Managing Menopausal Symtoms
Posted 2/19/2012
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What would I do without all the resources of Living Beyond Breast Cancer? This is another wonderful transcript of an interview with Dr. Beverly Vaughn about managing menopausal symptoms--a topic of at least some interest for most of us. As we all know, breast cancer treatment can bring on an early menopause or can recreate some of the symptoms (especially hot flashes) of one thought to have ended. A chemically-indced menopause (meaning, caused suddenly by chemotherapy or hormonal therapy) may bring more intense symptoms than would a natural one. Of course, there is no way to do the comparison, as we each experience only one or the other. Older women, however, who have been through this phase of life often find that initiating a hormonal treatment brings up another whole round of hot flashes.
Here it is. I give you the beginning and then a link:
The Big "M": Managing Menopausal Symptoms
Beverly Vaughn, MD
BEVERLY VAUGHN, MD: Welcome. Hopefully this will be interesting and instructive for you.
... I think you need to live well beyond breast cancer, because quality of life for everyone is really central. It's important for your well-being. It's important for your health. It's important for your family. Menopause poses its own challenges, whether you're a breast cancer survivor or not. Menopause - people come into my office every day [saying], "Oh, my God. What is going on with me? Please help me." There may be certain things that are different and need to be approached differently in a breast cancer survivor, but there are a lot of things that ... are very similar. Some of my remarks will be general, and they will be appli- cable to you. Some of them will be more tailored to individ- uals who are breast cancer survivors. So, let's get started.
I wanted to start out with some basic definitions, because I think people get confused. Sometimes people will tell me, "I've had three hot flashes. I must be menopausal," or, "I had my last period three months ago. I must be menopausal." That's not quite true. Menopause is actually this definition: It's 12 months after you've had a period. So it's a retrospective. It's a look-back diagnosis.
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