Women’s Health Information

Domestic Violence is just not on!

White Ribbon Day is held internationally on the 25th November. It is a day that has been set aside as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is a day that will be recognised each year around the world and it gives an opportunity for all departments, governments, businesses and community groups to focus on this problem that affects so many people in Australia and the world.

As I write this I am astounded to learn that one in four women will experience a violent relationship at some time during their lives. I personally have seen inside refuges for women because my daughter was there due to a violent relationship. Many of the women who go to these places to get away from the violence often return to the home only for it to happen again.

I grew up listening and witnessing domestic violence scenes and other events that even now are too painful to discuss but the memories always stay with you. It is easier to forgive some say, but it is hard as hell to forget….

I learnt that my daughter was being abused by her gambling boyfriend. He would beat her up because they ran out of money and he couldn’t feed his addiction. It angers me that he could attack a young girl of just eighteen because she couldn’t feed his addiction.

I didn’t know the full extent of that violence until she wrote her story for me which you can read here…

I know of many women who have suffered at the hands of men who think they have the right to overpower women, but at the same time it is not just those men that do this. Family members abuse women, and the children. But at least the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is a start and hopefully all forms of domestic violence will be noticed more… and eliminated as much as possible…

Of course domestic violence is a terrible thing, the devastation it causes and the results can be fatal… and there are many casualties… which often include children. Emotional blackmail is another form of violence, although some many not recognise it as such…

However domestic violence and mental and emotional blackmail go hand in hand. Death threats, putting someone down, telling them they are not worthy of being cared for, scared into not saying anything, telling a woman or child that they will not be loved or cared for by others…

Scaring them into not walking out that door… it is all part of domestic violence…

For details on White Ribbon Day events or where to purchase a ribbon, visit UNIFEM Australia - White Ribbon Day

For more information on Eliminating Violence Against Women (White Ribbon Day) click here….

Toni

The World Health Organisation has discovered that one in six women suffer from domestic violence throughout the world, while other reports show one in four. However that is still a large number of women who suffers at the hands of men who think they have the right to hurt and control their partners either physically or emotionally or both…

This report shared throughout the world has been released on White Ribbon Day….

Toni…

One in six women suffers from domestic violence: WHO

One in six women worldwide suffers domestic violence - some battered during pregnancy - yet many remain silent about the assaults, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

In its first global study, the WHO also said physically- or sexually-abused women were more likely to suffer longer-term health problems, including distress and suicide attempts.

The United Nations agency called for changing behaviour through education programs and training more health workers and police to investigate signs of mistreatment.

“Women are more at risk from violence involving people they know at home than from strangers in the street. There is a feeling that the home is a safe haven and that pregnancy is a very protected period, but that is not the case,” WHO’s director-general Lee Jong-Wook told a news conference.

“Domestic violence remains largely hidden.”

The Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women study is based on interviews with more than 24,000 women in 10 countries, ranging from Japan and Thailand to Ethiopia and Peru.

It paints a harrowing picture of broken bones, bruises, burns, cracked skulls, dislocated jaws, rape and fear. Husbands or intimate partners are the main perpetrators.

A Peruvian woman lost twins after being hit in the stomach by the father of her unborn babies, while a Brazilian sleeps in a locked bedroom to protect herself from the partner who has threatened to shoot her, according to the report.

Every 18 seconds

“Every 18 seconds, somewhere, a woman suffers violence or maltreatment … We must put an end to this shameful practice,” said Spain’s Health Minister Elena Salgado, current president of WHO’s annual health assembly.

Domestic violence can be sparked by dinner being late, not finishing the housework on time, disobeying or refusing to have sex, the report said. In many cases women agree that a man is justified in beating his wife under certain circumstances.

In terms of symptoms - pain, dizziness, mental distress, miscarriages - the findings across the 15 urban and rural settings were “remarkably consistent”, according to Claudia Garcia-Moreno, the study’s coordinator.

“Whether you are a cosmopolitan woman in Sao Paulo, Brazil or Japan, or a rural woman in Ethiopia or Peru, the association between violence and poor health remains,” she told reporters.

“The striking thing we found is the degree that this violence still remains hidden. Between one-fifth and two-thirds of women interviewed had never spoken before to anyone of the experience of their partner’s violence,” she added.

This sense of helplessness was “a torture in itself”.

Other countries covered in the seven-year study, issued to coincide with the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, included Samoa, Bangladesh, Namibia, Tanzania and Serbia and Montenegro.

