Category — Menopause Relief & Treatment

The Big M Wisdom © lynette sheppard

I clicked on a tweet (on Twitter) the other day promising to answer our questions about menopause. And got the same old rhetoric that I’ve read countless times in books, in articles, on websites. Finally, I gotta comment and reanswer each question as a true menopause goddess. I’m tired of the B.S. I’m not picking on any one site or author (which is why I won’t include the link to this particular Q & A article.) I’m addressing all of them that put this kind of information out for women. Below are their questions and answers in plain text, my answer is in bold. And I do mean BOLD!

The info started with:
Are you or a loved one approaching the time of life many women fear — menopause? If so, you probably have questions about this sensitive subject.

Well, we didn’t, I’m sorry to say. We didn’t know it would be so momentous. So it caught us completely by surprise (read mind-numbing shock). But once it started? You bet your sweet bippy we had questions! And we sure wanted answers!

Here are 6 answers to help you go through menopause as comfortably as possible:

Oh Goody. Let’s hear them.

1. Why is menopause a puzzling time of life?

Before reaching the change of life, many women don’t know what to expect. That can be scary! There are horror stories floating around that can make women unnecessarily apprehensive, but you need to know that menopause is a normal part of your journey through life.

Oh sweetie. Menopause IS a freaking horror story. For most women who haven’t started immediately with hormones anyway.
Of course, it’s NORMAL. Puberty and childbirth are NORMAL, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions are NORMAL, but that doesn’t make them any easier to take. Especially if we don’t know what is coming!!

2. At about what age does menopause begin?
Most women cease having periods between the ages of 45 to 55. However, menopause can be induced earlier by surgery.

Yeah, well perimenopause can start years earlier. And for many women the symptoms start or are the worst in perimenopause. So you’d better amend those ages. And let me say that I talk to women in their sixties still dealing with it, so 55 sounds like a nice cutoff but it just ain’t always so. So the answer to this question? Whenever it wants to!

3. What are some of the symptoms?

During the early stages of menopause, called perimenopause, a woman’s menstrual cycle becomes irregular. When menopause has been completed, a woman no longer has periods at all. One of the most widespread symptoms of menopause is hot flashes and a high percentage of menopausal women have them. Some women experience feelings of depression while they are going through menopause and mood swings can accompany the change of life.

There is so much understatement here that I almost don’t know where to begin. Let me start with hot flashes. Widespread symptom? High percentage have them? Allow me to explain. Hot flashes are not short private vacations in the tropics. Because vacations are enjoyable. Think of the worst flu fever you’ve ever had – now quadruple it. And you’re not even close to how bad it is.

Depression and mood swings? We have more ups and downs than Six Flags. Tire commercials can move us to tears and the sound of the refrigerator or our cat breathing can piss us off. And again, none of the fun.

4. What about hair loss during and after menopause?

Hair loss sometimes occurs to some women with the aging process. This is one of the most distressing side effects of menopause. However, there are a lot of women who don’t lose their hair during this transitional period in their lives. Some women have higher levels of the hormones that cause hair thinning. If you are experiencing hair loss, you should check with your doctor about treatment options.

Having been one of the “some women”, I can tell you that yes that losing your hair is distressing. As in I was afraid I would be bald soon!   It’s actually terrifying.

As for checking with my doctor about treatment options? I consulted with more than one physician. They were less helpful than the DMV and ten times as expensive. Like us, they have no experience with menopause that hasn’t been squelched by immediate hormone therapy. If I had to depend on them, I’d still be freaking out. Or bald. Or both. (For more info, search hair loss here on the blog. Or write me.)

5. Are there any special nutrition recommendations for women going through menopause?

You might want to consider adding soy products to your diet to assist your estrogen levels. Be sure to get enough vitamin A to help your skin and hair to be as healthy as possible. Health food stores offer a variety of herbal extracts to help with menopausal symptoms.

Hmmmmmm special nutrition recommendations. Other than you can’t eat anything every again without gaining weight? Oh yeah, soy is one of the top food allergens, and can interfere with thyroid function. Since everything you eat turns to fat, might as well make chocolate your main food group. And wine. Lots of wine.

6. What medical help is available while you’re going through menopause?

Your doctor may prescribe treatment options to help lessen disturbing side effects of the change of life.

