Just saw this over on Twitter from @yvettenicolebrown and wow. It made me think in one of those record-scratch-freeze-frame kind of moments. It gave me the bad chills. And if you are thinking about leaving a comment suggesting I stick to medicine…health care is political!
Just saw this over on Twitter from @yvettenicolebrown and wow. It made me think in one of those record-scratch-freeze-frame kind of moments. It gave me the bad chills. And if you are thinking about leaving a comment suggesting I stick to medicine…health care is political!
Just saw this over on Twitter from @yvettenicolebrown and wow. It made me think in one of those record-scratch-freeze-frame kind of moments. It gave me the bad chills. And if you are thinking about leaving a comment suggesting I stick to medicine…health care is political!
Just saw this over on Twitter from @yvettenicolebrown and wow. It made me think in one of those record-scratch-freeze-frame kind of moments. It gave me the bad chills. And if you are thinking about leaving a comment suggesting I stick to medicine…health care is political!
We are at this awful place because of politics. There is no abortion law in Canada, and so women are not bleeding to death or dying from sepsis in parking lots. Wonder why we don’t have affordable contraception, better studies for menopause, or even a basic understanding of endometriosis? Wonder why it’s so hard to find health care professionals in many places? The root of so many issues is related to politics. While it is clear that many previous governments could have done better by women in many ways, we have one party that is actively trying to harm women. And if the GOP is elected, we can almost certainly expect a national abortion ban. And if a national abortion ban won’t affect you, or you think it won’t because you may one day have a daughter or daughter in law with ruptured membranes and an infection at 19 weeks, remember this: in the United States abortion is the canary in the coal mine. Contraception and IVF will be next. There are many dark turns this could take. And for those who are still not swayed. Pharmaceutical companies will almost certainly stop testing new drugs on those capable of getting pregnant, because a miscarriage could be viewed as an abortion. And any health care professional upset over the Scientific American endorsement has made it clear what they think of the suffering of women.
Fascinating article on the “blue zones,” areas of the world that have the longest lived humans. Or supposedly have. Turns out the data is very suspect, and these areas have terrible birth records and/or are rife with pension fraud, so deaths don’t get registered. The article is well worth the read. I was simultaneously infuriated, intrigued, and frustrated. I remember diet books from 25 or so years ago claiming the Okinawa diet was special because they had so many people over 100 years old. From the article: “Okinawa in Japan is one of these zones. There was a Japanese government review in 2010, which found that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead. The secret to living to 110 was, don’t register your death. The Japanese government has run one of the largest nutritional surveys in the world, dating back to 1975. From then until now, Okinawa has had the worst health in Japan. They’ve eaten the least vegetables; they’ve been extremely heavy drinkers.” I mean…sigh. But do read the article, link is in my stories!
Fascinating article on the “blue zones,” areas of the world that have the longest lived humans. Or supposedly have. Turns out the data is very suspect, and these areas have terrible birth records and/or are rife with pension fraud, so deaths don’t get registered. The article is well worth the read. I was simultaneously infuriated, intrigued, and frustrated. I remember diet books from 25 or so years ago claiming the Okinawa diet was special because they had so many people over 100 years old. From the article: “Okinawa in Japan is one of these zones. There was a Japanese government review in 2010, which found that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead. The secret to living to 110 was, don’t register your death. The Japanese government has run one of the largest nutritional surveys in the world, dating back to 1975. From then until now, Okinawa has had the worst health in Japan. They’ve eaten the least vegetables; they’ve been extremely heavy drinkers.” I mean…sigh. But do read the article, link is in my stories!
