Menopause

If you are in your mid-fifties, you don't need anyone describing the life and times of Menopause. You've been there and done that! Or you're doing that...

Hooray for YOU!!

CONGRATULATIONS...

You have survived the dreaded menopause! Not a disease, but a course of life that comes to one and all. Just another perk of being a woman. There is life after you get through the burning inferno of dropping estrogen.

For those of you just looking ahead to this incredibly, unsatisfying time of life, let's talk about what it is and what it isn't.

Menopause is...

A shift in hormone levels. Less estrogen, more testosterone.
A decrease in fertility due to decreased egg production.
A normal part of aging.

Menopause is NOT...

A disease.
Optional
Always as bad as you think...but sometimes it is.  Everyone is different!

So, if you are in pre-menopause, the erratic menstrual cycles warning you that change is on the way, or you have arrived at your last period here are some symptoms you many experience.

Hot Flashes- The hallmark symptom of menopause.  That sensation of burning up in a desert in peak of summer desert season.  If can be accompanied with flushing, heart palpitations and even anxiety.  It can be more intense at night.  They range in severity and frequency.

Mood Disturbances- You can thank the drop in estrogen for this.  This can be anything from general grouchiness to full on depression and anxiety.  You may cry for no real reason.  You may even feel like you are losing your ever loving mind but you aren't.

Difficulty Sleeping- This may be in part to the night sweats and hot flashes that keep you up too.

Memory Problems- This typically resolves after menopause.

Vaginal Dryness- The lower levels of hormones creates dryness and the tissue to become thinner. It can make intercourse painful.

Brittle Bones- Your bones can take a hit as well with the lowered estrogen.

There are ways to manage menopause so you don't completely lose your mind.  Consulting your provider at Madison Women's Clinic is the best place to start.  They will help you navigate these sometimes uncomfortable changes.

There are a few things you can do on your own to manage these symptoms and they are things you have heard before...Maintain a good healthy diet, weight and lifestyle.  Exercise is good for your mind and your bones and can also help you deal with the mood changes and anxiety you may feel.  Try to eliminate your bad habits such as caffeine consumption, smoking and drinking.  Your body is using all sorts of energy as these changes take place so give it a break and stay as healthy as possible.

When you understand what is happening to your body, you can try to stay ahead of the game.  There are often triggers that can throw you into a hot flash, like stress and anxiety, even some foods.  Pay attention to these triggers and take steps to eliminate them or at least control them better.

Above all else...remember you are not alone in this.  It happens to the best of us...all of us!  Most of these discomforts resolve after menopause.  If they become to troublesome, your doctor can prescribe estrogen replacement and provide you with other ways to manage the symptoms.

Gestational Diabetes

Glucose screening time!  The very words stir up anxiety in many women, not because we are afraid of the results but afraid to drink the horrifying, sweet, sugar substance intended to test for gestational diabetes.  

If you have been pregnant, you know!  It can be a challenge to get this tiny bottle to the back of your throat!

So, what is gestational diabetes exactly?  We all know we don't want to have it but how does it happen in the first place?

Gestational diabetes isn't always preventable and science isn't 100% certain why some women have more insulin problems while pregnant, than others.  Screening for gestational diabetes takes place between the 24-28th weeks of pregnancy, after the baby's body is formed.  According to the Center for Disease Control, gestational diabetes can affect up to 9.2% of pregnancies in this country. 

We know there are some risk factors that include - obesity prior to and during pregnancy, a history of diabetes in the family or in the mother, insulin resistance in the mother prior to pregnancy and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.  There is another possible cause to gestational diabetes as well. 

The placenta is the life source for baby; it is how a baby is fed and nourished with vitamins, minerals, nutrients and hormones so that it can grow properly.  Some of the hormones in this process, can block or prevent insulin in the mother from doing its job for mom.  This result is insulin resistance.  The mother's pancreas works overtime to produce more insulin for the mother to take care of her own glucose so it can be turned into energy for her.  When it can't keep up with the glucose load, gestational diabetes is the result; too much glucose in the blood stream.  

While insulin doesn't cross the placenta, glucose does.  Not only does mom suffer from the extra glucose but the baby gets an extra dose as well.  This causes the baby's pancreas to work harder to control and convert the glucose to energy but, there's only so much a baby can do.  This added glucose is the reason mom's with gestational diabetes tend to have larger babies. 

Preventing the things we know cause gestational diabetes is the first thing a woman can do to make sure she experiences the best possible pregnancy. 

• Maintain a healthy weight before and during pregnancy
• Exercise regularly
• Make and keep all your prenatal and pregnancy doctor appointments and keep up on all screenings. 

Even the best prevention plan can result in gestational diabetes.  If this happens to you, make sure you begin treatment as quickly as possible and follow your doctor's advice.  

Treatment involves...

• Healthy nutritious diet with a variety of nutrients
• Focus on complex carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains
• Avoid simple sugars. 
• Do not skip meals, this causes peaks and valleys in your insulin levels.  Eat 3 small meals and 2-4 snacks
• Establish a regular exercise routine
• Test blood sugar as required and recommended by your doctor

Remember that gestational diabetes doesn't have any real symptoms in the beginning so make sure you do the screenings that comes with prenatal care. A little prevention and treatment, gestational diabetes can be effectively managed and mom and baby do well!  

Depression

Depression has often been defined in our culture as nothing more than a bad day or string of bad days. One person described it as “Anger without enthusiasm.”  With this over-simplistic notion, in a world that doesn’t slow down for a bad day, comes a stigma and shame, when the bad day never ends.

Depression is more than just a bad day or two.  It’s far more complex than that.  In fact, there are many different types of depression, some more chronic and critical than others but all the same, can make life difficult for you and those around you.  

