Your Health: Men are from Mars, women from Venus

WOMEN respond differently to drugs compared with men.

A clinical trial in 2005 shows that a low dose of aspirin taken regularly, which seems to help middle-aged men avoid heart attacks, does not offer the same cardiovascular benefits for middle-aged women - although it does lessen the risk of stroke. Diagnosis and treatment are different for both men and women. The traditional test for detecting heart disease in men is far less reliable when performed on women, for they might not show the same symptoms.Hormones, for example, profoundly affect how men and women metabolise medication. Therefore, epileptic and asthmatic women often suffer attacks before having their periods. Drug dosages need to be adjusted accordingly.

During a heart attack, men usually feel pain in the chest or left arm, but 20 per cent of women suffer pain in the upper abdomen or back, shortness of breath, nausea and sweating.Because women are more sensitive to the carcinogens in cigarettes, those who smoke the same amount as men have a 20-70 per cent higher chance of developing lung cancer. To compound that, women's tumours tend to appear on the lungs' periphery, so their cancer is often noticed much later.Some basic bodily responses are different between men and women.Men often react to pain with a rise in blood pressure, but women may experience a rise in heart rate, and sometimes even a drop in blood pressure.Yet, after surgery, doctors often gauge levels of pain by blood pressure, not heart rate.Indeed, men and women differ at all behavioural level and engage in different risk-taking behaviours. These are probably related to their traditional gender roles.Men are greater risk takers, in that they face more serious and lethal consequences. They are also more likely to smoke, drink, use drugs and engage in risky sports.Women, on the other hand, are likelier to engage in " health protective" behaviours, including going for health screening (eg, breast self-examination, pap smear screening, regular check-ups). They are also more likely to eat right and exercise more. Yet, women are also the fastest growing risk group for HIV/AIDS, although it is mostly an invisible epidemic among them.The primary routes of transmission for women are sexual activity (64 per cent) and intravenous drug use (11 per cent). Women and men do not receive the same (or similar) medical care even though they suffer from the same conditions and this is not just in poor countries. The entry of more women into the field of science and subsequently medicine has started a quiet revolution and a reassessment of accepted notions of what it is to be a woman. Women are not the second sex but a separate sex. They are female to the bone and to the very cells that make up those bones. This "equal but different" stance is crucial to modern gender studies. Most, if not all medical and psychological research, was done on men, and the conclusions recklessly applied to women. The birth of gender-specific medicine, which is the science of how the diagnosis and treatment of disease differs as a function of gender, can be linked to Marianne J. Legato, who founded the Partnership for Women's Health at the University of Columbia. Dr Legato, who practises in New York City, is also a professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons and the editor of The Journal of Gender Specific Medicine and Gender and Health. Interestingly, traditional medicine has long understood and appreciated the differences between men and woman. This is more so in Asian traditional medicine. Certain herbs were specifically designated for use on the fairer sex. Woman had different meridian and hence, acupuncture points. Women had also subtle and clear difference in the flow of the life force - prana or chi. Clearly, the Asian traditional medicine has a lot to offer in healthcare. That is why Malaysia is playing host to a conference and exhibition called "Woman's Health And Asian Traditional Medicine (WHAT Medicine) for the third year in the row. This year, the event is held in collaboration with the Council For Scientific and Industrial Research of India and the National Centre for Natural Products Research of the United States. Among the speakers are the FDA programme director for natural products and the director of the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine. For information, log on to www.whatmedicine.org or call 03-7965-2888.

YourHealth: Get educated, not medicated

SEX and sexuality is not a common topic of conversation in our society or even among family members.

Therefore, people, especially teenagers with their raging hormones, will seek other means of seeking information, i.e. from pornography, friends, and magazines. These may not necessarily provide correct information about sexual behaviours. Human sexuality in its broadest sense encompasses numerous social, biological, cultural, political, religious and ethical aspects. In many societies, complex issues relating to sex and sexuality exist. The interpretation of normalcy in sex and sexuality varies from society to society.

Sexual behaviour can spread sexually transmitted diseases. The link between sexual activities, disease development and unwanted pregnancies is well documented.Safer sex practices can lead to a reduction in the incidence of STDs and unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV and AIDS.The United States Centre for Disease Control estimates that a teenager becomes pregnant every 30 seconds and a teen contracts a sexually transmitted disease every 13 seconds. This shows how ineffective sex education presently is in the prevention of STDs and unwanted pregnancies even in an "open" society. What more Malaysia, which is comparatively conservative when it comes to sex education.People affected by STDs often resort to looking for treatment from general practitioners. Some will even self-medicate.There are a number of infections that are classified as STDs; some treatable, others incurable.Every individual must know and be informed about the deleterious effects of these infections on himself, his family and to society.There are at least 14 sexually acquired infections known.Their symptoms vary from pain on passing urine, increased frequency of passing urine, pus discharging from the private parts, especially in men; or in certain cases, they develop a sore which can be painless or painful.The many varied symptoms make it difficult for the lay person to know what he/she is suffering from. It is imperative to seek medical advice instead of self medicating.Self medication can lead to the spread of infection throughout the body. Since the epidemic of HIV/AIDS began, the linkage of unsafe sexual activities and various STDs to the spread of HIV has been more openly discussed. The rapidity of the global spread of HIV has become a hot topic for the last 20 years. However, recognition that effective control of STDs may prevent the spread of HIV is still wanting. Effective STD prevention programmes will require concerted effort from all sectors of society, public and private, including the government and the medical profession. There is need for nationwide awareness and preventive education programmes. An integral part of the national strategy in HIV prevention is to strengthen the STD control programme nationwide.A concerted effort in tackling this problem would be for the clinicians and the public health personnel to work together in providing a holistic strategy.. Improving healthcare services and ensuring they are easily accessible to the public will allow better diagnosis and treatment of STDs. The provision of counseling will also to minimise the infection rate and the spread of STD/HIV.Public education is the key to ensuring that rampant spread of these infections is curbed. Sexual transmission occurs when a person has unprotected sexual exposure to an infected person. Limiting the number of sex partners or having a monogamous relationship should be practised by all. Children are exposed to nature's ways. They are curious and with the influence of the electronic and print media, the children of today need correct information. This also applies to sex education. Where better than to provide sex education than in the safe environment of a loving home, given by parents.It can start when a child asks questions. A parent can give simple answers that the child is able to comprehend. This should continue as a subject in schools; in the early years, discussions on sex and health education should be in tandem with the maturity of the student. Rokiah Ismail is professor of medicine and consultant dermato-venerologist at the Faculty of Medicine, UiTM.

writing a blog......

hello everyone...
welcome to my blog...for your information this is the first time in my life writing a blog...
before this i am not so interested in writing a blog...for me it is the boring thing to explore on..
but when my ethics's lecturer ask me to do so..i just realize that it is quite fun writing a blog...so for those who view my blog..
hope you have fun in reading my blog...
i will try to update my blog time by time..
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