Heartbroken woman aborts baby after traumatic loss of first son leaves her terrified of pregnancy

A woman suffering with an extreme phobia of pregnancy had an abortion because she was too scared to have her baby, despite being desperate for a child. Heartbroken Charlotte Arnold, 24, from London, had the termination just weeks eight into her pregnancy.   Her phobia was triggered by the horrific loss of her first baby son five weeks before he was due to be born. In a devastating twist, the young woman had been forced to deliver the stillborn baby, after doctors said he 'suffocated' in the womb.

 

Charlotte Arnold took the decision to abort her unborn baby after losing her first son just weeks away from his due date. She has now developed an extreme phobia of pregnancy

She is speaking out after a new report found as many as one in six women could be affected by tokophobia – a severe fear of pregnancy and or childbirth. It even suggests some sufferers are going as far as inducing miscarriage, seeking sterilisation or terminating their pregnancy like Miss Arnold did. The PA said: ‘I know lots of people won’t understand. I was desperate to be a mother but was simply too terrified to continue with the pregnancy. ‘As soon as I found out I was expecting I started suffering with anxiety and panic attacks. Deciding to end the pregnancy was one of the hardest decisions of my life but I knew there was no way I could get through it without having a breakdown. I left the clinic in tears, heartbroken, but also relieved that I didn’t have to go through pregnancy and birth. I really felt like I had no choice. I was petrified. I hope this new report helps people understand what women like me go through.’

The cheeses saltier than a bag of crisps: Alarming levels contributing to high blood pressure responsible for heart attacks and strokes

Alarming levels of salt in cheese are contributing to an epidemic of high blood pressure responsible for strokes, heart attacks and thousands of early deaths a year, experts have warned. Cheese can contain as much salt as junk food products, says Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH). The campaigning group found a single portion of cheddar has a greater amount than a bag of crisps, while feta, halloumi and other popular types contain higher levels of salt than seawater.

CASH is calling for families to cut down on their consumption of cheese, and also demanding that the Government sets new guidelines for manufacturers to ensure lower levels of salt. Cheese, which also usually carries high levels of saturated fat, is the third-biggest contributor of salt to the national diet, after bread and bacon. Together, these alone are responsible for the recommended daily intake of 6g – about a teaspoon – being exceeded by over a third. The average intake is 8.1g a day. Doctors say salt is a major factor in high blood pressure. A survey of hundreds of supermarket products by CASH found that the saltiest option on the high street was roquefort with 1g in a typical portion of 30g.

Cheddar lovers: Cheese is the third biggest contributor of salt to the national diet in Britain, only beaten by bread and bacon

Put down that drink! Men with beer bellies warned they are at risk of weaker bones

Belly fat leads to osteoporosis in men, a study has found

Men with excessive fat around their middles aren't just putting their hearts under strain - they are also at risk of weaker bones. A study from Harvard Medical School found men with beer bellies had a higher chance of developing osteoporosis, a disease usually associated with older women. The condition makes bones more prone to breaks as they lose density. Over a third of women have one or more bone fractures because of osteoporosis in their lifetime, however so do one in five men. 'Most studies on osteoporosis have focused on women,' study leader Dr Miriam Bredella said. 'Men were thought to be relatively protected against bone loss, especially obese men.' To check this assumption, Dr Bredella and her team of researchers evaluated 35 obese men with a mean age of 34 and a mean body mass index, a measure of body fat, of 36.5.

Brave schoolgirl, 4, takes chemotherapy drugs to battle painful ARTHRITIS she has had since she was two

When Lily Aird went from being an active toddler to one that could barely walk within the space of weeks, her mother knew that something was seriously wrong. Claire rushed her two-year-old to the doctor and after months of testing and treatment was shocked to be told her daughter had arthritis. Usually associated with the elderly, Lily had developed a condition, which would immediately change her life. Running, playing, dancing, even walking, would be impossible for the little girl unless doctors could find a treatment that would soothe the pain in her knees and hips.  But Claire soon realised that Lily would have to spend years of her life going to and from hospitals and medical practices. 

