Women's Health Topics Discussion

There is no "standard answer" that applies to all women. Whether it is daily care, menstrual period maintenance, fertility planning, and chronic disease management, all unified recommendations that are divorced from individual physical foundations and living habits are essentially useless and even risky.

The last time I went to a community hospital for two cancer screenings, while waiting in line, I heard two little girls next to me watching a short video together. One frowned and said, "The blogger said that drinking ice during pregnancy will cause colds in the uterus. I drank an ice cream and it hurt for three days last time. It was true." The other immediately lost his face: "I ate two ice creams during my period last week. Nothing happened. Is my constitution too weird?" 」

Don't tell me, I've seen this kind of entanglement too many times. Regarding whether you can touch ice during your menstrual period, there are differences in the opinions of Chinese and Western medicine: Modern medicine believes that after ice food enters the digestive tract and is heated, it will not affect the temperature of the uterus at all. As long as you don’t have abdominal pain or diarrhea after drinking it, there is no need to avoid eating it. ； Traditional Chinese medicine believes that women with cold constitutions, cold hands and feet, and severe menstrual pain should really reduce their intake of cold foods during menstruation to avoid aggravating the problem of qi and blood stasis. Both statements are correct. What is wrong is that "taboos" or "no taboos" must be regarded as rules that everyone must abide by. I have a friend who grew up in Guangdong. He drinks iced milk tea all year round, even during his menstrual period, and there are no problems with his physical examination. ； There is another friend who is so painful that even if he takes a bite of cold boiled food in the summer, he will break out into cold sweats. Let alone iced ones, even normal-temperature fruits must be hot before he dares to eat them. Both of them have normal physiques, so what's the difference between them?

Really, don’t underestimate the lethality of this “unified standard”. More common than misunderstandings about menstrual period care is the breast problem that many young girls are now aware of. I accompanied my cousin for a breast ultrasound last week. While waiting for the diagnosis, I heard at least three people asking, "Can I not drink soy milk if I have nodules?" Am I not allowed to eat honey? 」

Regarding this issue, different channels of popular science have different opinions: Some nutritional science popularization emphasizes that the isoflavones in soybeans are phytoestrogens, which can regulate human hormone levels in both directions. Normal drinking will not aggravate nodules, but is good for the breast glands.； There are also some traditional medical opinions that patients with high estrogen levels and fast nodule growth should properly control their intake of foods such as soy products and royal jelly. Clinicians’ advice is more practical: As long as you don’t drink one liter of thick soy milk a day and eat royal jelly every meal, but drink a cup of 200ml light soy milk for breakfast every day, there will be no problem at all. Instead, be wary of the "breast care massage" promoted by beauty salons. Last year, my cousin's hospital received several patients who had problems due to random breast massages. The youngest was only 26 years old. He applied for tens of thousands of massage cards, saying that they could "knead away" the nodules. After half a year, the nodules increased from level 2 to 4a. Fortunately, the final biopsy was benign, so he got a knife in vain.

Oh, by the way, there is also the "wash for better health" that has been brainwashed by various advertisements for more than ten years, which is also the hardest hit area. When many people feel itchy vulva, they buy lotion to flush into the vagina. On the contrary, it disrupts the balance of normal flora, and the more they wash, the more serious the inflammation becomes. Regarding private parts care, different recommendations vary: Formal gynecological guidelines clearly state that it is not necessary to wash the inside of the vagina on a daily basis. Cleaning the vulva with warm water is enough. ； However, some doctors will suggest that if it is an attack of vulvitis, you can follow the doctor's advice and use mild lotion to clean the vulva to relieve symptoms, but you do not need to completely reject all lotions. One more thing to mention here is that many people have a stereotype about gynecological inflammation, and think that it means having an inappropriate private life. It is really unnecessary - staying up late leads to a decrease in immunity, sitting for a long time and being stuffy, and even eating too much sugar recently may induce fungal vaginitis. If you feel uncomfortable, go directly to a regular hospital to check for leucorrhea, which is 10,000 times more reliable than guessing and taking medication on your own.

I myself have fallen into the pitfalls of unified standards before. For the past two years, I followed the "Golden Timetable for Women's Health" on the Internet. I had to soak my feet at nine o'clock and lie down to sleep at eleven o'clock. I also ate donkey hide gelatin cake every day to replenish qi and blood. As a result, I had a nosebleed. My schedule was so stuck that my aunt postponed it for half a month due to anxiety. Later, I went to see a Chinese medicine doctor. The doctor took a pulse and said that I have a damp-heat constitution, which is not suitable for eating donkey-hide gelatin at all. As long as I have a regular work and rest schedule, it will be fine if I am used to going to bed at 12 o'clock and waking up at 7 o'clock. There is no need to follow other people's health templates.

In fact, to put it bluntly, there is really no need to copy other people’s strategies when it comes to women’s health. Your body is more honest than any popular science post. You know best what you eat that makes you uncomfortable and what you do that makes you uncomfortable. Don’t believe in the home remedies of Internet celebrities, don’t be coerced by the anxiety of marketing accounts, and don’t doubt your body because of other people’s standards. The one that suits you is the best.