Between 4 and 12 per cent of women who had been pregnant reported being beaten during pregnancy - more than 90 per cent by the father of the unborn child, according to the report.

“Most of the violence that pregnant women were experiencing is a continuation of the violence going on before,” said Lori Heise, a member of the core research team from the Washington-based group PATH.

- Reuters

It is great to see another woman taking the opportunity to show how easy it is to become a woman who works from home. Laurie Hurley as you can see from the press release below, gives home tutors a business in a box which allows women to take advantage of the tutoring referral business.

This is another great opportunity for those wishing to work from home… and so that you can be there with your children…

Toni…

Female Entrepreneur and Her Unique Tutoring Referral Business Featured in Woman’s World Magazine

Woman’s World Magazine features a great business opportunity, starting a tutoring referral business. Home Tutoring Business offers entrepreneurs a “tutoring business in a box,” which is similar to a franchise without the added costs and requirements.

Laurie Hurley is a successful entrepreneur. Her tutoring referral business, Bright Apple Tutoring Service, Inc., http://www.brightappletutoring.com, has been matching tutors with students since 2001.

In July, Hurley also launched her newest company, Home Tutoring Business http://www.hometutoringbusiness.com, which offers a tutoring business package that enables others to start their own successful business.

Her success is just another example of the entrepreneur opportunities that are available to those wishing to work from home. She also recently caught the attention of Woman’s World Magazine editors and is currently featured in their November 29th issue. But that’s not all.

She is also scheduled to appear in other top magazines in the upcoming months including: Redbook, Family Circle, Entrepreneur, and Parents Magazines and also the Press Republication Newspaper.

Hurley is quoted in Woman’s World Magazine saying, “I quit my job to be with Hannah [her adopted daughter, but we needed more money. A friend got me thinking about finding tutors for kids. From my home office, I ran an ad, and the phone started ringing! Now I make more than I ever did before without taking time away from Hannah and her sister Aida.”

The headline of the Woman’s World article says it all, “No Cash? No experience? No problem! Look what happens when a mom has a great idea! … There’s a new trend unfolding: Moms making megabucks.”

With pressure to ensure their children keep pace with classmates and score well on standardized tests, more parents are looking to hire tutors. In fact, the nationwide tutoring market anticipates there are more than 6 million children receiving tutoring this year alone. With this growth comes the need for qualified tutors.

Laurie Hurley is a tutor broker – she contracts with qualified tutors and matches them with students in need of one-on-one tutoring. She has successfully connected hundreds of students with dedicated, professional teachers and tutors and is now offering her effective business procedures to entrepreneurs looking for a strong business with great earning potential.

Home Tutoring Business Package is similar to a franchise (but at a fraction of the cost) providing all the necessary tools to start your business including a website, customized accounting software program, personalized training by Laurie Hurley, and a detailed business manual. Woman’s World Magazine described it as a Home Tutoring “Business in a Box.”

With average websites costing upwards of $3000 and customized software between $10,000 and $20,000, this is an affordable alternative for those serious about their entrepreneurial objectives. You receive all of the benefits of a franchise, without the added fees, monthly royalties, restrictions and limitations.

As Hurley states, the three main benefits are:

* Costs are a fraction of a franchise with on-going personal support from myself, not a staff of people who have never worked in the field or met and matched families with tutors.

* The packages are all-inclusive with customized programs, website, marketing and advertising designed specifically for the tutoring business in mind.

* The buyer has a choice of three business packages to suit their needs and financial capabilities. If one doesn’t feel they need a customized accounting software program, there is no need to buy that package. You pick what will work best for you.

Plus, right in time for the holidays, Home Tutoring Business is offering an especially unique gift this year – the “Gift of a Small Business,” offering holiday savings of $250.00 off your business package.

For more information on a Home Tutoring Business or to purchase a business package, please visit http://www.hometutoringbusiness.com or call (U.S.A.) 1-888-847-0033.

Breast cancer takes the lives of many women world wide every year. Some funding is provided by the various health departments but at the same time some women miss out on important checks because they cannot afford the fees that come with a mammogram and in some cases an ultra scan.

How much should one place on someone’s lives. Of course not all health issues can be funded for research but surely funding research into a program that will help save lives should be of high importance. But unfortunately it doesn’t sit high on some agendas…

Perhaps some of the ministers should take pay cuts or donate their paid travel allowances to help fund some of the research programs that will save lives….

