HOUSTON – The purpose of October 18 is to raise awareness of options available for improving health and well-being during midlife.
Some common symptoms of menopause include:
- Fatigue
- Incontinence
- Insomnia
- Hot flashes
That’s just scratching the surface for some women though, who, contrary to prior beliefs, start experiencing symptoms as early as their 30s.
“You can be getting symptoms in your 30s, definitely in your 40s and then in your 50s and 60s,” said Dr. Kathleen Jordan, Chief Medical Officer at MIDI. “You get skin and hair changes, you get hair thinning, you tip into pre-diabetes, your your metabolism changes. So your insulin sensitivity worsens. You start to gain central weight... I think a misperception sometimes on clinician’s part, but definitely on women’s part is that you have to wait for full menopause to get care and that is definitely not true, and I think a lot of women in their 40s suffer unnecessarily.”
Midi is a virtual Teladoc service specifically for menopausal women.
“What we were seeing in Houston, as well as the national market, is that women can’t access the health care there. It’s too often restricted to high-end cash pay services or you have your long waits,” Dr. Jordan explained. “So, Memorial Hermann recognized that, as did we, which is why MIDI really was created. So, what we do is we make it really easy for women to access the care. It’s an insurance covered platform. So, use your insurance just like you do going to the doctor’s office. You get in quickly. We actually get you going on your health care. We can order tests. You need labs, x-rays and Memorial Hermann then helps us deliver on those and they deliver in-person care when needed.”
Texas Children’s Hospital also has a Menopause Center
- Joint pain?
- Weight gain?
- Depression?
- It’s not in your head. They’re symptoms just as common as hot flashes.
Treatment is available
With specialties from dietitians on staff to help manage symptoms to researchers studying how menopause will impact your long-term health, the Menopause Center helps walk women through treatment.
Health complications that increase after menopause:
- Cognitive decline
- Cardiovascular diseases
Cardiologist Dr. Stefanie Coulter from the Texas Heart Institute stresses that seeking treatment is critical since your risk factors for dangerous health complications like heart disease increases as menopause starts.
“You have to know what your cardiovascular risks are and you have to address them head-on,” Dr. Coulter said. “So if it’s insulin resistance, if it’s hypertension, if it’s hyperlipidemia, if you have diabetes, those risks and disease entities need to be aggressively modified and treated such that the blood pressure is 120 over 80. The LDL remains under at least a hundred, optimal for my world, 50 to 70.”
