Daily attention points for women’s health

Women's daily health management does not have dozens or hundreds of must-do lists posted online. There are only three core points - don't bear discomfort, don't be overly anxious, don't follow the trend and try folk remedies. Just pay attention to the three core dimensions of hormone fluctuations, regular gynecological screening, and basal metabolism. The rest are all personalized adjustments that vary from person to person. There is no iron rule that "everyone must abide by."

To be honest, I have been in gynecological clinics for almost 8 years, and the biggest pitfall I have seen is that girls blame themselves for problems caused by hormone fluctuations. Not long ago, a 28-year-old Internet operator came to see a doctor. He said that in the past six months, he would suffer from three large red and swollen acnes in the week before. He also had migraines and was in a bad mood. He bought hundreds of yuan of evening primrose oil and grape seed capsules, but they were useless. After a hormone check, I found out that the progesterone was low in the luteal phase. I followed the doctor's advice to supplement with natural low-dose progesterone every day, and adjusted my sleep schedule to stay up late. Most of the symptoms disappeared in the second month. Here is a controversial point: Many people are afraid when they hear "hormone supplements" and think they will definitely gain weight or get cancer. In fact, the natural low-dose regulating drugs currently used in clinical practice have a less than 3% chance of gaining weight if used according to the doctor's advice. Most of those who gain weight after taking hormones buy menstruation-regulating health care products with unknown ingredients. The dosage of the active ingredients is mislabeled, which causes problems.

Don’t think that you don’t need to go for a gynecological examination if you don’t feel uncomfortable. My best friend is 32 years old. She refused to do TCT and HPV screening before. She said that she was clean and self-sufficient, but nothing was wrong. I have to dispel a rumor here. Many people say that after getting the HPV vaccine, you don’t need to do screening. This is not true. Even the current nine-valent vaccine can only cover 9 high-risk subtypes, and there are still many subtypes that are not covered. Regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not, it is necessary to do TCT+HPV combined screening every 1-3 years after having sex. Some girls say that they don’t need to go to the gynecologist if they don’t have sex. That’s not true. If menstruation is irregular after puberty and only comes once every two or three months, or the menstrual pain is so painful that painkillers are useless, even if you don’t have sex, you still need to do an abdominal B-ultrasound to check for polycystic and ovarian cysts. Don’t be embarrassed. Doctors see dozens of patients a day, and no one will judge your private affairs.

Don’t make it too difficult for yourself when wearing clothes in your daily life. Many girls expose their waists and ankles in order to look good in winter. In summer, they like to wear tight jeans and lace underwear. The older generation always says that this will cause "uterine cold". Objectively speaking, there is indeed no concept of "uterine cold" in Western medicine, but long-term coldness in the waist, abdomen and lower limbs will really affect pelvic blood circulation. People who already have dysmenorrhea will only have more severe pain. As for tights and synthetic underwear, I see an average of 3-4 patients with fungal vaginitis every week in summer, and nine out of ten cases are caused by tight pants. There is another question that has been controversial for a long time: Do you need to use lotion on your private parts? The answer is not to use it at all under normal circumstances. The private parts themselves have a weakly acidic self-purifying environment. Washing with antibacterial care solutions every day will destroy the balance of the flora. The more you wash, the easier it is to get inflammation. It is enough to rinse the vulva with warm water every day. Unless it is a medicinal lotion prescribed by a doctor, there is really no need to buy those Internet-famous and scented care solutions.

Don't mess with your body just to lose weight. I've seen too many girls go on a diet and eat less than 100g of carbohydrates a day just to wear small-size clothes. In the end, their aunt runs away, their hair falls, and their complexion becomes sallow. It's not worth the gain. There are a lot of controversies about diet now. Some people say that low-carb diet is healthy, while others say that you must eat enough carbohydrates. In fact, it really depends on the person. If you usually strength train at least three times a week and have high muscle mass, low-carb may be completely fine. But if you are an ordinary girl who usually works in the office and does not take more than 5,000 steps a day, you must eat at least 2-3 fist-sized staple foods every day to be stable. Not long ago, a 22-year-old girl came to see a doctor. After taking "pure natural slimming capsules" sold by WeChat merchants for half a year, her menstruation stopped for a year, and her bone density was lower than that of a 60-year-old woman. It is really a pity.

Finally, I want to say something that many people don’t like to hear: Don’t always be fooled by the words “women need to be emotionally stable”. It doesn’t mean that you will get breast nodules or thyroid nodules if you get angry, but don’t hold back your emotions. There was a patient before who had type 3 breast nodules. She was usually a good person in the eyes of others and would swallow any grievances she had. Later, I asked her not to hold it in. When she was unhappy, she would complain to her best friends. She would go to square dance after work and sweat. Half a year later, the nodules had indeed shrunk a bit. Of course, we must make it clear that emotions are only one of the causes of nodules, not an inevitable factor. Don't blame yourself for having a bad temper as soon as nodules are detected. There is no need to put so much psychological burden on yourself.

After all, there is really no universal standard for women's health. You don't have to worry about not meeting a certain "health rule", and don't ignore the discomfort and avoid seeing a doctor. Pay more attention to your own body's signals, which is much more reliable than following someone else's list.