Depression has a way of keeping you stuck and isolated.

Here is a list of just some of the sub-types of depression

·         major depression

·         dysthymia

·         manic-Depression

·         post-partum depression

·         seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

·         medication-induced depression

Depression is multi-faceted, and understanding the most common mental health disorder, is the first step in managing your life with depression.

The National Institute of Mental Health suggests that depression is caused from a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.  Because there are so many variables to depression, treatment options are broad and varied as well. 

So, what can you do if you are feeling depressed…besides book a cruise with money you don’t have or take to the mall for some retail therapy? 

The first thing?

·         Be intent on getting better and finding relief.  Becoming the Queen of Denial is not a good life plan. So, make an appointment with your healthcare team to obtain an accurate diagnosis. Plan with your doctor to address any underlying genetic or biological treatments. Quiet the chemistry…or wake it up!  Your doctor will know the best medication for the type of depression you are experiencing.  Be a good patient.  If you don’t think you can be compliant on the medications, be honest with your doctor.

·         Practice good self-care. 

o   Get plenty of sleep.                                                                                                   

o   Exercise. Some is always better than none. Eat foods that support good general health.

o   Break some bad habits. 

o   Avoid isolation. 

o   Know your limits.  Did you know that the word “No.” can be a complete sentence?

o   Address other chronic or new health issues.  Depression can be caused by any number of other health conditions or depression can aggravate other existing health conditions.

o   Stress is unavoidable sometimes but there are many healthy ways to manage it.

o    Expect gradual change, not immediate, drastic change.

o   Psychotherapy may be a necessary intervention and very helpful under your circumstances.

·         Most importantly…do not just live with depression.  It can escalate quickly and leave you feeling despair and hopelessness, even suicidal.  Get help immediately and share your feelings with someone close to you. 

Depression is an illness of your mind and should be taken seriously.  If you or your friend broke their leg, you wouldn’t say, “Well, jump up.  Walk it off!  You’ll be okay.”  You would get them help.  Telling yourself or someone else who is depressed to shake it off is the equivalent. 

 

It’s time to start a little selfcare revolution with your emotional health.  It’s good for all of us, depressed or otherwise. 

The Myth of Resolve

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going?  Ready to call it a year, welcoming February as the month of regret?

The new year is a curious thing.  There’s a brief pause between the well-worn 365 days we’ve cozied up to, and 365 more that we have yet to get to know.  We all hold on to this moment in great expectations.  There’s one fact about the new year that everyone has come to believe.

New Year, New You.

A new year is not a new you…you are the same you, you’ve always been.  Turning the page on the calendar doesn’t magically transform us into a better version of ourselves yet we buy into that year after year.  

We put a lot of time and energy into planning our resolve at the end of December, in anticipation of January.  We look back on the year passing and tally up our shortcomings; the donuts for breakfast, the candy bar and Coke for lunch and the trip through the nearest fast food joint.  We see the skinny jeans that never left the closet.  The bank account is made of rubber from all the checks that bounced their way through.  We are overworked, overwhelmed and underpaid and all that is about to change on January 1^st right?  

Maybe…

What might happen if we stop chasing change?  That restless change that drives us to find perfection within ourselves.  What would happen if we just decided that this year, we were okay the way we are?  What if we stopped living our life by the calendar; the decade of age we find ourselves in?  What if we decided to listen to something other than the negative reel about our weight, our looks, our financial report that loops continuously through our head?

This year, live in the moment.  It’s the small and simple things that bring about great change.  If you don’t succeed, start again, on any old day.  If you’re moving forward, the view is going to change and if you’re trying, good things will come. 

Estrogen. The hormone we love to hate

Don’t you just love to hate Estrogen?  Who knew that one little hormone could do so much to ruin a perfectly good day!  Estrogen is the thing that tips the scale and sways the pendulum of a woman’s mood from one extreme to the next in one fell swoop.  Men joke about it and women cry over it. 

Estrogen is perhaps a little misunderstood.  Let’s start a love affair with the hormone as women, we can’t live without.

Did you know that estrogen does more than regulate moods and menstrual cycles?  Estrogen has over a hundred functions in the human body.  Estrogen even has its place in men, albeit in much lower amounts than women.  Here’s a brief rundown of all the good, estrogen does, in addition to its functions we already know and joke about. 

·         Promotes the formation of secondary female sex characteristics

·         Accelerates metabolism

·         Increases fat stores

·         Maintains vessels and skin

·         Reduces bone resorption

·         Increases bone formation

·         Increases platelet function

·         Increases HDL, triglycerides

·         Decreases LDL

·         Improved collagen

·         Balances fluids such as sodium

·         Promotes lung function

·         Critical in fetal development

·         Promotes connective tissue growth

·         Helps prevent cardiovascular disease

·         Has important anti-inflammatory properties

·         Assists in mobilizing white blood cells and neutrophils

·         Has a positive influence on cognitive skills

·         Has a significant role in mental health, sustained low levels can cause problems with post-partum, perimenopause and post menopause depression

·         Balanced levels can decrease OCD tendencies

·         Estrogen replacement may suppress binge eating, as this is typically associated with increased progesterone and decreased estradiol.

So, now what do you think of estrogen?  Not bad for the little hormone that endures a battering from bad memes! 

And, there’s more!  The American University in Washington DC, has found a link between estrogen and its ability to control increased brain inflammation.  This work could provide more insight into the future treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons. 

As with anything in life, balance is everything!  When estrogen gets out of balance, we can readily feel it’s effects negatively, though we may not associate our discomfort with it.  That’s where your favorite provider at Madison Women’s Clinic comes into play!  Make an appointment today and let’s discuss ways to get you back in the game and determine what role Estrogen plays in your good health.