Four major signs of women’s health

Abnormal non-menstrual bleeding, sudden changes in secretion properties, persistent uninduced fatigue, and short-term unreasonable fluctuations in weight. I have been in the gynecology clinic for almost 7 years, and I have seen too many people either ignore these signals as trivial matters, or become overly anxious and frighten themselves. Today I will explain it clearly to you based on the real clinical situations encountered.

Last week I just had a baby with a 32-year-old Internet operator girl. She had brown bloodshot streaks during ovulation for three consecutive months. It was a small amount and she could just put on a pad and it didn't hurt. The more I checked on Baidu, the more it looked like cervical pre-cancerous lesions. I went into the clinic crying. In the end, I had a color ultrasound and cervical cancer screening, but nothing happened. It was just that I stayed up late for a month working on projects during that time, and the function of the corpus luteum was a bit insufficient. Speaking of which, the industry does have different tendencies in dealing with non-menstrual bleeding: some doctors believe that as long as non-menstrual bleeding occurs, they recommend hysteroscopy to check for lesions to avoid missed diagnosis. ； But most of our clinics will first look at the frequency of attacks and accompanying symptoms. If it happens once in a while, just before and after ovulation, and there are no problems such as abdominal pain or odor, it is mostly caused by hormone fluctuations and can be relieved by adjusting your work and rest. If it occurs continuously for 2-3 months, no matter how much or how little, you must check it in time and don't bear it.

At that time, the girl had another situation that she was embarrassed to talk about: during that time, her discharge was like tofu dregs, and she was itchy for almost a week. She washed it with salt water at home for several days but it didn't get better. The leucorrhea was found to be fungal vaginitis. Many people have very strict criteria for judging secretions. They read a popular science article and said, "Normal leucorrhea must be as transparent as egg white and have no peculiar smell." If it turns yellow, they will panic. There are actually different treatment ideas here: the view of evidence-based medicine is that as long as there is no itching, burning pain, or obvious fishy odor, simple yellowing and stickiness are mostly normal hormonal changes in diet, work and rest, or after ovulation. The vagina has a self-purifying function, and most of them can recover on their own after observing for about 3 days. There is no need to insert medicine or buy various lotions to rinse. ； Traditional gynecologists sometimes prescribe mild vulvar lotions to help relieve symptoms. I generally recommend that girls change to pure cotton underwear first and wash the vulva with warm water. If the vaginal discharge does not improve after 3 days, go for a regular check-up. Don't use medication randomly to destroy the balance of the bacterial flora, which will make it easy to recur. Oh, by the way, a girl came for a checkup last time and said that she had watched a short popular science video and said that smelly secretions were cervical cancer. She was so scared that she didn’t sleep well for a week. But it turned out that her underwear was not dried and covered in the sun. You think it’s a loss or not?

Seriously, the most overlooked of the four signs is persistent fatigue. Last month, I met a 41-year-old sister who was hospitalized and cared for for two months. After that, she couldn't recover for most of the year. She slept nine hours a day but still felt heavy. She had to rest for half a day even if she climbed to the second floor. People around her said she was old and weak in energy and blood. She also bought a lot of donkey-hide gelatin and red ginseng to eat, but she didn't see any improvement after two months of eating. Finally, she went for a physical examination and found out that she was hypothyroidism and had moderate iron deficiency anemia. She took thyroid hormone and iron supplements, and she became more energetic in less than a month. To be fair here, most traditional Chinese medicine will classify this kind of uncaused fatigue as deficiency of Qi and blood and insufficient Qi. It is indeed useful to treat it through dietary supplements, moxibustion and other methods. ； But we generally recommend doing a basic blood test first to check thyroid function, blood routine, blood sugar and other indicators. First rule out the possibility of organic disease, and then take supplements. Otherwise, supplementing for a long time will not cause the problem, and waste money and delay things.

There is also the weight change that everyone least cares about. Last year, a 27-year-old girl came for a pre-pregnancy check-up. She said that she had not deliberately lost weight for half a year, but she had lost 15 pounds inexplicably. She was very happy. The result was that her thyroid function was checked and it was hyperthyroidism. The doctor said that she should take care of herself before she can prepare for pregnancy, otherwise she would be prone to miscarriage. There is also a 25-year-old girl who gained 18 pounds in three months. Her aunt came only once every two or three months. In the end, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome. After adjusting her diet and exercising, her aunt lost 10 pounds and became normal again. Under normal circumstances, it is normal for our weight to fluctuate by 2-3 kilograms. For example, after eating hot pot and drinking milk tea one day, it is normal to gain two kilograms the next day. However, if the weight fluctuates by more than 5% within a month without any cause, for example, a 100-jin person loses 5 kilograms or gains 5 kilograms in a month, and does not deliberately diet or exercise, you must take it seriously. There is a high probability that there is a problem with the endocrine or metabolic system.

In fact, these four signs are, to put it bluntly, small reminders sent by your body, just like the low battery warning that pops up on your mobile phone. It does not mean that there will be a big problem immediately, but you need to take some snacks. Don’t scare yourself by checking on Baidu when you see a signal, and don’t be so worried that you don’t check for bleeding for half a year. If you are really unsure, go to a regular hospital and get a gynecology number. It costs 10 to 8 yuan, which is much more reliable than doing three hours of popular science.