Broad and Informative
Timeline of Your Face: How You Age -Web MD
Caring for Menopausal Skin -Mayo News
“Safe Tans” Feeling the Burn From Potential Tan Ban -NBC Philadelphia
Top 10 Reasons Skincare and Beauty Products Stop Working -PR Web
For Those Who Want More Details…
Immune Cell Levels Predict Skin Cancer Risk in Kidney Transplant Patients -The Virtual Medical Centre
Scientists Turn Mouse Skin Cells Into Nerve Cells -Business WeekStelara Beats Enbrel in Psoriasis Study -Web MD
A new paper (Patel 2009) says Early postmenopausal women with higher testosterone (T) levels have increased insulin resistance (IR) and cardiovascular risk factors; so to test whether higher T levels are associated with IR, the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn), and coronary heart disease (CHD) , ie whether this translates into increased cardiovascular disease later in elderly women, ultrasensitive testosterone s-T assays were used in 344 women aged 65–98 yr enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study CHS, with cross-sectional analyses to examine the associations betweentotal and free T and IR, MetSyn, and CHD. They found a stepwise increase in insulin resistance with increasing total (P =0.0.003) and free T (P = 0.02) level and a corresponding decreasein Insulin Sensitivity.. In adjusted models, higher levelsof both total and free T were strongly associated with abdominalobesity and high fasting glucose, the two MetSyn componentsmost strongly linked to IR. After adjustment, women in the topquartile of total T levels had a 3-fold greater odds of MetSynand CHD(odds ratio 3) thanthose in the lowest quartiles, whereas free T was not significantlyassociated with MetSyn or CHD.
What clinical relevance does this crossectional observational study have in management of postmenopausal women? Observational studies say nothing about cause and effect.
This CVH study was in 5201 folks from 65-101yrs ie mean age ~72yrs . They were overweight – mean waist 93cm, BMI 26kg., +- 25% with metabolic syndrome.
The alarming finding from that CVH study is that the more frequent the use of aspirin , the higher the rate in women of ischemic stroke (O.R 1.6) but especially hemorrhagic stroke (O.R 4.0) . SO ELDERLY WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE PRESCRIBED ASPIRIN- stick to fish oil and EDTA.
We have known for over a decade that increasing obesity in women associates with increasing estrogen (from fat) and testosterone (from ovaries). – as in PCOS, as in PMW, the only effective endogenous defence mechanism women can mount against increasing obesity (and thus insulin resistance, prediabetes) is to increase luteal testosterone output -ie it requires ovaries..
But the overwhelming positive spinoff is that the higher the anabolic hormone (testosterone and vit D) levels, the greater their strength and with 2/3 reduction in falls- which are the greatest risk factor for fractures. – with the extra vitamin D3 further reversing obesity.
A year ago a Queensland group (Olsen ea) found that “Women who had ever used testosterone supplements had a a 3.7fold increased risk of ovarian cancer);” but they make no claim about cause and effect. In 1591 cases with ovarian malignancy they found only 11 who gave a history of testosterone use, compared to 4 of 1501 controls who had used testosterone, but they gave no breakdown on how many used physiological ie safe parenteral balanced physiological testosterone as opposed to unphysiological ie risky exposure. As they conclude “In summary, we found no consistent evidence for a role of androgens in the aetiology of ovarian cancer, overall or by subtype, and thus our findings do not support the hypothesis that androgen-related disorders increase the risk of ovarian cancer.”
2 years ago Braunstein from the Cedars-Sinai reported “a significant relationship between total and free T and the presence of coronary artery disease after adjustment for the effect of E2“. Similarly, no evidence is adduced for cause and effect. Observed subjects were very high risk- mean age 65yrs, obese (mean BMI 30kg), 70% on aspirin, and half had had hysterectomy. As they conclude “One potential problem with the current study is that the results were obtained in a highly selected group of women undergoing coronary angiography for suspected ischemia and who had a high CAD risk factor burden, raising the possibility that these findings may not be relevant to broader groups of women.”