Fascinating article on the “blue zones,” areas of the world that have the longest lived humans. Or supposedly have. Turns out the data is very suspect, and these areas have terrible birth records and/or are rife with pension fraud, so deaths don’t get registered. The article is well worth the read. I was simultaneously infuriated, intrigued, and frustrated. I remember diet books from 25 or so years ago claiming the Okinawa diet was special because they had so many people over 100 years old. From the article: “Okinawa in Japan is one of these zones. There was a Japanese government review in 2010, which found that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead. The secret to living to 110 was, don’t register your death. The Japanese government has run one of the largest nutritional surveys in the world, dating back to 1975. From then until now, Okinawa has had the worst health in Japan. They’ve eaten the least vegetables; they’ve been extremely heavy drinkers.” I mean…sigh. But do read the article, link is in my stories!
Missing from many headlines, and even articles, about the fact that Trump plans to halt the TikTok ban is the fact that he called for the ban. I just can’t even with this timeline…
Missing from many headlines, and even articles, about the fact that Trump plans to halt the TikTok ban is the fact that he called for the ban. I just can’t even with this timeline…
If you plan on living to age 85, you are a 50% chance of getting shingles, which can be very painful and also cause stroke and inflammation of the spinal cord, among other complications. In addition, about 5-15% of people who get shingles will develop post herpetic neuralgia, which can be a very painful condition. Enter Shingrix, the newer shingles vaccine which offers excellent protection (reduced the risk of shingles by 97% vs placebo). It also has long lasting immunity (10 years and counting), and is as effective for people over 70 as it is for people who are 50. I wrote about the vaccine for The Vajenda, including the side effects. It does have a greater risk of side effects than many other vaccines. I had almost all of them and was knocked flat for 24 hours. But it was worth it for the degree of protection from this very safe vaccine! Hope you head to the link in my LinkTree to read more!
I wrote about the link between the shingles vaccine and a lower risk of dementia. This is all observational data, so we can’t say cause and effect. (Something important to know about in general, because many health influencers cheery pick observational data to draw sweeping, and unsupported conclusions). What we can say is there is growing observational data linking the shingles vaccine with a lower risk of dementia, and in this data the effect was more robust for women vs. men. I am sure we’ll see more studies here, but we will likely be limited to observational data or unblinded studies as at this point it would be unethical to withhold an effective vaccine. People should get the shingles vaccine at age 50 (in the U.S.) regardless of this data, or whenever they are eligible. It’s a good vaccine with a strong protective effect at 10 years. It may well be longer, but the studies only go for 10 years so far. Hope you head over to TheVajenda.com to check it out or go to my LinkTree.
Great lecture on sleep at the Menopause Society. I had to share this slide, which is from one of the papers to come out of the Ms. Flash study. This paper is a compilation of data from three randomized controlled trials looking at different interventions and medications for sleep for women with hot flashes. Women were in the menopause transition or menopause, ages 40-62. This is great because the menopause transition is under studied. Fascinating that CBT-I performed the best. And this was telephone delivered CBT-I. Also fascinating that venlafaxine out performed oral estradiol, although admittedly the dose of estradiol was 0.5 mg a day, which is a dose. Venlafaxine was 37.5 XR a day for a week then 75 mg a day. I think this study tells us that CBT-I can work even when there are hot flashes. Which is fascinating and wonderful!!! This does not mean that people must try it first, but if sleep is your biggest issue and you are starting estrogen, maybe also think about adding on CBT-I. I encourage you to keep an open mind about it. This very evidence based. Also, if you are someone who can’t or doesn’t want to take estrogen, the good news is there is a great hormone-free option to try! Also, for people who choose non estrogen medications, this data tells us some might perform quite well for sleep when you have hot flashes. And if you swipe there is some more basic data about what CBT-I is and some information about apps that were recommended by the speaker. Several speakers have recommended the VA CBTI app. And also, if sleep is your issue a good follow is @sleepdocshelby Side note: almost every time I post about non estrogen therapies there is someone who thinks that means I am against MHT. Sigh. Please don’t be that person. I am tired of a vocal minority purposely misconstruing my posts. The more evidence based options we have the better. As not everyone can or wants to take hormones and as hormones don’t always treat all the symptoms, having more options only helps women.
