Editorji Exclusive: Mother’s Day 2022: Ways to take care of your mother’s health

Mother’s Day is celebrated to honour all the mothers of the world. As the saying goes” A mother is someone who can take the place of others but whose place no one can take.”
The best way to express one’s gratitude to mothers is to offer them the gift of good health which would be meaningful and valuable, to them.

For the female gender anatomical and physiological processes can pose certain health challenges. Issues in women’s health may pertain to menstruation, fertility, physical & mental health.
Good medical guidance makes the natural process of aging positive and comfortable.

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Regular health checks are required for prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases.

Preventive health check-ups help

• Identify or prevent disease at early stage
• Minimize medication
• Direct towards life style changes required
• Are more economical than emergency hospitalization
• Help with timely treatment

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These should include:

• Ultrasound whole abdomen including pelvis to detect any abnormality
• Screening for diabetes with blood sugar monitoring
• Kidney function tests for renal assessment
• Liver function tests
• Serum Vit D levels and Serum Vitamin B 12 levels
• Thyroid function tests as these hormones regulate our metabolism. Low levels of thyroid hormone slow down metabolism, lead to fatigue, dry skin, weight gain etc. Overactive thyroid hormones on the other hand led to anxiety, weight loss, disturbed sleep and palpitations, thus necessitating routine thyroid function tests.
• Mammography to screen for carcinoma breast. Breast cancer is the number 1 female cancer in India. One in 28 women suffers from this. Mammography helps pick up non palpable lesions which have no symptoms, yet. Early diagnosis helps breast sparing surgery with good prognosis. High risk factors for women are strong family history of breast cancer, first degree relative with BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutation, Exposure to radiation therapy to chest between 10 and 30 years of age. Women ages 40 to 44 can get annual breast cancer screening if they wish to. Women ages 45 to 54 should get mammograms annually while women over 55 years should get these done every two years or even annually. Breast ultrasound may sometimes be coupled with mammogram for a better diagnosis.
• PAP smear and HPV testing to look at possible carcinoma cervix. This is the second most common gynaecological malignancy among Indian women ages 25 to 44. This is the only cancer that can be prevented by picking up abnormal precancerous cells and HPV virus before turning malignant. Cervical cancer screening begins at age 25. Those between ages 25 to 65 should undergo a primary HPV test every five years. If primary HPV testing is not available then combined HPV testing with a pap smear should be done very five years or Pap smear alone very three years. People over 65 years who had regular testing in past 10 years with normal results do not need cervical screening. No need for screening following uterus removal if cervix was removed for benign reasons.

(Inputs by Dr Lovleena Nadir, Senior Gynecologist, Rosewalk Hospital)