Treating Bipolar Disorder with Medication What are the Options? What are the Treatment Options for Bipolar Disorder?

Medications are always an issue that you should discuss with your psychiatrist. The information that is provided here is meant to be informational only. Your psychiatrist can answer your specific questions and is trained in this field. However, sometimes you don’t get all your questions answered in the office, or another one pops into your mind when you get home.

A drug is said to be a mood stabilizer if it provides relief from acute episodes of mania or depression, or prevent them from occurring and it does not worsen depression or mania or lead to increased cycling. There are four classes of medications being used for stabilization of bipolar disorder:

- Lithium
- Anticonvulsants
- Antidepressants
- Antipsychotics

Lithium is by far the oldest known mood stabilizer known and used in the United States. It was discovered in the 1950′s and has been used as a mood stabilizer since the 1970′s. Blood level must be monitored to adjust the level of the compound for toxicity, which is the number one problem with this drug. So why take Lithium? Because, to date, it is still considered the front line treatment for Bipolar Disorder. Lithium is most effective for individuals with “pure” or euphoric mania, where there is little depression mixed in with elevated mood. Lithium has a clear track record of reducing the risk of suicide.

Anticonvulsants
Valproate (Depakote) has been used for many years as an anticonvulsant, treating seizures. There has been a lot of research in the use of Depakote with Bipolar Disorder, and some physicians feel that it is just as effective as lithium with fewer side effects. Depakote can be given in large initial doses and works quickly and well with rapid cycling manic symptoms. Potential side effects are weight gain, tremor, dizziness, sedation, headache, nausea, indigestion, bruising, and hair loss. Valproate may cause a mild liver inflammation and may affect the production of a type of blood cell called platelets. Although it is quite rare for there to be any serious complications from these potential effects, it is important to monitor liver function tests and platelet counts periodically.

Lamotrigine (Lamictal) Serious rash is its only major side effect, and it occurs more frequently in children than in adults.

Carbamazepine (Tegretol) Potential side effects include: aplastic anemia, hepatic toxicity, impaired learning and memory, emotional affects such as irritability and agitation, insomnia, changes in vision, fatigue, nausea, water retention, weight gain, dermatitis, and pancreatitis.

Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) Potential side effects include: dizziness, nausea, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, upper respiratory tract infection, constipation, dyspepsia, ataxia, nervousness. The major advantage of Gabapentin (Neurontin) is its relative safety and lack of interactions with other drugs. Its major drawback is that it doesn’t work. A study was sponsored by Parke-Davis in preparation, and gabapentin was found to be no better than placebo when used as a mood stabilizer. In use with other medications, gabapentin seems to be useful in managing anxiety and violent behavior. Side effects of gabapentin can include fatigue and tiredness, sedation, and lightheadedness.

Topiramate (Topamax) is yet another anticonvulsant with mood stabilizing effects for some patients. It seems to help with anxiety and a number of eating disorders. Topamax is used clinically for migraine headaches. The most common adverse events were sweating, fuzzy vision, difficulty sleeping, tremor, cognitive slowing or memory problems, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet.

Antidepressants

Antidepressants treat the symptoms of depression. In bipolar disorder, an antidepressant will be paired with a mood stabilizing medication (e.g. lithium, Depakote, Lamictal). Without the mood stabilizer, an antidepressant can actually cause a manic state for a person with bipolar disorder. There are many antidepressants on the market. Not every antidepressant is the same, and they have different properties. They all also have different potential side effects.

Antipsychotics

Antipsychotic medications are sometimes used when there is severe depression, mania, hallucinations, or delusions, which sometimes occurs with bipolar disorder.

There are two other ways that antipsychotics are used in bipolar treatment, even if no none of the above are present. They have sedating properties and may be used for insomnia or anxiety. Researchers have found that the newer atypical antipsychotic medications behave as mood stabilizers and may help control depressive or manic symptoms. In this way the newer atypical antipsychotic medications may actually be prescribed in place of mood stabilizers. Characteristic side effects of the atypical antipsychotics include tiredness and weight gain.

Ask any specific questions you have from your psychiatrist.

Nutritional iron supplements are primarily used by those with iron-deficiency anemia or conditions that lead to it, such as low hemoglobin or red blood cell count. Although iron is normally obtained from food, certain conditions increase the body’s need for iron. These include pregnancy, bleeding problems, hemodialysis, and intestinal problems. Breastfed infants and children undergoing growth spurts may also need supplemental iron.