A combination of estrogen and progestin may be recommended by your doctor — if you don’t have a history of breast cancer in your family. There are treatments to help you if you are suffering from hot flashes that disturb your sleep and other symptoms as well

Or s/he might prescribe antidepressants, the latest “magic” cure for The Big M. I highly recommend holistic or complementary physicians/nurse practitioners who look at the whole person and don’t start with either HRT (hormone replacement therapy) or antidepressants as the first (sometimes only) approach. Check out Holistic Medical Association or Women In Balance to find a practitioner near you.

Although cessation of menstruation can be a puzzling time dreaded by many women, there are a number of advantages to this period of your life’s story. It’s a new chapter opening before you! You will probably be able to enjoy greater freedom than ever before to pursue interests you could not pursue before because of family responsibilities. Why not investigate new opportunities and challenges in this new chapter of your life!

While this is true, it doesn’t compute when we are in the beginning or worst stages of The Big M. There are few things worse than perky, upbeat proclamations about how this is the best time of our lives. Eventually it may be. (It certainly is for the goddesses.) But we went through a few RIDICULOUS years before we came out the other side feeling whole again. Different, but whole. Menopause. It will set you free but it will really mess with you first.

My Breeze Fan on bed, cat not included

I’m into my third week of Operation Stop HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy.) Days 4 through 15 have been much easier than I would have predicted. My main symptom has been nocturnal hot flashes. And thanks to a new “fan”, those have hardly been noticed.

Now I remember, pre-BHRT, that nighttime flashing was a real problem. I’d start burning from the inside and wake up sweating like the proverbial porker. I’d fling the covers off onto my unsuspecting spouse and wait for a nonexistent cooling breeze to manifest. After what seemed an interminable amount of time, I’d finally cool somewhat only to overshoot to the other side of the thermostat and freeze as dampness evaporated from my skin.

Worst of all, I’d be wide awake. And irritated. And sleep deprived the next day. Which irritated me more. You can see why I wasn’t crazy about going off my BHRT even though I’d decided that it was time.

Luckily, help manifested in an amazing form and right on time. My girlfriend’s husband sent me an email about a friend of his who’d invented a special fan to cool those nighttime flashes before they’d awaken his menopausal beloved. Seems she was suffering the same vicious cycle of sleep deprivation/crankiness so many of us are privy to with nocturnal flashing. When his invention gave her back her sleep and equanimity, he knew he had to make more of them. I had to have one! He sent me a prototype to try.

My Breeze Fan Closeup

This special Hot-Flash Cooling fan called My Breeze hooks onto the end of a goddess’s bed. A small remote control that can be worn like a necklace or sit on the bedside table is used to activate the fan at the first sign of that telltale heat.

The fan blows blessedly cool air for a couple of minutes (or for however long you have preset it; both time and power are adjustable for each goddess’s preference) thereby stopping the flash in its tracks, before it can overtake you. Most important, it stops before you become fully awake. Goodbye soaked sheets, freezing spells, and sleepless nights. Hello sweeter, gentler, more rested you. And me.

My Breeze comes with courtesy bars to keep the fan from disturbing your mate. And they’re pretty! Which is a big deal to me since I did spring for some nice bed linens recently.

For me, the My Breeze fan is a godsend. It may make the difference between gracefully easing off BHRT or going through a prolonged, uncomfortable withdrawal.

If you also suffer from nighttime hot flashes and resultant insomnia, I recommend that you try this amazing fan. Yep they offer a 14 day free trial. Visit the website and click on “Is it for you?” to ascertain the right fan for your bedstyle, sleeping habits -like whether you sleep with pets and are they trainable like my cat. Okay, maybe trainable is too strong a word. I basically told her that it was time to move to the other side of the bed or actually to occupy that fancy cat bed we bought her years ago. We worked it out.

As for the rest of the journey off BHRT, it’s too soon to tell if there will be other symptoms, but I’m betting no. I’ll keep lifting weights to prevent osteoporosis, exercising, eating right (most of the time), and of course, adjusting my attitude with wine and chocolate.

One of our readers, Vanessa Scott, sent me the following news release. More and more, I’m hearing from women who have problems with urinary leakage, stress incontinence and the like. Vanessa is a consultant for vaginal surgery. Surgery is one option, but there are others that you may wish to try first, if these issues have been plaguing you. Be sure to check out Wet Matters website hosted by Stephanie and Beth. As a physical therapist and MD respectively, they are fierce advocates for helping women who suffer from pelvic floor dysfunctions. They offer educational info re: all options, including surgery.

