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How I Got Rid Of Vaginal Yeast Infection: No More Discomfort and Burning

  • Posted on July 2, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Yeast is a fungus that loves the warm, dark and moist environment like vagina. There is usually a small number of yeast in the vagina. When the imbalance causes the number of yeast cells to increase, you suffer with a vaginal yeast infection. Lots of women experience a vaginal yeast infection.

I developed a vaginal yeast infection nearly two years ago and I experience how the infection sufferers feel every day. I finally found the treatment that worked for me after everything that a doctor recommeded wasted my money. I like to tell my story.

I was relaxing on a couch one day, and suddenly my vagina felt so itchy. There were other symptoms such as redness, swelling and buring. I had never had a yeast infection before but I had heard about it. I was pretty confident that I developed a vaginal yeast infection. I rushed to the drug store and got some creams and tablets. I had some refief and comfort for a short while but the itching and pain never dissapeared.

Dissapointed with the over-the-counter medications, I finally decided to see a doctor. The redness, discharge and swelling at the area were the first things she checked. In order to run a lab test, she needed to get some samples from the vagina. She told me some of sexually transmitted disease can cause similar symptoms. She returned to the room and said that I developed a yeast infection based on the lab results.

I asked her how I got a yeast infection. She told me that there are several things that cause a vaginal yeast infection. They are hormonal changes during the periods, diseases like AIDS/HIV, taking medicines like antibiotics and birth control pills, and pregnancy. I was surprised that things like stress, lack of sleep and poor eating habits can lead to vaginal yeast infection.

The doctor said that I made a big mistake taking over-the-counter medicines prior to coming to see her. Seven out of ten women who use over-the-counter creams or tablets actually have yeast infection. The use of over-the-counter medications without actual infection may cause yeast to get stronger, which make it harder to cure the infection when you really have it.

Accoding to the doctor, you can do several things to keep the symptoms from getting bad. Scented items can make the symptoms worse. Do not use things like scented tampons, pads or bubble bath. I was told to change tampons and pads more often during the period. I had to stay away from any clothes or underwear that are made of synthetic fibers. I was advised to remove the sweaty clothes immediately after the physical exercises.

She suggested some prescription drugs and I took them every day as I was told. I was feeling pretty good after starting to take them. I mean less itching and less pain. However, to my dissapointment, everything came back.

I did not want to return to the doctor’s office this time. Instead of getting more advice from the doctor, I put my mind into doing my own research on a vaginal yeast infection. I did an extensive research online. And, one day, I found a very interesting posting in the yeast infection related forum. Someone wrote a posting about natural treatment of a vaginal yeast infection.

I was very skeptical. How can those simple natural treatment cure my infection after expensive medications failed me? To be honest, I was desparate and I decided to go for it. Within two days, I had a great relief. In two weeks, almost all the symptoms like itching and soreness were gone.

Suzie Carroll suffered from vaginal yeast infection and used natural treatment to cure the infection. Learn more about her experience, visit our yeast infection cure site.

Article Source: How I Got Rid Of Vaginal Yeast Infection: No More Discomfort and Burning

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The gift of a good night’s sleep

  • Posted on July 2, 2009 at 12:35 pm

I’ve struggled to find the perfect gifts for friends and family. I’ve shopped for hours to find that special something that sends just the right message? After a recent night without sleep I’ve come to a unique conclusion about gift giving. I now believe the best gift I could give someone is a good night’s sleep.

To Give the Gift of Rest… I’d love to hand that night of sleep, wrapped in a gift box, to the people who mean the most to me. What could be more delicious than hours of deep, healing rest? Picture it: the person you love most rising from bed in the morning, happy, refreshed and focused, with energy to last the day.

Imagine saying to your friends, “Here’s a whole night’s sleep. Just close your eyes and enjoy it.” To be able to give them the freedom to sink into slumber without a single, anxious thought. That simple gift could be the start of something big, perhaps a whole chain of restful nights strung together.

How much different would our loved ones’ lives be if they slept well every night? Would they follow conversations better, think faster, solve problems more quickly, have better concentration and drive more safely? I like to think that, with the gift of rest, the people I love could be even more extraordinary.

You see, I believe that simple present of gift boxed sleep could be the catalyst to better health and happiness. All I need do is look at my own life and the damage lack of sleep does to know what can be healed helping someone else sleep better.

