While we (women) form alliances to prove how women and men should be viewed and treated alike, it’s almost impossible to completely achieve, which is why we always leave out reproductive differences in our arguments or perhaps use it to gain greater advantage. I always feel that women bear greater crosses but that doesn’t rule out the fact that men face bodily challenges too. In spite of yearning to be the same, we can’t ignore the differences in our makeup, including mental, and emotional, thus, the reason why we experience certain health issues that men do not. This article unveils a few health issues which women experience alone, although, no matter how we try to describe these health issues, I doubt that men will ever understand.
Here are four health issues exclusive to women.
- Trouble with the milk-shakes
When you start compiling a list of cancers, you’ll find that breast cancer is only common among women – obviously, because of our breast-esses. Not only that, but it also the most common cancer among women, affecting one in every 8 American women, and is responsible for over 40,000 deaths and continues to plague over 250,000 living women. The breast cancer awareness has become such a thing that majority of women are on high alert and perform daily self-examination, as well as the occasional clinical breast examinations and mammograms, all in a bid to discover the condition early and deal with it before it becomes life-threatening.
- Trouble down-town
By down-town, I mean the Vagina. Any little exposure down there is trouble! Especially at the time when we begin to understand puberty and hygiene, we’d have made multiple pharmaceutical purchases or hospital trips to solve a problem down there. Among many other vaginal problems, these are the most common, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
- a) Vaginitis – when the vagina is inflamed or infected, it can cause certain irritating problems, such as; discharge, itching, burning, pain, and/or bad odor.
- b) Bacterial vaginosis – some bacteria live in the vagina and when there are certain changes in the balance of bacteria that normally live there, it can trigger bacterial vaginosis.
- Trouble flows
While our monthly flow is beautiful and necessary, it can pose certain health issues for some women. Some health troubles, which may occur because of our monthly visitor, include:
- a) Premenstrual syndrome (PMS): some of these symptoms can really be annoying and very invasive on a woman’s beauty, mood and activity. While some women are lucky to get ones that are less-invasive, others have a combination, while some others don’t get any at all (lucky!). A few of these PMS symptoms include; acne, cramps (light to medium – still hurts!), headaches, fatigue, and mood swings.
- b) Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): take all the annoying symptoms of PMS and amplify them such that it’s almost disabling and heavily impactful on your daily activity – and voila, you have PMDD! Nothing to rejoice over, it’s freaking invasive, annoying and hurts like a fatal car crash. Not that it helps, but PMDD only affects a small percentage of menstruating women, between 2 to 7 percent thereabouts.
- c) Menorrhagia aka severe or heavy menstrual bleeding: it’s normal for menstruating women to experience heavy flow every now and again and some, on their first few days of their cycle. However, it’s extremely inconvenient to be expelling bloody fluid as though you’re peeing, along with large-sized blood clots, and worse, it’s going on for 8 days or more. More so, no matter what type of pad you wear and how many times you change, you’re still bound to get stained one way or another. Sounds like it’s not a big deal, until I enlighten you that in some cases, it can lead to certain other serious health issues like uterine fibroids and/or cancer, cervical cancer, anemia, fertility/birth issues, hormonal conditions as well as threats to your thyroid, liver and/or kidney.
- Trouble with retirement
When a woman has gone past the point of childbearing, menstruation or fertility, I like to call it retirement! Now, menopause is a very common and natural thing exclusive to women alone, especially women between the ages of 40 and 50. Some women even experience early menopause occurring between the ages of 30 and 35 or any other time before 40. At this time, women are no longer menstruating so there’s obviously a shortage of an important feminine hormone which contributes to good health and longevity in women, and that is the estrogen hormone. The shortage of estrogen can result in an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and certain other health conditions. Other menopausal conditions, which may occur both pre and post-menopause, include; hot flashes, insomnia, mood changes, night sweats, urinary incontinence, and loss of bone density leading to osteoporosis.
So you see? Being a woman is not ‘fish and chips’.