Despite the fact that obesity is endemic in women, associated with numerous diseases, especially vascular disease, diabetes and cancer, and that PCOS is by far the commonest associate of female hyperandrogenism, there is no evidence that PCOS ie hyperandrogenism is associated with increase in any cancer. This suggests that moderate hyperandrogenism in women is indeed protective against cancer since it mitigates the cancerogenic effect of obesity and diabetes. .
No studies and no clinics on any continent have ever reported link between balanced physiological parenteral depot testosterone (up to ~10mg/week) – depot estradiol replacement (up to ~1mg/week) and increase in any cancer or Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Cardiovascular Disease on balanced testosterone replacement in women with relative testosterone/ estrogen deficiency.
So, so far there is no evidence that the natural higher serum testosterone concentrations within the range found in younger or older women (up to ~6nmol/L) CAUSE overweight/ obesity Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, cardiovascular disease or cancer.
Thank God I’ve got this blog to remind me to try something new each day, or I would slip back into old habits real quickly! I’m already feeling it may be a challenge coming up with 365 new things over the next year, so am open to hearing your suggestions!
One thing I’ve been contemplating, which may seem small to you, is to taste a pickle! Now if any of my sisters are reading this they will know somethings up and that I’m serious about this commitment…. it all started back when I was around 5 years old… I come from a big pickle-eating family… and I’m not talking those little pickle chips or gherkins…these were the large dill kind that you can find in barrels at the general store.
I’m haunted by memories of my sisters running around the house, each one with a dill in her hand and they knew I didn’t like them, so of course they would chase me as I ran screaming down the hallway…and it would take two of them to finally pin me down and try to make me take a bite… typical stuff that siblings do to each other that keeps the therapists in business these days… I think it must’ve made a lasting impression on me because, to this day I am determined to not eat a pickle… So, I guess it would be a big step for me….I may save this challenge for the very last day of the experiment… It would be a fitting way to finish off… or maybe I should just do it and get it over with, so as not to look at this process with any dread! To pickle or not to pickle?? Can I experience personal growth by simply tasting a pickle? Ah, should life be so easy….
I didn’t have many errands after work yesterday, so thought rather than rush straight home to sit at my computer, which is where you’ll usually find me, I’d do some shopping. And that is also very unlike me… I am not a shopper! My taste in clothes is unusual, to the point that my 14 year old daughter now insists on approving everything I buy!
My mom tried, but she was forced to major in Home Economics in college, which was not her passion, so I think she rebelled. When she married my father, she told him that he would do all the cooking and she would handle the yard work. I remember one painful experience in which I’ve actually destroyed the photographic evidence… I didn’t want to have to explain it to my children… I was invited to attend St. Lukes Ball, which was very prestigious at the time, and may still be.
Shopping with my mom for a dress was challenging… neither one of us knew what we were looking for. It was fall, and being a strawberry blonde with blue eyes, autumn colors looked good on me, so we decided on a chocolate brown empire waist dress with orange velvet sash tied in a bow under the bodice, along with specially died shoes and handbag in matching orange. What were we thinking??? I’ll never forget walking into the ballroom with all the other girls in their pastel chiffon dresses and me in brown and orange! Oh well… my date really liked me alot and we had alot of fun dancing!
Driving home last night, I passed our local Borders Books, which is closing down soon (so sad how this economy has forced the closing of so many retailers), and everything is 50% off! I stopped in to see what was left… and I’m glad I did! I found a ‘Speak Italian in 30 Days’ audio set and promptly purchased it! I visited Italy 3 years ago and am in love with the food, people, wine and country! I hope to visit again someday……I was fairly good at languages in high school and I’d love to claim that I’m bi-lingual! It sounds so cultured or well educated or something… so, off to listen to my first lesson! Ciao!!
“You’re perfect, yes, it’s true
But without me you’re only you
Your menstruating heart
It ain’t bleedin’ enough for two
It’s a midlife crisis.. It’s a midlife crisis.”
