Dr. Ukachi Emeruwa

***2:24 CORRECTION: meant to say “too much PROGESTERONE” (not estrogen)***

Who knew a little estrogen in your hormonal method could be the answer to all your life planning problems? This girl did! And now it’s my responsibility to pass that knowledge along to you. Find out how this hormonal ring not only acts as easy-to-use birth control, but can also help you control your periods so that YOU can decide if you want to get it every month like you’re used to or if you need a little bit more of a break before you tell it when to start.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Depo Provera. It’s quick. It’s private. It’s … full of some potentially unpleasant side effects? Don’t get me wrong, the depo injection is an incredibly effective method, great for heavy bleeding and great for birth control, but there are some very real considerations to keep in mind if you plan to use it long term. Everything is about weighing the risks and benefits, so if your only alternative to using the depo injection is to risk getting pregnant (when you’re not ready or it’s not safe) or to continue being anemic from heavy bleeding, you and your doctor may decide that it could still be the right thing for you.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Whoever thought tying your tubes was the best way to not get pregnant obviously hadn’t heard of the Nexplanon. While the difference is small, the Nexplanon technically edges out permanent contraception as the most effective method of birth control! On top of that, it can be used to treat other gynecological conditions, such as pain from endometriosis.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, as amazing as this method is, we all know nothing is perfect, so check out the video to find out the what possible downside could come along with all the upsides of using the Nexplanon and decide if it’s the right method for you.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

“No hormones”. It feels safe. It’s trendy … kind of like “organic” or “sugar free” or “all natural”. But we don’t do buzz words here. Let’s understand what that really means for your birth control. One thing about the IUD not having hormones is that it can in fact only be used for birth control (unlike the hormonal methods that can have medical benefits not related to contraception). But for that one thing that it does, it does it well. So how does it work? What are the benefits of not having hormones? What are the downsides?

Find out whether “no hormones” lives up to your expectations in this video.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

If you’ve watched my stories and taken my quizzes, you already know where this is going. What more could a person with a uterus want than what the hormonal IUD?

Okay okay okay. It’s not for EVERYBODY. And there are other good LARCs (long-acting reversible contraceptives). But it’s certainly more than just for heteros*xual females seeking birth control. It:

• makes periods better (lighter bleeding, less pain)
• reduces the chance of endometrial, ovarian, and colon cancer
• exposes your body to less hormone than other systemic contraception methods (usually = lower side effects)
• works just about as well as tying your tubes, but REVERSIBLE
• I think the list may go on. And …

UPDATE: The Mirena IUD is actually finally approved for 7 YEARS (not 6)! It’s about time! The studies have always shown it’s good for that long, but the FDA likes to play the slow approval game.

So take a listen and tell me you don’t get as excited as I get about the hormonal IUD. It’s okay … I’ll wait.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Remember when we gave the rundown of all the possible birth control options? Well, we’re finally back to take it one by one … starting with the longest lasting methods - the permanent ones.

Permanent contraception is great if you have a condition that makes pregnancy dangerous for you or your partner, if you’re ready to avoid thinking about birth control for the rest of your life, if hormones and the copper IUD are truly dangerous/won’t work for you or your partner, or if you just plain WANT IT … whatever your personal reason may be.

The key is to walk into the decision knowing the risks (including the rare but possible risk of ectopic pregnancy with tubal ligation - NOT MENTIONED in the video), the benefits, and all the alternative options that were safe and available for you (including whether to choose between vasectomies or tying tubes for opposite s*x partners).

If you listened to the video and got a ✅✅✅ for all 3 of those things, sounds like you’re ready to talk to your doctor to see if there’s anything you haven’t considered based on your personal medical history … or if you’re good to snip those male or female tubes FOR GOOD!

