Health related information and news from around the world.

There are three distinct phases of the menopause:1.   Pre-menopause – periods are still regular but the first symptoms, such as hot flushes and mood changes, may appear.2.   Peri-menopause – the function of the ovaries declines, the periods can become irregular and symptoms may be more severe.3.   Post-menopause – this is from the last period onwards. Of course, we can only know it is the last period after twelve months with no periods. Some women can go six months without a period and then another one arrives. Once a year has passed with no periods, it can be said that you are post-menopausal.Your hormones affect you mentally and physically. They have an impact on breast tissue, body hair and the physical shape which distinguishes you as a woman. They are also closely connected with your emotional and psychological well-being as any woman who has suffered from pre-menstrual syndrome will testify. As the hormones change during the monthly cycle so does the way you think, in terms of your confidence and self-esteem: the way you view yourself and the world.Nature has designed your hormones to work in harmony, each one dependent on the other and operating as a whole system. When your hormones are in proper balance, you feel emotionally and physically well. Exactly the same principle holds true for the years leading up to the menopause. The level of your hormones is changing, but when you are in good health they are changing in exactly the way they should. The menopause is not a deficiency disease.
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Psychological factors. For reasons that are unclear, women who are scheduled for hysterectomy are more than twice as likely as average to be distressed as indicated by psychological tests. It may be that symptoms such as chronic pain and heavy bleeding, and uncertainty about the future, have produced this psychological distress. Or else, an underlying psychological condition may have reduced tolerance of minor symptoms. Whatever the truth of the matter, improvement in gynaecological complaints, however this is achieved, tends to result in a marked reduction in psychological symptoms. On rare occasions such women may ask about, or be advised to have, a hysterectomy.

Post-pregnancy complications. Emergency hysterectomy may be the only option when uterine bleeding is uncontrollable. This is a rare occurrence after childbirth and may be caused by rupture of the uterus or damage to major blood vessels. Other situations that may give rise to hysterectomy include life-threatening infection of the endometrium (a very occasional complication of abortion), or the removal of an ectopic pregnancy in a woman who has finished her family.

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Couples who smoke have high levels of cadmium, a heavy toxic metal that can stop the utilization of zinc needed for both male and female fertility. Cadmium will not leave the body just because you or your partner stops smoking. It needs to be actively tackled by supplementing your diet with antioxidant supplements. Even if you give up smoking the cadmium already in your body can concentrate in the placenta once you get pregnant. So it’s important to be tested for heavy toxic metals and make sure that your levels are back to normal before you try to conceive.

What if your partner smokes? Research has shown that chemicals in tobacco smoke can damage the DNA in sperm and deplete the amount of vitamin E, which works as an antioxidant, protecting the sperm. But there is a bigger potential problem resulting from your partner smoking. Dramatic findings from an Oxford Survey on Childhood Cancers, published in 1997 in the British Journal of Cancer? found that men who smoke when their partner doesn’t run a higher risk of fathering children who develop cancer. One in seven childhood cancers, including leukemia and brain tumours, could be due to the father’s smoking habits. Just 1-9 cigarettes per day increased the risk by 3 per cent, 10-20 by 31 per cent and 20 or more cigarettes by 42 per cent. The study concluded that the man risks damaging his sperm more, the more he smokes.

So alcohol and smoking clearly affect fertility for both men and women. If you are really serious about getting pregnant they therefore have to be eliminated for at least four months to give you the best possible chance. I cannot say ‘a little bit won’t harm’ because it certainly can if it is at a vital stage of egg or sperm development.

How to Stop Smoking

Acupuncture can be extremely helpful to get over the withdrawal symptoms when you give up smoking, and I have seen many couples who have used hypnotherapy successfully.

You should not use nicotine patches, nicotine gum or any other anti-smoking aids of this kind once you have started the Four-Month Preconception Plan.

Case History

Ann was 30 when she came to see me in summer 1997 after suffering three miscarriages in quick succession. Her mother had had difficulties as well -she had lost one baby at four months old, and had had three miscarriages. She had told Ann that as a result she had been ‘pumped full of hormones’ while she was expecting her, to stop her miscarrying. Ann worked long and stressful hours as a stockbroker and felt exhausted. Her partner also worked long and stressful hours and smoked 20 cigarettes a day with 5 units of alcohol each weekday and 10 each day at the weekend. Ann drank every day but less than her partner. We discussed the effects of all these factors on the risk of miscarriage. They were tested for genito-urinary infections but these were negative.

Their mineral results were very interesting. Her partner had extremely low levels of zinc and unacceptable levels of cadmium, the toxic poison present in tobacco smoke. Cadmium, like alcohol, can be teratogenic which means that it can cause abnormalities in the foetus. The autopsy on the last miscarriage had shown chromosomal abnormalities but both Ann and her partner were tested for genetic problems and both were fine. So the abnormality was not inherited from the parents but was caused by something happening to the developing cells around conception. Ann’s tests also showed that she was low in zinc and manganese.

I explained to them that their best chance of preventing another miscarriage was to stop drinking, which they did, and Ann’s partner also stopped smoking. They also made other changes, by looking at their diet and lifestyle, and waited four months until they were both back to optimum health before trying again. Ann then became pregnant and had a healthy baby boy. She wrote to me later, saying that they were convinced that the preconception plan I suggested they followed, as outlined in this book, not only helped them have the baby and avoid another miscarriage but that people had commented on how healthy and contented he is.

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