Hormone Imbalance And Its Effect On Married Women

Hormone imbalance is one of the greatest causes troubles for married woman and couples. It is the root cause of several infertility cases and a whole lot of other issues. Indeed, your hormones, determines your health as a woman.

Feel on The Edge?

Do you feel bloated, irritable, or just not your best? A hormone imbalance could be to blame.

Hormones are chemical “messengers” that impact the way your cells and organs function. It’s normal for your levels to shift at different times of your life, such as before and during your period or a pregnancy, or during menopause. But some medications and health issues can cause them to go up or down, too.

Irregular Periods

Most women’s periods come every 21 to 35 days. If yours doesn’t arrive around the same time every month, or you skip some months, it might mean that you have too much or too little of certain hormones (estrogen and progesterone). If you’re in your 40s or early 50s -- the reason can be perimenopause -- the time before menopause. But irregular periods can be a symptom of health problems like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Talk to your doctor.

Sleep Problems

If you aren’t getting enough shut-eye, or if the sleep you get isn’t good, your hormones could be at play. Progesterone, a hormone released by your ovaries, helps you catch Zzz's. If your levels are lower than usual, that can make it hard to fall and stay asleep. Low estrogen can trigger hot flashes and night sweats, both of which can make it tough to get the rest you need.

Chronic Acne

A breakout before or during your period is normal. But acne that won’t clear up can be a symptom of hormone problems. An excess of androgens (“male” hormones that both men and women have) can cause your oil glands to overwork. Androgens also affect the skin cells in and around your hair follicles. Both of those things can clog your pores and cause acne.

Memory Fog

Experts aren’t sure exactly how hormones impact your brain. What they do know is that changes in estrogen and progesterone can make your head feel “foggy” and make it harder for you to remember things. Some experts think estrogen might impact brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Attention and memory problems are especially common during perimenopause and menopause. But they can also be a symptom of other hormone-related conditions, like thyroid disease. Let your doctor know if you're having trouble thinking clearly.

Belly Problems

Your gut is lined with tiny cells called receptors that respond to estrogen and progesterone. When these hormones are higher or lower than usual, you might notice changes in how you're digesting food. That’s why diarrhea, stomach pain, bloating, and nausea can crop up or get worse before and during your period. If you’re having digestive woes as well as issues like acne and fatigue, your hormone levels might be off.

Ongoing Fatigue

Are you tired all the time? Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of a hormone imbalance. Excess progesterone can make you sleepy. And if your thyroid -- the butterfly-shaped gland in your neck -- makes too little thyroid hormone, it can sap your energy. A simple blood test called a thyroid panel can tell you if your levels are too low. If they are, you can get treated for that.

Mood Swings and Depression

Researchers think drops in hormones or fast changes in their levels can cause moodiness and the blues. Estrogen affects key brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. But other hormones, that travel the same paths as neurotransmitters, also play a part in how you feel.

Appetite and Weight Gain

When you’re feeling blue or irritated, as you can be when your estrogen levels dip, you may want to eat more. That might be why drops in the hormone are linked to weight gain. The estrogen dip can also impact your body’s levels of leptin, a hunger-revving hormone.

Headaches

Lots of things can trigger these. But for some women, drops in estrogen bring them on. That’s why it’s common for headaches to strike right before or during your period, when estrogen is on the decline. Regular headaches or ones that often surface around the same time each month can be a clue that your levels of this hormone might be shifting.

Vaginal Dryness

It's normal to have this occasionally. But if you often notice that you're dry or irritated down there, low estrogen may be the reason. The hormone helps vaginal tissue stay moist and comfortable. If your estrogen drops because of an imbalance, it can reduce vaginal fluids and cause tightness.

Loss of Libido

Most people think of testosterone as a male hormone, but women’s bodies make it, too. If your testosterone levels are lower than usual, you might have less of an interest in sex than you usually do.

Breast Changes

A drop in estrogen can make your breast tissue less dense. And an increase in the hormone can thicken this tissue, even causing new lumps or cysts. Talk to your doctor if you notice breast changes, even if you don’t have any other symptoms that concern you.