There are different types of nutritional iron supplements, but each one serves a different purpose. It is important to choose the right iron supplement to best serve your nutritional needs. Here are some buying tips and advice on using nutritional iron supplements.

1. Read the generic names.

Nutritional iron supplements are either ferric or ferrous. Ferrous supplements are better absorbed by the body, but one should also know the amount of elemental iron in each type. Elemental iron is simply the amount of iron in the pill available for absorption. Ferrous fumarate contains 33% elemental iron, while ferrous sulfate and ferrous gluconate contain only 20% and 12% respectively.

2. Know the side effects.

The most common side effect or iron supplements is black stool, which is fairly harmless. Liquid supplements may also cause yellowing of the teeth, but the effect is reversible and can be avoided by administering through a straw. Intramuscular injections can cause considerable pain and brown discoloration of the injected area. Other common side effects are diarrhea, obstipation (severe constipation), and epigastric abdominal discomfort.

3. Consult your doctor.

Consult your doctor before taking iron supplements, especially if you are taking other medications or have conditions that affect your medication needs. Be sure to tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems, heart disease, asthma, or allergies. If you suspect you have anemia, have a proper blood analysis to make sure it is caused by iron deficiency and not some other condition.

4. Take absorption aids.

To better absorb iron, take nutritional iron supplements along with copper and vitamins A, B complex, and C. Avoid taking antacids and high amounts of vitamin E and zinc, as these can slow down iron absorption.

IMPORTANT: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not strictly regulate dietary supplements, and many supplements do not contain exactly what their labels say. To stay safe, choose nutritional iron supplements that are GMP-compliant to make sure they do not include harmful additives, such as silica, starch, sugar, and gluten.

The signs of anorexia are quite obvious as someone with this disorder usually looks abnormally thin. He or she may go to extreme measures to lose weight by:

o Making her or himself throw up
o Taking pills to urinate or have a bowel movement
o Taking diet pills
o Not eating or eating very little
o Exercising a lot, even in bad weather or when hurt or tired
o Weighing food and counting calories
o Eating very small amounts of only certain foods
o Moving food around the plate instead of eating it

People with anorexia may also have a distorted body image show by:

o Thinking she or he is fat
o Wearing baggy clothes
o Weighing her or himself many times a day
o Fearing weight gain

Anorexia also sometimes causes people to not act like her or himself. She or he may:

o Talk about weight and food all the time
o Not eat in front of others
o Be moody or sad
o Not want to go out with friends

People with anorexia may have other psychiatric and physical illnesses that include:

o Depression
o Anxiety
o Obsessive behavior
o Substance abuse
o Issues with the heart and/or brain
o Problems with physical development

When a person has anorexia the body does not get the energy from foods that it needs, so the body slows down:

o Brain and Nerves can’t think right, fear of gaining weight, sad, moody, irritable, bad memory, fainting, changes in brain chemistry
o Hair thins and gets brittle
o Heart has slow rate, low blood pressure, fluttering of the heart (palpitations), heart failure
o Blood: anemia and other blood problems
o Muscles, joints and bones: Weak muscles, swollen joints, bone loss, fractures, osteoporosis
o Kidneys: Kidney stones, kidney failure
o Body Fluids: Low potassium, magnesium, and sodium
o Intestines: Constipation and bloating
o Hormones: Periods stop, problems growing, trouble getting pregnant. If pregnant, higher risk for miscarriage, having a C-section, baby with low birth weight, and post partum depression
o Skin: Bruise easily, dry skin, growth of fine hair all over body, get cold easily, yellow skin, nails get brittle.

Disclaimer: This article is for information only. Please consult a professional health care provider for all health problems. This article is not meant to diagnose or treat individuals.

The lack of sugar absorption by the body results in the medical problem called diabetes. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes both result in the elevation of blood sugar, or glucose, levels because of the insufficiency of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas.

The number of global cases of diabetes is expected to surpass 250 million people by 2025, resulting in 35 million heart attacks, 13 million strokes, 6 million episodes of renal failure, 8 million instances of blindness or eye surgery, 2 million amputations, and 62 million deaths.

The American Diabetes Association estimates that 54 million Americans have pre-diabetes, and are at high risk of developing Type II diabetes in the future; 21 million Americans have already been diagnosed with diabetes. This means that 75 million Americans either have diabetes or are at high risk of developing it.

“Controlling” the disease with medication and insulin is the best you can wish for, according to what they were taught in medical school.