Hereditary breast cancer research funding ‘inadequate’

A world expert on hereditary breast cancer has called on the Federal Government to provide a multi-million-dollar funding boost for research and screening.

Hereditary factors account for up to 10 per cent of all breast cancer cases, and the disease often kills those in normally healthy younger age groups.

American Professor Mary-Claire King says there is grossly inadequate funding to address the problem of hereditary breast cancer and no national program for genetic testing.

“Inherited breast cancer hits particularly young women, the women that we lose to this disease, that we needn’t lose, are young professional women, are women who have decades and decades of productive life ahead of them,” she said.

ABC News Website 23rd November 2005

A lot of women in the world suffer from menopause and the affects of menopause. Although some women can go through this period in life without feeling any of the affects, there are certainly many more that do.

My mother was quite lucky not suffering from any the symptoms at all while a friend of mine’s mother suffered… please read on as Summer shares her story… and if you are looking for an alternative therapy then perhaps Menozac is the answer…

I remember very distinctly my mother’s menopause. I was a teen at the time, and her doctor placed her on HRT – Hormone Replacement Therapy – which was the most common treatment at that time. I was certainly at a sensitive moment in my own life, but it was improved by having my mother turn into a hypochondriac monster who was liable to fly into a rage or into tears at any moment for any, or no, reason, or who was often too ill to participate in my life.

She is over it now, and with hindsight and the advanced medical knowledge now available, has also discussed with me her feeling that many of her problems were actually side effects of the HRT.

My children are teens now, and it was with a faint feeling of horror that I began to recognize the signs of menopause in myself a few years ago. Hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia were unpleasant enough, but worse of all, to me, were the anxiety, mood swings, and depression. I soon noticed my family walking on eggshells around me. My unpleasant memories of my teen years returned to me and I feared a repeat for my own children.

Since my mother’s experience, ERT has been linked to cancer, and HRT to the significant side effects that she experienced. Menopause may be unpleasant, but cancer can be life threatening! That doesn’t seem like a fair trade to me.

I set out to find an alternative. I believe many of our health problems are caused by diet and can be resolved with diet. My research turned up facts such as soy being helpful for menopausal women, as well as certain herbal teas. These helped me, but not enough.

Menozac is a blend of herbal extracts designed to ease the transition of menopause, and provide relief from many of the symptoms, from the uncomfortable and even embarrassing hot flashes, to the dreaded mood swings. Two tablets a day, easy to remember, easy to take, eases my menopausal symptoms so that I can make the transition easily and without causing myself or my family unnecessary grief.

After all, menopause is a natural transition all women make at this time in their life. It shouldn’t be traumatic, but a perfectly natural change in our life cycle. Menozac helps me ease through this change, without all the drama. I recommend it highly to anyone who feels they are “suffering” menopause.

Menopause should not equal suffering, it is not a disease. It is a natural change, and there are natural substances that can help your body and you cope with the changes. Menozac blends those substances into an easy to use form so you can get on with your life – and keep up with those teenagers!

Summer

She won’t come out and talk with you. Her moods shifts seem so severe and her bad moods are lasting longer and longer. She doesn’t seem to spend time with her close friends anymore. To a parent changes like these can be terrifying as we can only imagine what is happening within our child.

Worry intensifies our reactions in various encounters and rarely helps in pinpointing the problem.

For most teenagers and young adults swings in mood and behavior are normal and expected. Even increasingly difficult times of rebellion and isolation are commonplace. However, if you find yourself seeing a pattern of change like your daughter withdrawing completely from family, friends and classmates, severe changes in sleeping and eating, deterioration in grooming and school work, increased paranoia, confusion or disorientation, it may be time to seek more help for your child.

Although drugs can exacerbate the symptoms of changing mental state, and in some cases actually bring on symptoms similar to those of several mental illnesses the effects often dissipate after the drugs have worked through the body.

Prolonged use of certain drugs may produce long-lasting effects. A medical assessment may be necessary to decide if there is an underlying psychiatric problem. Drug use can often be a sign of a deeper mental illness. Trained professionals are available to help both with the diagnosis and the treatment of drug dependency and its underlying causes.

Encouraging one to visit a doctor and honestly discuss these feelings is difficult but necessary. Criticism of a person’s behavior or thought processes defeats the intent which is of course to help your loved one or yourself find relief from their difficulties. Feelings of trust and acceptance are important to create an atmosphere where help can be sought. Here are a few ways to help this process:

An important note here is to find a doctor that the patient, and you, can work easily with. Treatment is a long and often difficult process and feeling comfortable with your doctor will make it all easier. Trust and respect are essential in achieving a positive result.

