Earlier days, I went for my annual health check and this time I met a senior gynaecologist who is very experienced. She had a student following him when she did my examination and so I took the opportunity to ask a lot of questions about women’s health.
We spoke about 4 key issues:
1. Gardasil — HPV Vaccine
2. Regular health check
3. Mammogram screening (x-ray examination of the breast)
4. Birth control
And she was happy to bust some myths and provide suggestions on how women should take better care of ourselves.
1. Gardasil— HPV Vaccine
It is best to have this vaccine ideally in between the age of 9 and 14 — before any sexual activities.
After age 26, it starts to become more tricky but women at 26, 30, or 35 could probably still benefit from this vaccine but not as strong or protective as it could be compared to the earlier age.
If you have a stable partner, and you are older, the benefit could be limited but the doctor would still recumbent people to have the vaccine.
The reason behind the age preference for this vaccine is because there is a time when women’s body is more susceptible to catching this kind of malicious HPV virus. The earlier body (from 9 to 26) are more susceptible to this risk.
There are several types of Gardasil — one that covers 9 types of the HPV viruses (called Gardasil 9) that are known to cause cancer, another covers 4 (Gardasil 4) and yet another that covers 2 of those viruses (Gardasil 2).
The vaccine lasts for about 10 years.
This is not a single vaccine. After you get the first one, you have to have another one in 5–6 months. If you are a bit older, the vaccine series would consist of three different shots — two of them to be completed in 12 weeks, 6 weeks apart, and then the third one in 5–6 months later. So Gardasil usually come in 2–3 shots.
Gynecologist highly recommends any women under the age of 26 to take this vaccine just to guard themselves against HPV virus.
If we are in our 30s and in a monogamous relationship (which means a woman only have sex with her husband and the husband only have sex with his wife), a lot of health risk starts to drop significantly such as the risk of sex-transmittable diseases. And a sense of safety and security can also boost immunity. Therefore, even gynecologists admit that a good marriage is the best way to health and longevity.
The only way you may catch malicious HPV virus is by having sexual activities.
2. Regular health check
Gynecologist also complains that women do not spend enough time safeguarding their health. We have the vaccine done and then they never go to a doctor until they are sick.
There are actually health benefits for you to get regular health check — whether it be pepsimia every 2 or 3 years.
3. Mammogram screening (x-ray examination of the breast)
Mammogram screening usually starts around age 35. If it is in the family history, it would start earlier.
When you are in a shower or bath, and you have a bit body wash on your hands. When your hands can glide over your skin smoothly and you don’t feel any hardness or pain when doing so, you are actually doing your own breast examination.
And the underarm area is important too — your right upper chest is really what 45% of the cancer comes from. So it is recommended that you check your armpits, and upper outer area of the breast as well in your own examination.
Gynecologist cannot recommend this to all women enough.
It is fairly common for people to have some irregularities from time to time because of hormonal changes before and after the menstruation period. But early notice of any bumps of hardness can save your life.
4. Birth control
Similar to investment, there are a lot of information (and misinformation) out there about birth control.
Myth bursting №1 birth control pills would make you infertile?
Gynecologist clarifies that this is NOT true.
In fact, when you stop having birth control pills, usually people would super-ovulate (i.e. more egg produced / released from the ovary), hence increasing the chance of having twins.
Myth bursting №2 birth control pills would make you gain weight?
The older birth control pills have a higher dosage of estrogens (i.e. the female sex hormones), this may not cause weight gain directly, but there would be a higher chance of blood clogs.
Since then, doctors and pharmacists have been looking for ways to lower the dosage of estrogens in birth control pills. Nowadays, typically people won’t have obvious changes in weight before and after taking birth control pills.
Gynecologists also suggest that as we get older, it is easier to gain weight. Thus, one possible explanation of weight gain after taking birth control pills is that we get older and our metabolism becomes slower. If we do not increase our physical activities or we do not adjust our diet, chances are we will gain weight. And the same goes for fertility as well — as we get older, of course our fertility would drop. Most of the time, infertility and weight gain are not birth control issues but ageing issues.
Myth bursting №3 birth control pills can help prevent breast diseases?
Gynecologist confirms that!
Yes, it can help reducing the risk of breast diseases.
And perhaps one of the best benefits with taking birth control pills is decreasing the risk of ovarian cancer (i.e. a type of cancer that begins in the ovaries).
Ovarian cancer is very hard to detect and when you discover it usually it is really quite deadly. So this is a definite benefit with birth control pills.
The best way of contraceptive
I also asked the gynecologist: what is the best form of contraceptive?
Gynecologist replied that he would choose a low estrogens pill or pure progestogen (i.e. a women sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy) contraceptive pill.