To Give the Gift of Dreams… We haven’t yet discussed the wave of creativity gifts of restful sleep could set free. There’s no limit to the art our loved ones might create, given rich, dream filled nights. On the other hand, what wonderful inventions have been lost to nagging insomnia? It hurts to think of the loss to society sleepless nights may have caused.

I hesitate to call it a revolution, but I believe this gift of ours, this peaceful night of sleep, could be the key to endless creativity. I’m certain there are people in our lives who are waiting to imagine great things, given the simple gift of enough sleep each night.

To Give the Gift of Joy… There’s a sad cycle I’ve witnessed in the lives of those around me, and it goes like this—anxiety and depression disrupt their sleep, and lack of sleep worsens their symptoms. I’d love to be able to break that cycle and bring back joy to their lives.

What a wonderful Christmas present, handing someone suffering from anxiety a whole night without racing thoughts! The happiness these friends miss is heartbreaking; to gift wrap sleep and the peace it could promote in their minds would be an act of friendship, indeed.

To Give the Gift of Healing… There’s one more reason I’d like to give my loved ones sleep, and that’s the healing it would bring to their bodies. I watch my friends as they struggle with cardiac, respiratory and digestive problems, and know if they slept at night, healing might be triggered.

Who knows how much healthier each of us would be, given enough sleep? Would our skin be clearer, our hearts stronger and our immune systems more durable? If we could see the benefits kick-starting the habit of adequate sleep might trigger, I think we’d be even more anxious to give our loved ones the gift of sleep.

Sleep is the ultimate gift to offer those closest to us. When our loved ones sleep, their bodies have the chance to regroup, heal and strengthen for the days ahead. And what, after all, could be a better result from any gift we give?

Matthew White, the Sultan of Snooze, is the author of “Sleep Anywhere Anytime in 7 Minutes or Less” and “Eliminate Jet Lag Now”.
Matthew’s mission is to pull back the curtain on those cures. Follow him on
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Does Your Child Snore?

  • Posted on July 2, 2009 at 7:15 am

Occasional snoring may be normal to children. Recent studies show that 3 to 12 percent of children between the age of 1 and 9 snore. But frequency doesn’t mean normality. Habitual snoring can be a cause of a more serious medical condition called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) or simply, sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition characterized by loud snoring with periods of breathing interruptions. Interruptions may be short or prolonged, usually between 5 to 30 seconds. During this period, the child’s could not get straight sleep. He rouses and moves to another sleeping position, then resumes sleep. After a while he will once again begin snoring. This activity often happens several times during the night, each night. Although this condition rarely appears on children, it is very important that parents should watch out for symptoms that come along with it.

Symptoms of sleep apnea include

• Poor speech habits – talking that sounds like words over a mouthful of hot potato.

• Reduced growth rate. Children suffering from sleep apnea use more energy in breathing during the night. During meals, they tend to eat slowly since it is hard for them to breathe and chew at the same time. The result is, they have insufficient nutrients to support their growth.

• Hyperactivity. Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness on children during the day. To stay awake, children act frantically.

• Poor performance in school. Since children do not get the right sleep during the night, they tend to appear tired and lack the concentration to focus at school, thus, having a poor performance.

When these symptoms are visible, it is imperative for parents to bring their child to a pediatrician and have him examined. A child can be happy and smiling when he is brought to the doctor and therefore, it is difficult to diagnose if he really has sleep apnea. Parents are advised to record their child’s snoring so that the doctor can analyze the situation in actually.

Meanwhile, sleep apnea is not the sole reason why children snore. Other reasons include allergy attack, obesity, asthma, and enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis.

Some allergy attacks can cause swelling on the linings of the nose that can direct to the enlargement of adenoids. This keeps the child from breathing normally. This causes the child to snore. After the allergy attack, the snoring stops.

Obesity can also lead to snoring. In fact, 20% and 40% of the obese children snore. This is because fats can form around the throat that can cause constriction and makes the limited airways. Also, fats in the stomach can cause the diaphragm to function irregularly

Asthma is said to be another cause why children snore. A study revealed that 40% of the children diagnosed with asthma snore.

Enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis also results to snoring. While cold or tonsillitis can be cured by decongestant and antibiotics, adenoid enlargement is treated by surgical procedure to remove adenoids and tonsils.

Underdevelopment of the jaw inside the womb can cause snoring as well. There is also the possibility that the nerves and the muscles cannot control the airway properly and cause that child to snore.

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Article Source: Does Your Child Snore?

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The Relationship Between Sleep Habits and Symptoms in ADHD Children

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 9:04 pm

A new study on children, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and sleep, gives parents good reasons to make sure that their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids develop good bed-time habits and are in bed as early as possible.