Finding help diagnosing and treating a mental illness is difficult. Overcoming social stigma and the innate need for privacy is a tough road for anyone. This is your chance to seek all the best tools to help yourself or your loved one find a way back from the dark place she is struggling through. Modern medicine has made great strides in dealing with mental illness and has much to offer you in this process.

C Sincular

‘Really, it’s only a drink or two after work. It doesn’t hurt anyone.’ Sound familiar?

Well, maybe not but if it’s becoming a habit, you could be finding yourself a victim of addiction. Addiction takes many forms; it can be the usual suspects…alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. But what can also go unnoticed is the subtle addiction of prescribed drugs.

We all know that if you binge drink – you’re an alcoholic (though there are people who will dispute this). If you can’t go through the day without a cigarette or even can’t live without buying a packet – you’re addicted. And the harder drugs like coke, heroin and possibly marihuana can all be just as hard to kick.

Honestly people, I don’t see the harm in having a drink or two or even experimenting with certain drugs but you’ve got to know your limits. It’s not enough to say, ‘yes, I’m an addict, someone help me.’ Go help yourself. If you have a problem, use that vastness between your ears called a brain and kick that will power into gear.

If you, like thousands of others out there, need counselling or a support group, use it. That’s what it’s there for. But don’t use your addiction as an excuse. It’s important to know where you stand with it. Do you feel your body begging for it or is it purely just a social habit? It doesn’t sound like much of a distinction and sometimes one can cause the other. But be aware that the temptation just to have ‘one more’ can lead you down a very rough road.

Many addictions start out innocently. It starts at teenage parties, social functions for work or even your normal family setting. Most people don’t see the harm in getting blind drunk on the weekend while the family’s over but if you’re doing it every weekend and you find yourself hanging out for it…you’ve got to ask yourself why.

Granted there are some drugs out there that can creep up on you. Codeine, morphine and other pain killers as well as anti-depressants are notorious for being addictive. This is purely because alters your state of mind (like most addictions). You basically get use to it. It becomes easier to use the drug than to use your own reflective power to solve the problem.

I know…sometimes you can’t and that’s fine but ask yourself this…if you tried just that little bit harder, would you really need them? Yes, life will be horrid for awhile but the feeling of accomplishment would be worth the effort, right?

Even though the world considers all addictions to be negatively impacting upon everything, it can also be said that if these products weren’t available, then there wouldn’t be a problem. I know, I’m slipping into utopia with that line of thought but it becomes old when you see all the campaigns being anti this or that and nobody really cares.

If we want to smoke, why can’t we? If we want to get smashed off our skulls, why not as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. I guess this becomes the main point.

Be an addict and if you’re happy with that…fine. But the minute you start affecting others around you negatively with it, then get help. If you’re worried about your health or your finances, then take steps to fix quit. But if you, like thousands of others out there, just want to be left alone with your addictions and you are honestly not hurting anyone else…tell the world be damned. You have only one life…live it.

Kathy

It’s red and grows only in specific regions within China and Japan. It has been used in Chinese medicine for about 2,000 years and is being herald as the new elixir of life. It is Ganoderma, otherwise known as the Reiki Mushroom.

It is being hailed as a modern day wonder drug and its little wonder. This fungus has been known to treat symptoms as minor as an insect bit to potential of curing hepatitis and cancer.

It does seem a little too good to be true, I know but after fifteen years of steady research and a population of over a million people who take it regularly, none have shown any adverse results, is it little wonder. Still not convinced?

Basically, this plant is being heralded as a universal medicine. It acts on the process of aging and homeostasis (body balance). What the components in Ganoderma do, it finds the affected areas, whether it be an old injury that hasn’t healed properly or an illness that you can’t seem to shake, and restores it to its original balance.

Some people who go through the detoxification program have experienced symptoms of illness or the symptomatic problems of the past only to have these removed a week or two later. As it was described to me, the Ganoderma fungus reacts to the damaged areas and remembers them before flushing it out of the system.

Now to get technical…

The findings of this mushroom are:

For those of you who are in general good health, it may increase your mental capacities, energy, help prevent cancer and will increase the immunity. As I have already mentioned, the compound germanium is the key.

The studies so far have shown that it is completely absorbed, metabolised and discharged from the body within 20 – 30 hours. And as to date, there have been no side effects.