This is true… Diabetes cannot be cured by simply following doctors’ advice of just suppressing the diabetes symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs. Prescription drugs will not cure the disease, but it can help you control your blood sugar.

Prescription drugs (hypoglycemics) merely disguise symptoms. They do not improve your health; on the contrary, they aggravate the problem because they weaken your immune system. Something that is supposed to aid can actually worsen the problem.

Diabetics that are treated by diet alone are 2.5 times less likely to die than diabetics that take drugs to treat diabetes. Also, there are the unwanted results of medication. Among them we can list liver problems (jaundice), anemia, skin rashes and in a few cases, death.

The oral anti-diabetes drugs and insulin are not good options from a health perspective. They speed up aging, and also harm your liver, heart and other organs along with other complications.

Yet there is an answer. Diabetes can be cured. You cannot cure a disease, although, by altering the symptoms with drugs. It should be understood that prescription medication is historically the basis for the greatest fraud ever orchestrated and documented.

When suffering from diabetes, it would be more worthwhile to condition the pancreas toward a greater functioning, than to depend on drugs or injections. This would avoid side effects that typical medicinal treatments can cause. Why doesn’t the American Diabetes Association share this information with us? Perhaps it is because drug companies would lose income if people were able to reverse their conditions by other methods.

The basic physiologic defect caused by anemia is a decrease in the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and consequently a reduction in the amount of oxygen available to the tissues. Most of the clinical manifestations are directly attributable to tissue hypoxia. Muscle weakness and easy fatigability are common, although children seem to have a remarkable ability to function quite well despite low levels of hemoglobin.

The skin is usually pale to a waxy pallor in severe anemia. Cyanosis is typically not evident; because it is the result of the quantity of deoxygenated hemoglobin and/or red blood cells, not inadequate oxygen saturation of existing hemoglobin. The doctor should also keep in mind that skin pigmentation can alter one’s assessment of kin pallor.

Central nervous system manifestations inclined headache, dizziness, light- headedness, irritability, slowed thought processes, decreased attention span, apathy, and depression. Growth retardation resulting from decreased cellular metabolism and coexisting anorexia is a common finding in chronic severe anemia. It is frequently accompanied by delayed sexual maturation in the older child.

The effects of anemia on the circulatory system can be profound. A reduction is hemoglobin concentration that results in decreased oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is associated with a compensatory increase in heart rate and cardiac output. Initially this greater cardiac output compensate for the lower oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, since blood replenished with oxygen returns to the tissues at a faster than normal rate.

Diagnostic evaluation
Several tests can be used to the levels of RBC and hemoglobin. These are routine hematological laboratory procedures. Other tests used to diagnose the underlying cause of anemia are included elsewhere in the discussion of the particular disorder.

Therapeutic management
The objective of medical management is to reverse the anemia by treating the underlying cause. For example, in nutritional anemia the specific deficiency is replaced. In blood loss caused by hemorrhage, packed red blood cells or whole blood is given. In cases of severe anemia supportive medical care may include oxygen therapy restoration of adequate blood volume, intravenous fluids and bad rest.

Nursing considerations
Since anemia is not a disorder but a symptom of some underlying problem, nursing care is related to determining the cause, fostering appropriate supportive and therapeutic treatments, and decreasing tissue oxygen requirements.

Assist in establishing a diagnosis. Although, the physical examination yields valuable evidence regarding the severity of the anemia and some indication of its possible etiology, diagnosis primarily rests on hematological blood studies and a careful history.

Prepare child for laboratory tests. Explain to older children the need for repeated veni-punctures or finger-sticks for blood analysis. Particularly why a sequence of tests is required. Allow children to play with laboratory equipment and/or participate with test. Older children may enjoy looking at blood smears under a microscope or at pictures of blood cells.

Observe for signs of shock and hypoxia from repeated blood samples. Explain to parents reason for replacing withdrawn blood and necessity of performing tests.

Minimize physical exertion. Assess child’s level of physical tolerance. Anticipate and assist child in those activities of daily living that may be beyond his tolerance. Provided diversional play activities that promote rest and quiet but prevent boredom and withdrawal choose an appropriate roommate of similar age and interests and one who requires restricted activity.

Minimize emotional stress. Anticipate child’s irritability, short attention span, and fretfulness by offering to assist him in activities rather than waiting for him to ask. Assess parents’ awareness of child’s need for dependency to conserve strength. Explain to older children and parents reason for behavioral changes caused by anemia. Encourage parents to remain with child.