Lily, pictured in her new school uniform left, never complains despite her chronic condition. She was diagnosed at the age of two (pictured, right)

When butt enhancement goes horribly wrong: Woman left with hideous bulge after implant 'flips inside out'

A shocking video emerged today showing a grotesque bulge in a woman's buttock apparently caused when her botched silicone implant 'flipped inside out'. Instead giving her a smooth, plump appearance, the implant has popped out and is left protruding in an ugly disc shape at the back of her cheek. In the 20-second clip, the unidentified woman slowly manipulates it back into place while explaining: 'This is my implant flipping backwards'. She adds: 'I don't think an implant's supposed to do that. It shouldn't be able to flip.'

Bad ass-et: A woman shows her bulging buttock caused when her implant popped out of place

Loving husband who claimed Parkinson's drug turned him into a 'gay sex addict' wins £160,000 compensation in a French court

A Parkinson's sufferer has won a six figure pay-out against a drug giant after his medication turned him into a 'gay sex and gambling addict'. Didier Jambart had been a well-respected man, an upstanding member of the community in Nantes, western France, and a loving father and husband.  But within two years of taking the drug Requip he was so addicted to both his vices he sold his children's toys to raise money and advertised himself on the internet for sex. He has now been given £160,000 in damages after a court in Rennes, France, upheld his claims.

With his wife Christine beside him , Mr Jambart, 52, cries as judges uphold his claim that his life had become 'hell' after he started taking a drug to help his Parkinson's

FDA approves Exelixis' cabozantinib for thyroid cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Exelixis Inc's cabozantinib as a treatment for medullary thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Cabozantinib, the company's lead product candidate, is an oral drug designed to limit blood supply to tumors as well as block two segments of a pathway used by cancer cells to grow and spread.

The FDA announcement came shortly after the close of stock market trading in New York, where Exelixis shares eased slightly on the day at $5.24 per share. The regulatory agency noted that cabozantinib is the second drug approved to treat medullary thyroid cancer in the past two years. The other drug, Caprelsa, is marketed by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV

A spiraling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control unless urgent action is taken, European health officials said on Friday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.

Governments across the globe pledged on December 1, 2008 to step up the fight against HIV, combating the stigma associated with the disease and promising to bankroll treatment programs on World AIDS Day. (Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP/Getty Images)

ECDC director Marc Sprenger was in Athens on Friday visiting hospitals and needle exchanges. He said he would tell officials that free syringes and methadone programs must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all. "Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak," he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece's HIV problem.

For seniors -- even seniors with memory problems -- exercise helps

Perhaps you've noticed you're less likely to forget where you parked your car after a brisk tennis match than after a trip to the library. There's a reason for that, says a new study: in healthy seniors and those with emerging memory problems, even a single brief bout of vigorous exercise and the release of norepinephrine that comes with it can enhance memory of what came just before it.

A new study finds that even a brief bout of exercise can improve seniors' memory. (Los Angeles Times / March 8, 2007)

The phenomenon is one of evolution's cleverest memory-enhancing tricks: when an event triggers high emotion -- the unexpected sight of a snake, for instance, and the fear reaction that comes with it -- we tend to remember longer and better the details surrounding that event. For the young and inexperienced, the ability to remember those details -- where and when one saw that snake, and how exactly it behaved -- increases the odds that one will live long enough to reproduce. But do those who have already survived into old age also benefit from the norepinephrine effect, and can it help compensate for memory impairment? Researchers at UC Irvine set out to explore those questions.

Drug, alcohol abuse tied to early-life strokes: study

Younger adults who suffered a stroke were often smokers or had abused drugs or alcohol, according to a U.S. study that looked at over 1,000 patients. Strokes are often thought of as a condition of the elderly, but researchers said long-term changes in the heart, arteries or and blood as a result of drug abuse or heavy drinking may put users at higher-than-average risk earlier in life. "Substance abuse is common in young adults experiencing a stroke," wrote lead researcher Brett Kissela from the University of Cincinnati in the journal Stroke. "Patients aged younger than 55 years who experience a stroke should be routinely screened and counseled regarding substance abuse."