By what I’ve been able to understand, this fungus works on the acidity level within the system. It has been the foundation of Chinese medicine that if the body is running at too high a level, that disease and illness will occur. Hence why it is imperative to balance what we consume.

With the build up of hype over healthy eating and the emergence of even more people becoming sick, we have to wonder if our food is really good for us. Many foods still contain high levels of heavy metals which are exceedingly difficult for the body to remove. It is another advantage of Ganoderma.

It can effectively remove these metals by breaking them down until they are harmless enough to pass through the blood stream and be disposed by the body’s waste management.

I guess before we start using this as the next wave of alternative medicine to cover our own laziness, we should examine what we eat and how we live. If we persist in flooding our bodies with our increasingly refined lifestyle, is it little wonder that we aren’t as healthy as our older counterparts?

Kathy

from the ABC News Website

Scientists optimistic about new cervical cancer treatment

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) have found a successful treatment for cervical cancer.

Trials on animals have proven successful and researchers are optimistic the treatment could be used on humans.

A cancer biologist at the university, Dr Nigel McMillan, says the treatment, called gene silencing, kills cancerous cells caused by the human papilloma virus.

“It inserts a couple of genes in the cells of people that are called cancer-causing genes and using gene silencing what we’re able to do, is turn those genes off and what happens is the cancer just curls over and dies,” he said.

How much is a woman’s mental health and stability worth when the Australian Government and the Federal Health Minister Tony Abbot can only bring themselves to give to three services $300,000 to help with counselling when it comes to unwanted pregnancies.

In the past there was no counseling for unwanted pregnancies especially for the young girls who fell pregnant many years ago.

Surely after all the discussions on mothers and fathers coming forward when their children were taken from them should help make the decision easier for the ministers to provide not just more money for counselling for young women or for that matter any aged woman but proper counselling by organisations that have an open mind.

Abortion is an issue that if some women earlier in time had had the choice would have taken it. But of course many years ago a lot of women couldn’t afford an abortion which then ended in an unwanted pregnancy.

A pregnancy that would see the secrecy come out from charitable organizations where the women would go, they would arrive their pregnant and leave without a babe in their arms. They would leave with an empty heart; they would live and suffer for many years to come.

I am not a pro-lifer nor am I one that advocates terminating one’s life. But I believe that women should have the option. I believe that the woman should be allowed to make the decision for herself, depending on the circumstances.

The Government should be looking at counselling for women not just from the Pro-Life organizations but from organizations that offer a woman a choice.

Counselling should be provided for women who do consider an abortion. They shouldn’t be subjected to counseling that tells them they are going to kill their child. The counseling that was not provided for young women who had unwanted pregnancies many years ago should be given now to the very women who need help.

Abortion is an issue that needs to be considered carefully by all…

I am not a medical professional and have never claimed to be but… many need to consider what the affect on that woman would be if she did have an abortion or if she didn’t an abortion.

Why is she considering a termination?

Is the termination going to take place before the date where it is too late?

Is there a medical problem the deciding factor when considering termination?

Will the organizations that are providing the counseling support the woman or suggest that she is a killer because she has decided to terminate the pregnancy?

Will the organisations have an open mind and not turn the counseling session into a guilt trip where the woman then needs more counseling to overcome those issues?

Many women consider abortion for various issues, no organization is a knight in shining armour but they could at least be open to supporting the woman at a time when she need support rather than pressing their religious and their pro-life beliefs onto her.

Below you can see the news report that was last updated on the Australain ABC News Website: Friday, November 4, 2005. 7:40pm (AEDT)

Pro-life groups given pregnancy counselling funds

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has announced $300,000 worth of funding for three organisations providing counselling services for women with unintended pregnancies.

Mr Abbott says the money is to provide practical support for women who find themselves in the situation of being pregnant unexpectedly.

The Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services, The Caroline Chisolm Society and the Foundation for Human Development will receive $100,000 each.

All three organisations are pro-life and have confirmed that they do not refer women for terminations.

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says the groups are biased, religious organisations and will not refer a woman for an abortion, even if that is what she has asked for.

Senator Nettle says in the past few weeks, one of the organisations told a mother of a 13-year-old seeking advice on abortion that a termination is killing the baby.

“I think as Health Minister should be ashamed to be giving any money to organisations that don’t provide genuine counselling and don’t support women when they’re making a difficult decision,” Senator Nettle said.

“The Federal Government should not be funding any organisations that provide religious and biased persuasion under the guise of supporting women and providing pregnancy counselling.”