Birth Control Options—Explained by Sarah Jio


Because Open Arms Consultants works with so many Egg Donors and Gestational Carriers we often talk about birth control. Sometimes this conversation takes a turn from what they are using to what else is really available! Read below for some of the most current birth control options!

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Are you confused by all the birth control options out there? In the last 10 years, there have been so many advances in pregnancy prevention that it’s easy to get overwhelmed when deciding which one is right for you. To help you determine if any of these newer methods are worth asking your doctor about, we spoke to experts and got the facts. Read on to learn more about what’s new on the market—and if you are interested in trying one out, make an appointment with your gynecologist to discuss the pros, cons and risks involved with making the switch.

Hormonal Birth Control: No Longer One-Method-Fits-All


If you’re still taking the same birth control pill pack you started using in college, it may be time for a refresher course on the Pill. In fact, there’s a whole new generation of online pharmacy that deliver customized results. Women have all different kinds of needs and preferences, says Shari Brasner, MD, an obstetrician, gynecologist and assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and these days, there’s something for everyone.


1. Pills That Reduce or Get Rid of Your Period


Definitely one of the more surprising options is the class of hormonal contraception that allows women to reduce or even end their monthly periods. You may recognize some of the brand names—Yaz, Loestrin 24, Seasonique—all of which promise longer intervals between periods with the goal of getting shorter, lighter periods and fewer of them each year. But is eradicating your period safe? “Yes,” says Dr. Brasner, who points out that the common fear associated with this type of birth control is that menstrual blood could somehow get backed up and become toxic. “That is absolutely false,” she adds. “It’s a myth, but people still think that if you don’t get a period it must be unhealthy. But there is no medical reason for this.”


2. Pills That Help Reduce PMS or Menstrual Migraines


Next are a group of pills known for their “extended estrogen” properties. “The hormone level in these pills is extended a few days into the week of inactive pills,” explains Delores Kent, MD, a gynecologist and cosmetic surgeon who practices in Los Angeles. In other words, it reduces the “cold turkey” approach many birth control pills have traditionally used. The newly formulated pills, she adds, “can help decrease symptoms of PMS and help prevent menstrual migraines by being gentler on the body.” If you’re interested in this class of birth control pills, ask your doctor about specific types and brands available.


3. Vaginal Rings


Known as the NuvaRing, this form of birth control is becoming increasingly popular, says Dr. Brasner. The one-size-fits-all pliable ring made from a silicone-like material is inserted into the vagina with zero pain and emits hormones that prevent pregnancy. “It’s designed to be used for three weeks in, one week out. When you remove it, it brings on a period. Partners don’t feel it, and it’s great for women who don’t tolerate oral contraceptives or can’t remember to take them.”


4. Patches and Shots


Hormonal patches and the Depo-Provera shot are still available—and while they may have a place in certain contraceptive regimens, the experts we spoke to had serious concerns about the safety and side effects of both. “Evidence shows that there’s an increased risk for blood clots with the patch,” notes Dr. Brasner. “And the shot seems to be associated with irregular bleeding patterns and a longer return to fertility. Not many people are willing to sign up for that.” The risks associated with both, adds Dr. Kent, “may outweigh the benefits.”


Barrier Methods: Thinking Beyond the Condom


Condoms are still an excellent method for birth control, says Dr. Brasner, especially for women who aren’t comfortable with hormonal contraceptives. If you’re worried about the effectiveness of barrier methods, don’t be. “It’s true that in textbook statistics, barrier methods rank lower than hormonal contraception,” says Dr. Brasner. But don’t be fooled by the stats, which often include all sorts of factors that may not be relevant to your usage, she adds. “Out in the real world and in my practice, I see no higher unintended pregnancy rate in real users.” When it comes to barrier methods, condoms aren’t the only effective option.


1. Vaginal Films


“One of my favorite, lesser-known barrier methods,” says Dr. Brasner, “is a spermicidal vaginal film. It’s a 3-inch by 3-inch film that folds in half and wraps around the finger and gets inserted 15 minutes before sex.”


