Posts Tagged "menopause"

Wednesday Bubble: Hormone therapy

Posted by Liz on Nov 5, 2008 in heart disease | 0 comments

I was perusing the medical news last night and I came across this headline:

Hormone therapy for menopausal women not necessarily beneficial

The report feature results from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, which I have referenced several times over the past six months.  This current study, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of the “Timing Hypothesis,” which suggests that hormone therapy should be started with 6 years of menopause to fully realize its heart protective benefits.

Researchers compared hormone and cardiovascular profiles in 782 women who were:

1. Premenopausal
2. Using estrogen only
3. Using estrogen plus progesterone (hormone therapy)
4. Posemneopausal for at least 5 years and hadn’t used hormone therapy.

The results showed that women using hormone therapy, while having more favourable ratios of high density to low density lipoproteins (i.e. good to bad cholesterol), also had higher levels of blood fats (triglycerides) than premenopausal or postmenopausal women not using estrogen alone or no hormones. These findings, according to the researchers, were associated with less favourable oxidative environment (meaning more free radicals and a higher risk of diseases like atherosclerosis).

The conclusion? That despite extending hormone therapy, there is evidence of adverse effects even among women who are free of atherosclerosis.

The bottom line is that hormone therapy, while effective for adressing menopausal symptoms, may not be the cure-all for protection against disease, as it was once touted to be.

Another bubble burst about hormone therapy.

Train For Humanity

Posted by Liz on Nov 1, 2008 in exercise | 2 comments

Exercise, while a blessing for some, is a bane for others. Personally, I enjoy my daily workouts (most of the time) and need some desperately for sanity, stress relief and peace of mind, not to mention weight control.

One of my BBFF, Blanche, has mentioned from time to time her desire to do a triathlon. She’s also said that there’s a bunch of women in her neighborhood who are training for one.

Although training for an intensive event such as a triathlon is not one of my personal goals, I did want to share information with you about an organization – Train for Humanity – that’s added a humanitarian twist to exercise.

Founded by a wonderful man named Mark Hayward, TFH is devoted to raising money for humanitarian organizations and aid relief missions assisting displaced persons and refugees, especially children who have been displaced due to genocide and/or civil war. The athletes that train for endurance events raise money simultaneously to support important causes donated to these issues.

If you’re in the mindset to step up your goals to balance out the hormones and mood swings and combine them with a bit of fundraising, well, I’m sure that TFH could use your help.

After all, what’s better than sweating for a cause instead of as the result of hormones?

She works hard for the money

Posted by Liz on Oct 26, 2008 in stress | 1 comment

[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?

Wednesday Bubble: Midlife is not a four-letter word!

Posted by Liz on Oct 21, 2008 in women's health | 13 comments

“The cultural narrative provided for women at midlife is either medical and menopause oriented — hot flashes, osteoporosis, heart disease, the estrogen replacement therapy decision — or socially devaluing –“empty nest,” a fertility has-been, abandoned for a younger woman, depressed.”

Wow! I read this introduction to a study that was published in the journal Social Work in the late 90’s and it got me thinking: what’s wrong with this picture?

Is midlife truly nature’s death sentence, a curse, a crumbling foundation foretelling a  life well (or not so well) spent? When does this characterization become a self-fulfilling prophecy? And what can we do, as midlifers, to reverse this image? After all, change has to start somewhere, right?

A perfect place to initiate change is from a place within and a place outside of ourselves — by distinguishing ourselves from generations of women who came before us (for whom a self-view was often seen as selfish and whose opportunity to work outside the home was often trumped by the lack of quality positions) — and by asserting and reasserting our identities.

Are these steps in-line with the study findings?

The researchers, who investigated midlife experiences of 103 women between the ages of 40 and 59 reported the following:

• Respondents expressed high degrees of well-being, with 72.5% indicating that they were “very happy” or “happy,” and 64.3%, that this time was “not very confusing” or “not confusing at all.” However, despite being happy, many women still found this time of their lives challenging.

• Women who reported being most satisfied in their lives had a family income of at least $30,000 or more (which in today’s economy, is roughly equivalent to a little over $40,000), had good health, had at least one confidante or group of friends, had a high self-esteem, were not prone to self-denigration, and had a benign super ego.

One particular discovery that I find intriguing was that the groups scoring both the highest and lowest in midlife satisfaction unanimously agreed that what they liked best about midlife was increased independence and freedom, including freedom from worrying what others thought and freedom to develop a self-identity.

Not surprisingly, what women disliked the most about being middle-aged were physical changes, i.e. decreased energy, gray hair, wrinkles and extra weight.

