 weeks the loss of the pregnancy is called a stillbirth. About 1 in 7 recognised pregnancies will miscarry and about 1 in 3 women will experience a miscarriage during their reproductive life. A miscarriage may occur so early in a pregnancy that a woman may have been unaware that she was pregnant. These miscarriages are often unreported. Sometimes a doctor or nurse may refer to a miscarriage as a “spontaneous abortion”. “Abortion” is the common medical term given to all pregnancies that end before 20 weeks (both miscarriages and terminations). Miscarriage can be a difficult and traumatic experience for some women. For others, it may happen so early that the pregnancy was undetected.

Why does miscarriage occur?

It is generally unknown what causes miscarriages. Basically, miscarriage occurs because the foetus did not develop properly, probably because of a chromosomal or other genetic abnormality. The pregnancy is not normal and miscarriage is nature’s way of taking care of the problem.

Read the rest of this entry »

Contributing Editor: Marcia L. Buck, Pharm.D.; Editorial Board: Kristi N. Hofer, Pharm.D.; Michelle W. McCarthy, Pharm.D.

Introduction

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is the most common symptomatic arrhythmia of childhood, occurring in 1 in 250 to 1,000 children. In October 1989, adenosine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the conversion of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) to sinus rhythm. Even before approval by the FDA, adenosine was studied in the management of infants and children with SVT. Some of the initial studies were conducted at the University of Virginia by John DiMarco and colleagues, who were also involved in its development. Twenty years of accumulated experience have substantiated the efficacy of adenosine and revealed a relatively low incidence of serious adverse effects in patients who undergo treatment. This issue of Pediatric Pharmacotherapy will provide an overview of adenosine and provide recommendations for its use in infants and children with SVT.

Mechanism of Action

Adenosine is an endogenous purine nucleoside present in cells throughout the body. It is formed by breakdown of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or 5-adenosylhomocysteine. While the multiple roles of endogenous adenosine are still being investigated, it is known to aid in maintaining the balance between oxygen delivery and demand by dilating the coronaries and slowing heart rate. These effects result from binding to adenosine A1 receptors in the sinoatrial (SA) node, the atrioventricular (AV) node, atrial myocytes, and coronaries.

Read the rest of this entry »

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS. Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect

ABSTRACT. In most cases, when a healthy infant younger than 1 year dies suddenly and unexpectedly, the cause is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is more common than infanticide. Parents of SIDS victims typically are anxious to provide unlimited information to professionals involved in death investigation or research. They also want and deserve to be approached in a nonaccusatory manner. This statement provides professionals with information and guidelines to avoid distressing or stigmatizing families of SIDS victims while allowing accumulation of appropriate evidence in potential cases of death by infanticide.

Аpproximately 50 years ago, the medical community began a search to understand and prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Almost simultaneously, medical professionals were awakened to the realities of child abuse.  Since then, public and professional awareness of SIDS and fatal child abuse during infancy have increased steadily. Recently, well-validated reports of child abuse and infanticide—perpetrated by suffocation and masqueraded as apparent lifethreatening events (ALTE) and/or SIDS—have appeared in the medical literature and in the lay press.  The differentiation between SIDS and fatal child abuse can be a critical diagnostic decision. Additional funding for research into the causes and prevention of SIDS and child abuse is needed.

SIDS: EPIDEMIOLOGY, PRESENTATION, AND RISK FACTORS

SIDS, also called crib or cot death, is the sudden death of an infant under 1 year of age that remains unexplained after thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical history.  SIDS is the most common cause of death between 1 and 6 months of age. The incidence of SIDS peaks between 2 and 4 months of age. Approximately 90% of SIDS deaths occur before the age of 6 months.

Read the rest of this entry »

Produced by the Centre for Genetics Education.

Important points

• There are a number of different prenatal tests and procedures available to assess the development of the baby. Each has advantages, disadvantages and limitations

• There is no test that gives a 100% guarantee of a healthy baby. The tests give some information about the baby’s health. They do not find all potential health problems

• Counselling before a test is done, will help the woman decide which test, if any, is best for the woman and the baby

• Each prenatal test is done at a certain time during the pregnancy starting at 8-10 weeks and going through to 20 weeks and include:

– Prenatal screening tests that may identify a baby as being at an increased risk of having a particular problem. All pregnant women, regardless of their age or family health history, may choose to have one of these prenatal screening tests that include ultrasound; early pregnancy (first trimester) screening: nuchal translucency ultrasound with or without testing of the mother’s blood; second trimester screening: testing of the mother’s blood (maternal serum testing)

– Prenatal diagnostic tests that are used to see if the baby actually has a particular problem. Even if the test result is normal, however, the baby could still have some other problem. Prenatal diagnostic tests include ultrasound; chorionic villus sampling (CVS); amniocentesis; cordocentesis

– Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used to test the embryo created via in vitro fertilisation (IVF) therapy prior  to implantation

Read the rest of this entry »

Genital herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the Canada. About 20-60% of sexually active men & women have the virus. Significant portions of those who are infected or vulnerable to infection are women of childbearing age with 2% to 4% acquiring the infection during pregnancy. Newborns acquire herpes through the birth process. There is a low risk of infection for babies born to mothers with recurrent HSV-2 infection, while there is a higher risk if the mother experiences primary infection during pregnancy, especially during the third trimester. Babies born to mothers with primary herpes infections are at up to 40-50% risk of infection even if the mother has no symptoms. Among newborns, HSV infection can be truly dangerous and can result in high morbidity and mortality. Infections are classified as skin/eye/mouth (SEM), central nervous system (CNS), or disseminated disease, according to the extent of the disease at presentation. A complicating factor in managing genital herpes in pregnant women (and their partners) to prevent transmission to their newborns is the often-invisible nature of the disease. New findings have shown that asymptomatic and unrecognized infections are much more common than clinical disease and initial infections are often without symptoms.

Knowledge and guidelines regarding the optimum management of infected pregnant women is continuing to evolve. Preventive strategies include cesarean delivery if active lesions or prodromal symptoms are present at term, serologic screening of pregnant women, and prophylactic antiviral therapy (for the woman and her partner) starting at 36 weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »