Women's Health Topics Discussion

There is no "universal health standard" suitable for all women. Blindly copying Internet celebrity recipes, universal physical examination checklists, and unified symptom response plans are precisely the core reasons why many women's health problems are delayed and over-intervened.

Last week, I met a 22-year-old girl at a community charity clinic. In order to follow the blogger to support her "warm palace", she drank red date ginger tea and soaked her feet every day for three consecutive months until she was sweating. The result was only slight menstrual bloating, but now she bleeds every month during ovulation. After checking her hormones, it was found that the originally stable endocrine system was completely messed up due to long-term excessive warming. She clutched the report sheet and said aggrievedly, "Don't everyone say this is good for girls? ”I didn’t know what to say for a moment. I’ve seen too many similar pitfalls.

At present, there are actually two parallel logics in women's health intervention. Many people are arguing back and forth, but the essence is that they are in different camps. The consensus in the evidence-based medicine system is that, in addition to clear pathological indications, no additional intervention is needed for "femininity": for example, if you don't have iron deficiency anemia, you don't need to eat donkey hide gelatin, fish maw and other qi and blood supplements. If you don't have HPV infection, you don't need to indiscriminately use gynecological maintenance gels called "detoxification". Even if the aunt's cycle is within the range of 21-35 days, and the amount of bleeding is stable each time, even if it is occasionally delayed by a week in advance, it is not considered a pathological problem.

Supporters of naturopathy and integrative medicine believe that women's hormone fluctuations are highly bound to emotions, stress, and environment, and they cannot just rely on indicators: for example, some girls' physical examination reports are all normal, but they are so violent that they throw things and have chest pain that they cannot touch every time before coming to visit the aunt. This kind of "normal indicators but physical discomfort" situation also requires intervention through dietary adjustments, emotional counseling, and appropriate external treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. It cannot be dismissed with "You are not sick, go back and drink more hot water."

In fact, both sides are right. What is wrong is that a certain standard must be applied to everyone. My mother went through menopause last year. She went to a Western doctor to check her hormones. She was told that the levels had dropped within the normal range for her age, and she was asked to regulate her emotions. As a result, she had insomnia for three months in a row until 3 a.m., crying at my dad every now and then. Later, she found a reliable Chinese medicine doctor for two months. At the same time, she signed up for a square dance class and danced with her old sisters for two hours every day. Now she can sleep well, and she no longer gets emotional for no reason. Which method do you think is right? Whatever suits her is right.

When many people talk about women's health, they always like to talk about the body itself, forgetting that many problems are not caused by physiological reasons at all. For example, girls who sit in offices for a long time will most likely find a small amount of pelvic effusion and lower limb edema during physical examination. Do you think this is "body cold"? You sit still for 10 hours every day, and you have to ask your colleagues to bring you water! There are also many girls who have irregular menstruation, but check all the indicators and there is no problem. When asked, they have worked overtime until 12 o'clock every day in the past three months, or have just broken up with a partner who has been dating for several years and cried for a week. It is strange that their hormones are stable.

Take the most controversial private part care as an example. Some people say that you must use special lotion, while others say that you can just use water for a lifetime. In fact, there is no standard answer at all: if you are a fitness enthusiast who goes to the gym every day and sweats a lot, or is pregnant and has a lot of secretions, it is absolutely fine to use a mild and weakly acidic lotion.； But if you are dry and have no inflammation, using lotion every day will destroy the balance of flora in your private parts. I met a little girl who was practicing triathlon a while ago. I heard others say that it is not good to use lotion. After training every day, she sweated and wet her underwear with just water. As a result, she developed vulvitis. In turn, she blamed "exercise is not friendly to girls". This is not the same.

In fact, by the end of the conversation, you will find that there is no "must-do list" or "trap list" for women's health. The most reliable method is always to find out your own body patterns first, which is 100 times more effective than worrying about the unified standards on the Internet. Oh, by the way, if you really feel unwell for more than a week, don’t frighten yourself by searching online. Go to a regular hospital to register first. This is the safest way.