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11 Foods That Helps A Man’s Love Life (Eating Solution To Erectile Dysfunction)

 

Erectile dysfunction and its many attendant problems affect a lot of marriages. But can a man eat his way to his solution? Can food affect a man’s love making? Can food make the penis firm? 

We know pills, pumps, and surgeries work for erectile dysfunction, but what about food? Are there things you can eat that can help with ED? Perhaps the wives kitchen could actually help.

Here are foods that may cure erectile dysfunction and bring joy to your marriage:

1.       Watermelon

This sweet, refreshing fruit has a compound that can have effects similar to ED meds on your blood vessels. It may even rev up your sex drive, studies say.

Most of watermelon is water, but the rest is loaded with lycopene, an antioxidant that’s good for your heart, prostate, and skin.

2.       Oysters

These shellfish may boost your testosterone levels, and that can help with sex drive. They're also chock-full of zinc, a nutrient your body needs. But you may save yourself problems by making sure they’re cooked.

Make sure you know where they come from, and that they’re cooked properly.

3.       Coffee

Your morning cup of coffee is more than just a satisfying pick-me-up. It may give your love life a boost, too. Men who drank two or three cups' worth of caffeine a day were less likely to have erectile dysfunction, one study found. That’s because caffeine helps boost blood flow.

Not a java fan? Many teas, sodas, and sports drinks also have caffeine.

4.       Dark Chocolate

This treat may have perks below the belt. An ounce a few times a week can help your ticker -- and what’s good for your heart could be good for other parts, too.

Chocolate is rich in flavanols, plant nutrients that can increase blood flow and lower blood pressure. It also helps your body make more of nitric oxide, which can help with erections and is in many ED medications.

5.       Nuts

Walnuts have lots of arginine, an amino acid your body uses to make nitric oxide. They’re also good sources of vitamin E, folic acid and fiber.

Don’t add more than a few small handfuls to your daily diet, though. Nuts are high in calories.

6.       Juice

Maybe you enjoy an adult beverage made from grapes, but here’s a reason to drink the stuff kids like. Nutrients in Concord grape juice also increase the amount of nitric oxide in your body.

If you’re not wild about drinking grape juice, try pomegranate juice. It appears to have the same effect.

7.       Garlic

The strong-smelling bulb may help between the sheets. If plaque forms on the walls of the arteries, blood flow could be cut off or reduced. That could cause a problem when it comes to romance.

Garlic in your diet may help keep your arteries healthy and clear as you age.

8.       Fish

Salmon and other fatty fish are great sources of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which may boost nitric oxide in your body. They’ll lower your blood pressure and your risks for heart attack and blood clots.

Aim for 8 ounces of salmon a week. Sardines, fresh albacore tuna, and mackerel are other good sources of omega-3s.

9.       Greens

Kale is also a nitric-oxide booster. Aside from the possible benefits to your sex life, leafy greens are nutritional powerhouses. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals and omega-3s.

10.     Peppers

You might spice up your love life by adding some chili peppers to your diet. The stuff in cayennes, jalapenos, habaneros, and other peppers that give them their heat relaxes the arteries - and that helps blood flow to the heart and other organs, including the penis.

Chilies can also help lower blood pressure and cholesterol and prevent blood clots.

11.     Olive Oil

Olive oil may help your body make more testosterone. It's also full of the good-for-you monounsaturated fat, which can help get rid of the bad cholesterol in your body. Opt for extra-virgin olive oil -- that means the olives were pressed without chemicals or high heat, which preserves the healthy antioxidants.

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Wife of Nnamdi Kanu Accuses U.K. of Not Assisting Detained Biafra Activist

Pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu (centre) attending his trial in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, February 9. Kanu has been detained in Nigeria since October 2015.PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images

The wife of imprisoned pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu has accused the British government of “evading responsibility” for ensuring her husband’s human rights are not violated.

In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, who gave birth to the couple’s first child together in January, says that the stress of her husband’s detention in Nigeria—which began almost five months ago in October 2015—meant that she almost miscarried.