When you head out to work out at night, it's time to stand out

The short days of winter relegate many people to working out in darkness, when cars, criminals and the inability to see what's underfoot present a host of hazards. Wearing workout gear designed for nighttime exercising can help reduce the risks. But keep in mind that while the market is flush with chic reflective apparel, a strip of shimmery material on an otherwise black ensemble may be too chic to do much good. "The goal is to be highly visible, not just kind of visible," said Jean Knaack, executive director of the Road Runners Club of America, an Arlington, Va.-based organization that promotes running clubs and events.

Aids patients fight hospital rejections

AFP

This photo taken on August 22, 2012, shows a researcher working inside a laboratory of the National Centre for Aids/STD Prevention and Control, a branch of the Chinese Center For Disease Control.

Chinese villager Wang Pinghe (ping-huh) wants the tumor in his liver removed before it becomes life-threatening. But the 28-year-old knows it will be hard to find a hospital that will do the operation - because he has Aids. Hospitals in China routinely reject people with HIV for surgery out of fear of exposure to the virus or harm to their reputations. China has significantly improved care for Aids patients, but the lingering stigma sets back those advances. The stigma against people with HIV runs especially deep in China, from being unofficially barred from government jobs to being expelled from school. Now, as more people rail against the myriad inequalities that plague Chinese society, people with HIV are increasingly willing to assert their right to fair treatment.

Source: iol SA

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Afghan girl killed over refusal to wed

Violence against women and girls remains a major problem in Afghanistan. Photo: AP

Two men have been arrested for slitting the throat of a 15-year-old Afghan girl after her family refused a marriage proposal, police say. The girl was carrying water from a river to her village home in northern Kunduz province on Wednesday when she was murdered, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said. "The two men attacked her and slit her throat with a knife," he said. "They were arrested and are in police custody." Mr Hussaini said one of the suspects had proposed marriage to the girl, but her family had rejected the offer. Extreme violence against women and girls remains a major problem in the conservative Muslim nation more than a decade after US-led troops brought down the notoriously brutal Taliban Islamist regime.

10 Reasons Parents Choose Public Schools for Their Kids

As toddlers get older and approach school age, parents are faced with the decision of publicly or privately educating them. There are many factors that can determine which path a family chooses, but here are 10 of the reasons why many parents opt to go the public school route.

10 Safety Rules for Kids and Yard Work

As the temperature rises and the days get longer, the amount of attention that your lawn requires also increases. For parents who are considering outdoor chores for their brood, there are some safety rules that should be taken into account before sending them outside. Here are 10 of the most important guidelines that should be instituted when kids help out with yard work.

10 Birthday Cake Alternatives Gluten Free Kids

Parents may have a challenging time finding alternatives to the traditional birthday cake for a child who is gluten intolerant. However, with some creativity, a sense of adventure in baking, or a willingness to try the unusual, it doesn’t need to be a challenge at all. Here are some fun alternatives that kids are sure to enjoy.

5 Easy to Make Advent Candles

Now that the holiday season has arrived, the kids are probably so excited about Christmas that they are likely about to burst! One fun way to help build up the anticipation for Christmas day is through Advent calendars.  An Advent calendar is a way to celebrate the days leading up to Christmas, and the kids can open up a new day on the calendar everyday during the month of December. There are commercially available Advent calendars, but why not create your own?  Here are 5 easy to make advent calendars.

5 Fun Poses for this Year’s Family Christmas Photo

Every year, many families like to take a Christmas photo with their family. Whether they use this photo for their Christmas cards, to place in their scrapbook, or to frame and hang on the wall, it can be challenging to come up with the right outfits to wear, the right location to have the picture taken, and how to differentiate it from past Christmas photos.  Have no fear, Christmas photo pose ideas are here.

10 Things Kids are Normally Very Sensitive To

Even though no two kids are alike, there are some things that are fairly predictable with most kids. For example, most girls don’t like squirmy things like worms whereas most boys are fascinated with creepy crawly critters. It’s a stereotype, but it also happens to be pretty accurate. Some kids tend to be sensitive to certain things and other kids, maybe not so much. Here are 10 things that most kids are normally very sensitive to.