Place child in room with noninfectious children; restrict visitors with active illnesses. Advice visitors (and hospital personnel) to practices good hand washing. Report any temperature elevation to physician. Observe for leukocytosis. Maintain adequate nutrition.

Alert ancillary hospital personnel regarding child’s physical tolerance and need for assistance during activity. Keep side rails raised and use safety restraints when applicable.

Be alert to signs of heart failure from excessive cardiac demands of from cardiac over load during blood transfusion. Practice all precautions. Check blood with another nurse and physician to ensure correct blood group/ type with that of child. Run blood slowly and remain with child for infusion of initial 50ml. Stop blood immediately if any untoward reaction occurs. Attach blood to piggy back setup with normal saline or other intravenous solutions to maintain open venous line. Observe for signs and symptoms of reaction.

Do you know what type of medical treatment for tinnitus exists? You may be surprised when you hear how many options are available to you. Many people are told they have no solution and that they must learn to “cope” or live with their problem.

Some medical treatments for tinnitus include:

o Prescription medication

o Surgery

o Biofeedback

o Stress and anxiety treatment

In the past, there were no real medical treatments for tinnitus but that is not true today. Doctors no longer believe that tinnitus is strictly a psychological condition or that it is always caused by ear problems that cannot be corrected. Medical professionals now know that there are many different medical treatment options for tinnitus and while there is no cure yet, there are many treatments that have proven very successful with many patients.

Some drugs and medications that have been used to help treat tinnitus are:

o Anti-depressant Drugs – The main anti-depressant drug that is used for tinnitus is Xanax. Seventy-six percent of the people that used this drug in a study found that it reduced their symptoms about forty percent and they reported that the loudness of the sound was lowered considerably.

o Intravenous Lidocaine – A controlled study done on this drug suggested that tinnitus could be controlled by certain drugs by providing either partial or complete relief in 85% of the subjects tested.

o Antihistamines – Antihistamines that are used to help treat allergies may also help to reduce the sounds caused by this condition in many people.

o Certain Heart Medications – Cardiovascular medications help to increase the blood flow in your body, which in turn can help alleviate tinnitus.

o Anticonvulsant Medication – This medication is normally used to help prevent seizures but it may help reduce the symptoms of tinnitus in some people.

Before you seek medical treatment for your tinnitus, you should try to discover the cause of your condition. There are many causes of tinnitus.

Some of these include:

o Earache

o Ear infection

o Fluid in the ear/ ear discharge

o Ear wax

o Meniere’s disease

o Auditory nerve tumor

o Loud noise exposure

o Heart murmur – the sound of the heart is sometimes heard within the ear.

o Anemia

o Paget’s disease of bone

o Arteriosclerosis

o Psychological disorders

o Certain medications

o Idiopathic

o Acute otitis media

o Excessive noise exposure

o Auditory tube dysfunction

o Ototoxicity

o Glomus tumour

o Internal carotid thrombosis

o High blood pressure

o Aural polyps

o Foreign body in ear

o Chronic sinusitis

o Otosclerosis

o Ear inflammation

In addition to other medical treatments for tinnitus, there are also homeopathic remedies that many people find very helpful and there are also simple things you can do to reduce the intensity of your tinnitus. Some people do not like taking medicine or do not certain medical treatment for tinnitus to be helpful for their situation. In these cases, they may consider alternative treatment options such as homeopathic methods.

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Being pregnant is the time when you need to have extra iron. This will keep you and the baby in your womb as healthy as you hope to be. If you fail to have enough iron, it is possible that you could develop iron-deficiency anemia. One in every five pregnant women is stricken by this kind of anemia.

Furthermore, post-natal women often continue on having reduced iron levels due to the massive blood loss upon giving birth and their milk production. This situation culminates into the onslaught of various fatigue symptoms.

Common signs of iron deficiency anemia are:

- Feelings of fatigue
- Pale skin
- Frequent headaches
- Heart palpitations
- Shortness of breath

Here are tips in iron consumption that can help you avoid or overcome iron deficiency fatigue symptoms:

1. Remember that there are certain food groups that are the best sources of iron. Include in your daily meals lots of whole meal bread, potatoes, dark green leafy vegetables, iron-fortified cereals, shellfish, lean red meat, and raisins.

2. Do avoid drinking milk or tea for at least an hour after eating iron rich foods. The calcium in the milk might reduce your body’s iron absorption.