Finally, it is important that we begin to talk about these issues openly. Especially with one another. That’s the first step to regaining our health. Oh, and it is not just menopausal women who suffer from these problems. Many of our daughters will have urinary and vaginal health issues after pregnancy. It’s wonderful to know that there is help.

Here is the news release from Vanessa:

The Fight for Mother’s Rights – 1st Annual Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day (April 30th, 2010)

San Antonio, TX

Vaginal-Surgery.info is excited to announce the 1st Annual Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day will take place on Friday, April 30, 2010.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, now is the perfect time to shine some light on a condition millions of mothers suffer with daily and yet never talk about.

Vaginal relaxation, Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI), bladder or uterine prolapse and cystocele/rectocele are very real medical problems for mothers that can be corrected.

Unfortunately, a majority of the women suffering from these physical issues are too nervous or embarrassed to discuss them with their doctor or even gynecologist.

Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day aims to open the dialogue on this sensitive and often misunderstood subject and provide women a safe place to ask questions, explore their options or just have a voice.

According to Vanessa Scott, vaginal surgery consultant and founder of Vaginal-Surgery.info, “90% of the women I meet with have never talked about this problem with anybody else, not even their husband or partner. I believe that information and knowledge are the first steps to empowering these women.”

It is reported that 30 million American women suffer from symptoms of vaginal relaxation, primarily due to childbirth.

In less than 1 year, Vaginal-Surgery.info has had visits from women in more than 109 countries. This is truly a global problem. The changes to a woman’s body during childbirth are the same whether a woman is in the U.S. or Algeria.
“Frankly, vaginal rejuvenation is often sold as ‘better sex’. I think that has a lot to do with the surgeons that pioneered cosmetic gynecology. However, in my experience, better sex is usually secondary for these women. The primary benefits are actually no more urine leakage or prolapse issues and simply feeling “normal” again. Better sex really just ends up being the icing on the cake.”

Anybody can participate in the 1st Annual Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day by doing the following:
ο On Friday, April 30, 2010, visit the Vaginal Rejuvenation page of our website. (http://vaginal-surgery.info/vaginal-rejuvenation.html)
ο Click on the links to Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day to:
o Give your opinion on vaginal rejuvenation.
o Ask questions about vaginal rejuvenation.
o Add your responses to our online polls.
o Share your thoughts and comments.
o Read what others have written to expand your own understanding.
“We all have a mother. And her body went through some amazing changes in order for us to be here today. I think we owe it to mothers everywhere to give their bodies a platform to be heard. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, I encourage you to take part in Vaginal Rejuvenation Awareness Day and help further the conversation for women everywhere.”

Last spring I visited my family practice physician. She is a woman of Goddess age and I asked her if she was taking anything for Menopause symptoms. When she told me that she was on HRT, I Mentioned that I was considering titrating off my bioidentical estrogen, since I’d been on it nearly three years.

Research suggests that a woman can take hormones for 3-5 years with no increase in side effects like cancer, stroke, or blood clots. Bioidentical hormones might be safer, but we don’t know that for sure. So my goal had been three years of hormones and then au naturel.

“I tried to go off this month,” my MD shared. “But I was dripping on my patients and it is just too hot with summer right around the corner. So I’m going to wait.” Feeling that to be prudent, I decided that I’d wait also. Summer is enough of a trial for the thermically challenged without tempting fate!

This month I went back for my annual checkup and broached the subject again. Had my MD (we’ll call her Dr. A) decreased or discontinued her HRT (hormone replacement therapy)? She had not.

I proposed that she and I try to decrease and ultimately discontinue our hormone therapy together. “It’ll be fun,” I told her. “It might be fun,” she mused with a small frown.

Furthermore, we agreed to keep track on a daily basis of any symptoms or signs of withdrawal from estrogen addiction and to post our progress right here on Menopause Goddess Blog.

So, starting one week from today, two real Menopausal women, an MD and an RN, will attempt the terrifying, amazing feat of weaning ourselves from pill and patch. Evel Knievel, eat your heart out.

Like the Cowardly Lion as he prepares to storm the witch’s castle to rescue Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I have just one favor to ask our sister goddesses before we run this gauntlet. Talk us out of it! (Just kidding. Sort of. No really.)