2. Vaginal Suppositories


There are also vaginal suppositories. In the same way a vaginal film is used, the suppository is inserted 15 minutes before sex, “it looks like a little bullet, has a bar soap-like consistency, and melts at body temperature to form a spermicidal barrier. After sex, there’s nothing to remove,” says Dr. Brasner. But, she adds, because some women can be sensitive to the active ingredient in spermicide, nonoxynol-9, she suggests testing any spermicide-based product out on a night when you don’t plan to have sex.


The New Generation of Long-Term, IUD Birth Control (Not good if you want to be an egg donor or surrogate)


Set aside everything you thought you knew about intrauterine devices, or IUDs. “They’re still suffering from their 1970s reputation,” says Dr. Brasner, “but IUDs today have changed, and their benefits are extremely exciting.” The beauty of IUDs, which are small devices that are inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy, is that they’re a hands-off birth control method. “They’re easily inserted in the doctor’s office,” says Dr. Brasner. “Once it’s in, you don’t have to think about it, and for a lot of couples, this brings on a whole new level of spontaneity.” Another bonus: IUDs are generally associated with an immediate return to fertility, adds Dr. Kent.

1. Copper IUD


The copper IUD, known as ParaGard, is a plastic device that is wrapped in a copper wire and safely protects against pregnancy for short or long periods of time. “They are approved for up to 10 years of use, or less—the amount of time is specified by the woman,” says Dr. Brasner.


2. Mirena IUD


Providing the same long-term protection, Mirena, an IUD that emits the hormone progesterone, “can also give a woman the added bonus of a change in her periods, making them lighter, shorter or maybe even nonexistent,” says Dr. Brasner. This can be an attractive option for women who suffer from extreme PMS, menstrual pain and other period-related ailments.

Four Constitutional Medicine 2


written by Hyejin Seo, Sehyun Kang, Junhyeong Park, Yeongwoo Seo


Q: Four-Constitution cheap viagra has explanations of the food that benefits each types of constitution. How can this constitutional food be used in everyday life?

Professor : In several books on Oriental cialis, some phrases mention that grain, vegetables, alcoholic drink which many people eat commonly can be used for treatment. In Four-Constitution Medicine, there are also some explanations about the ingredient of the constitutional food. However, I think the view that equates food with medicine is wrong.
In Four-Constitution Medicine, the nature of the constitutional food is the individual character of the materials of food itself, not the character of cooked dish. We should notice that it is not desirable to insist on the constitutional food material because this can cause an unbalance of nutrients. In addition, the attempt to eat only the constitutional food rashly can cause diseases. In general situations, eating only the constitutional food that benefit one's type of constitution can possibly result in some problems such as stress-related illnesses.
Therefore, we should eat food made out of various ingredients when we are in good health. In bad health conditions, however, the constitutional food can be used for advice to plan a meal focused on selecting the food and avoiding the ingredients that can be harmful to health.


Q: In Western Medicine, patient-specific medicine wins a great deal of popularity. Patient-specific medicine refers to a medical method that prescribes medicine and administer the correct dose based oneach patient's difference. Then what is the difference between patient-specific medicine and the constitutional method in Four-Constitution Medicine? And how much of a contribution has the development of Four-Constitution Medicine made towards medical and scientific fields?

