Wednesday Bubble: Timeout
Back in 2009 I posted a story about a woman’s death being blamed on menopause. It seems especially poignant a day after World Menopause Day, a day unlike any others, when we put down our prejudices and celebrate everything menopause.
As my grandmother would say “oy vey.”
How about we focus on how, as women, we are constantly manipulated by ‘disinterested’ parties? How about we call “timeout?”
A bit of context…
In 2009, the BBC ran a story about a woman who committed suicide. The headline read:
“Woman’s Death Blamed on Menopause.”
“A woman who refused to take hormone replacement therapy died while suffering a menopausal episode, an inquest had heard. Margaret Drew…was killed when she walked out of her family home on to a nearby railway line and was hit by a train…There is no trigger to this at all, except hormones making her do things that she normally wouldn’t do, Dr. Carlyon [Cornwall Coroner) concluded…”
Menopause. The silent killer. Oh really? Drew’s husband claims that his wife was “delightful, lovely and friendly” 99% of the time; the other 1% she’d become “totally irrational.” Yet, she refused to try HRT, he says. On the day of her suicide, he said that his wife was “clearly angry about something.”
Something.
Obviously, the conclusion is that that the “something” is hormones. This reminds me of vintage advertising copy that conveys the simple message that a pill a day can cure all that ails, wipe away the tears, mood swings and instability so that women can “transition without tears” (or better yet, without killing themselves).
Notably, a search in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database turned up only one recent study specifically dealing with suicide ideation across reproductive stages. In it, researchers compared data in 8,794 women, and found an increased risk of thinking about suicide among women during perimenopause, not before or after entering menopause. These findings remained after controlling for risk factors such as anxiety and mood disorders. HOWEVER, the researchers noted that the study design did not allow them to form any definitive conclusions about the specific reasons for thinking about suicide.
Another search yielded information that the risk for a major depression increases during perimenopause, primarily as the direct result of vasomotor symptoms. The same does not hold true for women before menopause begins or once they enter menopause. Note that while major depression is a risk factor for suicide, not everyone who is depressed will actually kill themselves.
Are hormonal fluctuations the sole cause of such deep unhappiness that women want to kill themselves? Or their careers?
Let’s look at a more recent story that appeared this week in the Denver Post.
“Former Elbert County assessor blames menopause medications for crimes, is sentenced to 60 days in jail, fined $10,000”
“Elbert County Judge Jeffrey Holmes might have thrown the book at former county assessor P.J. Trostel just for her management skills alone. Instead, he sentenced Trostel today to 60 days in county jail, three years of probation and 200 hours of community service on two felony counts…In asking for leniency, Trostel and her lawyer said a variety of factors led her to make bad decisions. Those included depression, symptoms from menopause, medications and stress from family and work. “Some of the things I don’t even have an answer,” Trostel said. “I know I made terrible judgments and decisions.”
It sounds as though Trostel would have done better with different legal representation. And a sounder argument.
And while Trostel is chewing on that concept for the next six years while incarcerated, perhaps we can start to change the paradigm and focus on the ills of the Menopause Industrial Complex, disinterested parties who perpetuate societal myths that menopause is a disease that requires treatment and that as women, our attitudes, belief systems and actions are hormonally-based and driven. That we are hysterical beings who need guidance on how to find our way and fulfill our dreams, realize our paths, but only if we calm down. That we can’t hold a job down, keep a marriage intact or play nicely with others. That we need a timeout (this would entail a long, long time, by the way).
Seriously though, a timeout from the hype would be a welcome addition to the change, don’t you think?
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She works hard for the money
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8A0ynBDSE4&feature=related]
Work’s hard enough without having to worry about menopausal symptoms, right?
A recent survey of 961 busy female executives suggests that in addition to work stressors, a majority (88%) of professional women have personally experienced menopause and a whopping 95% have experienced symptoms. What’s more, 79% report emotional symptoms.
In a nutshell, menopause symptoms significantly affect daily personal, professional and social lives, which is why it is so important that we continue to have open communication and dialogue about this transition in our lives. The thing is, what are employers doing to insure that female workers can continue to be productive AND comfortable? I would suggest that most employers don’t even consider this obvious issue among their workers. And with the health of the current economy, I would also guess that physical health takes a back-seat.
So, when it comes to your work, what can you do to reduce the additional stress and interference brought on by menopause symptoms?
I had the opportunity to interview Author Patti Digh last week about her book, 37 Days. This week I’m going to be writing about what we talked about. Not surprisingly, many of the strategies that Patti discusses correlate to how we can make our lives easier as we grow older, even in the midst of blood, tears and well, sweat!
Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do YOU do to relieve some of the extra stress brought on by menopause symptoms while you’re at work?
Read MoreThe Early Bird Gets the Worm
[Credit: Sailingscuttlebutt.com]
A friend wrote to me recently and mentioned that a clinical psychologist had told her that she is seeing more and more patients who are entering early menopause. The cause? Apparently, stress has something to do with it.
Another myth to debunk? Or is there something to this?
I found two studies in the American Journal of Epidemiology whose findings appear to suggest a role for stress in predicting an earlier age at menopause. Yikes!