3. If you are taking iron rich foods and other iron supplements, make sure that you do not take NSAIDS, antacids and laxatives for they can interfere with your body’s iron absorption.

4. Taking vitamin C can encourage iron absorption so make sure that you increase consumption of vegetables and fruits rich in Vitamin C

5. If you must take iron supplements, remember that taking higher doses is not much recommended for this can cause disagreeable side effects. Some of the unpleasant effects of high iron supplement dosage are general tummy complaints like stomachache, nausea and diarrhea and constipation. It is recommended to increase fiber rich foods while taking iron supplements for this can prevent constipation.

Taking tablets to combat stomach complaints before or with a meal can also assist in reducing other side effects that iron supplement brings about.

You might like to try Spatone. This is a good product that delivers a form of iron that is absorbable than most traditional supplements. As such, you will not be compelled to take higher and definitely quite dangerous dosages just to make sure that you not become iron deficient while pregnant. Spatone is already proven clinically to be effective in avoiding the various side effects brought about by high iron supplement dosage.

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Do you suffer from cold sores? If so, then you certainly want a medicine that can shorten their duration for sure. Well, does Valtrex cold sore medication help in this regard? Here’s a review to give you some answers.

As a cold sore remedy, Valtrex by Glaxo Smith Kline may well be one of the better medications available. Valtrex is the actual brand name for Valacyclovir Hydrochloride. It comes in pill form to treat herpes, herpes simplex or cold sores, in addition to shingles and chicken pox.

While it is true that Valtrex is one of the best as a cold sore remedy, it is not cheap. A 500 mg pill will cost approximately $6.00 each, while a 1000 mg pill will run $10.00 each. Taking four of the 1000 mg pills will cost you $40, but if you are suffering from a cold sore, I consider it money well spent.

I have a friend who suffers from several bouts with cold sores throughout the year. He has tried every cold sore remedy, cold sore medication, and every other home remedy for cold sores. Nothing has worked for him like Valtrex.

He starting taking Valtrex just as the instructions say to do, at the first sign of a tingling sensation. He took two 1000 mg pills twice a day for one day. The cold sore went away without ever breaking out. it never broke the surface. This was amazing.

If you suffer from cold sores, then you know that when they break out you’re looking at 10-14 days of an ugly, painful cold sore. If you’re taking Valtrex this won’t happen. Compared to any over-the-counter cold sore remedy, there is no question about which is the best.

The key for any cold sore medication to work is catching the sore before it breaks through the surface of your skin. Once it breaks out there is no cold sore remedy that will eliminate it in a day or two, Valtrex included. But if you take Valtrex before this happens, then it will flat out eliminate it immediately.

For anyone who has cold sores and has been looking for a medicine that works, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider about Valtrex. It may be the cold sore remedy you’re looking for.

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Chemotherapy is cancer treatment using anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy is commonly less used to treat prostate cancer although it is often used in cancer treatment.

In early stages of cancer, hormonal therapy or hormone-refractory prostate cancer is often used. But if this medicine does not overcome the disease, doctors mainly use chemotherapy to treat advanced prostate cancer.

Chemotherapy is used if the disease no longer can be controlled with regular treatment. The anti cancer drugs are usually injected directly to the vein. This drug will decrease the symptoms of cancer and control the cancerous cells. The shrink of both symptom and cancerous cells can pursuit a good quality of patient’s life.

Two main drugs that used for chemotherapy are docetaxel| and mitoxantrone. These drugs often combine with other various drugs like prednisolone for prostate cancer. But some of these drugs may decrease the production of white blood cells by the bone marrow. This condition can make you more vulnerable to infection.

People show different reaction for chemotherapy. Some people may present few side effects while others experience more. Some common side effects which usually occur in the first stage of chemotherapy are bruising or bleeding.

Nosebleeds, blood spots or rashes on the skin, and bleeding gum are few conditions where the production of platelets is decreased. That is why patients always get some blood test before having chemotherapy treatment. Other common chemotherapy side effects for prostate cancer are anemia, tired, breathless, poor appetite, sore mouth and hair loss. These side effects will gradually disappear once your treatment is over although they may be hard to deal with at the time.

Chemotherapy drugs surely can cause side effects but these can usually be well controlled with a medicine, which means more drugs to use. Your doctors will look carefully the possible advantages and disadvantages of chemotherapy treatment for your condition.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, what your spouse eats right before and during your pregnancy can affect the health of your growing baby. Even before she starts trying to get pregnant, you should take special care of her health.

