Women and men have many of the same health problems, but they can affect women differently. For example, women may have different symptoms of heart disease. Some diseases or conditions are more common in women, such as osteoarthritis, obesity and depression. And some conditions, such as menopause and pregnancy, are unique to women.

Women sometimes neglect their own health and focus instead on their partner's and their children's. Take care of yourself first!

The most important things to stay healthy are:

• Exercise daily
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet, low in saturated fats
• Have at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day
• Do not smoke
• Follow cancer prevention guidelines (for lifestyle and for cancer screening)
  
  

Ongoing tests you may want to speak to your QLMC doctor about:

• Cardiovascular Screening
• Colorectal cancers screening
• Mammography – breast cancer screen
• Flu Shot
• Bone mass measurement
• Diabetes screen (if you have symptoms)
• Glaucoma
• Hypertension screening
• Cholesterol and blood screens
• Body Mass Index analysis (BMI)
• Nutritional counseling

MENOPAUSE

Menopause is the time in a woman's life when her period stops. It usually occurs naturally, most often after age 45. Menopause happens because the woman's ovaries stop producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone. A woman has reached menopause when she has not had a period for one year. Changes and symptoms can start several years earlier.

They include:

• A change in periods -shorter or longer, lighter or heavier, with more or less time in between.
• Hot flashes and/or night sweats
• Trouble sleeping
• Vaginal dryness
• Mood swings
• Trouble focusing
• Less hair on head, more on face

FEMALE HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

During perimenopause, the months or years right before menopause, levels of two female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, in a woman’s body go up and down irregularly. This happens as the ovaries struggle to keep up with the needs of an aging woman’s body. The symptoms of menopause might result from these changing hormone levels. After menopause, when a woman’s ovaries make much less estrogen and progesterone, the symptoms of menopause may continue. Bioidentical and other menopausal hormone therapy may help control these symptoms.



OSTEOPOROSIS

Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by the loss of normal bone density, resulting in fragile bone. This disorder of the skeleton weakens the bone causing increased risk of bone fracture.

The spine, hips, and wrists are common areas of bone fractures from osteoporosis, although osteoporosis-related fractures can also occur in almost any skeletal bone.

In the United States, 44 million people have low bone density. This amounts to 55% of the U.S. population 50 years-old and over. Twenty percent of those who experience a hip fracture will die in the year following the fracture. Only one-third of hip fracture patients regain their pre-fracture level of function.