In the first study, published in 1997, researchers sought to identify factors that might determine age at which menopause would start. They studied the effects of demographics, reproduction history, number and length of stressful events (i.e. those occurring within the last 6 months and those lasting longer than 6 months) and other health factors. 185 women were studied for approximately 8 years.
The findings showed that earlier age at menopause was associated with women reporting irregular menstrual periods in their 40s, who smoked, were African Americans or on diets. More importantly, however, stress predicted earlier menopause in both women who were African American and in women who reported having irregular periods.
In the second study, published in 2007, French researchers examined the potential role of occupational factors in determining the age at which a woman started menopause. Using several statistical models, the results showed that among the 1,594 women studied, earlier age of menopause was associated with having a high-strain job and difficult schedules. Additionally, earlier menopause was associated with smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day.
Taken together, these data, in more than 1,600 women, show that there are indeed, certain factors that play a role in prompting an earlier menopause. Stress clearly has a part to play.
I’ve written previously about stress and its role in menopausal symptoms, as well as steps that can be taken to lessen stressors in our daily lives. They include yoga, acupunture, reiki, deep breathing exercises, and of course, meditation.
While we might not be able to alter the course of history, we might be able to insure that the path is a bit smoother going forward. In this particular situation, being an early bird is indeed, a good thing for years that follow.
Read MoreMatted
Ladies – get your mats ready!
Research suggests that yoga is actually superior to physical exercise for relieving vasomotor symptoms (e.g. hot flashes and sleep disturbances) perceived stress and neuroticism in perimenopausal women.
The new study, published in the journal Menopause, compared the effects of 8 weeks of simple, trainer-supervised physical exercise to integrated yoga (sun salutation with 12 postures, breathing practices and cyclic meditation) in 120 perimenopausal women.
Positive, significant benefits were seen in all measures among women who were part of the yoga versus the physical exercise group.
Yoga appears to be a wonderful way to relieve some of the more troublesome menopausal symptoms without medication. I wouldn’t give up any physical exercise that you engage in but adding a yoga component to your routine may be provide some additional benefits.
Yoga classes are offered throughout the country in local gyms, specialized centers and often through the local YMCA or YWCA. If you’ve never participated in a class, you can learn more about the practice of yoga at the following sites:
- The American Yoga Association offers a great introduction to yoga
- The Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States also has some well-written content on their website, and oversees instructor certification. They may be a good resource for finding an instructor
- Yogajournal.com is a great resource for videos, teachers, community, blogs, etc. and a wonderful place to get started
Finally, I just want to mention that that is not me in the photo. If I were ever able to get into that position, it might take me months to get out of it!
Read MoreI forgot…!
[Artwork courtesy of Ann. Make sure to visit her blog! And thanks Ann!]
I ran across an interesting study that suggests that failing memory during menopause is an illusion. Because estrogen is critical to the brain function and signaling, medical experts have long suspected that the decline in estrogen that occurs naturally during menopause is responsible for memory loss.
To examine the association between estrogen and memory more closely, researchers looked at 800 women in various stages of perimenopause, menopause and post menopause over six years, using test score measures as a sign of brain function decline. Funny thing is, the scores didn’t decline!
Consequently, the researchers concluded that lapses in memory that many of us experience during menopause are less the result of hormones and more the result of life stressors. However, they also stated that it is possible that the tests they used in the study did not measure brain function that depends on hormones.
Regardless, this study is interesting as it gives more credence to the need to reduce common stressors during the perimenopause and menopause years. Whether this means incorporating regular exercise, meditating daily, or engaging in deep breathing, well, it might mean the difference between walking into a room with a purpose AND remembering what that purpose is, and walking into a room with purpose, standing there for five minutes wondering why you’re there, and then walking out. Or going to the store without your list and buying everything but what you need (been there, done that!).
Me? I suffer greatly from the latter! But hey, estrogen decline or not,I can always find something else to do in any room or some other “critical” item at the store!
Read MoreLet it flow and flow and flow
My college roomie and I had a teacher’s assistant in college for our “Women and their Bodies in Health and Disease” class. At end of the one of her sessions, we gathered in an upstairs room in the Union and meditated to increase our chi. At the time, it certainly became the brunt of many jokes but a recent post on Becoming Your Stellar Self on the increasing role of reiki in hospitals kickstarted my brain; could reiki be helpful for menopausal symptoms?
Since Reiki is used to balance various systems, one has to wonder if it might be helpful for balancing hormones that have run wild?
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is currently studying reiki in five clinical trials. Of particular interest is a trial on the effect of reiki on stress.
A woman’s adrenal glands go into overdrive during menopause, taking over the role of producing hormones from the ovaries, creating a perfect recipe for an overtaxed system. Factors like stress and lack of sleep create additional demands on the adrenal glands. So it makes perfect sense to engage in practices that help relax our minds and body, and alleviate the excess stress brought on by perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.
As Kate, the TA used to say….let it flow and flow and flow. If reiki is a means to achieving a better balance during a time when our bodies are anything but balanced, well, I’m all for it!
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