Far from appreciating it as a negative phase in our life, the menopause should be considered as a great opportunity to address our health and our future general welfare.
It is an ideal time to broaden your expectations regarding health and well-being and the prevention of diseases related to the ageing process and how best to improve your general welfare. Ideally, one should begin a comprehensive Age Management program which utilizes hormone therapy alongside exercise, balanced nutrition, nutritional supplements, relaxation techniques, treatments designed to improve the quality of sleep of the patient and longitudinal follow-up consultations concerning your biomarkers…
Neolife medical management
The message for menopausal women should be one of optimism not negativity: most symptoms of the menopause can be treated and eliminated.
The advent of the menopause was considered to be something unavoidable. In general terms it was something that was adverse, undesirable and often associated with a decline in your health and well-being that manifested with seven classic symptoms:
- Hot flushes and night sweats.
- Vaginal dryness.
- Weight gain, especially in the abdominal region.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Altered moods (mood swings).
- Irregular periods or disappearance of periods.
- Decreased libido.
But not all women experience the transition to menopause in the same way. What for some is negative, is not so negative for others. What is clear is that for all women it is a magnificent opportunity to address health issues and help prevent future health issues.
The spectacular increase in longevity over the last 100 years has meant that women now live longer going through their menopause than their childbearing years. Therefore, there is a lot of life to experience beyond the ages of 47-53, which is the age at which menopause normally occurs. The menopausal transition is a milestone in the health and well-being of women that marks a before and after yet takes place over only a few months. The appearance of the seven classic symptoms are the beginning of a progressive decline typically associated with the ageing process.
But fortunately, not everything is lost. On the one hand, all of these symptoms, except the disappearance of menstruation, can now be treated and eliminated. And, on the other hand, this same treatment may be the beginning of a reversal, that is to say, an improvement in the general health and well-being of the patient that may be sustained for many years: increased insulin resistance, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, loss of bone mineral density, increased cardiovascular risk, sleep disorders… All of these medical conditions can be prevented with the adoption of a healthy lifestyle and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
Age Management Medicine and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy are the best ways to approach menopause.
The menopausal transition is a time when a woman returns to the doctor after several decades and requires treatment for the symptoms of the menopause which is a unique opportunity to take positive steps to prevent chronic diseases often associated with ageing.
Therefore, the approach to the menopause should not be limited to the treatment of the symptoms in isolation. The approach must go much further and motivate women to achieve much more than they have before in terms of their long-term health. It is a great moment to change and improve your lifestyle – whether this is through exercise, nutrition, quitting smoking, rest-relaxation or simply to adopt a new attitude towards life full of optimism. Some of the most avant-garde gynecologists have advised women that this is a great opportunity and have begun to incorporate Age Management Medicine protocols into their consultations and go beyond the basic treatment of the symptoms which manifest during the menopause. This is not surprising given the recent shift towards XXI Century Healthcare Paradigm; this includes Preventive, Proactive, Predictive and Personalized Medicine, that also occurs in other specialties such as urology (in relation to the andropause), cardiology (in those cases which relate to cardiovascular prevention), oncology (in relation to cancer prevention and improving the quality of life of cancer patients) and as such the approach has infiltrated almost all specialties within medicine. These are gynecologists who treat issues concerning cholesterol, quality of sleep, weight gain (overweight) or the sex life of their patients.
Most women are concerned about improving the symptoms they suffer during the menopause and are not so focused on preventing future health issues, but regardless of whether or not they are interested in staying thin, sexually active and physically fit, it is a great time to begin a healthy ageing program.
Unlike some of the other larger Age Management clinics in the US where the majority of patients are men, at Neolife nearly 50% of our patients are female. Many of them approach us at a time when they are transitioning towards the menopause so that we can treat the symptoms where they have not had much success with their usual gynecologist. As we have already stated, it is an ideal time to broaden your expectations regarding health and well-being and the prevention of diseases related to the ageing process and how best to improve your general welfare. Almost all opt for a comprehensive Age Management program which utilizes hormone therapy alongside a regimen of exercise, balanced nutrition, prescribed nutritional supplements, relaxation techniques, treatments designed to improve the quality of sleep of the patient and, what is more important, a follow-up on how treatment has managed the symptoms and the biomarkers for health and longevity. A program to continue doing it for the rest of your life.
Recommended reading: “I Want to Age like That! Healthy Aging through Midlife and Menopause”, Diana L. Bitner, MD, NCMP.