The study reported the obvious: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children need sleep, and lots of it.

The study was just published on March 1, 2009 in the journal SLEEP. It confirms what many parents already know about their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children or teens, that they simply are not getting enough sleep at night, and that they often wake up tired and sluggish in the morning, which causes other problems all through the day.

The study was led by Dr. Reut Gruber, Ph.D., the director of the Attention, Behaviour, and Sleep Lab, which is a part of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, in Montreal, Quebec. “The Douglas” is associated with McGill University and is also very involved in World Health Organization programs. Dr. Gruber has been studying the effects of a lack of sleep in children for years, including its effects on depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and school performance. She even has done a study on the impact of sleep (or lack of it) on continuous performance test (CPT) performance (tests such as the TOVA). She is a big advocate of teaching children good night-time habits to improve the quality and quantity of their sleep so that their performance through the day may improve.

While Dr. Gruber does not believe that a lack of sleep causes Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, she does believe that sleep problems make Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms worse, which is easy enough to see when thinking about focused attention or impulse control. The study reports that as many as 50% of children and teens with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have reported having sleep problems, which can impair daytime learning and performance.

Reports of this study show that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have significantly shorter sleep times than the non- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder control group. The children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the study got an average of 8 hours, 19 minutes of sleep per night, while the control group averaged 8 hours, 52 minutes of sleep. This missing half-hour of sleep each night adds up over the course of a week, a month, a year. The study also reported that the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children had less REM sleep time each night than the control group.

So parents, this gives us good reasons to consider how our family spends its time from about 7:00 pm and later into the evening. Try to structure the evening so that your children can wind-down, relax, and get ready for a full night’s sleep. The results could be better performance at school the following day.

Dr. Douglas Cowan is the Clinical Editor of the ADD ADHD Information Library’s family of websites, including http://newideas.net and http://ADDinSchool.com for parents and teachers. Dr. Cowan has a Doctorate in Psychology, and a Masters in Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy, and has helped hundreds of ADHD children and families. See our free online screening tool for adhd.

Article Source: The Relationship Between Sleep Habits and Symptoms in ADHD Children

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What Are The Main Symptoms Of Depression ?

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 7:36 pm

Let’s face it. There is still a stigma attached to mental illness and depression is no exception. There is little understanding of the disorder in general although depression symptoms are well documented. But medically speaking, we are light years way from effective, safe treatment. Up to now the only conventional medication has been tricyclics and SSRIs which have all been associated with some nasty side effects and the most alarming fact of all is that nobody knows exactly how these medications work on our brains.

Before we consider alternatives, let us look at the main symptoms of depression. Manic depression is sometimes referred to as bipolar and the latter name reflects the two extremes of symptoms from euphoric (manic) to deep depression. These changes can be very sudden and disconcerting for those around the individual. The sufferer may be on a high for quite long periods and display great energy but also irritability, aggressive and violent behavior.

The main symptoms of depression from the mild to the moderate will be less dramatic but still worrying for those who are close to the depressed person. Depression is a state of deep melancholy and gradually the sufferer gets sucked into a deep black hole where gloom, pessimism and a sense of hopelessness, bleakness and helplessness become so persistent and pervasive that daily activities are affected and the person just cannot function. These feelings often lead to suicide because that is the only action or way out for the depressed person.

There is a notable loss of self esteem and there is no longer any pleasure in doing the things he or she always loved doing. There is a lack of energy , lethargy takes over and depressed people tend to sleep for much longer although lack of sleep or insomnia can also be present. Individuals will vary. There is a distinct lack of interest in the people and the world around them, indecision and eating disorders. When there is talk of ending it all and a lot of talk about death, this is another one of the main symptoms of depression.

The fact that more people are now suffering from depression symptoms but there is a lower percentage of people actively seeking help and treatment may be due to the FDA back box warnings on the medicines about suicides. This may well have put people off seeking medication but no medication is worse than some medication.

Medications may cause side effects which in turn may lead to even more depressed thoughts which seems a rather sadistic way of treating an illness in my view. I know that herbal depression treatment can restore balance and serenity to the troubled mind while improving mood and really alleviate the main symptoms of depression with very few or minor side effects. Why not find out more about this alternative?

Want to learn how to deal with the main symptoms of depression ? Robert Locke has written extensively on Mental Health for many years.

Article Source: What Are The Main Symptoms Of Depression ?

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