Faith No More, “Midlife Crisis”, 1992
So, 40 is one of those milestone ages for men when, by popular stereotype if not by some male biological equivalent to the menopause (manopause?!), they start to behave in quite an atypical fashion. Apparently this “mid life crisis” was a phenomenon first identified by Carl Jung who thought of it as part of the aging process, which is thankfully quite a relief when you realise that there may be something biological in action here rather than a slight feeling of bewilderment. After googling the term (I dare you to try it) I found any number of hits with frighteningly lists of symptoms that managed to sound all too familiar in parts. A sense of meaninglessness, insomnia, feeling depressed, angry and/or bored, drinking more, weight gain, deliberate changing of appearance (clothes, hairstyle, tattoos, etc) to feel younger, being dissolusioned with work, and the lists go on (and on and on). My little countdown below shows 324 all too short days left and I’m starting to think this may turn in to a medical journal. You could read previous posts here on this blog and, with the help of a mid-life crisis bingo card, you could cross off all sorts of symptoms and be calling “house” in no time. I think I’m ready for my mid-life crisis now. Anyway, plans remain afoot, resolutions are in place and more news will follow as I plan to ambitiosly add to those new year promises. In the meantime, I’ve been delving in to this year’s Schott’s Almanac to bring you today’s list of newly coined words and phrases….
Tweet Count: 4
Countdown: 324 days
Work Days vs Play Days: 22 – 19
Consecutive Days of Blogging: 41
TV Watched: Party Animals (ep 6, 7 and 8). What a great series.
Soy foods are attractive for women who cannot or will not use hormone replacement therapy. Evidence has been shown that soy food intake can have the following benefits for women:
Research has found soy foods useful to treat menopause symptoms. The two major phytoestrogens found in soy, genistein and daidzein, have been shown to mimic the effects of estradiole (the major human female estrogen) and tamoxifen (an antiestrogen used to protect against the spread of breast cancer). Genistein has a mix of antiestrogen and proestrogen effects that help reduce menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women and protect against osteoporosis. Asian women have less osteoporosis than Western women even though the calcium intake of Asian women is lower; research suggests that this is due to the increased soy intake of Asian women.
In addition, genistein has been shown to inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells in test tubes, and it slows the activity of several proteins that speed up tumor growth. According to the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study that was recently published, women in China who had breast cancer and a higher intake of soy food had an associated lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence. The study concluded, “Soy food intake is safe and was associated with lower mortality and recurrence among breast cancer patients.” The study suggests that intake of 11 grams per day of soy offers protective benefits for long-term health.
For more information on breast health and the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study click on the following link: http://www.soyconference.com/magazines/jan10.pdf
So, enjoy soy milk on your cereal and in your coffee and tea. Have soy nuts as a tasty snack or select an energy bar with soy protein. Be chic and enjoy a healthy soy burger with all the trimmings. The choices are out there and making a healthy choice will feel great.
18 Secrets for a Good Night’s Sleep
Try some of these:
• 1) Start getting to bed as early as you can. Our bodies do most of their recharging, detoxifying, and regeneration between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. So it is best try to be asleep by 11.
• 2) Stop working at least 1 hour before you wish to be asleep. This way your mind has a chance to unwind.
• 3) Don’t watch TV right before going to bed. Read something light and pleasurable, spiritual or religious, to relax your mind, or write in a journal.
• 4) Take melatonin, 5-HTP, or Valerian herb half an hour before bed. Melatonin: 2 mg-5mgs. One of melatonin’s precursors, such as 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) can also help, such as 50-100 mgs. Valerian is a very relaxing herb (smells awful though!); 350-500 mgs.
• 5) Try homeopathic remedies before sleep. Available online or in your health food store, the following can be very helpful: Sleeplessness Relief by Similasan, Calms Forte by Hyland’s, Calming by BHI are all combination remedies which supply such homeopathics as Coffea, Avena Sativa, Valeriana, Chamomilla, Passiflora, and others.
• 6) Take a hot shower, bath, or sauna before bed. Raising your body temperature this way late in the evening can make falling asleep easier.
•7) Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This routine can help “program” your system.
