Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt » Empowering Surge: Ask Your Questions about Women with Disabilities and Menopause

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Empowering Surge: Ask Your Questions about Women with Disabilities and Menopause

Filed under: Living with a disability — by Glenda at 1:51 pm on Monday, August 23, 2010

One perk by being a blogger is that I am receiving more and more press releases, announcements and offers of review copies in my inbox. Most get deleted; the occasional one I accept.

One press release that recently landed in my inbox caught my eye. The headline read:

Did you know that September is National Menopause Awareness Month?

Followed by the staggering statistics:

Over 6,000 women enter menopause every day in the US alone and by 2015, the number of menopausal women is expected to reach 1.7 billion!

Next came an invitation to interview two of the principles of the new documentary Hot Flash Havoc (warning: music auto-starts!): Executive Producer Heidi Houston and Alan Altman, M.D., a Gynecologist specializing in menopause and midlife sexuality.

I began thinking, â€œOf those 1.7 billion menopausal women, a sizable number will have various disabilities of varying degrees. After having one doctor dismiss my question about hormones, hereâ€™s an opportunity to ask some tough questions about women with disabilities, hormones and menopause!â€

Rather than hitting the delete button, I replied and asked â€œwhether the principles would be open to interview via email, discussing menopause and women with disabilities.â€ The response was resounding yes! Awesome!

So, Iâ€™d like to ask my readers, â€œWhat questions related to disabilities, hormones and menopause would you â€“ women with disabilities or chronic illnesses, loved ones of women with disabilities, and enlightened men â€“ like me to ask the Executive Producer and the Gynecologist?â€

Please leave your questions in the comment section below by Friday, September 3rd, 2010. Ask those burning questions, sisters!

The interview will be posted here mid-September.

Technorati Tags: women,disabilities,hormones,menopause,hot flashes

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Comment by Adelaide Dupont

August 23, 2010 @ 7:52 pm

I would like to ask some tough questions about menopause too, and perimenopause.

It’s not always reliable from your mother or grandmother, who might sometimes be the only ones to tell you something.

And there are probably effects from medications and alternative treatments.

What are the roles of dopamine, serotonin and norphrenine in menopause? Do we get more of them or less?

And also I would like to ask about pain and fatigue, as well as emotions.

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Comment by JJ

August 25, 2010 @ 5:29 am

Seems to me menopause is the same. With or without a disability. Does it really need this kind of attention?

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Comment by Glenda

August 25, 2010 @ 8:59 pm

Adelaide, great questions! I’ll add them to list.

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Comment by Glenda

August 25, 2010 @ 10:06 pm

JJ, is menopause the same for women with disabilities as for our sisters without disabilities? Good question.

When some doctors still dismiss hormonal-related questions from middle-aged women with disabilities; when the trailer for this groundbreaking documentary on menopause doesn’t include women with obvious disabilities and isn’t even captioned, then, yes, it’s time to bring attention to this topic. It’s time to include women with disabilities in the dialogue on menopause. Then we may begin to learn whether or not menopause is the same for all sisters.

With September being National Menopause Awareness Month, isn’t this a great opportunity to begin the dialogue?

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Comment by Adelaide Dupont

August 25, 2010 @ 10:38 pm

Certainly.

How much attention should be paid to before menopause?

There may well be patterns in the mid-20s and early 30s which suggest egg counting or rationing.

And I would also like to ask about contraception.

There is some form of interaction with brains and glands. In particular, the pituary gland and the thyroid.

The hypothamulus is very important, so there might well be changes in eating and drinking. And I would ask some pointed questions about the spinal cord, cerebellum and cerebrum (brain stem, of course).

And if there is a semi-reliable way to tell a panic attack, a heart attack and a hot flash!

I listened to something interesting about locusts and serotonin. And something about headaches, migraines and the way painkillers might interact.

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Comment by Teri Bellay

August 28, 2010 @ 1:13 pm

I am a behavior specialist who works with people diagnosed with mental illnes, mental retardation, and one in particular who is also diagnosed with cerebral palsy. What can we do to help with the mood swings that accompany hormone flucuation as they journey through the middle of their life in perimenopause and menopause. Are there diet changes, etc. that could be utilized to help. No one that I speak with seem to have any advice what so ever…

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Comment by Glenda

August 28, 2010 @ 2:35 pm

Great question, Teri! Thank you. I’ll add it to the list.

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