Top 10 Christmas Carols Kids Should Learn

Christmas carols are a cornerstone of the holiday season, and hearing your favorite jingle can instantly fill you with holiday cheer. Everyone has their own personal favorite, and your kids will likely find themselves smitten with their own favorite songs.  Whether you’re just starting to teach your kids different carols or trying to put together a medley so that you can go caroling around the neighborhood this year, there is no shortage of songs to choose from. Here is a list of the top 10 Christmas carols kids should learn and a little of their history.

5 Books on Getting Kids to Go to Bed

For many parents, bedtime is a time of stress and strife. Many kids simply won’t give in to the Sandman when it comes time to end the day and crawl into bed. Their reasons range from fear of the dark to fear of missing out on some exciting late-night adventure that they’re sure will begin just as soon as they drift off to slumberland. For some kids, it may be a matter of asserting control, and for others it’s a tooth-and-nail struggle against sleepiness. Whatever the root cause, the result is the same – a prolonged and tiresome bedtime ritual. Proper rest is an essential component for kids’ health and growth, so you’ve both got a stake in making sure you win the bedtime battle. To help tip the scales in your favor, we’ve assembled a list of five books that cover this very subject.

How To Get Your Child To Eat Vegetables Without Complaining

With childhood obesity rates in the United States skyrocketing, it should come as no real surprise that more American kids are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and other health problems related to poor dietary habits than ever before. Unfortunately, getting picky kids to willingly eat vegetables instead of the high-fat foods that are actively marketed towards them can be quite a challenge. Most modern parents are well-acquainted with the struggle of maintaining a healthy diet for their children in a society that seems determined to provide them with more sugar and empty calories than nutrition, but there are ways to help your children form good eating habits.

How to Protect Your Child without Smothering Her

Every parent wants to keep their child safe from harm, and it’s not unusual for that concern to become worry and often times panic because of the daily news stories of horrific acts and tragic events.  They can make you want to keep your children inside with the doors locked, never letting anyone else near your kids.  However sheltering your children from any and all life events in the name of safety isn’t necessary or practical. This extreme worry can greatly affect the child, causing fear, stranger anxiety and social problems for the child.  There is, however, a way to balance the worry parents have for the safety of their child with the positive social development of that child.

10 Bits of Personal Info Your Nanny Doesn’t Need to Know

When you hire a nanny, especially for the first time, it’s natural to have lofty ambitions of securing a private childcare provider that’s part Mary Poppins and part adopted member of the family. The reality, however, is that even the best and closest nanny/employer relationships have a set of established boundaries in place that keep them functional and running smoothly. While your nanny will need to know a handful of personal details about you, such as who to call in the event of an emergency and the child-rearing pet peeves that drive you to distraction, there’s also an entire host of things that she should never know about you. These 10 bits of information are things that your nanny should not know about you, if you’d like to preserve the working relationship.

10 Reasons Kids Actually Can Learn New Languages Faster

Many parents introduce their children to a new language at an early age, and for good reason. Not only is learning a new language easier for young children, doing so can help boost academic performance later on. Here are 10 reasons that support why children can learn new languages more quickly than adults:

10 Things Nannies Should Know About Developmental Disabilities

Working with children who have special needs, developmental differences and disabilities can be one of the most challenging and also rewarding posts of a nanny’s career. It can also be one of the most confusing if she’s not well-prepared with a working knowledge of how a child’s specific disability affects them, and what special needs they have as a result of it. These are 10 of the things that every nanny should know about developmental disabilities before she accepts a new post with a child who has one.

10 Signs Your Child Thinks Your Taste in Music is Lame

                                                                                         

Hating your parents taste in music seems to be a rite of passage these days, and is something that probably started back when Elvis came along and introduced rock and roll.  Parents weren’t fans of his swiveling hips and new style of music, and thought that rock and roll would corrupt their kids.  As much as they may have tried to prevent it, there’s no doubt about it that rock and roll is here to stay! And, much like your parents hated your taste in music, this generation of parents and children hate each other’s music too.  Check out 10 signs your child thinks your taste in music is lame.

