Everyone experiences muscle cramps from time-to-time. Perhaps your neck gets cramped after a day at your desk or you get a leg cramp after exercise when you’ve been sedentary for a long time. Some women get leg cramps after wearing high heels. The solution to most of these common cramps is to stretch the muscles regularly and, in the case of high heels, avoid them.There is another kind of cramp that people often experience: nocturnal leg cramps. Just as you’ve fallen deep asleep, you’re awakened by severe and painful cramping in your calf muscle. Most people jump up and hop around on the affected leg until the cramp goes away. But, occasionally, it returns. Sometimes the cramp is in the thigh, sometimes the foot.The first thing to check if you have leg cramps is your prescription drugs. Some can cause cramping. Diuretics, taken for high blood pressure or heart disorders, can cause an imbalance of your potassium and magnesium levels.The most common cause of nocturnal leg cramps is calcium deficiency. If you are postmenopausal, trying to lose weight, or don’t consume enough calcium, you are vulnerable to developing leg cramps. To relieve leg cramps and prevent any long-term problems associated with calcium deficiency, start today to increase your calcium consumption. If you’re avoiding fat, try nonfat yogurt and skim milk. Also, you can take a calcium supplement at bedtime.Pregnant women are sometimes vulnerable to leg cramps, which usually occurs due to a change in their calcium metabolism. Calcium supplements can help. Please check with your obstetrician before beginning any supplements. Another help for nocturnal leg cramps is vitamin E.If neither calcium nor vitamin E gives you relief, you may benefit from magnesium, potassium, or vitamin A.Because it has been shown that sugar and caffeine reduce the absorption of vitamins and minerals (particularly calcium), people with cramping problems should eliminate as much sugar and caffeine from their diets as possible.Natural Prescriptions for Leg Cramps· Eliminate as much sugar and caffeine as possible from the diet.In addition to current daily supplements, add:· 1,200 mg. of Calcium at bedtime. If no results, you can discontinue but be sure you get 1,200 mg. of Calcium daily through diet and/or other supplements. If you are pregnant, check with your doctor before beginning and supplements.· 400 I.U. Vitamin E twice daily after meals for two weeks. If symptoms are relieved, cut down to 400 I.U. daily. If symptoms recur, increase the dosage until symptoms are relieved but never take more than 1,200 I.U. daily.· 400 mg. Magnesium daily.· 10,000 I.U. Vitamin A daily · 100 mg. Potassium daily—John Russell of IH Distribution, LLC brings you health, anti-aging and skin care products from around the world. Find fabulous skin care tips and great articles on a wide range of topics for women at our Skin Care Blog and hormones-beauty-health.com .

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More than five and half million women in North America have endometriosis (abnormal growth of endometrial cells), making it one of the most common female afflictions.Pain and infertility are the two most common symptoms of the disease. Quality of life can be adversely affected by the pain, which may occur before/during/after sex, in association with menstruation, during urination or bowel movements.Some of the other symptoms include frequent miscarriage, intestinal upset, fatigue and PMS. It is possible to have endometriosis without ever experiencing pain, in which case a woman doesn’t even know she has it until she is diagnosed when the inability to get pregnant leads her to a doctor.Medical experts do not agree on the exact cause of endometriosis. There are a number of theories that try to describe the causes of the disease.A major theory about the cause of endometriosis involves genetic structure. The disease could be inherited, or result from genetic errors, making some women more likely than others to develop the condition. If scientists can find a specific gene or genes related to endometriosis in some women, genetic testing might allow health care providers to detect endometriosis much earlier, or even prevent it from happening at all.There are other possible causes, as well. Estrogen, a hormone involved in the female reproductive cycle, seems to advance the growth of endometriosis. Research is currently looking into endometriosis as a disease of the endocrine system (the body’s system of glands, hormones, and other secretions).Or, it may be that a woman’s immune system does not remove fluid in the pelvic cavity properly, or the chemicals made by areas of endometriosis may irritate or promote growth of more endometriosis. Which is leading to the study of the role of the immune system in either starting or growing endometriosis.There is much research that focuses on determining whether environmental agents, such as exposure to synthetic chemicals, cause the disease. Another important area of research is the search for endometriosis markers. These markers are substances made by or in response to endometriosis that health care providers could potentially measure in the blood or urine. If markers are found, scientists could diagnose endometriosis by testing a woman’s body fluids, thereby reducing the need for surgery to confirm the disease.Currently, physicians have several tests at their disposal for endometriosis diagnosis. Imaging tests produce a “picture” of the inside of the body, which allows them to locate endometriosis areas. Two major imaging tests are ultrasound (use of sound waves) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (use of magnets and radio waves to make the picture). Laparascopy is usually performed to verify the presence of endometriosis.Probably the most common symptom of endometriosis is pain, mostly in the abdomen, lower back and pelvic areas. The amount of pain felt does not correlate to how much endometriosis there actually is. Some women have no pain even though their endometriosis is extensive, meaning that the affected areas are large or that there is scarring. However, some women have severe pain even though they have only a few little endometriosis areas.There a number of treatments for pain related to endometriosis. Pain treatments include:· Pain medication — if pain is mild, medication may work well. The medication can possibly be an over-the-counter remedy, but strong prescription drugs for managing pain are also available.· Hormone therapy — hormones can be delivered in pill form, injection, or in a nasal spray. Common hormones used to treat endometriosis are progesterone and progestin, GnRH (gonadatropin-releasing hormone) birth control pills, and danocrine. Current research is exploring the use of other hormones in treating endometriosis and its related pain.· Surgical treatment — when the endometriosis is extensive, or in the presence of severe pain, surgical treatments are generally recommended.—John Russell of IH Distribution, LLC brings you health, anti-aging and skin care products from around the world. Find fabulous skin care tips and great articles on a wide range of topics for women at www.hormones-beauty-health.com or shop online at KnowHow-Now.com Articles

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