Make sure she eats healthy meals and snacks and take a multivitamin every day. If you are both unsure about eating healthy during pregnancy, talk to your doctor.

Does my spouse really need to “eat for two?”

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, your spouse will need additional nutrients to keep her and the baby healthy, while she is pregnant. But, that does not mean she needs to eat twice as much. She should only eat an extra 300 calories per day. A baked potato has 120 calories. So getting these extra 300 calories doesn’t take a lot of food.

Make sure she does not to restrict her diet during pregnancy either. If she does, the unborn baby might not get the right amounts of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Low-calorie diets can break down a pregnant woman’s stored fat. This can lead to the production of substances called ketones. Ketones can be found in the mother’s blood and urine and are a sign of starvation.

Why do pregnant women crave certain foods?

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the desire for “pickles and ice cream” and other cravings might be caused by changes in nutritional needs during pregnancy. The fetus needs nourishment and a woman’s body absorbs and metabolizes nutrients differently while pregnant.

These changes help ensure normal development of the baby and fill the demands of breastfeeding once the baby is born.

Other Nutrients Does My Partner Need For a Healthy Pregnancy

Folic Acid: According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Pregnant women need 400 micrograms (400 mcg) of folic acid every day to help prevent birth defects. Folic acid is also important for any woman who could possibly become pregnant. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps prevent serious birth defects of a baby’s brain or spine called neural tube defects. Getting enough folic acid can also help prevent birth defects like cleft lip and congenital heart disease.

An easy way to get enough folic acid is to take a multivitamin every day. Most multivitamins sold in the U.S. contain enough folic acid for the day. But be sure to check the label! Choose a multivitamin that contains 400 mcg or 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for folic acid. Getting enough folic acid is most important very early in pregnancy, usually before a woman knows she is pregnant.

So, at least one month before your partner tries to become pregnant you should make sure she is getting enough folic acid. Women who are already pregnant need to get enough folic acid every single day. Another way to get enough folic acid is to start your spouse eating a serving of breakfast cereal that contains 100% DV for folic acid, every day. Check the nutrition label on the box of cereal to be sure. It should say “100%” next to folic acid. Orange juice, spinach and legumes are also good sources of folic acid.

Iron: Pregnant women need twice as much iron – 30 mg per day – than other women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that pregnant women start taking a low-dose iron supplement (30 mg/day) or a multivitamin with iron beginning at the time of their first prenatal visit. Ask your doctor what she recommends.

Prenatal vitamins prescribed by your doctor or those you can buy over-the-counter usually have the amount of iron your partner needs. But be sure to check the label to make sure. Pregnant women should also eat lots of iron-rich foods. Some good sources of iron include lean red meat, fish, poultry, dried fruits, whole-grain breads, and iron-fortified cereals. Pregnant women need extra iron for the increased amount of blood in their bodies. Iron helps keep blood healthy. Plus, your baby will store iron in his body to last through the first few months of life. Too little iron can cause a condition called anemia. If your spouse has anemia, she might look pale and feel very tired. Your doctor checks for signs of anemia with the routine blood tests taken at different stages of pregnancy. If your doctor finds that she has anemia, she will give special iron supplements to take once or twice a day.

Calcium: Pregnant women aged 19 to 50 years should get 1,000 mg/day of calcium. Younger pregnant women need even more – 1300 mg/day. Most women in the U.S. don’t eat enough calcium. So many pregnant women will have to change their diets to get their fill of this important mineral. Low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, cheese or other dairy products are great sources of calcium. Eating green leafy vegetables and calcium-fortified foods like orange juice and breakfast cereal can also provide calcium. If your partner’s diet is not providing 1,000 mg/day of calcium, talk to your doctor about taking a calcium supplement.

Water: Pregnant women should drink at least six eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Plus, pregnant women should drink another glass of water for each hour of activity. Water plays a key role in your partner’s diet during pregnancy. It carries the nutrients from the food she eats to your baby. It also helps prevent constipation, hemorrhoids, excessive swelling, and urinary tract or bladder infections. Drinking enough water, especially in the last trimester, prevents dehydration. Not getting enough water can lead to premature or early labor. Juices also contain water.

But juice also has a lot of calories that can cause one to gain extra weight. Coffee, soft drinks, and teas with caffeine actually reduce the amount of fluid in the body. So caffeinated drinks do not count towards the total amount of water your spouse needs every day.

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