🎥:Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

This video needs little to no introduction. Racism is woven into the fabric of our society, and with the statistics we talk about here, it’s clear that medicine is no exception. The solution (as tempting as it may sound) is not to escape the health system. That would mean escaping from the very advancements that helped save us from pregnancy-related complications decades and centuries ago. So how can you advocate for yourself for the health system to work in your favor? Take a listen for some of my own personal advice as we start the conversation to understand and change the narrative of black maternal mortality.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

We wrap up the “Miscarriages” series with probably one of the top questions on everyone’s mind - when should I be concerned that something could be wrong that’s causing us to lose the pregnancy? Knowing the answer will hopefully give you not only the guidance you need to seek specialized care, but also the hope you deserve to look toward more positive outcomes.

Questions? Drop a comment below or a message for more info, answers, or even new video spin-offs!

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

In Part 2 of the “Miscarriages” series, we explore the 3 potential options to allow you and your family to move forward after a first trimester pregnancy loss:

• expectant management
• medical management
• surgical management

As with everything in medicine, there are risks and benefits for each method, as well as your priorities and YOUR CHOICE to help you get to the option that makes most sense for you.

Take a listen for some of the considerations your doctor may review and help you sort through if you find yourself needing care for an early pregnancy loss. And look out for the third and final part of the series on when to seek specialized help.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Not everything natural is “good”, and losing a desired pregnancy certainly ranks up there as one of the more difficult natural occurrences to experience. Many people and families feel alone after having a miscarriage, but unfortunately, early miscarriages are much more common than you may realize.

So how common is it? Why does it happen? Who’s more likely to experience it?

In part 1 of this topic, we’ll talk about all of the above and more as we even dive into the ways that systemic racism, discrimination, and disenfranchisement contribute to disparities in the occurrence of something as nature-driven as miscarriages.

Drop a comment below if you found this video helpful and would be interested in a part 2 for things to know about treatment options if you experience an early miscarriage and a part 3 for when to seek specialized help.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Day 1 of flow to day 1 of flow. If this doesn’t sound familiar, it’s likely that no one has ever explained the right way to figure out your cycle length. And if you don’t know your cycle length (and honestly, even if you do), chances are no one ever explained how to figure out when you ovulate.

Ovulation: the release of an egg from your o***y. Sounds like it would be helpful to know when this happens whether you’re trying to get pregnant or trying NOT to get pregnant, right? So here it is. The video of all videos. The explanation to top all explanations. The way to calculate and figure out what day of your cycle you ovulate.

Now, WARNING: humans don’t follow a textbook, and nature likes a little bit of variety. So there are certainly people who don’t have a 14-day luteal phase (the second part of your cycle, after you ovulate), and even those who do likely won’t have the same exact ovulation day every cycle (since most people’s cycle length varies), so calculating it using the method in this video will get you in the right ballpark but isn’t perfect. While this is great general information to have about your body, there are no guarantees that knowing it will result in pregnancy, and relying on it as birth control is definitely taking a risk.

So who can time your exact ovulation day if you need it? Your devoted REI (fertility) specialist physician. And who can more definitively help you avoid your ovulation and pregnancy when you need it? Your devoted birth control. Just a plug for the experts in the bunch.

And there’s plenty more family planning information where this came from, so drop a comment below for a video on how many days the egg and the s***m each hang around and how to use that info to help time or avoid pregnancy as well!

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

“How have I been having all these painful contractions and I’m still 4cm?!” If you’ve known someone who’s gone through labor, you’ve probably heard something along these lines before. (It may even have been you who said it!)

Almost all of us seem to know that your cervix has to get from 0 to 10 cm to push out a baby. (It’s okay if you didn’t. They don’t teach us these things in school smh.) But do you know the 4 other things your body is doing to get to the point of being ready to push? Did you know there’s a thing called “cervical ripening”? While knowing these things won’t necessarily help you will your body to make the process go along faster, it may help you appreciate every bit of the work that’s being put in and give you, your partner, your family, or your friend even more credit where credit is definitely due.

So your cervix, your favorite fruit, and your nose walk into a bar … I’ve got nothing after that, but after you watch this video, you can see why that might make the perfect -style dad (or better yet, birthing person) joke 🤣.

