Archive for November, 2007

HIV stands For Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

The presence of the HIV in your blood can be identified through HIV test.

Today, there are three major types of HIV test: antibody test, antigen test, and DNA test.

Each test can determine a specific substance that is present in the blood of an infected person.

The Antibody Test

It is also known as ELISA - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay test. It is the first HIV test to determine the antibodies in the blood of an infected person.

When HIV virus enters your body, it generates some proteins called antibodies and releases into the blood to fight against the foreign organisms such as virus.

Remember that the HIV antibodies will not be produced immediately when you get infected. It usually takes 1-2 months to appear in your blood.

The period of time between an exposure of an infection and development of antibodies is known as window period. So, ELISA test is ineffective during window period.

For this test, a sample of your blood will be taken to identify the presence of antibodies to HIV virus. If the results are positive, then it confirms that you are infected with HIV virus. If the test results are negative, it indicates that there are no antibodies against HIV in your blood.

Pelvic pain is also known as symphysiolysis. The term “pelvic pain” often refers to the pain in the region of the inner reproductive organs in women.

With recent researches, it has been estimated that about 12-20 percent of women have pelvic pain, and up to 33 percent women will experience pelvic pain during their lifetime.

Pelvic pain is one of the most hard to diagnose and manage diseases. Most of the time, this pain is just the normal functioning of the reproductive or other organs. Other times this pain can lead to a serious problem.

There is a greater risk of being affected with pelvic pain among those who perform heavy work or who previously have had back or pelvic pain. On the other hand, pelvic pain is also common among pregnant women with one in three affected suffer severe pains.

Diagnosis must be accomplished in very little time because some causes of pelvic pain (eg, ectopic pregnancy, adnexal torsion) need immediate treatment.

If your pelvic pain is severe and disrupting your life for few days a month or for longer periods of time or if you experience a recent increase in pain, then consult your doctor for early diagnosis.

Miscarriage is natural ending of pregnancy before the fetus has developed to survive outside the uterus.

In general, a miscarriage occurs when the fetus and the placenta stop developing.

A miscarriage that occurs naturally before the first 20 weeks of pregnancy is known as spontaneous abortion or pregnancy loss.

The possibility of having miscarriage increases as you age. Moreover, early miscarriages are so common that about 10-20% of all pregnancies lead to miscarriage within first twelve weeks of pregnancy.

The early miscarriage signs can differ from one woman to another. In some cases, you may develop early miscarriage signs and lose your pregnancy without knowing that you are pregnant.

Vaginal bleeding is the first early miscarriage sign. However, vaginal bleeding during pregnancy is so common that only 50% of all pregnancies lead to miscarriage.

If you have late period and experience a vaginal bleeding that is heavy with blood clots, then it is a sign of early miscarriage and need to inform your doctor right away about the condition.

Spotting doesn’t always indicate a sign of miscarriage. However, spotting in early stages of pregnancy is common but if it is moderate to heavy bleeding (brown or bright red) with or without pain, you can consider it as an early miscarriage sign.

Every woman is heard of early menopause and now-a-days most of them are suffering with it.

Early menopause is also known as premature menopause. Early menopause occurs below the age of forty.

It occurs due to premature ovarian failure where the ovaries do not function in a normal way as they should function. Ovaries shut down years before they are supposed to.

As a woman, you can reach menopause stage in between the age of 45 and 55, with the average age of 50.

When you reach menopause stage, you can notice the changes in your body between the ages 47 and 53. If you have early menopause, you do not get periods consecutively for twelve months before reaching forty five years of age.

What causes early menopause! There are many causes for the occurrence of early menopause, therefore is difficult to determine the exact cause of early menopause. When menopause cycle occurs, your monthly cycle will stop.

One reason for this is your ovaries no longer have eggs to release. The second reason may be your ovaries do not react to your body’s hormone communications.