Female Friday

It's been a minute since I last popped in to post a couple of Female Friday links! I found some good ones this week and wanted to share them. Also, the above photo is from Bite Lip Lab, where I helped create two custom shades of lipstick last week. Did you know the average woman eats about 7 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime? #NOTHANKS And while I'm not going to stop wearing a dark berry or bright pink, I will make a conscious effort in making sure my beauty products don't contain any harmful ingredients that are going to mess with my hormones!

What you should be reading this Friday

Normalization of Period Pain

"The widespread belief — shared by the medical system and the public alike — that menstrual pain is “normal” poses a barrier to the prompt diagnosis of endometriosis even before a patient steps foot in a doctor’s office. A 2006 study of women eventually diagnosed with the disease found that one of the reasons for the diagnostic delay was that the women themselves didn’t see a reason to ask a doctor about their painful periods. They figured they were just one of those “unlucky” people who got bad cramps. And really, how would they know that their periods weren’t normal? There’s so much stigma around menstruation that many young women are left without any point of comparison."

Are you paying attention to your pelvic floor?

"I’d never thought about my pelvic floor, like, ever. And I’d certainly never heard any friends talk about it. But according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, pelvic floor disorders affect a whopping 1 in 4 women—so many of whom go undiagnosed. And yes, that’s women of all ages, even young ones like me.

Childbirth injuries are a big contributor, but not the only one. Other causes include things like high-impact exercise gone awry and traumatic injuries to the area, which means childfree women can certainly be affected."

Mixing Birth Control and Antibiotics

"Drugs can induce synthesis of a particular enzyme in the liver that then decreases the plasma levels of estrogen in the women taking the pills. Estrogen is found in most birth control pills, and works in tandem with progestin to prevent pregnancy. If estrogen plasmas go down, there could be an increased risk of pregnancy. A 1999 study in the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases also found that Rifampin is the only antibiotic reported to reduce plasma estrogen concentrations."

If you're on birth control and are taking antibiotics - check with your doctor to find out if there are any interactions. Moreover, if a pregnancy isn't in the cards - try an additional form of birth control like a condom to decrease your risk of getting pregnant.