menopause: some issues
A few days ago i was invited to dinner by a good friend. She is 62, and told me that she was having a “period” which means she was hemorrhaging vaginally. She is still on HRT which most women abandoned about 5 years ago, after a study confirmed risks of heart attack from continuing this regimen. Yes; HRT keeps your skin and hair looking wonderful. But is that as important as staying alive? Most women don’t think so. there are other ways to age gracefully…
 I find it unconsciounable that her physician continues to prescribe HRT.
In addition, she had very firmly swollen legs, that, to me, suggest a fluid and electroyte imbalance, or even a possible blood clot.  Why is her provider simply telling her to get exercise and walk to cope with this? I encouraged her to keep her legs elevated as much as possible, even on pillows while sleeping. And I kept reiterating that she was not having a “period”, but rather hemorrhaging. She needed to see her provider as soon as possible. But how competant is her provider?
 Prescribing drugs has taken the place of looking holistically at a person and his or her health care needs. This current trend, thanks to television advertising, is such a contrast, to the holistic health care movement of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. No; we are not going backward in time, just “progressing” into a world where heatlh care is drug industry dominated.
Where do we go from here? And shouldn’t we FINALLY take a hard look at health care change proposals in the next presidential election? This is talked about at every election, but no one has suggested a viable alternative, nor followed up on any visions that were had.
 Where do we go from here?