Consumer Reports analysis of U.S. pork finds majority contaminated

An analysis by Consumer Reports found that most store-bought pork tested contained a bacterium that causes food poisoning. What's more, the samples were often resistant to antibiotics, the magazine said. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

A consumer Reports analysis of American pork purchased in grocery and specialty stores has found that many samples contained high levels of a bacterium that causes food poisoning. More worrisome, much of the bacteria samples were resistant to antibiotics. According to the report, the magazine tested 148 samples of pork chops and 50 samples of ground pork for harmful bacteria from a wide range of stores in six American cities. (The stores themselves were not listed in the report.)

Simple formula can predict child obesity risk at birth

A simple assessment can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese during childhood, scientists said on Wednesday. The formula, available as an online calculator, estimates the child's obesity risk based on its birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people in the household, the mother's professional status and whether she smoked during pregnancy.

Researchers who published a study of the test in the journal PLOS ONE say they hope it will be used to identify babies at high risk and help families take steps to stop them putting on too much weight before it's too late. Childhood obesity is a leading cause of early type 2 diabetes, as well as various types of cardiovascular disease, and is becoming increasingly common in developed countries.

U.S. price hikes on branded drugs far outpace 2012 inflation

Lipitor (atorvastain calcium) tablets (Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. price increases on popular branded drugs in the past year have been more than six times the overall rate of inflation for consumer goods, while spending on specialty medications is up nearly 23 percent, according to data compiled by Express Scripts for its first quarterly drug trend report. The pharmacy benefit manager, whose recent acquisition of rival Medco Health Solutions greatly increased its available data, found that prices on a collection of the most widely used brand name prescription medicines rose 13.3 percent from Sept 2011 to Sept 2012. That easily outpaced the overall economic inflation rate of 2 percent.

Somewhat offsetting price hikes of branded drugs was a 21.9 percent drop in prices for generic drugs, helped by the recent entry to the market of generic versions of some of the most popular medicines, such as Pfizer Inc's cholesterol fighter Lipitor and the blood clot preventer Plavix, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi. Those two drugs had been the world's top selling medicines prior to facing generic competition.

'Moob' operations double in five years as men turn to surgery to get rid of male breasts

The number of men going under the knife to rid themselves of so called 'man boobs' has doubled in five years. Experts have put the rise in the removal of the excess tissue growth - dubbed moobs - to a rise in obesity, an imbalance in male sex hormones, and a more open attitude to cosmetic surgery for men. Thousands of men in the UK are developing the condition, known as gynaecomastia. Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) show 790 men underwent the procedure to remove their 'moobs' in 2011. Five years ago it was half that figure.

Before and after:  Ayo Adesina, ahead of the surgery which 'changed his life' (left) and now (right)

2012 one of hottest years on record: UN weather agency

Ice in the Arctic Sea is vanishing at an unprecedented rate, the UN weather agency has warned. Source: AP

EXTREME temperatures and violent weather afflicted the planet this year, with heatwaves, droughts, floods and devastating storms as well as unprecedented ice melt in the Arctic, the UN weather agency says.

"Climate change is taking place before our eyes and will continue to do so," World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) chief Michel Jarraud said in a statement. January-October 2012 was the ninth warmest such period since records began in 1850, the WMO said.
The global land and ocean surface temperature for the period was about 0.45 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average of 14.2 C, it said. "Notable extreme events were observed worldwide but some parts of the northern hemisphere were affected by multiple extremes," it added. The report, comprising preliminary weather data for 2012, coincides with the annual UN climate talks, taking place this year in Doha, Qatar.

Vampire on the loose, Serbian council warns

Vampire Sava Savonovic's legendary windmill home reportedly collapsed. Picture: Supplied

A SERBIAN town council has warned residents that a vampire may be on the loose.

That's right, a vampire. Sales of garlic are reportedly soaring as the council of Bajina Basta issued a public health warning after the legendary watermill home of vampire Sava Savonovic collapsed. The vampire is Serbia's most famous monster, and the village mayor Miodrag Vujetic said residents were frightened.

"People are worried, everybody knows the legend of this vampire and the thought that he is now homeless and looking for somewhere else and possibly other victims is terrifying people," he said. "We are all frightened." The local council has advised residents to put garlic in their windows and doorways in order to ward off the vampire. "We have also reminded them to put a Holy cross in every room in the house," Mr Vujetic said.

Source: news.com.au 

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