Great lecture on sleep at the Menopause Society. I had to share this slide, which is from one of the papers to come out of the Ms. Flash study. This paper is a compilation of data from three randomized controlled trials looking at different interventions and medications for sleep for women with hot flashes. Women were in the menopause transition or menopause, ages 40-62. This is great because the menopause transition is under studied. Fascinating that CBT-I performed the best. And this was telephone delivered CBT-I. Also fascinating that venlafaxine out performed oral estradiol, although admittedly the dose of estradiol was 0.5 mg a day, which is a dose. Venlafaxine was 37.5 XR a day for a week then 75 mg a day. I think this study tells us that CBT-I can work even when there are hot flashes. Which is fascinating and wonderful!!! This does not mean that people must try it first, but if sleep is your biggest issue and you are starting estrogen, maybe also think about adding on CBT-I. I encourage you to keep an open mind about it. This very evidence based. Also, if you are someone who can’t or doesn’t want to take estrogen, the good news is there is a great hormone-free option to try! Also, for people who choose non estrogen medications, this data tells us some might perform quite well for sleep when you have hot flashes. And if you swipe there is some more basic data about what CBT-I is and some information about apps that were recommended by the speaker. Several speakers have recommended the VA CBTI app. And also, if sleep is your issue a good follow is @sleepdocshelby Side note: almost every time I post about non estrogen therapies there is someone who thinks that means I am against MHT. Sigh. Please don’t be that person. I am tired of a vocal minority purposely misconstruing my posts. The more evidence based options we have the better. As not everyone can or wants to take hormones and as hormones don’t always treat all the symptoms, having more options only helps women.
Great lecture on sleep at the Menopause Society. I had to share this slide, which is from one of the papers to come out of the Ms. Flash study. This paper is a compilation of data from three randomized controlled trials looking at different interventions and medications for sleep for women with hot flashes. Women were in the menopause transition or menopause, ages 40-62. This is great because the menopause transition is under studied. Fascinating that CBT-I performed the best. And this was telephone delivered CBT-I. Also fascinating that venlafaxine out performed oral estradiol, although admittedly the dose of estradiol was 0.5 mg a day, which is a dose. Venlafaxine was 37.5 XR a day for a week then 75 mg a day. I think this study tells us that CBT-I can work even when there are hot flashes. Which is fascinating and wonderful!!! This does not mean that people must try it first, but if sleep is your biggest issue and you are starting estrogen, maybe also think about adding on CBT-I. I encourage you to keep an open mind about it. This very evidence based. Also, if you are someone who can’t or doesn’t want to take estrogen, the good news is there is a great hormone-free option to try! Also, for people who choose non estrogen medications, this data tells us some might perform quite well for sleep when you have hot flashes. And if you swipe there is some more basic data about what CBT-I is and some information about apps that were recommended by the speaker. Several speakers have recommended the VA CBTI app. And also, if sleep is your issue a good follow is @sleepdocshelby Side note: almost every time I post about non estrogen therapies there is someone who thinks that means I am against MHT. Sigh. Please don’t be that person. I am tired of a vocal minority purposely misconstruing my posts. The more evidence based options we have the better. As not everyone can or wants to take hormones and as hormones don’t always treat all the symptoms, having more options only helps women.
