Keeping Women's Health in Check

If a woman ever experienced unusually painful menstruation or noticed lumps in their breasts and vaginal discharge similar to cottage cheese, there is a great possibility she's in trouble. Any sensible woman should immediately set an appointment and see her trusted gynecologist. Women's health is often a subject taken for granted. Most women wait until they are rushed to the hospital before they do something about their condition. Experts in women's health advise ladies to be 'listen' and 'understand' their bodies. Even a seemingly trivial symptom should not be ignored as it may be a telltale sign of deadly breast cancer or a form of sexually transmitted disease.

Women can actually detect early stages of cancer through simple do-it-yourself breast assessment. Two or three days after every menstruation period, a woman should gently check her breasts for possible lumps or change in color and texture. Gynecologists say cancerous lump is usually a firm and solitary mass that just stays in a particular spot. If a lump changes position, there's a big possibility that it is non-malignant. Aside from lumps, a woman should also watch out for the disturbing presence of veins, breast discharges which are watery or mucus-like, and nipples that are inverted. According to women's health advocates, those who have a breast cancer history in their families are more prone to acquire the illness. But even if a woman doesn't have breast cancer history, it wouldn't hurt if she regularly examine her breasts for safety measure.

Apart from breast cancer, another illness concerning women's health is sexually transmitted disease. STD can manifest in the form of chlamydia, syphilis, genital herpes, and gonorrhea. Even if a lady is not sexually active and doesn't engage in extra-marital sexual affairs, she can still obtain STD from her philandering husband or boyfriend. General symptoms of STD include thick and smelly vaginal discharge, bumps or rashes, and burning sensation in the feminine area. A woman infected with STD can also experience pain when having sexual intercourse and irregular bleeding in between menstrual cycles. Medication varies from one STD kind to another (and also depending on the severity of the case). For prevention, experts advise women to use condom which is not only a form of contraceptive but also serve as protection against STD. Husbands, on the other hand, should avoid womanizing and extra-marital sexual intercourses as much as possible. The fight against STD should be a concerted effort between husband and wife. In the case of STD, husbands are also involved in the issue of women's health.