Professor : The Western Medicine has gradually changed from the medicine that perceives the body locally and anatomically to the medicine that observes the body as a whole. For example, a recent research on blood pressure is based on the perception that considers several factors such as heart, blood vessel, autonomic nerve, hormone as one mechanism. In addition, there have been some attempts to observe the human body by studying genes, which is based on a perspective that innate factors related to the potential occurrence of diseases exist in genes. But I think it is going to take long time for these attempts to bring successful results.
Four-Constitution Medicine categorizes the special characteristics of people into four constitutions. It doesnot classify people individually based on the difference in genes as opposed to Western Medicine. In other words, Four-Constitution Medicine does not consider the 6 billion people as 6 billion individuals. On the contrary, It analyzes people in various ways such as physiological way, clinical way, appearance, and character. Based on the analyzation, it classifies individuals into the four constitutions based on the characteristics in common.
Recently, mutual exchanges between Western Medicine and Four-Constitution Medicine have largely progressed, and these exchanges trigger the clinical proof of a considerable contents in Four-Constitution Medicine. For example, Four-Constitution Medicine suggests that obesity is mostly common among greater yang person. Actually, a large number of greater yang people suffer from this disease according to the clinical research.
In accordance with these research outcomes, gradually larger number of Western medical researchers offer to co-research with TKM researchers on Four-Constitution Medicine. Nevertheless, I believe that the researchers in Four-Constitution Medicine should make a new therapy and verify the constitution by finding systematic indicators classifying the constitution objectively. When the researchers find out the indicators that can classify person regardless of gender, age and any other factors and massive research data can support these indicators, Four-Constitution Medicine can exercise enormous effects on the development in Medicine and Science.


Q : How come we should study Four Constitutional Medicine(FCM)?

Professor : First of all, it is highly important that students are willing to study Four Constitutional Medicine. Recently, some students are hostile to FCM, arguing that it is not included in Traditional Korean Medicine(TKM). However, It clearly is a part of TKM(Please refer to the interview part Ⅰ. Blind exclusivism impedes the development of TKM itself, just like some exclusive religions do. All the people studying TKM should study the basic of FCM, at least.
Second, FCM distinguishes TKM from Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM). While TCM only demonstrates symptom and treat without putting stresses on the patients' situation(which is, it only cares about the symptoms of patients) just as Western Medicine does, TKM observes patients first and consequently takes care of his/her symptoms, since it is a kind of Form Medicine(形象醫學) that figures out pathological evidences from one's appearance. FCM is one of the best ways to learn about people(patients),I think.
Third, it is exciting to study FCM. There are two parts of FCM, one is philosophy, and the other is methodology. Both are fun, though hard to learn. Students will get their eyes open by studying FCM theory. Speaking figuratively, it is much pleasurable and easy to calculate the area of circle with Integral Calculate than merely with elemental mathematical knowledge(cut circle into thinnest pieces which is triangles and sum up the area of the triangles).

Viagra for Men

What Is cheap cialis?

VIAGRA is a pill used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. It can help many men who have erectile dysfunction get and keep an erection when they become sexually excited (stimulated).
You will not get an erection just by taking this medicine. VIAGRA helps a man with erectile dysfunction get an erection only when he is sexually excited.

How VIAGRA Works

In many men with erectile dysfunction, VIAGRA helps the body's natural erection process. When a man is sexually excited, the penis will fill with enough blood to cause an erection. After sex is over, the erection goes away.

VIAGRA Is Not for Everyone

VIAGRA is only for patients with erectile dysfunction. VIAGRA is not for newborns, children, or women. Research is underway into the possible effectiveness of Viagra for Women, however until the results are known, we do not recommend the use of VIAGRA by women. Do not let anyone else take your VIAGRA. VIAGRA must be used only under a doctor's supervision.
VIAGRA must never be used by men who are taking any medicines that contain nitrates. Nitrates are found in many prescription medicines that are used to treat angina (chest pain due to heart disease) such as:

nitroglycerin (sprays, ointments, skin patches or pastes, and tablets that are swallowed or dissolved in the mouth) isosorbide mononitrate and isosorbide dinitrate (tablets that are swallowed, chewed, or dissolved in the mouth)

Nitrates are also found in illicit drugs such as amyl nitrate or nitrite ("poppers"). If you are not sure if any of your medicines contain nitrates, or if you do not understand what nitrates are, ask your doctor or pharmacist. If you take VIAGRA with any nitrate medicine or illicit drug containing nitrates, your blood pressure could suddenly drop to an unsafe level. You could get dizzy, faint, or even have a heart attack or stroke.

