Under ideal circumstances, the female vagina does a wonderful job of staying healthy all by itself.

Change the normally healthy pH of the vaginal area, however, and an imbalance can allow the overgrowth of the yeast candida albicans, resulting in a yeast infection.

Among the common reasons for this change in circumstances are hormonal changes, such as with your period or pregnancy, stress or illness, taking antibiotics, or even using birth control pills. Vaginal yeast infections can be extremely uncomfortable, but are not usually harmful.

To avoid a yeast infection, you should allow your genital area to get plenty of air. This means choosing cotton underwear over synthetics.

Do not wear tight fitting or synthetic clothing for long periods of time; tight jeans and wet bathing suits are common culprits. Do not wear snug fitting pantyhose or tights every day. Try sleeping without panties, or try loose fitting men’s boxers or boxer briefs.

You should only take antibiotics when they are necessary. Whenever you take antibiotics, take a quality probiotic supplement to help maintain the healthy bacteria in your digestive system and vagina. Some women find eating yogurt with active cultures to be helpful.

Experts warn that women are dying from ovarian cancer that should not be because GPs are not properly trained to notice warning signs when they perform annual inspections.

According to a new survey that came out from the Target Ovarian Cancer Study, it took 37% a few visits to the GP before they were properly diagnosed with ovarian cancer and of those 65% were not immediately referred for further testing.

The study also found that many GPs often misdiagnosed ovarian cancer labeling it Irritable Bowel Syndrome or other general illness instead of correctly identifying the disease as cancer.

Furthermore, the study reported that 44% of women did not receive a correct diagnosis until six months later after their GP visit when evidence was found and 37% had to visit their GP three to five times before they received an official referral to go see a cancer specialist.

Senior research fellow at Bristol University, Dr. Willie, Hamilton, said that the study is disturbing given that the time delay not only causes the women to suffer from a high level of anxiety, but the time delay could be causing the premature death of women in which the disease spreads past the curable stage in the lapse of treatment time.

Masturbation, if you are a woman, often has to do with the physical need of release.

You may find yourself in a relationship that you feel is not satisfying you sexually.

Your love for this person is keeping you there, but you may need to feel a physical release after having sex with your partner, because the sexual act between the two of you did not fulfill your needs.

If you are a single woman then you may have the need to masturbate because you have no partner, and you wish to feel a sexual release. Maybe your life is too busy and a relationship would just complicate things.

Feeling Good

One main reason why women masturbate is that it simply makes feel good to them. The pleasure of masturbation helps to get rid of anxiety and stresses of your day. It will give you a soothing feeling so that you can go to sleep at night.

You may not be able to achieve an orgasm every time that you masturbate, but this should not matter as long as the masturbation is relaxing to you and it feels good. Many women have a strong sex drive, and a need to feel the good sensations that come from masturbation, on a daily basis.

During the female menopause, the production of oestrogen decreases and as a consequence the body naturally adjusts creating a natural mechanism of protection.

To encourage the use of hormone replacement treatment, HRT, often this phase of a women’s life is deemed a type of illness, but this is not the case.

The female sex organs are initially developed and then maintained by this hormone. Oestrogen also keeps other body tissue pliable and wet, for example the vaginal area.

HRT is designed to work against the body’s natural rhythms of which the menopause is a part. A good reason why it is reduced during the menopause could be related to oestrogen’s ability to encourage the growth of certain breast cancers.[Estrogen levels]

The oestrogens used during most hormone treatments is synthetic or comes from pregnant horses’ urine. It is provided in an effort to steady the lowering levels of this naturally occurring hormone in a women’s body at this time.

Another hormone that is part of the treatment ensures that periods continue to occur, this is called progesterone. It is recognised as a cancer preventing hormone which in this case protects the lining of the womb.

Many women think that contraceptives are the end all solution for preventing pregnancy.

However, recent studies show that over fifty percent of pregnancies, that are not planned, begin in women who use contraceptives.

Since contraceptives are supposed to at least 98% effective, you would think there would be many fewer pregnancies.

However, there are four main reasons that contraceptives become ineffective. Consider the following steps to take, and things to avoid, if you are using contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.

Reason One: Medical Intervention

Many medications can intervene in the effectiveness of contraceptives. Oral birth control pills can become ineffective, when taken in combination with certain antibiotics. It is known that antibiotics can decrease the  effectiveness, of the hormonal steroids that birth control pills contains.

Most physicians recommend using an alternative birth control method, such as condoms, when taking antibiotics.

In most cases, it is recommended that you use an alternative method while taking the antibiotics, and for an additional seven days after they are finished.

This will insure that all of the medication is out of your system, and the oral birth control is working once again. In addition to antibiotics, some herbal therapies can interfere with oral birth control. It is best if you talk to you doctor before starting any new medications.

Obesity is one of the biggest health issues worldwide today. It is estimated that over fifty percent of all women are now considered overweight, and one third are considered obese.

These numbers are staggering when you consider the size of the population today.

While most women are more concerned with body image, there are several medical risks that can be directly related to obesity. These risks are greater in women who are severely overweight or obese.

However, many diseases and medical conditions can be reversed or improved by losing weight. Consider the following risks and medical conditions that are commonly related directly to obesity [Obesity Effects].

• Arthritis - Studies show that women who are obese will be four times more likely to develop osteoarthritis. In addition, these studies have shown the risk is higher in obese women than in obese men.
• Breast Cancer - There are many effects of obesity on your risk to develop or survive breast cancer. It has been found that women who become obese after entering menopause will have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. In addition, obese women who develop breast cancer before menopause have a shorter survival rate and life expectancy.

After the results of the Million Women Study were released they showed that over a million women in the UK alone stopped using hormone replacement therapy after evidence from the 2003 report showed that HRT increased the risk of developing breast cancer by two.

The study also drew on results from the US Women’s Health Initiative which linked HRT to an increase of heart disease by two as well to alert women of the high risk of HRT.

According to the European Journal of Cancer, in the year 2000 over 40% of women over the age of 50 were taking HRT but the figures dropped down to about 20% since the report.

Additionally, the percentage of women using HRT after the age of 55 dropped about 20% as well.

The UK Experts of Cancer Research believe that the drastic reduction in women who are undergoing HRT is directly correlated to the amount of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer as there has been a decrease of 9% in the age group of 50-54 and a five percent drop for ages 55-59.

There are several reasons why your doctor or gynecologist has decided that you need an endometrial biopsy.

Maybe your periods are unusually heavy, painful or frequent; perhaps you are having difficulty conceiving or falling pregnant; you may have had an abnormal pap test result that needs investigation; you may be post-menapausal and still experiencing some uterine bleeding.

During an endometrial biopsy a small sample of the lining of the uterus, the endometrium, is taken, so that it can be sent to pathology for testing and inspection.

The sample is checked to see if there are abnormal cells present, that the hormone levels are normal and that the endometrium itself is in a normal condition.

A normal result from the biopsy will have shown that there are no abnormal or cancerous cells present and that the endometrium is at the normal stage in the menstruation cycle and it appears able to sustain a pregnancy.

An abnormal result may have found the presence of polyps or non-cancerous growths; that the endometrium is enlarged; that there are abnormal cells present which may indicate cancer; or the endometrium is not at the normal stage for the time in the menstrual cycle. More tests may be required to clarify the results.