And now for something completely different…

Cleaner water means longer life….and more hot flashes.

Seriously though, did you now that the World Health Organization estimates that unsafe water and inadequate sanitation kills some two million people annually, mostly children under the age of five? What’s more, over a billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water?

Chlorination of drinking water here in the U.S. is one of the most significant public health advances, says the Centers for Disease Control. Not only has it virtually wiped out waterborne diseases but it’s also extended Americans’ life expectancy from 47 years of age in 1900, to 78 years of age in 2006.

In honor of the American Chemistry Association’s 100th Anniversary celebration of chlorination, let’s raise a clean glass and say cheers! And then maybe give ‘em a few jeers; afterall, an increase in life expectancy means we’re all living longer (and longer through those menopausal years)!

Seriously though, we’re pretty lucky to have clean drinking water. Even when we’re sweating and swinging.

Wednesday Bubble: No Pain, No!

Does menopause increase lower back pain?

Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical. when I read this So, I dug a little deeper to see if data support recent findings that suggest that lower back back is more common before than after menopause.

In the study, which was published in the September 4 advanced online edition of the journal Menopause. Australian researchers estimated the prevalence of back pain, as well as its intensity and related degree of disability in 506 local women via questionnaire. Demographic data  (i.e. menopause, relationship and employment status) were also collected.

The findings showed that more that 90% of participants had experienced low back pain, either during the previous 12 months (~75%) or at the time they filled out the questionnaire (~22%). Compared to pre- and perimenopausal women, 73% of postmenopausal women reported having high-intensity pain and 84%, a high level of disability.  A high body mass index and current pain were factors that were significant predictors of both.

In another study, published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, researchers examined the association between self-reported menopausal status and musculoskeletal pain in 2,218 women participating in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. Not only did they find that 1 in 6 participants reported daily pain symptoms, but, postmenopausal women reported significantly more aches and pains that premenopausal women, even after adjusting for risk factors.

The reason? Estrogen, of course!

In a large study published in the journal Spine in 2006, researchers from the Netherlands evaluated information collected from 11,428 women, ages 20 to 59. Their goal was to examine how hormonal and reproductive factors might influence chronic lower back and upper extremity pain.

Results showed that factors relating to increased estrogen levels were especially likely to increase the risk of chronic lower back pain in particular. These factors included past pregnancy, young maternal age at first birth, duration of oral contraceptive use and use of estrogens during menopause. Importantly, these findings remained even after adjusting for age, education, working status, smoking, and overweight.

Steps you can take now

Exercise, stretching and core conditioning have all be shown to improve and keep back muscles strong. I plan on devoting another post to back strengthening exercises as I believe that it’s a topic worthy of full consideration. But in the interim, the North American Spine Society has an excellent overview of back strengthening strategies.

Of course, always check with a health professional before undertaking any major activity or change in regular routine, especially if you are already experiencing pain.

“Nature’s Great Emmenagogue”

E-men-a-gogue. n. A drug that induces menstrual flow.

I discovered this advertisement for McELREE’S Wine of Cardui in a publication called “Patent Medicine. The Golden Days of Quackery.” This particular ad reportedly ran in a newspaper in Virginia in 1900.

The Wine of Cardui was a leading medicine in the South at the turn of the century. If you click on the ad, you’ll see that the “change” that afflicts “elderly women” often leads to “dreadful diseases such as cancer and consumption.”

Fortunately, the Wine of Cardui (which btw, is based on a traditional Native American recipe), will “strengthen and purify the entire system and bring the sufferer safety over these pitfalls.” The sales pitch that accompanied this product was based on the the contention that because “the great spirit planted it, one could take it and be healed.”

All these benefits for only $1.

Say no more.

Carrying the Torch - Spanx A Lot L’eggs!

Who says that this blog has to be serious all the time?!

The other morning, Fighting Mad Mary posted a video featuring her friend GloZell (star of the You Tube series, ‘Ghetto Gossip’), trying to squeeze her frame into a pair of spanx capri. For those of you who are unfamiliar with spanx, it was clearly invented by a man because no sane woman would ever do that to another female.

Fellow blogger Gnightgirl, followed by blogger, friend, and sister-in-law Blanche, picked up the video yesterday. She is followed by BBFF Amy, and the challenge is on.

Sisters - who is going to carry the torch next? We all need to laugh as much as we need to cry. In this particular case, you may do both as you watch GloZell attempt to deal with the challenge at hand.

Spanx a lot L’eggs.

This one’s for you GloZell (and Mary and Lori and Wendy and Amy)!

Happy Friday!

The Top 100

News Flash!

Flashfree has been featured in the list of the Top 100 Women’s Health Blogs!

