menopause..big market, big business, women getting the shaft
May 3, 2006 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
Study Finds Few Therapies Work Well on Hot Flashes - New York Times
By DENISE GRADY
Published: May 3, 2006
For women who want a drug to ease menopausal hot flashes but do not want to take hormones, certain antidepressants and other medicines may help, researchers are reporting. But those medicines have side effects, little is known about whether it is safe to take them for a long time and they do not work as well as hormones.
My take...start all over. Forget the previous studies on hormone therapy. One week they are valid, the next week they are not. Then it was 'replace HRT with anti-depressants'. Now those are 'out'..at least this week. The latest attack is against BHRT (bio-identical HRT) made of natural compounds. And guess who is attacking in an attempt to stop compounding pharmacies from filling BHRT prescriptions..Wyeth! So what is the advice? Oh yeah...hot flashes and miserable menopausal symptoms are 'natural'.
"We hate to medicalize a natural process," Dr. Nelson said, but she added that severe symptoms should not be dismissed. "We want to take it seriously, but not everybody needs to be on prescription drugs for it."
My response: its up to the individual - especially those who work in a youth-culture work environment which is the plight of many businesswomen. Going broke (or worse) because you can't compete in the workplace with younger workers is NOT NATURAL!). And what about Viagra?
Ads for impotence drugs get new focus
By Associated Press | May 3, 2006
Levitra and Viagra now have new campaigns that forgo the provocative, depicting erectile dysfunction as a medical condition, not simply a lifestyle concern.
Men have choice about their 'natural process'..women should not relinquish theirs.