Menopause

For almost as long as women have been living beyond their childbearing years, many have complained about a mental "fog" that seems to descend at about the time of menopause. And you would think those complaints might prompt some smart scientist (a woman herself, perhaps) to seriously investigate those complaints. The questions most women would probably ask are not whether these complaints are real (since they are clearly very real in the experience of the women who report them)

For almost as long as women have been living beyond their childbearing years, many have complained about a mental "fog" that seems to descend at about the time of menopause. And you would think those complaints might prompt some smart scientist (a woman herself, perhaps) to seriously investigate those complaints. The questions most women would probably ask are not whether these complaints are real (since they are clearly very real in the experience of the women who report them)

If hormone replacement therapy has gotten a drubbing of late, so too has a much-celebrated food that many women eat to help ease the symptoms of menopause and to protect against heart disease and osteoporosis: the soybean. Some scientists are increasingly wary about Americans going hog-wild for soy, soy protein and the estrogen-like chemicals (isoflavones) that soy protein contains.

Many women who used estrogen alone as hormone replacement therapy after menopause had a lower risk of developing breast cancer up to five years after they stopped taking it, a study has found. The research, published Tuesday, adds another twist to the evolving story on whether hormone replacement therapy helps some women beyond treating menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and poor sleep quality. The report is a follow-up analysis of the landmark Women's Health Initiative, a clinical trial of tens of thousands of women begun in 1993 that sought to clarify the risks and benefits of two hormone replacement therapy regimens in postmenopausal women: estrogen plus progestin, which most women must take, and estrogen alone, taken by women who have had hysterectomies.

When Ann Louise Gittleman wrote "Super Nutrition for Menopause" in 1992, the popular press was just beginning to explore the "change of life." In her most recent book, Gittleman addresses a related subject. Perimenopause is "a naturally occurring transition before the change," she writes in "Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause" (HarperSanFrancisco). Although menopause is associated with a drop in estrogen, a decline in the hormone progesterone brings on perimenopause.

For the first time, doctors appear to have restored fertility in a menopausal woman by reimplanting into her abdomen several pieces of her ovaries that had been removed and frozen when she was younger. The experimental procedure, performed on an American ballerina, could lead to greatly expanded reproductive options for women by allowing them to become pregnant years or decades later in life than is now possible, doctors said.

Sharon Pruhs was only 42 years old when she began experiencing menopausal symptoms. "I remember exactly where I was when I experienced my first hot flash," she recalls. "I was standing at the card catalog at the library." The Los Angeles librarian figured, "Here we go." But she didn't actually reach menopause until she was 54. Her experience is not uncommon. Gradual hormonal and physical changes typically start years before menopause, which begins at a woman's final menstrual period.

By the time many women realize they have reached menopause, they have missed the chance to ease symptoms, stave off early bone loss or even become pregnant. Menopause is not formally diagnosed until a woman has completed a full year with no menstrual period. But by that time many have suffered hot flashes, insomnia or other symptoms without understanding their significance.

Around the time of menopause, many women complain of mental slippage. But, as if to inflict some perverse trick upon them, cognitive scientists have found that they actually perform no more poorly than women who do not have such complaints. (Reassuring in a way: You're not losing your memory, but you may be losing your mind.) A new study finds that both the women who complain of memory problems and the cognitive scientists are right. These women haven't fallen behind -- not yet at least-- because their brains are working harder to keep up. The study, presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience's yearly confab -- held this year in Washington, D.C. -- recruited 22 healthy women with an average age of 57, all post-menopausal.

An early menopause is often in store for women under age 40 who have chemotherapy for breast cancer. Women can choose to have some eggs removed in advance of the treatment in order to preserve some chance of having a baby later, but that can be a difficult and complicated process. Now, however, there may be a medication to treat these women to avoid premature menopause. A study published Tuesday found a drug called triptorelin (a hormone analogue, which mimics the actions of a hormone)

Older women who take statin medications to ward off heart attacks are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who do not take the widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs, a study has found. The report, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that, in a large group of post-menopausal women, those who took a statin of any type were, on average, 48% likelier to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who didn't. The heightened risk for diabetes was most pronounced in statin-taking women of Asian origin or those with a body mass index, or BMI, in the healthy range.