Lastly, if you’ve already performed this heroic act of derring-do? Tell us how it went for you. We’ll take all the preparation, encouragement, and ideas we can get! And chocolate. Please send chocolate.

Navigating the net can be confusing and disheartening. When you google the word menopause, you are bombarded with almost 10 million results. (9,680,000 to be exact.) Sheesh! Where does one start? How do we find good information?

Googling menopause blogs is not much more helpful. The top results are blogs that have few or new entries for several months. Sadly, Sue Richards of the top result, My Menopause Blog, has Parkinson’s disease and is unable to blog at this time. Google is woefully behind.

Add to that the overwhelming number of blogs and sites that are moderated by drug companies or selling something and it is no wonder that menopausal women are hard pressed to find good information on the net. The whole process just wears us down and we have to head to the kitchen for something chocolate.

So to save my goddess sisters from frustration and meltdown, I’ve compiled a list of what I believe are the best websites and blogs for women of a certain age. (Besides our own Menopause Goddess Blog, of course.) Here are the first few you will want to check out. Feel free to celebrate with the aforementioned chocolate.

Women in Balance
Women in Balance ( http://www.womeninbalance.org/) is a national, nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower women to take charge of their hormone health.

Education is a mainstay of this site. Not affiliated with any other group, they offer unbiased information from a multitude of sources. Their site also offers a healthcare practitioner finder. Subscribe to their monthly newsletter and watch for their one day Hormone Education days in a city near you. Last year’s hugely successful venues were Portland OR and Tampa FL.

They also publish selected entries from our Menopause Goddess Blog in the monthly newsletter. However, I loved and followed their site long before they asked.

I especially resonate with this philosophy from their Vision statement:
Knowledge is power. Balance is everything.
Hear, hear.

Vibrant Nation
Vibrant Nation (VibrantNation.com) is an online community dedicated to women 50 and older. Here’s an excerpt from their “About Us” description:

“At Vibrant Nation, these women (whom we’ve named “Vibrant Women”) can look for tips, share information, and join in smart conversations about work, style, relationships, wellness, books, and more.”

It’s a very user friendly site, where you can start a discussion or conversation easily. Or you can just “lurk” and read what other women are saying. Topics are broken up into the following:

# work & money
# fashion & beauty
# family & relationships
# love & sex
# health & fitness
# books
# technology & internet
# spirituality
# home & garden
# giving back
# going green
# food & drink
# arts & entertainment
# travel
# news & politics

They partner with all manner of vibrant women bloggers in the Blog Circle and are growing a real voice in the marketplace, making women over 50 a force to be reckoned with.

Lastly, I love the name. Vibrant. Yes, we are.

Minnie Pauz
Humor is what saves us during the menopause journey, so the third site we’ll highlight in this blog entry is Minnie Pauz menopause cartoons. (http://www.minniepauz.com/) Hilarious and all too true, cartoon heroine Minnie Pauz says “If you don’t get it, You ain’t there yet.”

You can subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest cartoon. The moderator also has a good blog and a bulletin board where women can post issues and dialogue with one another. I personally found the bulletin board format a little confusing and “busy”, so it wasn’t my favorite part of the site.

I’ll be sharing more cyberspace gold in upcoming blog entries. For now, check these out and let me know what you think or share your favorite sites with us here at Menopause Goddess Blog

As a nurse, I belong to a continuing education / latest research site called Medscape. It’s nothing short of wonderful. When I think of the sheer poundage of my professional magazines that I subscribed to in the past, it boggles the mind. (And stimulates my guilt reflex when pondering how many trees gave their lives so that I might give better nursing care.)

Now with a couple of keystrokes, I can stuff my few remaining brain cells with the latest nursing and medical knowledge. Amazing. I love love love the internet. But I digress – which happens to me a lot since The Big M.

I’d like to share a few of the latest research findings regarding menopausal women.

Hot Flashes Sufferers Live Longer?
I received a tweet the other day that stated “research shows women that have a large number of hot flashes live longer.” I went to the actual study and found that in truth, it was women that reported night sweats in addition to their hot flashes. They had a 30% lower mortality rate from heart disease than women who didn’t suffer from nocturnal overheating, irrespective of risk factors or HRT (hormone replacement therapy) usage.

Wow. I believe that I will likely live to 210 years of age if this is true. Thank God for wicking sleepwear. (Stay tuned for the debut of our Menopause Marketplace to find great wicking sleepwear vendors.)

