Recent Belly Weight Gain: Ovarian Cancer or Normal Aging?
Many women seem to start gaining abdominal weight within a few years of completing menopause and some will wonder if it could be ovarian cancer. (more…)
Can Your Period Be Safely Stopped or Sped Up?
Periods are a pain, and many women want to know if they can be safely stopped, delayed or sped up.
This is particularly true for women who travel frequently.
“Women using hormonal forms of birth control may find that their periods stop or change — usually becoming lighter or less frequent,” says Dr. Kate Killoran, OBGYN and medical advisor at Your Doctors Online, an online doctor chat site.
“This is safe. The ‘period’ you have on hormonal birth control is artificial (the hormonal IUD is an exception) in that it is caused by the medication you are taking.
“It can be delayed by taking active pills (patch or ring) for a longer period of time.
“This doesn’t always work, as some women will have what’s known as breakthrough bleeding and start bleeding sooner than expected.
“While it is usually possible to delay or stop one’s period, it may be more difficult to speed it up.
“It certainly can be done but can be harder to predict.”
Never try to stop or delay your menstrual cycle with severe dieting or excessive strenuous exercise, nor try to stop your cycle with intentional gain of significant levels of body fat.
Dr. Killoran has a private practice and is also a health coach at drkatemd.com. Your Doctors Online offers a free 7 day trial: Ask a doctor questions and get answers in minutes from anywhere 24/7. Learn more here.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/popovartem.com
Can Untreated Cervical Cancer Become Uterine Cancer?
Untreated cervical cancer kills about 4,200 U.S. women every year. But can cervical cancer ever develop into uterine cancer?
Uterine/endometrial cancer takes about 12,100 lives in the U.S. every year. (more…)
Can Sex with a Smoker Raise Reproductive Organ Cancer Risk?
Cigarette smoke is strongly linked to several cancers including gynecological.
Can an Ectopic Pregnancy Be Felt through the Abdomen?
If you’re lying on your back and start pressing around your lower abdomen and pelvic area, is it possible to feel an ectopic pregnancy?
How Common Is Fainting Caused by Menopause?
Fainting has many possible causes.
Menopause causes many possible symptoms. Is there an overlap?
With all the symptoms that menopause can trigger, one has to wonder if fainting – not just feeling faint or lightheaded – is one of them.
“Dizziness or lightheadedness is certainly a symptom that gets reports as part of menopause, but fainting is not,” says Dr. Kate Killoran, OBGYN and medical advisor at Your Doctors Online, an online doctor chat site.
“Actual fainting caused by menopause alone is uncommon.
“There are various factors that contribute to dizziness in menopause, and these may be more age-related than specifically due to menopause.
“For instance, some women report feeling dizzy as part of a hot flash or fatigue which is common in menopause — may predispose to dizziness.
“It is unlikely that these factors alone would be the cause of actual fainting though. Possible but unlikely.”
It’s so unlikely, that if a woman – who’s going through menopause – has experienced a fainting episode – she should NEVER chalk it up to menopause.
Even if this change of life has resulted in a wide array of symptoms, she should never just assume that the latest symptom – a fainting episode – was triggered by menopause.
Possible Causes of Passing Out
There are just so many, but because a heart condition can cause this problem, a woman should waste no time getting her heart checked out.
She should see a cardiologist but also her primary care physician, since the PCP can investigate non-cardiac causes of blacking out such as diabetes, low blood pressure or an adverse reaction to a prescription drug.
If the passing out seems to be linked to other new-onset symptoms – shortness of breath, chest pain or coughing up sputum – this is an emergency situation and the patient should be driven to an emergency room.
Fainting with these other symptoms is suggestive of an acute heart condition or a blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism).
A pulmonary embolism (PE) occurs when a blood clot obstructs a pulmonary artery in the lungs, often originating from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the legs.
This blockage impedes blood flow, leading to reduced oxygen supply to lung tissue.
Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial, since this condition can be life-threatening.
Dr. Killoran has a private practice and is also a health coach at drkatemd.com. Your Doctors Online offers a free 7 day trial: Ask a doctor questions and get answers in minutes from anywhere 24/7. Learn more here.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: ©Lorra Garrick
Can a Colposcopy Show Cervical Cancer?
A colposcopy enables a doctor to view the inside of the cervix.
Would cancer be visible with this procedure?
That’s what many women want to know who are scheduled for a colposcopy.
This can make lying there, legs in stirrups, very unnerving, because the patient will know that the doctor is literally looking inside her cervix.
A colposcope is a big electric microscope that, with its bright light, allows the physician to literally take a look inside the patient’s cervix.
The internal cervical tissue is magnified for easier viewing, to enable the doctor to visually detect any suspicious looking areas.
Right then and there, the doctor can extract a tissue sample to be sent to a lab for a biopsy.
Reasons for a Colposcopy
• To obtain better information as to why the patient’s Pap smear came back abnormal.
• The patient has bled after intercourse.
• An abnormal growth is visible on the vulva, vagina or cervix.
“Colposcopy can be very suggestive of cervical cancer — but the final diagnosis comes from the pathologist after a biopsy,” says Dr. Kate Killoran, OBGYN and medical advisor at Your Doctors Online, an online doctor chat site.
Thus, a doctor may be able to see, through the magnifying lens of the instrument, a cancerous mass.
The doctor may even firmly believe that the suspicious looking growth is, indeed, cervical cancer.
The practitioner may also suspect the possibility of dysplasia or precancer.
But an official diagnosis cannot be made until the pathologist (ideally a gynecological pathologist rather than a general one) writes up the report stating that the tissue sample shows malignant cells.
So, to answer the question, “Can a colposcopy show cervical cancer?” the answer is yes – in that what the doctor thinks could be cancer can be visible through the colposcope.
But a colposcopy does NOT diagnose any cancer. Only the pathologist can determine the exact nature of the tissue sample.
Dr. Killoran has a private practice and is also a health coach at drkatemd.com. Your Doctors Online offers a free 7 day trial: Ask a doctor questions and get answers in minutes from anywhere 24/7. Learn more here.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Fancy Studio
Bleeding After Uterine Biopsy: Might this Mean Cancer?
In many cases of a uterine biopsy, bleeding occurs afterwards. Is there a way to tell if this is from cancer or from the procedure itself?
A uterine biopsy requires that an instrument be inserted through the cervix (after passing through the vagina) and into the uterus, and then suctioning up tissue to be sent to a lab for microscopic analysis. (more…)
What Can Cause Abdominal and Pelvic Cramps After Menopause?
The onset of abdominal or pelvic cramping after completing menopause can frighten a woman, and certainly, some causes are life-threatening.
7 Common Orthodontic Issues that Can Be Solved by Braces
If you think braces are only for preteens and high schoolers, you are wrong.
In fact, the American Association of Orthodontists estimates that more than one million of their patients who have come to fix gap in teeth are 18 or older. (more…)
