Tag: dehydration

How to Avoid Constipation During Pregnancy

It is Murphy’s law that just when you are able to get food into your body without having it come back up, that you suddenly find you can not get the food out of your body. Nearly half of all the women who are pregnant suffer from constipation during pregnancy.

As with all symptoms of pregnancy there is a reason for constipation. When you are pregnant your body creates progesterone which in turns relaxes the muscles of the bowels and causes your digestive tracks to work much slower. Your digestive track works slower to make sure your body absorbs the nutrients from your food for your baby. This can create constipation, which if it not kept under control, can lead to hemorrhoids.

There are some ways you can help avoid constipation throughout your pregnancy. Make sure you included plenty of fiber in your diet. Fiber absorbs water and can help to soften your stools and speed their passage. Eat plenty of high fiber foods like whole grain cereal and oatmeal. Instead of eating white bread with your sandwiches, eat whole grain breads. Add some oat bran to your cereals or yogurt.

Fresh fruits are also an excellent way to get your fiber in. Melons and plums have a high amount of fiber in them as wells as dried fruits like figs, raisins, apricots and of course the well known favorite prunes. Prunes and prune juice have a like laxative effect and will help keep things moving properly in your body. Aim to eat at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day. You can tell you are getting enough fiber if your stools are large and soft and you aren’t straining to pass them. Keep in mind though that too much fiber can lead to diarrhea which can lead to dehydration so do not over do the fiber in your diet.

Also, drinking plenty of fluid will help you combat constipation. Fluids help keep digestive products moving through your system so it is very important for you to drink at least six to eight glasses of water a day. Keeping up with your fluids is important especially if you are increasing your intake of fiber. Your body needs to water to soak up the fiber otherwise it can cause more constipation.

Also, make sure you are eating your yogurt if you can. Yogurt has a bacteria called acidophilus that helps stimulate the intestinal bacteria to break down food better. Look at your prenatal. Some of the prenatal that women take contain a lot of iron and iron can play a big part in constipation. Talk to your doctor to see if you can switch for a while to a different prenatal that contains less iron or at least stay off of the prenatal for a while until your constipation is under control.

Avoid foods that can lead to constipation. White bread and some cereals such as corn flakes can lead to constipation as well as white rice and bananas. If all this fails, give your doctor a call to see if there is something you can take to help keep you regulated. Most doctors will allow you to take Metamucil to help keep things moving.

Constipation is never pleasant but during pregnancy it can be even extra uncomfortable. Make sure you take the steps to avoid constipation. It will help make your pregnancy that much more enjoyable.

How Eating Well Can Help During Pregnancy

There are a number of aches and pains that come with pregnancy. While back in the day many doctors just brushed them aside and said that is part of pregnancy, now a days more and more doctors are recommending a well balanced diet to help. Here are just a few pregnancy aliments that a good diet can help.

A common complaint during pregnancy is tooth and gum problems. To help keep your teeth healthy and your baby’s teeth healthy, make sure you get enough calcium and vitamin C. Always keep some sugarless gum near you or chew on some nuts and cheese.

It is also not uncommon for many women to feel dizzy or lightheaded during pregnancy especially if they have gone to long without eating. This is why it is so important to eat through out the day and snack also. Keep your snacks as healthy as you can and stay away from junk food whenever you can. These foods will give you a quick rush of energy but ultimately leave you feeling worse than you did before you ate them. Keep yourself hydrated also. Snacking and drinking will help boost your blood sugar and keep you hydrated which can help you fight dizziness.

Sometime during your second trimester, you may find yourself awakening in the middle of the night to leg cramps. Leg cramps can come from not getting enough calcium. Some say that the leg cramps implicate a shortage of magnesium while some say that dehydration can be the cause. Either way makes sure you are getting enough calcium and magnesium. If you suffer from leg cramps you might find it helpful to drink a glass of milk, or have a piece of cheese before you go to turn in to bed at night. Make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water throughout the day to keep yourself hydrated also.

Swelling is another pain in pregnancy. While severe swelling could be a sign of preeclampsia, there is a certain amount of swelling that is normal and healthy during pregnancy. In fact more than seventy five percent of all pregnant women experience some sort of swelling. The most common cause is too much water retention. Staying away from salty foods and drinking extra water will help you keep the swelling to a bare minimum.

Pregnancy is also a time where you skin might taken on the appearance of a teenager getting ready to hit puberty. Some women suffer from dry skin, which can be cured by making sure you drink plenty of fluids to increase moisture. If you have flakey skin, eat more omega-3 rich foods or seeds and nuts. There are some people who suffer from some skin discoloration and too much blotchiness could be a folic-acid deficiency. This is another reason why it is so important to make sure you are taking your prenatal vitamin.

Lastly, we have all heard about the great head of hair some women are blessed with during pregnancy since hormones prevent hair from falling out at its normal rate. There are some women though who find that their hair is less than stellar during pregnancy. This could be due to the lack of vitamins that you might be getting. Through out pregnancy it is important that you get enough vitamin A, B and C. Vitamin A will keep your hair and scalp healthy. Vitamin B will help with your hair growth and vitamin C is needed for strength. Make sure you are getting enough of this in your diet.