Does Depression Affect Menopausal Symptoms?
This study found that women suffering depression reported more menopause symptoms. Conversely, the authors were surprised to find that menopause also seemed to lead to more depression. The first thing I have to say about these results is “Well , DUH!”

The second is that this sounds a little like “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Which we could debate forever, but why would we want to?

Most important were the conclusions of the study – that identification and treatment of depression might help with symptoms of menopause as well.

True enough, but at what cost? We are already seeing a number of articles promoting antidepressants to treat menopause, which really is like trying to shoot a fly with an elephant gun. While I am the first to say that menopause symptoms suck, I also believe in the remedy with the least side effects that helps.

I strongly believe in antidepressant drugs when necessary. When depression causes significant disruption of daily life activities or relationships or suicidal thoughts, then pharmaceutical treatment along with professional therapy can be life saving.

But we need to assess a matter of degree with depression. Some mild depression, e.g. feeling sad and blue, weepy, not motivated during menopause affected all of the Goddesses to some degree. When we shared it with one another, it lessened greatly. It was wonderful to find out that it was normal and it was likely temporary.

Two of our goddesses have suffered from depression pre-menopause and have taken antidepressant therapy successfully. The rest of us just felt crappy for awhile.

Risk for Major Depression Increases During and After Menopause

Basically this study found that the risk of major depression doubles during perimenopause and menopause when compared with premenopause. That sounds about right. To put that in perspective, if two of your twenty friends suffered a major depressive episode before any of you went into menopause, then it might be likely that 4 of your friends would suffer a major depressive episode. Leaving 16 feeling blue and “normally” depressed.

I couldn’t find out how the researchers defined major depressive episode. One of the researchers did make this statement, which was billed in the Medscape article as the take-home message for clinicians. “When women come in and are thinking that they have some extra difficulties with life and feel down and blue…take it seriously. It is not just a passing thing.”

Okay, that worries me. Because it describes nearly every menopausal woman I’ve known at some point in her journey. I personally felt down and blue, and was dragging my weary arse through the days during the worst of the Big M. I was also hot, cranky, and sleep deprived which likely made it worse. But it WAS just a passing thing. It was normal. The best treatment I experienced (besides sleep and cooling measures) was support and commiseration from my Menopause Goddess sisters.

While I’m delighted that we are doing some research on The Big M, I have to wonder why we aren’t looking into bioidentical hormones, herbal therapies, and the effects of support groups. Could it be because there is no funding for these types of research?

So ladies, remember the one Latin legal phrase I learned in nursing school “caveat emptor”. Let the buyer beware. You are the buyer of your own health care. Pick and choose. Ask questions – lots of them. Ask about side effects and risk-benefit analysis. And not to be a conspiracy theorist, but ask yourself who might have funded a given research study? Who stood to gain?

Lastly, make sure that you are followed by a physician or nurse practitioner, not led. Most health care professionals I know actually appreciate a patient who is actively involved in her own care. And if they don’t? I’d shop around for a new health care professional/partner.

Menopause and Christmas can combine to produce exponential amounts of stress. In our constant desire for peace, harmony, and joy, Theresa-Venus and I have a few ideas for more ease and less pressure this holiday season.

1.  Give the best Christmas gift ever to your girlfriends:  no gift. Theresa-Venus and I did this last year and liked it so much we are doing it again. Let’s face it. Most of us at this stage of life feel that we already have too much stuff. The pressure to buy the perfect gift, then wrap it and deliver it is more than we need and can precipitate menopause meltdown.

2.  Jettison the Christmas card or letter.  Most of us are deluged by either chatty, newsy (read long) holiday letters or a lovely card containing nothing but a signature. Some cards have only a printed signature, which may have you wondering “What’s the point?” If you wish to send a yearly update to friends and family, wait until February 14. Frankly, most of us will appreciate it so much more and it won’t get lost in the flood of holiday greetings.

3. Do not bake cookies. With our metabolic rate slowing down and the sedentary days of winter just beginning, we don’t need the sweets or the guilt that comes with eating them. Buy those packages of little carrots shaped like tubes for snacks. Mmmmmm yummy. If you must eat cookies, know that someone else will be giving you some anyway. Do not bake any. And definitely NO cookie exchanges!

4.  Do not wrap gifts. Purchase Christmas gift bags or boxes from your favorite big box or warehouse store. Place each gift in a bag and voila, all the gifts will be wrapped. You will have reclaimed several hours and taken nearly all the stress out of gifting.

