Grand Rounds Vol 4 No 35

Dinosaur Doc has created a Grand Rounds of truly Biblical proportions. Grab a cup of coffee and head on over to pay homage to the best of this week’s medical blogosphere!

6 Responses to Grand Rounds Vol 4 No 35

  1. Hi TBTAM – I have a question that I hope you don’t mind answering.

    Saturday while getting a pedicure with 3 other women in the room, I brought up my reaction to my doc when last year after inquiring as to why a certain thing was happening, he started with “Women your age in menopause..” to which I reacted strongly and said “MENOPAUSE! I HAD THE PERIOD FROM hell LAST WEEK!” I would NEVER react like that to med professional and certainly not him, but I guess he hit a hot button in me. Ha! It occurs to me that even my reaction was proof.

    Anyway…I thought menopause starts after your last period, then after not having it for a year a woman is post menopausal? And I thought that as long as you are getting your period when in the age group…that you are perimenopausal?

    One woman said no…you are in menopause even while getting your period if in this age group and when it stops you are post menopausal. Huh? Then what is perimenopause?

    So another worker got a dictionary and it sounded like she is right.

    Then I googled stuff when I got home but there seemed to be some conflicting info.

    So…if you don’t mind TBTAM…could please clarify this?

    And isn’t it ridiculous that as women we don’t know about this important time in our lives? I guess I have been in denial.

    The only things I look forward to about it is no more painful periods and NO BIRTH CONTROL!

    But then one of the women there told me that an OB nurse told her they are seeing so many women in their 40s and early 50s delivering babies. She also said they had a woman who didn’t have her period for over a year and got pregnant.

    Now c’mon is THAT possible. How can a woman know if she is safe to go without birth control. Have her gyno doc do an FSH test?

    Perhaps you already did a post on this stuff?

    Reply

  3. dr. TBTAM — i’m with seaspray, not having reliable info on menopause. i’m 50, and started having some changes in 1995 [periods from hell], hot flashes and such for a few years now, and still i get my period. and zits! it is so not fair. i’m resigned to waiting it out, and know there is a lot of individual variation, but really. at least we got those hokey filmstrips on menstruation in 5th grade. i’m not finding the joy in this phase, nor good info. yet.

    Reply

  4. Yes…is there a joy… a postmenopausal place of zen? I love the Desperate housewives Youtube on this and it vindicated my hot button feelings.

    I just can’t believe the conflicting info. I am a few years past due for my pap and so I can ask then but this inquiring mind is curious.

    I am not worried about my bones but don’t want to lose creamy complexion and other benefits of estrogen.

    I am fortunate in that I have only had 3 hot flashes and I KNOW they had to be hot flashes.

    The 1st one was when I was the summer of 99 and I was on the boardwalk. This all consuming heat from the center of my chest rose upward through my neck, face and out the top of my head. And then gone.

    Then the spring of 2005 while working in the VNA office although not bad. The worst and last one was the summer of 2005…the MOTHER of all hot flashes. We were vacationing at the Jersey shore and walking back to our beach house. It was a beautiful balmy, sea breezy night. My face got so hot…ungodly hot. I couldn’t wait to get into our air conditioned house and then I sat on our bed in front of the fan. After a few minutes I came out totally distressed, almost in tears because I couldn’t get away from the heat. I could’ve fried an egg on my head. An aunt said to put ice on my face. Boy did I! The cubes were melting fast but that worked and the heat subsided.

    I haven’t had one since then…thank God! I don’t know how women do it every half hour or all day long. I have always been hot, even since a little girl and never could take the heat. I don’t ever want to do hormone replacement.

    The scariest thing is that we won’t have the same heart protection the hormones provide.

    For now…the cotton pony is still riding into town and that is why I don’t consider myself menopausal. 🙂

    Sorry this is so long. Delete if you wish to. 🙂

    Reply

  6. Seaspray and Kathy A. –

    I hear you. But answering all your questions would require a book. However, I will take a stab at addressing your questions in the first comment in my post tomorrow.

    Hang in there.

    TBTAM

    Reply

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