..(What about the missing T...the first one ?)
We in India, often ape everything that the developed world does, albeit, with a time lag.
Menopause , per se, has really been the same throughout the ages. What has really changed is the external environment, in which women now spend, what should really be their childbearing and later on, carefree years.
- Effort saving work aids, while saving time in the daily rush, have discouraged women from certain types of natural stretching,bending, crunching, twisting actions, that were possible in a slow buffered way. Its now fashionable to do the same things in , a gym, where everything is all crunched up in a short period of time. Maybe our bodies are not happy with it.
- Television, "smart marketing", and an unfortunate understanding of consumer psychology, has lead to a huge emphasis on looks. Women now in their 50's have spent the last 10-15 years being bombarded with information on beauty, wrinkles, antiageing strategies, and ideas that are supposed to make them look 15 years younger at all times !
- An increasing working female population , particularly in Indian urban areas, has been a wonderland for those marketing convenience foods . Monosodium glutamate, phosphoric acid, saturated fats, all doing their best to ensure that the women are not deprived of status diseases like diabetes, angina, osteoporosis etc.
Enter HRT.
Earlier, its not as if women did not have menopause. They did. What they did not have, was all those additives in food, all those estrogen compunds in plastic containers that we use today, but they had a natural lifestyle, more in consonance with their bodies . One accepted ageing gracefully, and that was a built -in way of handling stress.
Today, everywoman wants to look 30, doesnt matter if it means injecting toxins to soothe the wrinkles, swallowing hormones to convince the public that "looking young" is one of her "natural" qualities.
What has really happened is that due to all these pressures, mental illnesses have increased, and everyone has a quick fix fotr that. Take medicines. For depression. For anxiety. For excessive anger. etc. etc.
So, WELCOME to the HORMONE GOULASH !
You've succeesded in messing up your hormones. Your body, which is such a finely tunable hormone based machine, gives up and your hormones act up.
The Thyroid, which is really the "tempo" at which your body machine runs, needs an overhaul.
Unfortunately , a lot of thyroid malfunction symptoms are mistaken for menopause symptoms; and HRT is gleefully prescribed. Barring some exceptions, doctors dont like to be questioned. And so you go deeper and deeper into the hormonal abyss.
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) put out a wonderful report in 1999, concerning Menopause and Thyroid, and they called it "the Missing T in HRT".
If you are woman, or concerned about the welfare of one, read it HERE .
To read about the fine differences about menopause and thyroid symptoms , click HERE
REMEMBER :* Women are five to eight times more likely than men to suffer from thyroid disease.
* Incidence of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) increases with age, with peak onset occurring between the ages of 35 and 60.
* An estimated 1 in 3 women over age 40 on hormone replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause continue to experience mood swings, depression and sleep disturbances - signs which indicate that an underlying thyroid problem may be present.
* Left undetected and untreated, thyroid disease can lead to serious long-term complications such as osteoporosis and elevated cholesterol levels, which can increase the risk for heart disease.
* Women need to request a thyroid function test at least once during menopause to avoid being medicated with estrogen replacement when the real need may be thyroid hormone replacement. AACE recommends that all women over 40 have a TSH test since studies have shown that 10 percent of women in this age group have undiagnosed thyroid disease.
