Posts made in 2009

The Roundup: October news and tidbits

Posted by Liz on Oct 30, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

[Credit: Special thanks to artist Darryl Willison of whimsicalwest.com. Please visit his site and support his work!]

Wow! Where did October go? I missed most of it; hope you didn’t miss a thing. If so, here’s the month’s Roundup:

• Redux: HRT & lung cancer – The risks keep growing and the benefits keep shrinking. HRT and lung cancer deaths – more information.
• Explore your P.A.S.S.I.O.N.: an excerpt from the Fearless Factor – Author and motivational speaker Jacqueline Wales talks about how to put passion back into your life, the non-sexual ilk
• Wednesday Bubble: breast cancer during menopause. Move your body – Researchers say that physical activity can prevent breast cancer. But, intensity and timing play an important role too!
• Got sleep? – No? No worries; you’re in good company. But ‘one size fits all’ probably isn’t going to improve dysfunction.
• Spray that forgetfulness away – Can a testosterone spray help you remember?
• Wednesday Bubble: red or white? Can wine choice affect breast cancer risk – When it comes to breast cancer, moderation is important. Evidently, wine choice is too!
• Tender breasts and HRT: do you need to worry? – New research links tender breasts during HRT to 48% higher risk of breast cancer.
• Ladies of the world, flashers, sweat-ers, mood swingers. It’s World Menopause Day – One of my favourite posts from last year, reprised.
• Cougar Life – Looking for a cub? A new dating site is looking too!
• Wednesday Bubble: herbs for breast cancer prevention – Study findings suggest that use of certain herbal preparations may prevent invasive breast cancer.
• Burn Baby Burn, Reposted – An online survey is looking for women who suffer from burning mouth syndrome.
• Aging Backwards in Minutes: A guest post by Jackie Silver – Got 30 minutes? Author Jackie Silver has some tips on what to do with the time.
• The Domino Effect – Does one menopausal symptom beget another? Yes. And no.
• Wednesday Bubble: Breast Cancer – it’s personal – breast cancer hits close to home and close to the bone. My story.

There ain’t no men in menopause…and other musings for a Friday

Posted by Liz on Feb 20, 2009 in general | 4 comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZJQlddwuvY&feature=related]

Have I got your attention now? Hope so. ‘I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  More times than those two and a half men can sing “men.”

It’s. Not. All. About. You.

Here’s some information from an earlier post:

There’s a misnomer going around (can a misnomer go around?). It’s called “male menopause.” Now mind you, I’ve got no beef with da guyz but to call a gradual decline in testosterone “menopause,” seems a bit extreme. So, what’s the buzz about?

According to the Mayo Clinic, menopause and “andropause” are two distinct animals. During menopause, women undergo a cessation of menstruation and a rapid plummet in hormone production. On the other hand, men experience gradual declines in testosterone production after age 40. However, some men continue to produce high levels of testosterone well into their older years. What’s more, the problem does not appear to be universal; symptoms of testosterone decline, which may include reduced sexual desire and spontaneous erection, swollen breasts, a loss of hair from the body and around the genitals, loss of muscle mass, depression, and rarely, hot flashes and sweats vary from man to man and some men never experience any symptoms whatsoever.

In fact, back in October, I cited data suggesting that there is insufficient evidence supporting a decline in androgen in a majority of men and that “the extent to which an age-dependent decline in androgen levels leads to health problems that might affect or alter the quality of life remains under debate.”

Further, the medical community is not only in disagreement over “male menopause” but also its treatment.
There’s lots of controversy over testosterone replacement therapy and whether or not it actually helps the symptoms of androgen deficiency. What’s more, research suggests that a large majority of men experiencing symptoms of androgen deficiency do not seek care. (No surprise there, right?!)

Okay, so now that we’ve got that straight, may I reiterate that it’s not all about you?

I  ran across a disturbing piece in this past Tuesday’s Washington Post about how and why the country’s economic crisis is taking a greater toll on men.  Entitled “Economic Crisis Hits Men Harder,“ the article relies on the psychotherapist and author Jed Diamond who is at the forefront of the male menopause movement. In addition to expounding on the distinction between male menopause and irritable male syndrome (for which Diamond continues to claim that he has supportive data)  Diamond says:

“The loss of jobs, economic situations, crashing — it affects men in a profound way. The chaos is affecting men in very, very powerful and negative ways…Men have a less resilient emotional system; women’s brains are more networked from left to right. They are balanced socially. Men tend to be more isolated” (and therefore, don’t have as much social support).

I agree with Diamond’s point that women tend to turn to social support in times of stress and therefore, may be able to deal with it more effectively than their male counterparts. However, to  minimize the impact on a majority of the population, many of whom work multiple jobs while simultaneously caring for families, well, that’s just wrong. In fact, economic development expert Sara Gould writes that “the current instability roiling Wall Street’s markets will lead to an increasingly dire economic situation for women. This is especially true for low-income women, women of color, single mothers and others who have long experienced the disproportionate impact of flawed economic policies.”

So, if women are bearing the brunt of the crisis and are facing increasingly dire situations, is it accurate to say that the economic crisis hits men harder? And likewise, is it reasonable to take a life transition that is as natural to women as breasts and recreate it in the male image?

