Men and women have significant differences, especially when it comes to health risks. Do you have any idea what kind of conditions affect most women? You don’t, don’t you? In protecting yourself, educate yourself about the conditions that you might encounter as you grow old. Then, follow the necessary preventive measures to lessen your risks.
You can avoid most of the health conditions that threaten women. Its symptoms will differ depending on your lifestyle, ethnicity, background, and age.
Below are the conditions that you’ll have to be familiar with.
Heart Disease
In the US, heart disease is the leading condition that threatens women. Even though it’s also common in men, it affects both genders nearly equally. One study shows that only 54% of women know that heart disease is the leading condition that puts their lives in danger. Furthermore, 49% of the population suffers from high cholesterol or blood pressure, which can result in heart disease.
Ovarian Cancer
Not all are familiar with the differences between cervical and ovarian cancer. Cervical cancer is in your lower uterus, and ovarian cancer is in your fallopian tubes. While both conditions have similar symptoms, cervical cancer causes pain during intercourse and discharge. Ovarian cancer has vague symptoms, making it challenging to diagnose.
Pap smears will only detect cervical cancer, not ovarian cancer.
Pregnancy Issues
If you’re pregnant, any pre-existing conditions might get worse. Depression, diabetes, and asthma can significantly affect you and the baby during pregnancy if you leave those conditions unattended. During the pregnancy, your red blood cells will also drop, causing depression or anemia. That will put you and the unborn baby in equal danger.
One last problem you might encounter is when a reproductive cell grows outside your uterus. That will hinder further gestation. Obstetricians now have the tools for managing and treating both rare and common health conditions that emerge during pregnancy.
Depression
If your hormones tend to fluctuate, you might experience anxiety and depression. PMS (premenstrual syndrome) and PMDD (premenstrual dysmorphic disorder) are common in women, but the latter has more intensified symptoms. Many mothers encounter depression after giving birth to their babies.
In addition, they might also face perinatal depression, which also causes depression, but with much stronger tiredness, sadness, mood swings, and concerns. Entering the perimenopause period will also result in depression.
Regardless of how intense your symptoms are, your local home healthcare franchise can provide you with relief through treatments and prescriptions.
Autoimmune Diseases
Your body will also encounter autoimmune diseases when your white body cells attack healthy cells. Because this health condition is increasingly becoming a problem, most researchers still can’t answer why this disease only affects women. While rare conditions exist, they’ll have the same symptoms, including:
- Vertigo
- Irritation
- Pain
- Mild fever
- Exhaustion
Most autoimmune diseases will threaten your stomach. Many who experience this have decided to use natural home remedies, including
- Minimize toxin intake
- Lowering stressors
- Eating less fat and sugar
But your best defense against this condition is to treat the symptoms at an early stage.
Gynecological Health
Discharge and bleeding are common during your menstrual period. But more intensified symptoms during that period can mean something worse. Unusual symptoms, such as frequent urinating and bleeding between menstruation, can also mean more complex conditions. Gynecological problems can also indicate more severe conditions such as reproductive tract cancer or sexually transmitted diseases.
Healthcare providers can treat mild symptoms, but be cautious. That’s because if you leave them unattended, they can cause kidney failures or infertility.
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer starts growing in the lining of your milk ducts. Then, it spreads to other organs, making it the most aggressive kind of cancer that affects women. It’s also more rampant in more developed areas due to their lifestyle. Before it starts spreading, you might notice breast lumps. Most lumps will not threaten your life, but you should still have them checked by your healthcare provider.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens your bones, making them more fragile. It can result from different factors that you can find in half of the global female population. It can be steroid use, smoking, low body mass, lack of exercise, genetics, drinking, age, or medical prescriptions. Treatment can start with measuring your bone density through an ultrasound diagnostic or X-ray.
Osteoporosis still doesn’t have a cure, but your physician can prescribe treatment options to slow down the conditions’ progression. That can be medicine prescriptions, healthy lifestyle choices and diet plans, and dietary supplements.
While the conditions stated above are only specific to women, treating them at an early stage will significantly affect everyone.