Shoutout to Rachel A. Pilliod, MFM extraordinaire, for the nose reference that I’ll never forget! And now, neither will you.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

**na *xualhealth

What are the steps to take when you or your partner are preparing to conceive or get pregnant? Whether female, male, cis, trans, man, woman, gender non-conforming, etc., hopefully you’re not surprised to hear just how similar our needs are when it comes to preparing our bodies for biologically starting a family.

Pregnancy is beautiful, but nobody ever said it was easy. Even when you don’t feel it, it’s pushing your body to new limits. And that doesn’t even begin cover the considerations and possible challenges on the journey it takes to get both a healthy s***m and a healthy egg together to form a healthy embryo for the implanting. So how do you maximize your chances of making any and all of the above a reality when you’re ready to start trying to conceive?

Well, whether you were born with s***m or eggs, or you’re donating them, or you’re ready to carry the combination of the two (the embryo) to birth, take a listen for the 4 things you should do to set yourself up for success for a healthy conception and pregnancy.

And sit tight through the video for a bonus on how long to try before seeking help from a fertility specialist. Unless of course you’re on this journey independently or in a same-s*x partnership, in which case, once you have these 4 things down, let your modern conception journey begin!

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

***m *xualhealth

PCOS (polycystic o***y/ovarian syndrome): irregular periods, excess androgens, many cysts on your ovaries … right? Except not everyone with many cysts has PCOS & not everyone with PCOS has many cysts, not everyone with excess androgens has PCOS & not everyone with PCOS has excess androgens, not everyone with … well, you get the point.

PCOS can be tricky to understand, to diagnose & to treat. For many people it may be mild & not particularly dangerous, but it can pose risks to your health that warrant lifestyle changes & sometimes medical treatment.

Reasons to consider treatment for PCOS:
1. You have fewer than 4 periods a year
2. You’re ready to try to get pregnant & don’t have monthly periods
3. You’re bothered by the unwanted hair growth or acne
4. In the past, you’ve had cysts on your o***y that have ruptured (burst) or your o***y has torsed (twisted) on itself

Regardless of whether you need treatment for the above, lifestyle changes will be your best friend. You can have PCOS at any weight, but it can be harder to lose weight with PCOS & having excess weight does make the problems from PCOS worse, so eating healthy & exercising regularly are more important than ever. And while it’s easy for us young, healthy people to forget to see our Primary Care physicians every year, it’s especially important with PCOS to get yearly checkups for diabetes, high blood pressure, & high cholesterol, all of which you are unfortunately at higher risk of developing.

Take a listen for an overview of all things . And if you thought that was a lot of info, there’s plenty more where that came from, so drop a comment below to let me know what additional videos you’d want on any part of what you’ve heard here.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

***ysyndrome *xualhealth

Ectopic pregnancies are one of the true gynecologic emergencies in our field. Meaning while va**nal discharge, fibroids, and irregular periods can wait until your next office visit without putting your life in danger, an ectopic pregnancy will get your gynecologist out of bed in the middle of the night.

Modern medicine has thankfully given us the ability to detect and treat ectopic pregnancies earlier and earlier, which has saved countless lives. We’ve actually gotten so good at picking them up early that in the beginning, they can sometimes be tricky to tell apart from early normal pregnancies or abnormal pregnancies inside the uterus. For that reason, if it’s too early to see that your pregnancy is in the right place, your doctor will want to keep a close eye on you to prove that it’s not in the wrong place (i.e. ectopic). They may often require multiple visits to check some combination of hormone levels and ultrasounds, and the second an ectopic pregnancy is suspected, they’ll walk you through all the treatment options that are right for you.

Take a listen for everything you need to know about ectopic pregnancies and why in this case, the destination is more important than the journey.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

Endometriosis is probably one of the most painful conditions that a person with ovaries can suffer from. And with the misconceptions about how bad “normal” period pain should be, you probably know at least one person who has been suffering from undiagnosed endometriosis. As if the debilitating pain isn’t enough, endometriosis can also put women at risk for things like ectopic pregnancies and even infertility if we don’t get ahead of treating it. Of all the methods and remedies that have been tried, the most evidence-based success stories have to do with treating the inflammation (i.e. NSAIDs) and helping to regulate the natural fluctuations in your body’s hormones. And when you take a listen to this video, you’ll understand just why that’s the case.

