Use of Contraceptives

If you love to have sex but you don't want to get pregnant, contraceptives could be your best friends. Apart from the fact that they prevent pregnancy, some surgical operations that are life savers are also contraceptive in nature. A good example is hysterectomy in which the uterus is surgically removed. Contraceptives are the various deliberate means of avoiding pregnancy.

How to choose the right contraceptives

The factors to consider in choosing your contraceptives are:

Efficiency Safety and Personal taste.

Types

There are two broad types: the Natural contraceptives and the Artificial ones. Each of them has its merits and demerits so it advisable to consult a doctor before deciding for or against a particular contraceptive.

The natural contraceptives

Coitus interruptus (withdrawal method) in which the penis is withdrawn from the vagina just prior ejaculation. It is not very effective because it demands great discipline from the man. Moreover, there are some sperm present in the lubricating fluid produced by the man which may impregnate. The douche is another method but it is also not very effective. In fact, it is almost useless to douche after the intercourse Fertility cycle: A man is always ready and able to fertilize a woman but the woman is fertile for only certain days of the month. These days are the day before ovulation, the day of ovulation and the day after that. If you avoid sex during the three fertile days of the month, you could avoid pregnancy. This is theoretical and may also not be as efficient as you want.

The artificial contraceptives

The pill (oral contraceptives) is drugs with which you control your menstrual cycle hence your ovulation. It is one of the most effective contraceptives but it has its downsides too. One of them is possible delayed ovulation when you need it. Intrauterine Device (IUD): a device inserted by a doctor into the uterine cavity to prevent pregnancy. Its downside includes higher possibility of abnormal pregnancy, disease and abortion. Vaginal diaphragm is a dome-shaped device that you insert into the vagina before love-making. Its job is to prevent the sperm from reaching the fertilization site. You may need to add some spermicidal jelly to the rim to make it more effective. The use of Vaginal Spermicidal products is another contraceptive. These products will kill any sperm in the vagina without harming the vagina. The downside to this is that it must be used just before sex so it could be distracting. Condoms are worn both as contraceptives and to prevent diseases. Its down side is that it has to be worn after erection and there have been reports of broken condoms here and there. In addition, some men complain of reduced pleasure when they use condoms. The RU486 is used by some women. It is actually an abortion drug so if you have a thing or two against abortion, you need to think twice before you go for this option. Although hysterectomy is used in the treatment of medical conditions like uterine fibroid, prolapse, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) etc. Some people consider it also as a birth control method. Tubal ligation (for women) and vasectomy (for men) are surgical operations in which a section of the tubes that carry ovum in the woman or the one that conducts the sperm in the man is cut and tied off. It is a sure way of preventing pregnancy.

Caution! Before you go for tubal ligation or vasectomy, it is very important that you are absolutely sure you don't want to get pregnancy any more. To reverse these surgical operations are expensive and the success is not guaranteed.

Although some contraceptives are readily available, it is advisable to consult your doctor before you start using any them. There could be some underlying dangers which only qualified doctors can detect.

Asthma - An Allergy

Undoubtedly, allergies often cause asthma. The terms asthma and allergy are often used as synonyms by laymen and in medical terminology. Unfortunately, only a few cases of asthma are really caused by allergies.

The term allergy is difficult to define. Allergy basically means "to react differently". As a matter of fact, many asthmatic patients react differently to various kinds of inhaled substances than do healthy people. Antibodies, which are usually significant in the protection from pathogenic agents, initiate a fateful chain of reactions in the case of asthma.

Allergic asthma due to pollen is a good example. Whereas about 90 percent of the population can inhale large amounts of pollen from grasses and ragweed, which bloom during spring and autumn, the remaining 10 percent of the population suffer from hay fever or pollen asthma. The link between the nose and the airways is obvious. Anyone who suffers from hay fever, called pollinosis in medical terminology, will complain about the discomfort it causes. While everyone else enjoys the first signs of summer, the sunshine, the warmth and the blooming of the meadows, the person suffering from hay fever hides behind the drawn blinds because otherwise, his eyes run and the itching of the eye becomes intolerable. A person suffering from hay fever may also experience a constantly running nose, difficulty of breathing through the nose and may feel generally ill although the illness seems to be so harmless.

Nonetheless, the person with hay fever suffers far less than the one with pollen asthma. Pollen asthma affects a part of the bronchial system, which is far more important for breathing than is the nose. It is not known why the disease affects the nose in one person and the bronchial system in another. Unfortunately, children who suffer from hay fever while still in school develop asthma as adults. Causes for this development are unknown.

How does the seemingly innocuous pollen cause asthma?

Pollen is usually too large to infiltrate the bronchial wall as a whole. Rather, the bronchial mucosa dissolves the pollen into protein particles small enough to pass through the epithelium (a membranous tissue composed of cell layers forming the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the body and its organs). These pollen particles then encounter cells in the bronchial mucosa, which develop antibodies against it. It would appear that this formation of antibodies to trap the pollen particles is normal. Unfortunately, the antibody struggles with the intruding pollen particle without success. The formation of allergy antibodies initiates a reaction, which is more harmful to the body than if nothing had happened. The struggle between the intruding allergens and the antibodies formed by the body takes place on the membrane of so-called mast cells, which are composed of dangerous substances. Mast cells take part in the body's allergic response. They can be found in most body tissues, but are predominantly abundant in connective tissue, such as the bronchial mucosa. In an allergic response, an allergen stimulates the release of antibodies, which attach themselves to mast cells. Following subsequent allergen exposure, the mast cells release substances such as histamine (a chemical which causes allergic symptoms) into the tissue. These substances lead to a spasm of the bronchial muscles, make the small vessels in the bronchial mucosa permeable, allow blood plasma to escape into the tissue and lead to the production of extremely viscid bronchial mucus.