significantly (again, there may have been other reasons for this decline but hey, it does ring some bells, doesn’t it?)
.....Then there’s the matter of other forms of hormones not only being safer but also perhaps beneficial: the only problem there is that – and this is largely a matter of what kind of studies you want to believe – I just don’t think there have been enough good quality studies to say “yea” or “nay”; in short, there’s no good evidence yet that other forms of hormone are either safer or more beneficial than traditional HRT.
.....So what should you do if you do have severe menopausal symptoms?
.....As usual, there are no formulaic answers.
.....My opinion, as always, is that you should first start by improving your lifestyle because lifestyle adjustments – healthy eating, weight control, getting enough sleep (getting enough good quality sleep is, I re-discover 5 nights a week, a major issue for most women of a certain age, which is why I’ve long told my wife that the best time to have her book club meeting is 3 AM because all her friends are likely to be awake at that time anyway, a suggestion that invariably gets me a kick in the shins), minimizing stress loads (to the extent possible) and especially regular exercise - can do a terrific job at controlling some of the more nagging symptoms of menopause.
.....Then there are specific interventions for specific problems – a recent study on sleep, for example, showed terrific results from the combined use of cognitive therapy and the “short-term” use of sleeping pills.
.....And finally, if all those don’t work, you may consider the short-term use (and no, I have no idea how short “short” is) of some kind of hormonal intervention, bearing in mind to try to use the weakest effective formulation in the lowest dose for as little time as possible.
.....By the way, my wife just read this, and hey, good news: I don’t have to worry about getting kicked in the shins tonight.
.....The bad news: I’m sleeping on the couch.
.....Ah well, at least I get to sleep through the night.
Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20. |
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