🎥:Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

The menstrual cycle is more than just a few days of bleeding. It has more parts than you probably realize, and it really puts into perspective the so-called “miracle of life” when you think about all that has to go right for your cycle (and therefore pregnancy and childbirth) to happen. On the flip side, it also makes you realize all the things that can go wrong to cause some of the issues that females experience. Regardless of how you feel about your period, one thing is for sure: the more you understand it, the more empowered and knowledgeable you’ll probably feel to work with your OB/GYN to tackle any issues that may arise. Because in the elegant, intricate, incredibly brilliant ways that our bodies work, even when hormones are the cause, now you can know why they’re so often also the cure.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth

AMA: pregnant 35 and older
VAMA: pregnant 45 and older
APA: s***m 40 and older

We have legitimate terms for these because, *news flash* they’re getting more and more common by the decade. So common, in fact, that age alone won’t necessarily be enough to get you that prenatal appointment with a high-risk specialist. You heard that right! If you’re completely healthy and pregnant at 39, you can probably go ahead and keep seeing your general OB specialist (which is a win for you and for modern obstetrics, if you ask me). Now it certainly can be harder to get pregnant on your own as you get older, and there are some increased risks to know about, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to try to beat biology by trying to have a baby before you’re ready.

The secret is to plan ahead by having an idea of when you’d like to start or continue a family, talk to your OB or fertility specialist to know if there’s anything you should know or do ahead of time to help make it happen, and most importantly, to be the healthiest version of yourself that you can be to increase your chances of a safe and healthy pregnancy.

And MOST most importantly, to remember that if your original plans don’t work out, thankfully, in 2021, there are many ways to expand a family ❤️

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

***m *xualhealth

HPV has never been and will never be just a female problem. And if you were today years old when you learned that, all good … take a listen and I’ll catch you up on all the reasons why. We don’t test men for HPV, but that’s certainly not because they don’t contract it. It’s simply because the very dangerous effects of HPV infection in males are usually less common. And since it’s a virus that we don’t have treatment for, there’s not as much that we can do with the information if we find it in males (i.e. there’s no male equivalent of the Pap smear for cervical cancer). But regardless of our s*x, gender identity, or s*xual orientation, most of us will have had HPV at some point in our lives, and thankfully we all have some really effective options to protect ourselves and our partners from it.

So to my male viewers who asked, here’s one especially for you.

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*x *xualhealth

How many cancers do you know that can be prevented with a few shots?

Cervical cancer, like many cancers, is a painful disease, and it disproportionately affects Black and brown women! The difference is that, unlike many cancers, it can largely be caught early (with regular Pap smears) and even PREVENTED with the HPV (human papillomavirus)vaccine. And the HPV vaccine doesn’t stop at just cervical cancer. There are many other oral, a**l, and ge***al (i.e. va**nal, vulvar, and pe**le ... you read that right, men) cancers and warts caused by HPV infection that the vaccine can also help prevent!

So again I’ll ask: how many cancers do you know that can be prevented with a few shots? And how many shots do you know that could prevent MULTIPLE cancers and diseases? I’ll wait ... but you shouldn’t. HPV vaccine (the earlier, the better) + safe s*x + Pap smears (for individuals with a cervix/va**na) = 🔑🔑🔑. And we’ve got over a decade of data to back it up.

Part 2, the men’s edition, coming soon ...

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*x *xualhealth

So you know what it is, but now what do you do about it?

Just because you’re no longer afraid and ashamed of bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections doesn’t mean you have to love them and cherish them and keep them nearby. So let’s round up the conversation on vaginitis with how to recognize it, who’s at risk for it, how to treat it, and how to prevent it. Basically, let’s restore the balance. 🙏🏾

🎥: Arlyn Manuela 💗

*xualhealth