Eating healthy throughout pregnancy does not only ensure your chances of a healthy pregnancy but it will also help you avoid some of the more uncomfortable aspects of pregnancy too.

Sore Throat Set off by Acid Reflux

Acid reflux refers to the condition in which the partially digested food containing digestive juices travels back into the esophagus from the mouth.

To describe the mechanical layout of this disease, our digestive system has a circular band of muscle called lower esophageal sphincter. This muscle splits the stomach from the esophagus. When the food enters the stomach, this muscle closes so as to prevent the partially digested materials from traveling back into the esophagus. But when the lower esophageal sphincter is rendered incompetent, the stomach contents are allowed to regurgitate or spit up.

The stomach contents that moves back to the esophagus contains digestive acids since they have undergone digestion in the stomach where digestive liquids are released to facilitate the digestion. Because of the acidic nature of the refluxed materials, inflammation develops in the lining of the throat; thus a sore throat is one of the most common symptoms of this condition.

Sore throat is usually associated with other symptoms, though sometimes it is uncommon, such as the occurrence of pus on the tonsil surface and drooling or frequent spitting. Moreover, a patient with sore throat may also experience difficulty in breathing caused by the narrowing of the air passage through the larynx or pharynx.

The pain or other difficulties caused by sore throat can be abated, if not treated, with simple self-treatments that can be done at home. Gargling is a recommended practice. You may try gargling with warm water mixed with table salt. Drinking a lot of water is also very important. Get extra sleep, for this encourages faster recovery. Popsicles or cold drinks are good for sore throats. Humidifiers or vaporizers can be used to sooth the pain in the throat. And also, sucking on solid candies, which help promote saliva production, works as an alternative remedy. It is known that saliva contains bicarbonates that help neutralize the acids that might have remained in the throat due to the reflux.

But if home-treatments are not enough to ease your condition with the sore throat, medical treatments are available. The intake of medicine is particularly advised for those who experience associated symptoms like difficulty in breathing, dehydration or body water loss, and severe pains. Take antibiotics if you feel that viral or bacterial infections have further developed in the throat. Also, rheumatic fever can be prevented from arising, though this condition is very much uncommon. Corticosteroids, which have an anti-inflammatory effect, can help in case of critical sore throat conditions.

Preventive measures and remedies, of course, are available to minimize the incidence of acid reflux, and sore throat, as well. One practical and immediate treatment is the application of gravity; that is, the person is kept in upright position at most times so to hold the digested materials down. Gravity can help prevent regurgitation, or the traveling of the stomach contents back up to the esophagus.

Eating habits should also be changed to facilitate in the treatment of acid reflux. Usual cases of acid reflux usually take place after a meal. It is recommended that evening meals should be taken earlier and in smaller quantities. This is so that the stomach can get emptied in a shorter period of time as compared to when heavy meals are eaten. Moreover, patients with acid reflux have less chances of regurgitating when they lie down.

Medications are also available. Some drugs act to neutralize the acids in the stomach and some work by blocking the production of acids by controlling the actions of histamine.

Jet Lag Syndrome

This is the second most popular sleep disorder and usually affects international flights and if it’s domestic if they’re going between time zones. This is what you call knocking your body clock out of synch because when you’re traveling across different time zones especially at the international level because that can throw you off an entire day if you’re coming from the west going east from New York to London or Los Angeles to Tokyo or Sydney which can throw you off since you cross the international date line which is one day ahead and behind.

It seems as if women are more affected than men and according to medical reports its because the natural hormone estrogen and it’s triggered when the body when accustomed to normal daytime and nighttime rhythms therefore you’re upsetting the body’s natural state of corresponding with a specific time of day and it can even interrupt eating patterns as well. It can take up to several days to even a full week to regain some normalcy on the time and place once you’ve had time to sleep yourself into adjustment mode.

The symptoms of jet lag vary by the individual person and symptoms can include or be a combination of dehydration which can trigger minor disorientation, and loss of appetite, headaches and sinus irritations, fatigue, grogginess, nausea and/or vomiting from an upset stomach, irritability, and mild depression. Jet lag is not linked to the length of a flight, but the transmerdian distance traveled. For example if you flew from New York and Los Angeles which is approximately 5 hours you will feel some jet lag crossing the Central and Mountain time zones. Jet lag can be extremely difficult in places like Alaska and Russia because of the fact that Alaska only sees a short amount of daylight and Russia has 11 different time zones and can really throw someone off if they were flying from Copenhagen to Tokyo.

Usually people that are prone to this are often given sedatives by their doctors to help them sleep through the flight and to wake up without the effects of jet lag when they land in their destination.

Ways to recover quicker from jet lag is proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep because you’ll be surprised to know that people who don’t sleep or get enough rest and relaxation will deal with it later when they land and the disorientation sets in. Sunlight according to doctors say can help reset your body’s clock back in synch.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the severity of jet lag because it affects people differently and usually people who travel on international flights are less likely to deal with jet lag because they’re used to the constant change. And have manage to adapt to those changes since some travel monthly for business and usually it’s business travelers who deal with jet lag more than those who go for vacations.

Business travelers fly at odd times which can throw someone off because they’re flying out super early or catching the red eye somewhere to arrive the next day.