Women scoring the highest in satisfaction and well-being also stated that they disliked the divide between how they saw themselves and how they imagined society saw them (positively and unattractive, respectively).  Also at odds was the fact that they felt that men of the same age were revered for gray hair and wrinkles and did not lose social value in the same way that women did.

So, what are the biggest take-away messages?

• What matters most is not what women have but what they do with it
• Women actively participating in their lives and looking forward to new opportunities were the most satisfied
• Having a social world or at least one confidante with whom to speak freely and honestly about themselves, and feel understood, was critical
• Three selfs were also essential to wellbeing: self-effectance, self-acceptance and self-esteem

I know that certain things have changed since this study was published, such as the fact that research dollars are now being diverted away from simply looking at midlife changes in men and broadly applying the results across the genders,  towards exploring midlife changes and how they specifically affect women’s health. What hasn’t changed, however, is the invisibility factor, that somehow, women over age 40 are no longer relevant.

So this is what I say:

Be relevant. Take the reins and effect change. Take a chance, a plunge. Value yourself. Embrace your friendships and your life. Grieve your former self and celebrate who are you are and who you will become.

Michelle Shocked once wrote “When I grow up, I want to be an old woman.”

When I grow up, I want to be. What about you?

Ladies of the world, flashers, sweat-ers, mood swingers…

Posted by Liz on Oct 19, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Lend me your ears….you have your own DAY! In the U.S. we give you a month. But the world gives you a day!

If you don’t know what I’m yammering on about, yesterday was World Menopause Day. I posted this rant over at BitchBuzz after Editor Cate Sevilla sent me a link to a press release announcing that Waterstone Books was carrying the Hot Flush Diary.

Last month was National Menopause Month in the U.S. Now, the ‘world of women in menopause’ actually has a day. I swear if it weren’t abundantly clear that the initiative was likely being driven by national medicine societies and pharmaceutical companies, I’d suspect that Hallmark and PaperHouse had conspired to sell more cards.

Here’s the challenge issued by the International Menopause Society (IMS):

“The World Menopause Day challenge therefore calls on every woman age 45 and older to return to her physician and speak about her individual health history, her risks for diseases, the benefits and risks of available treatments for disease prevention, and steps she can take now to take charge of her health.”

President Hermann Schneider of the IMS also says:

“Due to the recent publications on the risks of long-term use of hormone therapy, many women suffering from menopausal complaints have either dropped out of therapy or haven’t started therapy at all.”

Okay. I truly believe that it’s a great idea to take charge of one’s health and examine some of the natural changes that occur, not only with menopause, but also with aging. But by lumping them all together in a single pot, well, I cry “foul.”

Did you know that many diseases that the medical community has long associated with menopause are, in fact, due to the aging process? You may recall that I recently wrote about a new study published in the Journal of Hypertension clearly demonstrates that differences in heart disease risk between pre- and post-menopausal women with similar risk profiles existed only when age, NOT ESTROGEN LEVELS, were accounted for. This may be why hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has not been proven to prevent heart disease.

So, until they sort some of these bits out, do we really want to fault women for refusing hormone replacement? Moreover, how many women wish to make a pact with the devil to further the medicalization of menopause? Not I!

Here’s what I propose:

• To the IMS and other medical societies – stop medicalizing what is a natural transition in our mid-lives. Hey, here’s a nifty idea: why not review your data, read alternative medicine peer-reviewed journals and educate yourselves about effective alternative therapies for your patients who have been scared off by the negative findings surrounding HRT and antidepressants and other pharmaceuticals? What’s more, what if you made a greater effort to embrace multidisciplinary collaboration and invite educated and credentialed alternative practitioners into your fold, practitioners who might be able to offer you and your patients important solutions when Western ways fail or are simply, impractical?
• To the World Health Organization – please stop telling us to celebrate the menopause. Trust me – when women are flashing in the middle of a meeting, sweat pouring down their faces as their colleagues look on, or are sleeping on soaking wet sheets because of night sweats, well, they don’t really feel like having a cocktail and a “WOOT,” ain’t life grand”-sort of celebration. Maybe, instead, think about devoting some of that hard research cash toward studies that focus first on women and last on profit.
• To leading women’s health expert and Council Member of the British Menopause Society, Mr. Nick Panay, a Hot Flush Diary is the last thing I want to keep on my nightstand. In fact, the idea of taking notes on all of my hot flashes and night sweats and when/why/how they occur and how they make feel gets me pretty hot under the collar. Tell you what: the next time you have to pee for the zillionth time in the middle of the night, turn on the light and write in your BPH journal how you feel. I would guess that that’s not going to happen, right?

Want to “make this hot woman cool?” Stop making me feel as though menopause is a disease and not a natural transition that all women go through. Stop telling me that I should embrace this part of my life without fighting it every step of the way. And please, stop treating my body as if it’s disconnected from my mind.