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Other things you can try include:
• avoid standing for long periods
• take regular exercise to improve your circulation
• use a cloth wrung out in iced water to ease the pain – hold it gently against the piles
• if the piles stick out, push them gently back inside using a lubricating jelly
• avoid straining to pass a stool, as this may make your piles worse
• after passing a stool, clean your anus with moist toilet paper instead of dry toilet
paper
• pat, rather than rub, the area
There are medicines that can help soothe the inflammation around your anus. These treat
the symptoms, but not the cause, of piles.
Ask your doctor, midwife or pharmacist if they can suggest a suitable ointment to help ease
the pain. Don't use a cream or medicine without checking with them first.
Pregnancy heartburn
If you feel a burning sensation in your chest after you eat, it's probably heartburn (also
called acid indigestion or acid reflux). Heartburn is caused by the hormonal and physical
changes that happen in your body during pregnancy, the growing baby pressing on your
baby, and the muscles between your stomach and gullet relaxing , allowing stomach acid
to pass back up
The association between heartburn being linked to a baby having lots of hair has
developed due to the fact that the female hormone oestrogen produced in pregnancy
causes the soft muscle of the gullet to relax leading to heartburn but that also this same
hormone causes hair growth in the developing baby so the theory is that the more
oestrogen the worse heartburn & the more hair !!
Management of heartburn in pregnancy
It's often simply a case of trial and error to find out which foods affect you most – and then
avoiding them.
Eating small meals often, rather than large meals that are hours apart, will prevent your
stomach from becoming too full and pushing up under your diaphragm.
Try to eat your main meal of the day at lunchtime. Eat your evening meal early in the
evening, so your body has time to digest it before you go to bed.
Avoid spicy, rich, fatty and fried foods , and anything else that triggers your symptoms.
Sugar, tea, and coffee may also make your heartburn worse.
Some women find that foods containing garlic make their heartburn worse. However, for
others, eating a clove or two of raw garlic every day, or using whole cloves in cooking, can
actually help. Or you could take a garlic capsule to relieve the intensity of your symptoms.

