Hi their folks, hope you're keeping safe in the middle of another summer heatwave! Don't forget to look after your health and well-being. This blog will be reflective and yet as always, celebrate people with unique abilities, so I hope this week's blog will be interesting as usual.
In the wake of Dame Olivia Newton John’s untimely death, she was aged 73 and had breast cancer and gone into remission on and off for 30 years, and in 2017, she said it had gone into her spine and eventually it was terminal. (BBC news, Olivia Newton-John's cancer-research legacy - BBC News (2022).
However, we have certainly known the importance of regular mammograms and how important it is that women are properly armed with the tools to help them through perimenopause, menopause, and aftercare. This blog will focus on how people with unique abilities are helped and advised when going through the change and how they find it, and what more can be done.
According to Louise Newson, preparing for perimenopause and Menopause, (2021,) she has highlighted that in older forms of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), there were higher risks of breast cancer, though these days with regular tweaks, and the estrogen, progesterone and potentially testosterone being tailored to the woman's needs, HRT has far more benefits than risks, because these days, HRT is far more natural, and it is body identical HRT.
Several Facebook groups are available now to those of us with disabilities, one of which is called Balance Menopause. It talks in depth about the change, and it is a forum where people can go and interact and share their feelings and emotions.
We know that sometimes people with disabilities can start their perimenopause 5 years earlier than the average age which is around 45 years.
Some women can start even earlier. Those women who start their change before the age of 40, it is known as POI (Premature Ovarian Insufficiency,) regardless of whether they have a disability or not.
According to Welner, (2002,) Maximising the health of menopausal women with disabilities, even though we need to take note that the article is 20 years old and that Welner was studying those women in the USA, the article does make valid points. It states, “There are nearly 30 million women with disabilities in the United States. Of these, more than 16 million are over the age of 50. Years ago, women with disabilities did not commonly live to the age of menopause, and, if they did, they reached this stage of life in a very debilitating condition.
Now, women with disabilities are entering their mature years as active members of society who can look forward to productive futures. Because the health needs of women with disabilities might differ from those of other women, special attention should be focused on how physiological changes in perimenopausal and menopausal states affect this section of the population.
In addition to functional changes that might affect menopausal women with disabilities, basic health maintenance issues may be adversely affected by environmental factors. Physical barriers can influence compliance with preventive health screening which is essential in aging populations. Treatment options might need to be tailored to the individual.
The disabling condition itself may progress, resulting in secondary conditions requiring creative interventions. A comprehensive evaluation and the development of a suitable management plan, which takes into account the multifactorial nature of aging as a disabled woman, are essential in delivering optimal care to this population.
Louise Newson, (Menopausedoctor.com,) also gives some useful advice. She advises that the menopause society has a whole host of information about the change, talking more readily about it, busting myths surrounding HRT, and campaigns to open more menopause clinics.
If you type into a web search "menopause specialist" it will direct, you to the menopause society along with many other reputable places to get help. We know how hard campaigners such as Davina McCall and Carrol Vorderman have worked to spread awareness about the change, mental health, and the benefits of HRT.
In Louise Newson's book titled Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause, she gives some lifestyle tips on how you can help yourself years in advance of the change, and beyond. Eating well is essential. One example mentioned is simply putting flax seeds in with your breakfast cereal as your body is full of estrogenic receptors. Flax seeds can bind to these and help make night sweats less of a problem.
In conclusion, it is great that menopause is talked about more openly these days, and menopause clinics are more available. We don't need to feel embarrassed about talking about the change, since it will happen to us women eventually, and even those of us with unique abilities are just as keen to ask for help.
We're a strong powerful gender, so let's continue this trend by talking about and helping with the change!
We love to change lives and feel the vibes!
Keep sun safe everyone and see you next time!
By Sophia McKie - Head of Blind and DisABLED Development