Check out the list; you may find some interesting and useful health tidbits in some of these sites!

Going Undercover

I’ve found that the more I flash or sweat, the less I want to wear. This is especially true in the evenings and in bed.

So, when I saw this article about bullet-resistant bras, I wondered about these poor German policewomen (at least the ones in menopause). Life-saving heat.

I’m telling you, it’s a field day for puns and bad jokes.

When Did This Happen?

I’ve engaged a 23-years-young vet tech to come over for the next week to give my Lily, my kitten, eye ointment because I can’t seem to accomplish this one little task. Okay, I’m a loser.

But more importantly, tonight, this cute woman and I started talking and she mentioned that her 52-year-old dad is free. Wow! In my head, I am only…30 at most? But I am old enough to be this woman’s mother and date her dad. WHAT?!

When did this happen?

Seems like I was dancing to the English Beat in a cow barn in Madison. Wisconsin with my roomie and her boyfriend only yesterday. But when I think about it, I was actually in meetings all day with a group of individuals younger than me, all of them, including the agency’s principals.

You are only as old as you feel.

Today, I am realizing that mid-life has entered hard and fast and I’ve not yet caught up.

What about you?

Up in Smoke

I remember the first time I had a cigarette. It was a Kool, purchased surreptitiously from the candy shop across the street from McKinley School. The year was 1969 and I was eight years old.

Yes, I said eight!

It used to be cool to smoke. My girlfriends and I would pretend we were in the teachers’ lounge (remember those?). By the time I got to college, I switched to clove cigarettes. And then afterwards, Marlboro Lights. I was up to a pack and a half a day by the time I stopped smoking. At the age of 30.

This means that I smoked, on and off, for 22 years.

At the age of 46, I had my first night sweat. I turned 47 this past May, and started to address my perimenopausal symptoms more seriously. And started this blog.

You may wonder why I’m sharing these intimate details of my covert and then overt smoking life.

Researchers say that first- and second-hand smoking not only increases the risk for death from heart disease and cancer, but may also significantly increase the risk for starting menopause at an earlier age (i.e., around age 45 rather than the average age of 51).

Data from a cross-section of 5,029 women aged 25 and older participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III have shown that women who were current smokers (as measured by self-reports and blood levels of nicotine) started menopause at a mean age of 47, while women in service industries who were exposed to nicotine in their jobs started menopause at a mean age of 46.

Black women who had been regularly exposed to cigarette smoke had 12 times the odds of other racial groups of an earlier menopause age compared with smokers and nonsmokers who had not had any exposure. The investigators attributed this significantly increased risk among Black women to the body’s inability to clear nicotine from the blood as quickly as their peers.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that women in the workplace who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for many of the same diseases as smokers. They’ve now added early menopause to this list.

What is less clear, however, is the risk for “former smokers,” since they were taken out of the analyses.

Makes you wonder if many of us who are former smokers or were exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis in our homes (a good percentage of women our age, as my sister in law pointed out), are at a higher risk as well.

Sort of like poster children, right?

A bit of wisdom goes a long way

I went up to Philly to visit an old friend this weekend. She turned me on to this book, a pretty amazing overview of menopause. What I like most about it is that its author, Dr. Christine Northrup, is an MD who isn’t afraid of holistic and Chinese medicine. Personally, I’m fortunate because my gyno is open to alternative medicine and in fact, recommended topical progesterone before my acupuncturist did. But not every MD is well-versed in East meets West and as a result, many patients are short-changed on strategies that might help them.

If you are looking for an alternative path, check out the book. It’s definitely a must-see.

Doopid

Does menopause make you stupid? Or worse than stupid; i.e. what my ex and I used to call “doopid.”

In my battle against the bulge, my quest against cellulite, my desire to appear younger…well, I guess that I fell for the hype. I bought a new firming gel with “intelligent ingredients,” i.e. they utilize a breakthrough process to reduce the appearance of cellulite dimples.  Touting itself as a “firmaceutical,” this gel evidently interacts with the skin’s surface to target the underlying causes of cellulite. AND IT’S ONLY $3.95 (to cover shipping).

Yet, here’s the rub (no pun intended)!. I received the product and then read the fine print. I get to try it for 30 days, after which time, I will be billed the discounted price of $89.95 and then $44.97 per month thereafter. And, it comes with special supplements to boots the product’s effectiveness. WHAT?! If, during the 30-day period, I don’t see any changes; well, I can return the unused portion.

Sigh. Am I really that doopid? I’m in advertising. I write medical copy. I report on medical studies. Heck, I have spent years educating doctors on diseases. And yet, the promise of smoother, dimple-free skin got me hook, line and sinker.

Doopid!