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Health Issues

  • Help for Anovulatory Androgen Excess (AAE)—Challenge PCOS!

    Dr. Jerilynn Prior is a Professor and physician at the University of British Columbia and Celeste Wincapaw is a Vancouver woman and member of the Community Advisory Council for the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research. Because Celeste is interested for personal reasons and has questions about “polycystic ovary syndrome” (also called PCOS but…

  • Depo Provera and Osteoporosis

    I’ve been using Depo Provera and am feeling fine. I started Depo in high school after a surprise pregnancy—I couldn’t remember to take my Pill. Should I be worried about osteoporosis? I still need protection. I am 23, active and healthy, a bit on the heavy side and have no family history of osteoporosis.

  • Exercise and Skipped Periods

    I’ve been on the track and field team at my high school for several years but only recently started running the 10 kilometre races. Although I got my period when I was 14 and my cycles have been somewhat irregular, I’ve not totally skipped periods until recently. My mother got worried and took me to the doctor. She checked me carefully, did a blood test for the pituitary hormones prolactin and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) that were normal, and said I seemed healthy. However, she also said that I should stop training until my periods became normal again. I don’t want to stop running. Do you think I have to?

  • Is the use of non-natural medroxyprogesterone what makes HRT bad?

    I don’t think there is any problem with use of HRT as long as the natural estrogen (E2) is balanced with natural progesterone. What do you think? My feeling has always been that the “bad” things reported, supposedly because of HRT, even when E2 is used, are caused by the use of progestin. One can obtain progesterone easily enough, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

  • Lost Periods Due to Stress

    I am 28 years old and I haven’t menstruated for 3.5 years… I believe due to stress. Chinese herbs haven’t worked, nor vitamin supplements. I haven’t tried hormone replacements. My doctor has measured pituitary hormones, my CT scan of the pituitary is normal and my ovaries haven’t gone into menopause. What should I do?

  • Progesterone Adds to the Positive Bone Effects of Estrogen/Etidronate

    I saw you on Shaw TV last September and want to say “thanks” for such an informative and helpful presentation. I have been a fan of yours for a number of years, ever since I heard you at a seminar at Royal Columbian, when I was beginning perimenopause. I found your symptoms “diary” most helpful and have shared it with many of my friends over the years.

    Being a nurse I always seem to end up checking the pathophysiology of things before I accept them as beneficial to me, and of course menopause was no exception. I heard Dr. John Lee speak about the time I was considering hormone therapy. In 1998 I chose to start on a cream of natural progesterone (50 mg a day). I had to first convince my GP I did not want synthetics if a hormone identical to what I had made for 40 years was available! The reason for hormone therapy was to hopefully ward off osteoporosis because of a strong family history, a congenital abnormality of my back, and BMD showing osteopenia with osteoporosis of one vertebra. I have never looked back. But I did not get a rise in BD as I hoped; after 2 years it stayed much the same. So for the last year I have had estrogen added (as a cream, TriEst 2.5 mg, a natural combination of estrogens).

    My bargain with my GP was that if I had no increase after one year I would agree to start a bisphosphonate. My quandary is that at age 58, three years post last period, should I need to go there? I would rather not take Didrocal® because it doesn’t cause a BMD increase, or Fosamax®.

    Are there any better, safer alternatives coming along? Is a year long enough to evaluate the benefit of being on a combination of estrogen and progesterone?

  • Should I stop checking my own breasts?

    I’m confused and more than a bit bothered! I’m a menopausal woman with a family history of breast cancer. For years I’ve been told (ordered would be more accurate!) to check my breasts each month. Recently, however, I heard some cancer specialist on the news saying I shouldn’t bother. What’s going on? Why the change in recommendations? And most of all: do you think I should stop checking my breasts?

  • What is Effective and Safe for Night Sweats in Women with Breast Cancer?

    I’m 47 and wringing the sheets every night with hot flushes. I went into menopause early because of chemotherapy for breast cancer and then had surgery to take out my uterus and ovaries because I have the bad gene (BRCA). I’m now taking the new drug that blocks estrogen production but is making my flushes worse. I’ve tried soymilk, tofu and all kinds of plant estrogens. I’m afraid of herbs because I’m told they may increase estrogen and therefore feed my cancer. And I’ve tried acupuncture-it helps about a week and then I need another treatment.

    Right now I’m fighting taking the newer anti-depressant my doctor prescribed-I’m not depressed. She says that medicine is what the Cancer Agency recommends for hot flushes. I asked my pharmacist and got a printout of its side effects-it causes sleep problems and loss of appetite. I already have them! And I’ve heard they are only likely to be 60-70% effective.

    My question is, can I try something that will help my night sweats without making me at risk my breast cancer will return? Or should I consider stopping the estrogen blocker-I don’t want to because, although it is making my flushes worse, it will prevent another bout of breast cancer. Or am I stuck feeling as wrung out as my sheets for the next dozen years?

  • What should I expect after early surgical menopause?

    I’m 47 and had my ovaries but not my uterus removed. However, following surgery I wasn’t told what to expect, if I needed to take hormones, or what I might experience. My GP was as vague as my gynecologist. I’m having 2-3 night sweats a week, my sleep is very interrupted and have 3-6 daytime hot flushes per week but all of these things are the same as before surgery. I even still have my usual libido and good vaginal lubrication. I thought I’d lose those with my ovaries. . . .