GynoFiles

Menopause has an official definition, a definition that patient's use, and a definition that is useful for treatment purposes. And for treatment, looking at clusters of symptoms has allowed for more customized therapy. Defining the menopause has been easy in terms of last period: a year with no bleeding in a woman who has stopped ovulating: you are menopausal.It is not necessarily a quick process the definitions also vary as to when a woman moves beyond menopause to post menopause. Or in another way of asking : how long does your menopause last? There are some standard definitions, and then there are ones in more flux. The current thinking is that in your mid 40s you have about a 4-7 year period of transition. But another way to define menopause is to look at how the periods are, menstrual change is pretty much a given for those with a uterus. And defining menopause by flashes or other changes has been easy to define as per the symptoms groups of menopausal women experienc...

Everyone knows about hot flashes and sleeplessness, sweating and night sweats, as well as the host of vaginal symptoms that do occur at the time of menopause. But there are many symptoms not officially designated in 'the menopause' that do occur with great frequency. So the formal definition of symptoms attributable to menopause becomes a bit blurry when you talk to women and then get the take on menopause definition from their physicians. Lets take the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and moodiness. Is it formally due to menopause? A consequence of untreated menopausal symptoms or just due to what else goes on at that time of life? A consequence of the empty nest some women find themselves in when it is, coincidentally, their menopausal time. How about headaches? Is that due to the lack of sleep, the lack of the birth control pills you used to be on, the attempts to diet, the blood pressure or blood sugar problems that you may be having, or just simply menopause? It's n...

You are talking to an important client, all of a sudden, a hot flash hits you. Or you think a hot flash hit you. Red, sweating, flooding, shakin'? A hot flashed defined medically is a set of 'vasomotor symptoms' triggered by 'thermoregulatory dysfunction.', don't even try to say "thermoregulatory" fast  Medically speaking this is a set of electrical signals that we regulate this through a circuit of information: the core of our body sending temperature signals to the various centers that contribute to temperature regulation in the brain, the brain it self and the peripheral vascular system (your blood arteries and veins) which the brain signals to make the blood vessels dilate, i.e. release heat, and release it rapidly, or contract: conserve it, save it, store it, which as you know, goes more slowly. The core temperature is a powerful influence on how we feel and how we sweat. Our core temp has an upper threshold, called a set point, beyond which ...