What do you think? I smell a rat and his name is Jed.

[You can find this post and other goodies on BitchBuzz]

Wednesday Bubble: one pill makes you…

Posted by Liz on Nov 18, 2009 in sexual desire, sexual health | 0 comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EejZZwe1Ciw]

Have you heard about Flibanserin? Pharma Giant Boehringer-Ingelheim is entering the bedroom with an antidepressant (with a new moniker) that may change the sex lives of women everywhere!

Sorry for the sarcasm but this Bubble has “Viagra for women” written all over it. In fact, the U.S. market for sexual desire is estimated to exceed a whopping $3.5 billion a year. No wonder other companies are so eager to market testosterone to women.

So what’s the story behind Flibanserin?

Flibanserin is an antidepressant compound that is is believed to affect brain receptors and neurotransmittors that play a role in sexual response. Data presented at the European Society for Sexual Medicine conference show that in clinical studies,  flibanserin significantly improved desire, sexual experience and sexual functioning in women when taken for at least six months. The majority of the women participating  were pre-menopausal and had been diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), a condition that is characterized by a decline in sexual desire, a loss of intimacy, and distress.

Declines in sexual desire at any point in life are terrible and not to be taken lightly. Should flibanserin becomes available in the United States, it is likely to be prescribed along with sex therapy, a move, that the company disagrees with. In fact, the company is quoted in Bloomberg News as saying that it hopes that the drug can be prescribed by itself and not as a complement to therapy. Importantly, this is where one has to start questioning the value of this drug and how it will ultimately be marketed should it ever be approved by the US Food & Drug Administration.

Many behavioral and mental health specialists will argue that “a pill has no place in the bedroom” and that sexual dysfunction is linked to factors other than physical ones, factors that need to be thoroughly explored and addressed. This holds true in particular, for  menopausal women. Indeed, evidence does show that t sexual desire in women can be affected not only by physiology but also, may vary depending on personal attitudes, experiences and context.

I don’t take issue with drugs when they are prescribed and used responsibly. But the answer to everything that ails is not a pill. With regards to sexual desire, this could not be truer.

Sex is big business. This has been borne out by the incredibly success of drugs geared towards erectile dysfunction. Companies have been racing to find an equivalent for women. Looks like Boehringher might have just gotten the gold ring.

What do you think?

Wednesday Bubble: red or white? Can wine choice affect breast cancer risk?

Posted by Liz on Oct 14, 2009 in breast cancer | 4 comments

Hey all you wine lovers out there! There’s encouraging news out of last month’s North American Menopause Society meeting: red wine may work in the body the same way that aromotase inhibitors (agents that are used to block the production of estrogen and halt breast cancer) do!

In this study, researchers assigned 36 pre-menopausal women to red wine first (cabernet savignon) and then white wine (chardonnay). Each participant drank 8 ounces of the wine in the evening with food, did not drive afterward (for safety) and agreed to avoid other alcoholic beverages or grape products. Each “treatment” lasted one menstrual cycle (~1month) and included a break to “wash” the body of the prior wine type. All participants had their blood collected during the early follicular (day 5-8) and mid-luteal (days 17-21) phases in the period just before the study and during the two “treatment” cycles.

The results showed that compared to white,  red wine significantly increased levels of freely circulating testosterone in the body and also led to lower levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and estradiol. In other words, this means that similar to aromatase inhibitors, red wine helped prevent testosterone from converting to estrogen, thereby leading to lower levels of estradiol and estrone, which in turn, would provide a means of starving an estrogen dependent tumor.

Although these findings are VERY preliminary, they do give hope that researchers might be on the cusp of realizing more natural ways to prevent breast cancer tumor growth. Let’s keep hope alive! Donate to breast cancer research.

Good health and cheers!

Battle of the bulge

Posted by Liz on Aug 28, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

You know that donut that’s forming around your midsection? The one that doesn’t seem to budge even though you’ve boosted your exercise regimen and take a restrained approach to eating whenever possible? The one that some experts say has nothing to do with hormones and others say it does?

New data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, which I’ve referenced previously in many posts, suggest that testosterone might be the culprit here. In this particular analysis, researchers examined the potential relationship between testosterone and visceral (belly) fat in 359 middle-aged women who were in various stages of the menopause. Visceral fat was measured via CT scans, and blood was drawn to assess sex hormone (i.e. estrogen and testosterone) levels.

Study findings, which were published in the online edition of Obesity,  showed  that levels of active testosterone were the strongest predictors of the development of the middle-aged bulge, even more so than estrogen. What’s more, this association remained even after the researchers made adjustments for total body fat, age, race and other risk factors.

Besides appearance, abdominal fat is linked with an increased risk for the metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors that in concert, promote coronary heart disease. What’s more, circulating levels of testosterone may increase one’s risk for developing the metabolic syndrome.

It’s challenging. We’re told to exercise more, restrain our eating, limit alcohol intake and yet, there’s still no magic bullet to kill the middle -age bulge, especially since the battle may ultimately lie with hormonal balance. But don’t lose hope; I suspect that before many of us are through the worst of it, researchers may finally identify a viable, effective strategy.

In the meantime, don’t give up. I’m not sure that all is lost. At least, I hope not!