Health News
An Uphill Battle with a Baby on the Way
As if low-income, HIV-positive, pregnant women don't have enough on their plates, many also have to contend with depression - though it's possible not enough doctors are noticing.
Non-invasive Down Syndrome Test Is Accurate
For most women, prenatal screening is important. Prenatal screening enables doctors to detect diseases or conditions in a growing baby before it is born.
Pregnant? What Meds Can You Take?
It's hard enough to adequately weigh the risks and benefits of taking certain medications while pregnant. But the bigger problem is when women and doctors simply don't know the risks.
A review article that considered much of the research available and published in April says just that: too little is known about the ways prescription drugs taken by a pregnant mother may affect the developing baby.
This is true even for the drugs used to treat chronic conditions, such as asthma, high blood pressure and mental health disorders.
Avoid any unnecessary medication during pregnancy.
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Pregnancy and Multiple Sclerosis: Are Drugs Safe?
Living with a chronic disease can be difficult. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, is a condition that’s becoming easier to treat because of advances in medicine. Still, many women worry that the disease could prevent them from having children.
MS occurs when the body’s immune system eats away at the protective sheath, called myelin, that covers nerves, which results in irreversible deterioration of the nerves. The condition is more common among women, especially women between the ages of 20 and 40 – during childbearing age.
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Diabetes Advice Just a Phone Call Away
Pregnancy can be a stressful time, especially if you have diabetes. Support from your partner and family can ease some of that stress.
Twice the Babies, Twice the Insulin
Insulin medications play a key role in treating type 1 diabetes. Different patients require different doses of insulin. If a diabetic woman is pregnant, how much insulin does she need? What if she has twins?
Take This Shot While Pregnant
What's worse than morning sickness? How about having the flu while pregnant too? But getting your flu shot while pregnant might do more good than just preventing this miserable outcome.
Children Arriving by C May Grow Bigger
Both the rate of obesity and the rate of elective C-sections have been increasing in the U.S. Though no evidence exists to say one causes another, they may be linked.
Nutrition Fights Off Gestational Obesity
When you’re pregnant, doctors advise you to keep your weight in check to ensure that mama and baby stay healthy. But often, they don’t tell moms exactly how to manage their weight.
So You're Pregnant? Get Tested!
Not enough pregnant women are being screened for the two most common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States, chlamydia and gonorrhea, putting themselves and their newborns at risk.