5.  Decorate sparingly. Try getting a smaller tree and let the grandkids decorate it. No grandkids yet?  Consider no tree unless you feel that it isn’t Christmas without it.

Put less (or no) lights outside. Strategically placed Santa, Reindeer, and Angel cloth dolls can make your home festive with very little work or time expenditure. You can find these at your local craft fair, drugstore or even grocery store.

Unless you are preparing for a shoot for Architectural Digest or House Beautiful, a frenzy of decorating just isn’t worth it.

6.  Have a Christmas potluck. Don’t spend all day cooking as if you were creating a second Thanksgiving. Go for a walk, have a snowball fight,  play with the kids instead. Read a book aloud as a family or sing carols together.

Your friends and family will not miss any of the usual Christmas trappings and if they do? They’ll soon find that they enjoy being in the company of a relaxed, pleasant, unstressed you much more than all gifts, cookies, and decorations in which you can bury yourself.

There’s a saying most of us have heard. “This moment is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.” Sure, it’s a little corny, but it really is true. Happy holidays.

My friend, M (you’ll remember her as the Menopausal Squirrel), felt pretty good about her health care practitioners. She liked and trusted her gynecologist right up until she began her menopause journey with a plethora of symptoms including hot flashes, mood swings, and insomnia. That’s when things got ugly.

On an office visit, she asked  about remedies and symptom relief. Her gynecologist recommended HRT. M. wasn’t too keen on that idea given the press since the WHI study. “What else can  I do? ” she asked. “Antidepressants” was the answer.  “No other options?” she queried. “There’s nothing else we can do,” she was told.

She walked out of the office and never went back.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that it can’t be pleasant to have a hot, bitchy woman demanding relief and answers in your office when you don’t really know what will help. And I truly understand as a health care practitioner how much you want to offer a definitive answer to such questions. Especially when your local drug rep has just offered you a sheaf of paperwork detailing why this might be a great new use for an old favorite drug.

Still, I gotta think that “I don’t know” might be a better start than “How about an antidepressant?” A fabulous followup might be “I’ll try to find out what other options might be helpful.”

A simple medical professional review session is in order here for all healthcare professionals involved in the care of menopausal women. And all menopausal goddesses are invited to read along to learn how to frame some of their questions in discussions about symptom relief or management.
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Review Statement # 1:   There is no silver bullet.
This is a phrase often used in health care circles to mean that there is no single drug, therapy, or regimen that will eradicate, alleviate, or cure any given syndrome or set of symptoms.

(It is well known that health professionals speak their own language – not sure where the silver bullet metaphor came from unless it was referring to the single thing that can kill a werewolf. While we may feel like we change as much as these lupine creatures during menopause, there really is no silver bullet for us.)

Review Statement # 2    All treatments have adverse or side effects.
Duh! And antidepressants have some whoppers!

Review Statement # 3    All Patients Are Individual
You wouldn’t think that this would even need saying. I heard it over and over again in nursing school. Still…………..

Review Statement # 4    Choose the least interventional option first for any symptom or disease state.
Okay, fans, moisture wicking clothing, natural progesterone cream, and go up from there. Need I say more?  To suggest that HRT or antidepressants are the first or second or only answers goes contrary to this very basic rule. Never try to shoot a fly with an elephant gun.  At least not until it goes rogue.

Review Statement # 5    Conduct a Risk-Benefit Analysis before prescribing treatment.
Take into account severity of symptoms, prognosis, and medical history versus possible benefits minus adverse effects or danger of future medical problems. In other words, examine the risks and potential benefits for each individual patient together with that patient. The operative word being Together.

Are antidepressants bad?  Or wrong? Heck, no. If one is suffering from depression that interferes significantly with daily living, these drugs can literally be lifesavers. This type of clinical depression is an indication that the benefits might outweigh the not inconsiderable risks. Should they be a first line for hot flash relief? Absolutely and unequivocally NO. The risk-benefit teeter totter will be weighted the other way.

Review Statement # 6    Involve the Patient In His/Her Own Healthcare
Duh again. Yes, it’s inconvenient. Yes, it will likely take longer. And the outcome will likely be far more satisfying for all concerned.

To be fair, I can’t tell you how many physicians over the years have told me that their patients don’t want to be that involved in care decisions; they just want to be told what to do. It’s possible we consumers have been at fault by not communicating our desire for involvement or by being too compliant or passive.

