There have always been lots of mysteries about the human body, especially the female one—many of the “normal” things are very surprising. When Redditor u/fushaman asked the TwoXChromosomes community to share lesser-known truths, the replies unveiled unexpected findings. Do you think you are familiar with all of them? These revelations might just prove you wrong.
There are some subjectsfor which it is fine not to have every knowledge concerning them, but others, for example, basic biology, are believed to be known by everyone. But do remember, some of the basic facts can also hold twists that are beyond our recognition. The female body, for instance, has lots and lots of secrets that common people are oblivious to.
The members of the TwoXChromosomes community were asked for some interesting facts that many people are not aware of about female health, and they got interesting results. Many of these revelations were surprisingly specific and not widely discussed. Want to know something new? These are some rhocking facts.
1.
A pregnancy can occur without an embryo, but the hormones, amniotic sac, and placenta will be formed. That’s why the interruption of the pregnancy is so important, as it does not always end “life,” but it is always a medical reality. To many, it’s not a matter of potential futures, but of rescuing real lives.
2.
The pictures of your womb given by the doctor’s team are not accurate medically.
3.
Chronic ovarian cysts bear similarities to endometriosis, causing pain, and may be the root of the problem. Yet doctors are often in the habit of refusing to accept such a diagnosis for many years. Because my uterus, intestines, and bladder were joined together by adhesions, I was experiencing tremendous pain and bleeding. After a hysterectomy and the removal of the adhesions, I could finally eat without the pain—proof that this disease should be taken as seriously as endometriosis. , scar tissue removal The fear of vaginal involvement I must had zeroed my mind, so I did not do any efforts to remember. As a result, my lips were getting swollen and my eyes hurt, and a hot compress only gave me a little relief. If my best friend had not entered those swellings, who knows how it would be today?
4.
Having no reproductive organs, but still being important.
Women’s colons and small intestines are longer than men’s. Also, women have a slower pace of stomach emptying. The net result is that we take more time in digestion than men and absorb more nutrients from our food. It is thought that this prolongation in digestion was meant to be a support for pregnancy and breastfeeding.
5.
The egg that became you was created in your mother while she was in your grandmother’s womb. Females have all their eggs from birth—a maternal property which they inherit from their ancestors.
6.
- Fallopian tubes are opened at the end—menstrual blood can leak into the peritoneum (the immune system will clean it harmlessly), but this is also the way abdominal ectopic pregnancies happen.
- Eggs do not move to the tube— the tube comes to them! If one side of the tube is missing, the other reaches the opposite ovary, keeping fertility in place.
- The human uterus provides nutrients to the embryo even before the placenta is formed. “Uterine milk” is a highly nutritious early developmental stage nourishment of an embryo.
7.
- Ovulation is not a quiet process—some women experience it as a severe, one-sided pain which lasts from a few minutes to one hour, i.e., mittelschmerz, which, in German, means ‘middle pain’.
- I monitored my cycle and eventually put two and two together: those infrequent pricks were my ovary shedding an egg, not period cramps.
- It is not everyone who feels it, but those noticing such non-period twinges in the middle of their cycle can take it to mean that their bodies are showing the signal of ovulation in reality.
8.
- 1 in 10 women have endometriosis—but it is shockingly under-studied, often misdiagnosed, and even doctors confuse the disease. There is no complete cure.
- Surgery is the only sure way of diagnosing it. Specialists must excise lesions—and yet a recurrence is likely. Scans cannot always detect it, and the pain is not a fully reliable measure of severity.
- It is not enough to say that endo is quite similar to a garden of wild plants as it’s just one simple aspect of the issue. The roots of endo are deeply buried; via this scar tissue an organ adherence could be achieved, the disease can produce its estrogen that it gets from the host, and complications arise that threaten one’s life. And yet it is still being called “just really painful periods”.
9.
- In contrast to other mammals, human placentas have direct access to arterial blood, where they directly harvest oxygen for the babies. The fetal oxygen priority feeding is the main cause of brain development in humans, but it also leads to a range of problems such as hemorrhage and preeclampsia.
- Since the time of delivery is determined not by women’s pelvises’ breadth but the point at which the child’s oxygen needs exceed the mother’s capacity to sustain both lives, i. e. through biological brinkmanship. This is the only situation where a pregnancy becomes life-threatening.
- Bad news for women because micro-invasive surgeries which are Cesareans do not eliminate the trading of oxygen between the two. The transportation mechanism does not pose the biggest threat but the evolutionary fortune in survival of the fittest does during human delivery.
10.
The fully anatomical description or mapping of the clitoris was not done until the year 2005 when Dr. Helen O’Connell MRIed and cross-sectionally researched the human clitoris/clitori.
