Health & Wellness Archives - Page 31 of 50

Getting to know In Vitro Fertilization/ IVF

Fertility was not a problem to me… I’m so fertile that I can get pregnant almost every year if I want to. In fact, I have to take birth control so as not to get pregnant every year. Now I am taking birth control so as NOT to get pregnant ever. I already have enough kids.. that’s four (3 boys and a princess) plus my nephew’s with me too (along with her mom). Physically I don’t think I can survive another pregnancy and childbirth, financially, we can’t!

It’s not the case for every mom/woman of course, some has to resort to IVF and other fertilization techniques to conceive a baby. IVF or In Vitro Fertilization is done to treat female infertility (due to Fallopian tube problems, in vivo fertilization is not possible or is a problem). It also done to treat male infertility such as low sperm count or there is a problem in the quality of sperm cell.

The process how in vitro fertilization is done can be quite complicated but to make it simpler, it is done by fertilizing the egg cell outside the body and when it is fertilized, it is done injected back and place on the carrier’s uterus. The success rate of IVF varies to what it is being measure, usually by pregnancy rate or by live birth rate. Success rate is higher if the mother/carrier is younger.

How much is the cost of IVF treatment? It varies from different Fertility clinic. A friend of mine who had a successful IVF (and gave birth to a very handsome baby boy) shared that the cost of IVF in Singapore is SGD 18,050 or ( USD 12,910 ) for one cycle (which takes about 6 weeks).

How to Treat Swollen Lips and Some Home Remedies for Swollen Lips

Everything seems fine, then all of a sudden there’s an itch on your lips and before you see it, your lips is as a big as a tomato. Swollen Lips. There are many causes of swollen lips and the most common swollen lips cause is allergies, next is skin bite.

When a person experience lip swelling, here are some of the things that they should remember and ask themselves:

when did the swelling start?
what are you doing before the swelling starts?
have you taken any medicine 2-3 hours before swelling?
did you eat any food prior to swelling?

It is very important to learn the cause of swelling so that proper medicine can be administer.

As soon as you notice swollen lips, the best home remedy is to apply ice pack on the swollen area. It will help in numbing the area so as you wouldn’t feel any discomfort and itchiness. Apply it every 30 minutes for 3-5 minutes. If the swelling did not lessen, go to your doctor or hospital for anti allergy medicine.

When lip swelling is accompanied by shortness of breathe, go to the hospital immediately. This can be a very serious case of allergy and maybe life threatening.

How do you cure a swollen lip fast? there is no way to cure it fast as swollen lips will heal on its own. If you already drink an anti allergy, the swelling will decrease slowly.

My kid’s lip is swollen, what to do?

As parents, specially if this is the first time that you will encounter lip swelling, you need to be relax and do not panic. The first you need to do is apply an ice pack to the affected lip. Do not shout or show any signs of fear or worry to your kid. Act as if nothing happened and very calmly ask your kid what happened? Did they eat something? do they have difficulty in breathing? If they do have a difficulty in breathing, bring them to the nearest hospital. If there is none and they complain of itchiness, just continue applying ice, but if you think the swelling is not decreasing, bring them to the hospital for anti allergy medicine.

In my 9 years of being a mother and having 4 kids and meeting a lot emergencies, I have learned that our best armor in times of emergency is presence of mind of calmness.

Now you may be curios why I made a post like this.. well the same night, my third born experienced a swollen lip. We are not sure how it happened but when we went to the hospital, the doctor said it might b insect bite. An anti- allergy was administered and I just promised him a yo yo so he would stop crying. Th swelling went away after 12 or 15 hours.

Thoughts On Dental Insurance

I always wonder why dental is not considered on most medical insurance or if ever it is included, the coverage is very limited. based on some of my readings, most dental insurance here in our country offers unlimited dental check up, unlimited (or limited) simple tooth extraction, temporary filling (most of the time limited) and cleaning. Complicated procedure such as root canal is usually not included on dental plans.

While reading about dental plans, I also learned that in some countries, most dental insurance is also limited. I think it’s the cost of complicated procedure that’s making it impossible to include it on dental plans. What I learned is that some companies offer dental plan for different dental clinic or oral health provider such as Aetna Dental Access Plan. It is a dental plan that provides discounted oral health care.

Is there something like that here in our country? The plan is simple, for an annual membership fee on your chosen plan, you will get discounts on any oral health procedure for the whole year. I think you also have an option if you still want to avail a plan the next year. What I am not aware, is if the dental plan’s coverage is limited too, like you can only have 3 or 5 discounted tooth extraction and your next will be on regular price.

If you have an experience with this kind of plan, kindly let me know 🙂