Kanu, a British-Nigerian dual national, is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a global campaign group calling for independence for the region formerly known as the Republic of Biafra, currently southeast Nigeria. Biafra existed as an independent republic between 1967 and 1970 and was populated mainly by members of the Igbo ethnic group before it was re-amalgamated into Nigeria.

Kanu was arrested in Lagos by the Nigerian State Security Service (DSS) in October 2015 on charges including criminal conspiracy and belonging to unlawful society. Since then, he has twice been granted bail by Nigerian courts but remains in detention.

Nnamdi Kanu and his wife Uchechi Okwu-Kanu in 2014. Okwu-Kanu says her husband's detention almost resulted in her miscarrying their child.

The Nigerian government filed fresh charges against him in December 2015 of treasonable felony—which carries a maximum life sentence in Nigeria—accusing Kanu of attempting to overthrow Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari by broadcasting secessionist material on Radio Biafra, an underground media outlet of which Kanu is the director. His trial is due to begin in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Monday.

Okwu-Kanu says that her husband’s human rights have been violated by the Nigerian government and security forces, who have kept him in detention despite the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering in December 2015 for the pro-Biafra activist to be granted unconditional bail.

“It is for the British government to get involved, to make sure that this person’s human rights are being respected and they haven’t done that. They’ve been to see my husband but that is not where it ends,” says Okwu-Kanu, who married Kanu in 2009 and lives with her husband, step-son and son in London.

Labour MP Angela Rayner, the U.K.’s Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, tells Newsweek that she has received multiple allegations of human rights abuses against Kanu and other pro-Biafra protesters in Nigeria from her constituents and had raised the issue with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Amnesty International also tells Newsweek that it is investigating allegations of human rights abuses of pro-Biafra protesters, including killings and arbitrary arrests, in at least four locations in Nigeria, and that it will look into claims that Kanu had been tortured in detention.

“His human rights have been violated and international human rights bodies should be all over the place because he is also human,” says Okwu-Kanu. “From my perspective, they [the British government] are evading some responsibility. They should be doing more, they should visit him more... It’s obvious and apparent that the Nigerian government and the DSS is not obeying the law.”

An FCO spokesperson tells Newsweek: “The U.K. takes all accusations of human rights abuses seriously. We have provided assistance to Kanu since his arrest in October 2015, including visiting him regularly in prison and attending court appearances. In each of our visits to Kanu he has told us he is in good health and that he has access to both a doctor and his lawyer.” The FCO spokesperson also says that the U.K. “fully supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria.”

During the early months of his detention, Okwu-Kanu says she was unable to contact her husband and wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. The stress prompted the heavily-pregnant Okwu-Kanu to go into early contractions in November 2015. “I managed to get an ambulance and got the whole thing under control. I was kept under care, watched for two or three days before I left the hospital,” she says. The couple’s son—whom Okwu-Kanu prefers not to name for reasons of privacy—was delivered safely on January 4.

Okwu-Kanu says that she last heard from her husband earlier in February and was reassured that he was in good health. She says that the support of members of IPOB—who view her husband as a divinely-ordained leader sent to bring about the actualization of Biafra—has helped her through Kanu’s absence. “The fact that they’re all behind me has strengthened me. Knowing that people are behind my husband, it gives me strength every day. That’s probably the reason why I’m still alive, the fact that he is loved by the people,” she says.

The declaration of Biafran independence by former Nigerian military officer Odumegwu Ojukwu in 1967 sparked a three-year civil war between the Biafran and Nigerian forces. More than one million people died, many due to starvation after the Nigerian forces blockaded Biafra’s borders.

Despite having spent her entire married life in the U.K., Okwu-Kanu says she and her family would move to Biafra in an instant were it to be re-established. “Biafraland is a blessed land,” she says. “We have everything in season.”

The Nigerian government has declined repeated requests by Newsweek for comment on Kanu’s detention. In December 2015, Buhari warned that the British-Nigerian activist posed a flight risk.

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