GENERICO.ruНаука"That's not how they treat." Scientists debunk myths about women's health

«That's not how they treat.» Scientists debunk myths about women's health

MOSCOW, March 7, Tatyana Pichugina.There is more and more evidence in favor of the fact that medicine misinterprets one of the most important processes in the life of every woman. It is treated as a disease and is treated with unsafe drugs, as it turns out. About what the new study showed, see the material .

Female share

A woman is born with a certain number of ovarian follicles containing eggs. With each menstrual cycle their number decreases. When it reaches a critical point, ovulation becomes irregular and then disappears. It is no longer possible to conceive naturally. The decline of reproductive function is called menopause.

It usually occurs at the age of 51 years. But not suddenly — there are initial, transitional and subsequent stages, which last several years.

There are about a billion women in menopause in the world. In about a tenth, it is premature — due to cancer treatment or for other reasons. Hormonal changes are accompanied by many symptoms. The most common are bleeding, hot flashes, night sweats.
The most dangerous consequence of menopause is a decrease in bone density, which leads to fractures. This disease is called osteoporosis. There is no clear evidence that during menopause the risk of diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular diseases is higher. Conflicting results about increased weight gain.

In developed countries, this natural process is presented as a disease that requires treatment. Society has a negative attitude towards women in menopause. Literally a common meme: anxious, contentious, whiny. The roots of this stereotype go back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the French psychiatrist de Gardan introduced the term “menopause” and called this condition “hysteria, or nervous disease of the uterus.”

In 1959, American doctors Cooperman, Wetchler and Blatt wrote about menopause as a “rather unpleasant and possibly dangerous” period. To determine the psychological state of women, they developed a special questionnaire. With its help, you can identify certain problems, but in general, this questionnaire helped to strengthen the opinion about mental disorders during menopause.
“This is an old prejudice that is found in the media and even scientific articles. People are intimidated — they say that menopause doubles the risk of depression, anxiety, paranoia, psychosis, suicidal thoughts increase. The British Guardian newspaper published an article in January entitled “Not just hot flashes: how menopause can wreak havoc on mental health,” says Lydia Brown, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne.
Scientists analyzed studies examining the connection between menopause and mental health problems. As it turns out, there are only 12 such studies, and only two talk about depressive symptoms The results are contradictory, and most often they are obtained on small samples.
However, risks still exist. Firstly, gender itself: women are diagnosed with depression twice as often as men, why is not yet clear. Secondly, there are predisposing factors: depression in the past, difficult childhood, stress, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, neurotic personality traits.

Menopause is not a disease

The Lancet has published a series of articles challenging popular myths and misconceptions about menopause. The authors are scientists from around the world, led by Australians.

«In developed countries, menopause is considered a medical problem and is sometimes viewed as a hormone deficiency syndrome with typical symptoms and long-term health risks, which is preferably treated with hormone replacement therapy.» , the researchers write.
In their opinion, in practice this approach faces many difficulties. Women experience this condition very differently, and symptoms change over time. It is impossible to prove that health risks are associated specifically with menopause, and not with the aging of the body. There is very little data on the health effects of early or premature menopause. Of course, it is necessary to turn to doctors for help, but it happens that this disorients the patient, leads to unnecessary prescriptions and a one-sided understanding of the process.

«It is a common misconception that menopause brings with it physical and mental decline. In fact, the opposite is true: many women benefit during and after this stage, working, caring for family and community,” says Martha Hickey from the University of Melbourne and the Royal Infirmary.

Medicine came to grips with this issue at the beginning of the 20th century, based on ideas about the balance of the hormone estrogen, which determines the female essence. It was believed that the variety of mental and physical disorders of the body can be explained by hormonal imbalance. Doctors have decided that a lack of estrogen is definitely harmful, and the consequences of menopause can be sad: alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, broken families.
Then the first drugs made from animal extracts appeared. Estrogens were prescribed to treat childlessness, pregnancy complications, psychosis, and depression. After the 1940s, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was made from the urine of pregnant mares for “unbalanced, estrogen-deficient women.” This helped, and soon large pharmaceutical businesses became interested in the direction. By the mid-1960s, a third of older women were taking HRT.
At the beginning of the 2000s, data appeared about increased risks of breast cancer, heart disease, and strokes while taking hormonal drugs to relieve symptoms during menopause. Enthusiasm has faded, and prescriptions for such medications have become less frequent. However, in recent years the situation has changed. Thus, in the UK, from 2020 to 2022, HRT prescriptions increased by 60 percent, especially in wealthy regions of the country. Scientists attribute this to increased media attention to the problem.

Meanwhile, caution remains. A recent study linking HRT to dementia has generated a lot of buzz. Danish scientists analyzed data on 5.5 thousand women who were diagnosed with dementia in 2000-2018, and compared each case with ten mentally healthy women of the same age. It turned out that problems were more often diagnosed in those who took hormonal drugs during menopause: 12 percent versus ten.

However, it is unclear which is the cause and which the effect. As the authors point out, other factors that worsen the condition during menopause and lead to the need to take HRT may predispose to dementia. The study showed several commonalities in the group—many were low-income, poorly educated, and had diabetes. This also introduces uncertainty into the results.
All this encourages scientists to look for other methods of accompanying women after fifty. No one drug is effective against all manifestations of menopause, the authors emphasize. Hormonal drugs have some advantages, but there are alternative methods, psychotherapy. Ultimately, changing your lifestyle and giving up bad habits can make a difference. As the authors of the study write, women should have a choice free from stereotypes.

ОСТАВЬТЕ ОТВЕТ

Пожалуйста, введите ваш комментарий!
пожалуйста, введите ваше имя здесь

Последнее в категории