•8) Reduce or avoid caffeine. A recent study showed that some people do not metabolize caffeine efficiently, so that the wired feeling from coffee can last long after drinking it. Therefore a cup of coffee late in the afternoon can keep you awake many hours later. For those that do handle caffeine well, you should still avoid it after 7 PM.
• 9) Don’t drink alcohol before bed. Alcohol can make you sleepy, but this is only short term. You may wake up several hours later and find it hard to fall back asleep. Alcohol prevents you from sleeping more deeply, when healing and regeneration takes place.
• 10Don’t drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will help reduce the number of times you have to get up to use the bathroom. Also, be sure to go last thing before you go to bed.
• 11) Get regular exercise. Lots of studies show that regular exercise, such as 30 minutes a day, will help you sleep. But don’t exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake!
• 12) Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible, or even try an eye mask. Light can disrupt circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. This interferes with sleep. If possible, don’t turn the light on in the bathroom if you get up in the night. After a few bumps you’ll get the hang of it!.
• 13) Try a white noise machine. I love my little white noise machine- I set it to “waterfall” and it covers my furnace coming on, my cat talking to me, cars outside, and all other unwanted noise!.
• 14) Try wearing socks to bed. Your feet can feel colder than the rest of your body. Wearing socks to bed has been hown in studies to reduce the number of times you wake in the night.
• 15) Don’t use a loud alarm clock. Try a sun alarm instead- this is a more natural way to wake up. The globe slowly gets brighter and brighter, casting increasing light into the room, so you wake as if the dawn had woken you. It works very well. Try The Sun Alarm™ SA-2002 .
• 16) Don’t keep your bedroom too warm. It certainly should not be warmer than 70 degrees F.
• 17) If sleep is still a difficult issue, be sure to get hormone levels checked. Insomnia may be caused by adrenal stress, or imbalances of hormones at menopause can really play in.
• 18) Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). This is a gentle tapping system based on acupressure principles, and is easily learned. EFT has been shown to help resolve some of the emotional stresses that may contribute to insomnia. The results are usually speedy, and last well. Check out articles by Dr. Mercola; http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?k=eft .
: http://www.allroulettesystems.com/de/roulette-strategie.html
Image : http://www.flickr.com
What is menopause?
Menopause begins in the 40s as early as your ovaries gradually produce less and less of the hormone estrogen. The times will be erratic – sometimes skipping a month or alternating between light and heavy.
The next period of time is the actual transition to menopause. During this period you can continue to have irregular periods and symptoms begin more serious. Flushes, vaginal dryness, mood swings and insomnia are some of them.
The last andactual onset of menopause usually occurs in your early 50s and is represented by the lack of your time for a full 12 months. These are the years between the devastation caused in your life.
Why are natural menopause treatments are best?
Menopause is a natural event in the reproductive life of a woman. So why not treat them in a natural way? Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the standard treatment for menopause among healthcare providers – however there remains considerableControversy on the benefits and risks associated with standard HRT drugs.
In recent decades, conventional medicine hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause with estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) treatment. But because ERT is dangerous for women with a history of cancer is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) – in which a synthetic estrogen combined with progesterone used – often. But many women do not want the potential increased risk of cancer associatedwith ERT, or who dislike the cyclical bleeding and significant side effects often caused by HRT.
Recent publicity concerning the health risks of synthetic hormone replacement therapy, many women look to natural solutions. And for good reason. In areas of the world where soy and other estrogenic plants are part of the diet, rates of breast cancer are much lower and menopausal symptoms are almost nonexistent. Synthetic hormone replacement therapy is not common because it is notrequired.
In the United States, where pharmaceutical companies make $ 8 billion U.S. a year on synthetic hormones, which are breast cancer, heart attack and stroke increased dramatically among women in menopause. Dr. John Lee, author of "What the doctor can not tell Menopause", blames the rise of synthetic hormones. He says that pharmaceutical companies are well aware of the problems. "The whole thing is madness," he says, "and is driven by greed." Some simple solutions and naturalClarification of menopausal problems and eliminate the health risks associated with synthetic hormones.