Around the time of menopause, many women complain of mental slippage. But, as if to inflict some perverse trick upon them, cognitive scientists have found that they actually perform no more poorly than women who do not have such complaints. (Reassuring in a way: You're not losing your memory, but you may be losing your mind.) A new study finds that both the women who complain of memory problems and the cognitive scientists are right. These women haven't fallen behind -- not yet at least-- because their brains are working harder to keep up. The study, presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience's yearly confab -- held this year in Washington, D.C. -- recruited 22 healthy women with an average age of 57, all post-menopausal.

Sexual desire disorder in women is supposedly a significant problem in the United States, according to some studies and various companies that market products designed to improve women's sex lives. But a large study published this week finds that older women are mostly quite satisfied with their sexual health. If they have a problem, it's because they lack a partner or would like to have more sex, not less. The data are from the Women's Health Initiative, famous for its investigation into the effects of hormone therapy on post-menopausal women.

After menopause, women are expected to experience a sharply increased risk of heart disease. The traditional thinking has been that hormones protect women from heart disease until menopause. But a new study turns that theory on its head. A study published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal suggests instead that heart disease death rates in women progress in an orderly rate as women age and are unlikely to be greatly influenced by hormones. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine looked at death statistics from people in England, Wales and the United States born from 1916 to 1945.

Soy tablets do little to stave off bone loss among menopausal women, according to new research.  Women taking soy supplements also reported more hot flashes andconstipation. After the landmark Women's Health Initiative showed that hormone replacement therapy carried health risks , many women gravitated toward soy products as a safer alternative because soy is rich in isoflavones, so-called “dietary estrogens.” Western women were also encouraged by studies that showed that their Asian counterparts, who eat a soy-rich diet, have lower rates of bone fractures, breast cancer andcardiovascular disease.

An early menopause is often in store for women under age 40 who have chemotherapy for breast cancer. Women can choose to have some eggs removed in advance of the treatment in order to preserve some chance of having a baby later, but that can be a difficult and complicated process. Now, however, there may be a medication to treat these women to avoid premature menopause. A study published Tuesday found a drug called triptorelin (a hormone analogue, which mimics the actions of a hormone)

With warnings that hormone replacement therapy may be unsafe for long-term use, women are turning to natural remedies for relief from menopausal symptoms. The most popular supplement, an herb called black cohosh, was used by Native Americans for kidney ailments, malaria and women's reproductive problems. White American settlers learned of it in the 1800s; it was the key mystery ingredient in the popular, turn-of-the-century Vegetable Compound tonic.

Some women may have rejoiced at the news that hot flashes early in menopause might be a good thing for their hearts. Sufferers would like to think there could be a healthy upside. But the study published Thursday in the journal Menopause doesn't explain what might be causing the link, suggesting only an association. That means more research is needed. And in the meantime, some women are just plain stuck with hot flashes -- no matter when they occur. RELATED: Hot flashes at menopause may signal a lower risk for heart attacks and stroke But we're here for those women, with helpful advice from WomensHealth.

As if wrinkles weren't enough to worry about: Deepening smile lines and crow's feet just might indicate weak bones, a risk for future fractures, new research suggests. The study that led to such a conclusion hasn't been published yet, and an association is far from proven, but that's the early supposition from Yale University researchers. They peered at wrinkles on the faces and necks of 114 post-menopausal women and compared them to bone mass and density from X-ray and ultrasound measurements.

A drug already used to treat breast cancer can reduce the risk of tumors in high- and moderate-risk post-menopausal women by 65% over a three-year period, researchers reported Saturday. Two other drugs are already approved for reducing the risk of breast tumors in healthy women: Generic tamoxifen reduces the risk by 50% over a five-year period and raloxifene (Evista) reduces the risk by 38% over a similar period. But both drugs are associated with an increased risk of potentially fatal uterine cancer and blood clots.