Posts Tagged "Hormones"

Burn Baby Burn Part 2

Posted by Liz on Sep 12, 2008 in heartburn | 1 comment

Regular acid, Heartburn? Have you taken hormones lately? Used OTC products like soy, wild yam or progesterone cream?

If you’re in that postmenopausal state of mind and continue to take prescription or OTC hormones for lingering symptoms, you may be placing yourself at risk for developing gastroesophageal reflux disease, better known as GERD.

A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that use of estrogens,  SERMS, or OTC hormone preparations in the years following menopause (i.e. “postmenopause”)  is associated with a greater likelihood of GERD symptoms.

Researchers studied data from 51,637 postmenopausal women enrolled in the ongoing Nurses Health Study. 12,018 of women reported having GERD symptoms. What’s more, compared to women who had never used postmenopausal hormones, women who did had a 1.4 times greater odds of developing symptoms.

Here’s some other findings:

• Current users of estrogen had a 1.6 times greater odds of developing GERD symptoms
• Current SERM users had a 1.4 times greater odds of developing GERD symptoms
• Current OTC hormone estrogen users had 1.37 times greater odds of developing GERD symptoms.

The findings also suggested that risk increased with increasing estrogen dosage and increasing duration of use.

The researchers offered no suggestions for dealing with this problem.

I don’t know which is worse as symptoms are waning: continued flashing, sweating,  or a new one – burping?

L’Chaim

Posted by Liz on Aug 24, 2008 in women's health | 2 comments

“Life before death.”

My mother told me a story yesterday when we spoke. She said that years ago, a dear friend’s mother died the day before the friend’s daughter was getting married. In Judaism, those who pass are typically buried with 24 hours. This is dictated by the Torah. Kabbalah teachings also suggest that immediate burial brings closure to the soul in terms of its relationship to the physical body, thereby allowing it to pass over. In this particular situation, the rabbi told my mother’s friend to have the wedding first, and then the funeral.

Life before death.

Although my mother told me this story within another context, I relate it to connections and their growing importance in our lives as we age.

Data from a study published in Psychological Review in 2000 suggests that women’s inherent response to stress is to ‘tend and befriend’ rather than ‘fight or flight;’ in other words, there is a biologically-defined strategy or pattern that involves caring for offspring, joining social groups, and gravitating towards friends under stressful circumstances. This is driven, at least in part, by the release of the hormone oxytocin, which coupled with endogenous opioids and other sex hormones, promotes maternal behavior as an alternative to the male-oriented fight and flee response.

Findings from the Nurses Health Study have also shown that friendships help prevent the development of physical impairment and facilitate a more joyful existence. What’s more, having a strong social network can lower blood pressure and heart rate and improve cholesterol levels.

Our community is ever more important as we begin to lose family members to illness, our children begin their own journeys and our hormones start to wreak havoc on our bodies and our minds. Nature has provided us with a built-in prompt to maintain those ever important bonds. Our inherent tendency to nurture completes the picture.

It appears that as women, we possess the strongest alternative strategy to aging in existance. Our friends.

L’chaim.

Libido

Posted by Liz on Aug 4, 2008 in sexual desire | 0 comments

Many clients of Sigmund Freud spent hours on his infamous couch (pictured) discussing their libido (or lack thereof). Freud invented the term to describe sexual drive in his patients, and believed that sexual experiences in infancy were what drove later emotional issues in adulthood.

Other psychologists (e.g., Carl Jung) have debunked Freud’s theories and more contemporary experts in the field believe that while libido is rooted in hormones, it is largely driven by culture and individual experience.

Here’s a stat:

Approximately 70% of post-menopausal women experience a loss of libido.

Undoubtedly, declining hormones play a large role in loss of sexual interest and desire after menopause. But have you considered how emotions and self-esteem may come into play as well?

So far as I am concerned, there is no reason why women can’t enjoy a healthy and exciting sex life during and after menopause. In fact, although hormones like androgens may influence libido or behavior, they reportedly have less of an impact on the ability to reach orgasm. This suggests that perhaps, how we feel about ourselves during this transition, coupled with the societal stigma of aging, may play a role in our sexuality.

So, how do we change this perception?

Sex expert Betty Dodson spiced up her postmenopausal life by playing a call girl. Okay, that’s a bit extreme for most of us but it certainly gives a new meaning to role play. For the rest of us, regaining one’s sex life during and after the transition may require a new approach, new tools and some creativity.

Any thoughts? Email me privately and I’ll summarize in an upcoming post.

I forgot…!

Posted by Liz on May 20, 2008 in stress, women's health | 1 comment

[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!

The Pause that Refreshes

Posted by Liz on May 12, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Yikes! Blanche sent me this article must have missed it when I read the New York Times today. Evidently, the ad folks for Estroven want to invite us all the Menopauseland so we can celebrate this stage in our lives.

Sisters – I love this time in my life and indeed, there are many things about it that are grand. But I guess that when I turn into Ms. Hyde because my hormones are raging, well, I’m not always in the mood to send my gal pals a postcard.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!