Posts made in July, 2008

When Did This Happen?

Posted by Liz on Jul 31, 2008 in Uncategorized | 8 comments

I’ve engaged a 23-years-young vet tech to come over for the next week to give my Lily, my kitten, eye ointment because I can’t seem to accomplish this one little task. Okay, I’m a loser.

But more importantly, tonight, this cute woman and I started talking and she mentioned that her 52-year-old dad is free. Wow! In my head, I am only…30 at most? But I am old enough to be this woman’s mother and date her dad. WHAT?!

When did this happen?

Seems like I was dancing to the English Beat in a cow barn in Madison. Wisconsin with my roomie and her boyfriend only yesterday. But when I think about it, I was actually in meetings all day with a group of individuals younger than me, all of them, including the agency’s principals.

You are only as old as you feel.

Today, I am realizing that mid-life has entered hard and fast and I’ve not yet caught up.

What about you?

Amy’s Top 10

Posted by Liz on Jul 31, 2008 in emotions | 3 comments

My BBFF Amy posted the top 10 search terms that people use to find her blog ‘I could cry but I don’t have the time.’ Number one?

Am I menopausal or insane?

I think that this one stands on its own.

Up in Smoke

Posted by Liz on Jul 29, 2008 in Uncategorized | 7 comments

I remember the first time I had a cigarette. It was a Kool, purchased surreptitiously from the candy shop across the street from McKinley School. The year was 1969 and I was eight years old.

Yes, I said eight!

It used to be cool to smoke. My girlfriends and I would pretend we were in the teachers’ lounge (remember those?). By the time I got to college, I switched to clove cigarettes. And then afterwards, Marlboro Lights. I was up to a pack and a half a day by the time I stopped smoking. At the age of 30.

This means that I smoked, on and off, for 22 years.

At the age of 46, I had my first night sweat. I turned 47 this past May, and started to address my perimenopausal symptoms more seriously. And started this blog.

You may wonder why I’m sharing these intimate details of my covert and then overt smoking life.

Researchers say that first- and second-hand smoking not only increases the risk for death from heart disease and cancer, but may also significantly increase the risk for starting menopause at an earlier age (i.e., around age 45 rather than the average age of 51).

Data from a cross-section of 5,029 women aged 25 and older participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III have shown that women who were current smokers (as measured by self-reports and blood levels of nicotine) started menopause at a mean age of 47, while women in service industries who were exposed to nicotine in their jobs started menopause at a mean age of 46.

Black women who had been regularly exposed to cigarette smoke had 12 times the odds of other racial groups of an earlier menopause age compared with smokers and nonsmokers who had not had any exposure. The investigators attributed this significantly increased risk among Black women to the body’s inability to clear nicotine from the blood as quickly as their peers.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that women in the workplace who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for many of the same diseases as smokers. They’ve now added early menopause to this list.

What is less clear, however, is the risk for “former smokers,” since they were taken out of the analyses.

Makes you wonder if many of us who are former smokers or were exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis in our homes (a good percentage of women our age, as my sister in law pointed out), are at a higher risk as well.

Sort of like poster children, right?

Take Control

Posted by Liz on Jul 28, 2008 in hot flash | 1 comment

I’ve posted several times about the pending Life Quality Technologies’ device to stop hot flashes in their tracks. I strongly believe that this “alternative alternative” to HRT and even herbal medicines could revolutionize the way that women address menopausal vasomotor symptoms. But folks with the wallets may need some convincing.

If you are experiencing hot flashes and are interested in seeing this type of product on the market, I would like to ask you to take a brief survey. No email addresses or other information will be collected and the survey should take any longer than a minute or so of your time.

Here’s the link.

Don’t you think it’s time to start taking control of our bodies and our health?

Hot hot hot!

Posted by Liz on Jul 26, 2008 in hot flash | 0 comments

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=owT5LDNoStE]

Yes, it’s been too darn hot in Maryland and DC of late. But looks like things are really starting to heat up for women in menopause who suffer hot flashes.

Researchers say that vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes tend to last for at least four years after a woman’s final menstrual period. FOUR YEARS!

Evidently, a review of 10 studies evaluating over 35,000 women shows that overall, symptoms increase in the two years before menopause, peak approximately one year after the final period, and then return to normal levels in about either years after the final menstrual period. However, at least half of the women who participated in these studies reported a peak in symptoms around four years after their final period.

Life Quality Technologies’ new device to address this problem can’t come soon enough. Curious what I’m talking about? Check out this previous post.