Try to get the food, vegetables and fish are high in omega-3, since the nutrients that help your body deal with menopause naturally included. Conversely, there are foods that can make your menopausal symptoms worse. Caffeine, sugar, dairy fat, salt, alcohol and saturated oils can aggravate the symptoms.
Exercising regularly can also help alleviateSymptoms of menopause. Planning at least 30 minutes of exercise three times a week will relieve hot flashes. You can think more clearly and to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.
Finally, there are several herbs proven to relieve the symptoms of menopause:
Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopherol acetate)
Vitamin E is an antioxidant. We can avoid hot flashes? Studies have been conducted in late 1940 that shows that to alleviate hot flashes andin post-menopausal vaginal dryness. Recent studies are missing. There are other advantages. We know from the Nurses Health Study that women are vitamin E, for a period of two years reduced the risk of fatal heart attacks by 40%. Vitamin E is examined for its effect on Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Combining vitamin E with other antioxidants such as selenium, chromium, beta-carotene and vitamin C may offer a synergistic effect. This means that they work bettertogether than in isolation.
Soybean (Glycine max) (seed)
Soy contains natural plant estrogens called phytoestrogens. In fact, no other food has a higher content of soy phytoestrogens. Although phytoestrogens are weaker than human estrogens they behave similarly in the human body. In the body, phytoestrogens balance a woman's level of estrogen receptors participating body estrogen. When attached, phytoestrogens can decrease estrogen levels in women of perimenopausal andIncreased levels of estrogen in postmenopausal women. Addition to relieving menopausal symptoms, research shows that soy helps promote heart health. Many doctors and researchers soy to relieve many symptoms of menopause such as hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness and other discomforts.
Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) (root)
The primary use of black cohosh extract is for alleviation of menopausal symptoms, the American College of Obstetrics and GynecologyGuidelines for the use of botanicals for management of menopausal symptoms support this use for up to six months, especially in the treatment of symptoms of sleep and mood disorders, and flushing. Studies demonstrate efficacy in patients treated with black cohosh extract similar to estrogen in the treatment of neurovegetative menopausal symptoms.
Damaiana (spread Turnerna) (leaves)
This yellow-flowering shrub typically grows in warm, humid climates, like Central –and South America and the U.S. state of Texas. Damiana has been used traditionally as an aphrodisiac and has been asked to activate euphoria. It is necessary to alleviate depression and relieve anxiety and induce relaxation. Damiana could lead to relaxation and could calm anxiety. Allegations of sexual dysfunction caused by stress or emotional problems could benefit from supplementation with this plant.
Okay officially I think I just had my FIRST REAL hot flash! .. and that was enough .. LOL .. I had been having a little discomfort .. of the night night time I would start to feel warm .. my honey is a snuggler!! .. of course, up till now it has never bothered me. I have to say he was never one of these guys who wanted to hanky panky .. get his fill .. then roll over and go to sleep. He does want to hanky panky & get his fill!! .. trust me on that one 
.. but then he wants to snuggle up with me and hold me tight .. BMP (before menopause) that was great!! .. just what every woman would want .. but now .. it’s a different story! .. some night .. I just kinda edge out of his bear hug and barely move the cover and get my hips & at least one leg out .. ahhhhh .. the cold feels so good on my body!! .. that was what I actually called a power surge! .. just now though .. I think I had the “real thing” .. I was so hot .. I started getting a ring of sweat around my neck!! .. where the heck did that come from?? .. we’re in the middle of a snowstorm .. and what happens .. I get a flippin’ hot flash. It’s about 20 degrees outside. I was thinkin’ of going out and standing on the porch.
What is wrong with this picture .. ???
All in all .. it’s been a good day. One person looked at my blog .. that makes me happy! .. I could go on Facebook right now and post my link and I promise you that everybody in my little ‘ole small town would be on here reading every word of what I am up to .. why they would have this in the newpaper if possible or at least on the dreaded Topix!! .. everybody in our town gets on Topix at one time or another in their lifetime! .. I try not to look at anybody too long or you’ll get on Topix!
Happy Monday, Happy New Year! .. Happy Everything!! .. gotta run .. I’m off to go stand on the front porch!!
