Tag: teenagers

Health

Adolescent Endometriosis / Information on painful periods for teenagers

Dec 10, 2021 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Adolescent Endometriosis, #Apollo Cradle & Children’s Hospital, #Dr. Vimee Bindra, #Endometriosis, #painful periods, #teenagers

By – Dr. Vimee Bindra, Consultant – Obstetrics & Gynecology, Apollo Cradle & Children’s Hospital, Jubilee Hills and Kondapur

Endometriosis is a condition in women where cells, similar to the lining of the uterus, grow an extra-uterine layer at an unusual site, such as ovaries, pelvic peritoneum, fallopian tubes. Actually, they can grow anywhere. In the past, it was believed that this disease affects only older women, but we now know that it is common for a teen or young woman to also get endometriosis.

A young girl may think that the incapacitating symptoms are the norm, and she has to live with it. This feeling and misconception are deepened further by ill-informed people who tell her that “period pain is normal”, “exercise will make it better”, “don’t behave like a kid, it’s your period”, “your mother and grandmother had the same pain, so don’t worry”.

If the pain does not subside and she is taken to a doctor, in all probability she may be told that there is no problem – “Everything is fine with you, no need to complain so much”. If pain is rather bad, she will be introduced to the world of analgesics (painkillers). If that also does not work, contraceptive pills come to the rescue, and she starts functioning under the influence of hormones. But, if it is due to endometriosis the disease progression continues, and after years of suffering, she may be diagnosed only once she undergoes laparoscopy.

Can women in their teens get endometriosis symptoms?

Most women, when asked, say that their period pain started in their teens or early 20s. Around 40% of women start experiencing period pain before the age of 15 years.

How does one recognize whether the period pain needs further evaluation?

Mild discomfort on the first 1-2 days of a period is common, but it needs further evaluation if it causes distress or inability to do routine activities, missing school, sports activities and does not get better when treatments like simple painkillers are taken.

Which teens are at greater risk?

Endometriosis runs in families, so young girls whose relatives have had endometriosis, have a higher chance of having endometriosis. Girls who start their periods early and have low BMI, run a higher risk of endometriosis.

These girls may even develop some other symptoms – such as heavy bleeding, bloating, lower back pain, muscle spasm, irritable bowel, painful overactive bladder, fatigue. If a teenage girl is not responding to medical pain management, and if laparoscopy is done, almost 67-70 % of them will be diagnosed to have endometriosis.

How is endometriosis diagnosed in teenage girls?

Ultrasound and MRI can detect ovarian cysts quite well, but in teenage girls these lesions are rare and peritoneal lesions are more common. These lesions are small and are clear, or white or red, and can be picked up only on a laparoscopy. To identify these lesions properly, endo excision experts should be involved in diagnosis and treatment.

How can parents deal with their teenage daughter who is suffering from pain?

Here are ways that parents can support their young daughter dealing with the pain:

– Get good information about pelvic pain.

– Help them cope up with the pain and its effects on their emotional thought process, so that they know they are not alone and do not need to suffer like this whole life

– Help them develop a support team of gynecologists, physiotherapists, pain management specialists, dieticians, counselors, friends, teachers, and school nurses.

– Try to shift the focus away from pain by encouraging them to engage in activities that lift their spirits.

– Help your adolescent develop a plan to deal with a bad pain day’.

What can adolescents do to manage their pain and symptoms?

Keeping active will reduce their muscle spasm. Gentle exercise such as walking and stretching helps.

Physiotherapists can help relax pelvic muscles, as tightening the pelvic muscles increases pain.

Improve diet, include an anti-inflammatory diet and avoid constipation, drink plenty of water.

Involving yourself in a hobby helps distract you from symptoms. Meditation and breathing exercises also focus the mind away from pain symptoms and help in pain management.

Acupuncture and alternative therapies can ease the pain symptoms for some young women.

What’s best we can offer?

Ensure that it is diagnosed early. If the pain is severe, endometriosis should be considered a possibility. Opt for a diagnosis and believe the patient who is experiencing the pain. Do not keep suggesting that – “It happens … it’s normal … you are over-reacting”. If it’s endometriosis, it can be corrected surgically, and she can lead a pain-free life.

GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!

Trained excision surgeons, who can completely recognize the disease and remove it, can reduce the recurrence rates of disease.

This can be a daycare surgery, and the patient can go home the same day.

If complete excision is done, post-operative pain relief is miraculous. However, menstrual cramps and ovulatory pain may persist.

When these young girls are free from chronic pelvic pain, their healthy state of mind returns, and their productivity increases. They can themselves value their worth and live more enriched lives.

News

The dust on the classroom benches has its own stories to tell: Atul Malikram

Aug 30, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #adolescence, #anxious, #Friendship, #school, #self-conscious, #teenagers, #the Corona pandemic

Eyes on the door of the classroom, he was waiting anxiously for the girl to enter. Like the past month, he made sure to come to the classroom before the final bell rang. In all his school life, he usually was the last student to enter the classroom. But this year, it was different. The reason for his early arrival is the new girl who made sure to always sit on the front bench. Today as she was entering the class, something made her look up and she stared directly into his eyes and gave him a little smile. And in this way, the school witnessed the beginning of a new love story. There was a time when the schools used to be the centre of many such occurrences, but now the dust on the locks of the school buildings tells the tales of sorrow, loneliness and despair.

It is seen that when two people meet, talk or share the bond of love, they often face many challenges in the form of religion, society and family. Even those people who have gone through the same phase at one time or the other in their life, raise objections against their lovers. They forget that they too have gone through this phase of attraction in their past. Suffice to say, in everyone’s life, there comes a day when the dreams turn to reality, the heart becomes the carrier of an avalanche of emotions, and the wave of faith starts flowing to the one person who becomes the centre of your world. The time when a person finds himself tied with an invisible thread of deep emotions. This consciousness begins at a very unique stage of age… Yes! In adolescence…!

This is the time when changes occur in the way of speaking and living. The seeds of attraction begin to sprout in a fickle mind. Friendship gets blurred when someone starts knocking on the doors of the heart. At the same time, the heart becomes an algebraic equation, which keeps searching for that ‘someone in the crowd.

Many childhood love stories start in schools. But now, with the schools shut down indefinitely, many things have changed. Students haven’t been to school for the last 1.5 years. How can they develop these mild ‘crushes’, without any meeting ground? Yes, we have social media where one can still form the connection, albeit virtually, but can it take precedence to real experience? No, it cannot.

The truth is, the Corona pandemic has also affected the sentiments of teenagers, which has gone unnoticed.

Teenagers imprisoned in homes for the past years have been deprived of making beautiful memories in the last days of their school life. They have become self-conscious, anxious, and hopeless. Some of them are getting more and more depressed as they have no one to share their feelings or talk to. While others under the pressure are closing themselves from others and seeking solitude. There is something pure and wonderful with the school crushes. It is an experience of a different level, the existence that fills the teenager with confidence. But to bridge this gap of 1.5 years, we have to start giving priority to the emotions and feelings of the teenagers. Try understanding their mindset to stop them from taking the wrong path. Be their friends but don’t pressurize them. Give them time and trust them. Be strict, but not overbearing. Guide them but let them make their own decisions. Help them differentiate between right and wrong. Give them your attention and love and don’t forget that you also had to cross this stage once in your life.