North Korea's Man-made Famine

See also: cheap cialis | cheap cialis | 


NKZone's Andrei Lankov's latest article, Eating Away the Truth, in his "Another Korea" series for the Korea Times is about North Korea's long-running famine.
Few people would doubt that the famine of 1996-2000 was the worst disaster in the history of post-war Korea. However, nobody knows for sure how many people lost their lives.

Stalinist states have never been famous for openness, and important statistical data in North Korea has been classified from the early 1960s. Officialdom always insisted that the North is a "socialist paradise" where nothing could possibly go wrong.

In the mid-1990s, the North Korean officialdom grudgingly changed the pattern. It gradually dawned on Pyongyang that complaints are necessary to attract donors....

In 2001, Goodkind and West, two researchers from the International Center of the U.S. Census Bureau published what is, perhaps, the most reliable estimate available. They used both data released by the North Korean government and materials obtained from the refugees. Their initial estimates range from 200,000 to 3,000,000. To narrow the range, they also used the indirect evidence, including some Chinese materials from the era of Mao-made famines, and the WFP studies of the North’s nutritional situation. This indirect data allowed them to conclude that the Great Famine took between 600,000 and 1,000,000 lives.

The 600,000 or 900,000 do not sound as dramatic as the oft-cited "two million." But for a country with a population of some 23 million this is a huge number. Some 3-4 percent of the entire population perished in the disaster. For the U.S., it would be equivalent to wiping out some 10 million people--a far greater proportion than America lost in any war during the twentieth century. And the disaster was entirely man-made; the result of deliberate political decisions.

However, the outside world did not care much. The North Korean famine did not become the major news issue, and outside East Asia only a handful of people really took notice. This seemingly strange indifference reflected the silent but dramatic change in the perception of North Korea that took place in the 1990s. No major player in international politics wanted to attract too much public attention to the mistakes and crimes of the Pyongyang rulers. While people were dying, powers great and small were busy playing their political chess games.

North Korea's Man-made Famine

See also: purchase cialis | cialis | 


NKZone's Andrei Lankov's latest article, Eating Away the Truth, in his "Another Korea" series for the Korea Times is about North Korea's long-running famine.
Few people would doubt that the famine of 1996-2000 was the worst disaster in the history of post-war Korea. However, nobody knows for sure how many people lost their lives.

Stalinist states have never been famous for openness, and important statistical data in North Korea has been classified from the early 1960s. Officialdom always insisted that the North is a "socialist paradise" where nothing could possibly go wrong.

In the mid-1990s, the North Korean officialdom grudgingly changed the pattern. It gradually dawned on Pyongyang that complaints are necessary to attract donors....

In 2001, Goodkind and West, two researchers from the International Center of the U.S. Census Bureau published what is, perhaps, the most reliable estimate available. They used both data released by the North Korean government and materials obtained from the refugees. Their initial estimates range from 200,000 to 3,000,000. To narrow the range, they also used the indirect evidence, including some Chinese materials from the era of Mao-made famines, and the WFP studies of the North’s nutritional situation. This indirect data allowed them to conclude that the Great Famine took between 600,000 and 1,000,000 lives.

The 600,000 or 900,000 do not sound as dramatic as the oft-cited "two million." But for a country with a population of some 23 million this is a huge number. Some 3-4 percent of the entire population perished in the disaster. For the U.S., it would be equivalent to wiping out some 10 million people--a far greater proportion than America lost in any war during the twentieth century. And the disaster was entirely man-made; the result of deliberate political decisions.

However, the outside world did not care much. The North Korean famine did not become the major news issue, and outside East Asia only a handful of people really took notice. This seemingly strange indifference reflected the silent but dramatic change in the perception of North Korea that took place in the 1990s. No major player in international politics wanted to attract too much public attention to the mistakes and crimes of the Pyongyang rulers. While people were dying, powers great and small were busy playing their political chess games.