Great lecture on sleep at the Menopause Society. I had to share this slide, which is from one of the papers to come out of the Ms. Flash study. This paper is a compilation of data from three randomized controlled trials looking at different interventions and medications for sleep for women with hot flashes. Women were in the menopause transition or menopause, ages 40-62. This is great because the menopause transition is under studied. Fascinating that CBT-I performed the best. And this was telephone delivered CBT-I. Also fascinating that venlafaxine out performed oral estradiol, although admittedly the dose of estradiol was 0.5 mg a day, which is a dose. Venlafaxine was 37.5 XR a day for a week then 75 mg a day. I think this study tells us that CBT-I can work even when there are hot flashes. Which is fascinating and wonderful!!! This does not mean that people must try it first, but if sleep is your biggest issue and you are starting estrogen, maybe also think about adding on CBT-I. I encourage you to keep an open mind about it. This very evidence based. Also, if you are someone who can’t or doesn’t want to take estrogen, the good news is there is a great hormone-free option to try! Also, for people who choose non estrogen medications, this data tells us some might perform quite well for sleep when you have hot flashes. And if you swipe there is some more basic data about what CBT-I is and some information about apps that were recommended by the speaker. Several speakers have recommended the VA CBTI app. And also, if sleep is your issue a good follow is @sleepdocshelby Side note: almost every time I post about non estrogen therapies there is someone who thinks that means I am against MHT. Sigh. Please don’t be that person. I am tired of a vocal minority purposely misconstruing my posts. The more evidence based options we have the better. As not everyone can or wants to take hormones and as hormones don’t always treat all the symptoms, having more options only helps women.
Some thoughts on exercise and brain health. And a shout out to any of you who are like me and dislike exercise, but do it for the health benefits! #menopauseminute
Some more information on hormone therapy and cognition and dementia. This video applies to people going through menopause age 45 and up. We do recommend MHT for prevention of dementia for women going through premature menopause or with primary ovarian insufficiency until the average age of menopause (51-52). This is not the topic of the video. We have 4 randomized double blinded placebo controlled trials looking at cognition in the early post menopause. And one of the memorable quotes from the session on this topic was “if you care about those things.” We hope people feel better taking MHT! That is the point for most people! But feeling better and cognition are not the same thing.
I summarized some of what I felt were key points from the 2024 @menopause_society meeting. I included some info on hair and sleep, as those are common questions, as well as CBT-I, voice changes from testosterone, and more. I attended 4 days of lectures and took 28 pages of notes, so not possible to summarize in one post! I will probably put out another one with some quick updates and I planning on writing a longer piece on Dr. Maki’s fantastic lecture on cognition and dementia. Head over to TheVajenda.com to read the full post.
I love my poinsettia and it makes me smile every year when the little flames of red start. It’s such a fascinating little bit of biology. If I were trying to force this to be red for Christmas I would have been very strict limiting its light several months ago. But the shorter days eventually do the trick and it usually goes about 3/4 red before it turns back to green. This is my longest lived plant! It even survived me repotting it!!!! The news has been so awful, I thought I would share a little thing that brings me joy.
Thank you @wimedicineorg for inviting me to give the keynote, Sex, Lies, and Healthcare. Very honored to be with such an amazing crowd. And especially stoked to see @drjessigold who has amazing amazing book coming out October 8. Jessi (Dr. Gold) is really the heart of medicine, and her empathy and insight is unparalleled. And I finally got to meet @dr.staci.t who is even more fabulous in person!
Thank you @wimedicineorg for inviting me to give the keynote, Sex, Lies, and Healthcare. Very honored to be with such an amazing crowd. And especially stoked to see @drjessigold who has amazing amazing book coming out October 8. Jessi (Dr. Gold) is really the heart of medicine, and her empathy and insight is unparalleled. And I finally got to meet @dr.staci.t who is even more fabulous in person!
Thank you @wimedicineorg for inviting me to give the keynote, Sex, Lies, and Healthcare. Very honored to be with such an amazing crowd. And especially stoked to see @drjessigold who has amazing amazing book coming out October 8. Jessi (Dr. Gold) is really the heart of medicine, and her empathy and insight is unparalleled. And I finally got to meet @dr.staci.t who is even more fabulous in person!
My last post on some of my takeaways from the 2024 Menopause Society Meeting was so popular, I wrote a bonus post with 7 more takeaways. I addressed oral contraception in the menopause transition, depression, anxiety, the new estrogen estetrol, and more! Hope you read and share. You can find over at The Vagenda.com and I will put a link in my stories.