We need to prove them wrong and take an active role in symptom relief and control. Empower yourself, ask questions, seek information and move ahead as a full fledged participant in your own Menopause journey.

What did M do when she left her MD’s office? She shopped around., albeit hot flashing, grumbling, and sleep deprived.

She found an integrative wellness clinic that offered wellness counseling including dietary solutions and bioidentical hormones. Options were offered only after extensive testing for her hormone status, including thyroid as well as cortisol, estrogen and progesterone levels. She’s feeling 100% better. Especially since she is now in partnership with her healthcare provider/s.

Want to learn more about your own options? Check out Women In Balance, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating women about their health and wellness options.

When I was dragging my weary bod around like a lead weight during perimenopause, I figured it was just part of the Change.  But when my hair began thinning, my hands and feet were cold even though I was so hot generally I felt like a living furnace, and my weight was going up, my nurse mind went “Aha!”.  I need my thyroid tested.  Although these symptoms are nonspecific and indeed can be from low estrogen and progesterone, I knew they could also herald hypothyroidism.

So off to my MD I went.  She ordered T3 and T4 levels as well as the more specific blood test TSH which stands for thyroid stimulating hormone.  Basically, this is the hormone that tells your thyroid gland – hey, more thyroid hormone is needed, kick it into gear and produce some.  So if you are low on thyroid hormones this TSH level should be high.

Mine wasn’t.  It was normal. My blood tests were all normal.  I didn’t think much more about it, although the symptoms continued.  My previous MD left her practice and I found a holistic practitioner who is an MD, homeopath, herbalist and runs a complementary medicine clinic.

Complementary medicine is just what is sounds like.   All the tools of Western medicine are used and complemented by other disciplines such as nutritional healing, homeopathy, herbs, massage, acupuncture, and more.  (Also called integrative medicine or holistic medicine.)

This new practitioner performed a complete physical exam and pronounced me hypothyroid as I had every clinical symptom and sign.  The blood tests?  Just not sensitive enough.

Many physicians now believe that hypothyroidism should be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms rather than blood work.  If still unsure that low thyroid hormone is the culprit, they simply place the patient on a very low dose of supplemental thyroid hormone.  If there is improvement, the diagnosis is clear.

I started my Naturethroid and within two days was sleeping through the night, my hands and feet warmed up, I had energy again, and I was calm.  It took longer for the weight gain and hair loss to stabilize, but they did.

And as time has gone on, my dosage of thyroid hormone has been decreased gradually until I take very little.  My own hormone factory has kicked in again.  I have energy and am at my ideal weight.

I’m not sure why, but with the onset of Menopause, it seems that many of us also lose thyroid hormone.  Maybe all our hormones are more intricately linked to one another than we know; maybe it is part of the overall Change.  Whatever the reason, it’s worth checking out.  We may not have to feel so tired, heavy, low energy, and mentally foggy.

To find a practitioner near you, I suggest you check out the American Holistic Medical Association.  Their website is http://www.holisticmedicine.org/ You may also Googling complementary and integrative medicine in your area.

Women In Balance, a non-profit organization, and leader in hormone balance education for women, announces one day health conferences at the Waterfront Marriott Hotel in Portland OR on Saturday August 1st, 2009 and in Orlando, FL on October 24, 2009.

The need for unbiased information on hormone balance and natural options has received great attention since Oprah Winfrey had a series of episodes discussing bio-identical hormone therapy. Women In Balance created a national series of all day conferences because of the groundswell of interest in hormone balancing and it’s impact on overall health.

"Our mission at Women in Balance is to empower women to take charge of their hormone health. Our informative conference is a wonderful way to begin the journey to optimal health", says Dr. Jane Murray MD, chair and founding member of Women in Balance, and Medical Director of Sastun Center of Integrative Health, in Overland Park, Kansas. The Conference package includes exciting national speakers, a workbook, goodie bag of product samples and a health conscious luncheon, for $50.

The event has limited seating to create an intimate space for participants to allow questions of the speakers, and networking opportunity with other women with similar issues. Topics include: Understanding Hormone Balance – How your body really works, Lifestyle approaches for Hormone Balance – Dealing with your new normal, and Options for Midlife Health – Empowering yourself to hormone balance.

To register for the conference please go online to: WomeninBalance