Menopause Health Passport

We help you skip the misunderstanding of "what others say about menopause" and spend this special period smoothly at the lowest cost, with less suffering and less pitfalls.

Last week, I met 48-year-old Sister Zhang in the outpatient clinic. She was carrying a wrinkled soft-cover book. She flipped it open and memorized half of it: I woke up at 3 a.m. on Monday with hot flashes and sweating. Sister Wang next door said that taking soy isoflavones is useful, and the Internet also said that eating this will cause nodules.； I had a fight with my husband on Wednesday, and I couldn't control my irritation. My daughter said that I was just looking for trouble... She piled all the information she could find, suggestions from others, and her own discomfort together. The more she read, the more panicked she became, and the more panicked she became, the worse her symptoms became. In fact, her little notebook, with a little tidying up, turned out to be the prototype of a "health passport" that was most suitable for her.

When talking about this, someone must ask, what should be recorded in this passport? You can't write blindly, right? There really aren’t that many rules. You can use a small notebook that you usually use to keep accounts, or a memo on your mobile phone. It doesn’t even matter if it’s full of stickers or graffiti. Careful people can keep a clear record of daily symptom attacks - for example, today I had three hot flashes, each lasted for 2 minutes, and I drank a glass of iced Americano just before the attack. After half a month, you will be able to figure out the pattern yourself. If you drink less iced coffee next time, you may be able to avoid it several times. For those who find it troublesome, it’s easier, just remember the “mistake record” and “valid record”: I tried the 99 yuan ovarian maintenance essential oil, and I had allergies and itchiness for 3 days. I made a big cross and will never buy it again. ； After dancing Ba Duanjin for a week, the time to fall asleep was 20 minutes earlier at night, so I put a red checkmark on it and fixed it in my daily schedule from now on. Oh, by the way, don’t forget to cut out and paste the key indicators of the annual gynecological examination report and breast ultrasound report, as well as the suggestions given by different doctors. Take it out next time you visit another hospital, and it will be much clearer than dictating it for half a day.

When it comes to intervention programs, we cannot avoid the most entangled issue of hormone supplementation for menopausal people. This is also the most controversial point in the academic community. The mainstream view of Western medicine in obstetrics and gynecology is that as long as you are in the window period of "within 10 years of menopause and younger than 60 years old" and there are no contraindications such as unexplained vaginal bleeding, breast cancer history, active venous thrombosis, etc., you can follow the doctor's advice to supplement menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). ), the benefits of relieving hot flashes and night sweats and improving bone density far outweigh the risks. There is a 52-year-old patient around me who has hot flashes so severe that he has more than a dozen times a day. All non-drug methods have been tried to no avail. After three months of hormone supplementation, he simply said, "I feel like I am alive." However, traditional Chinese medicine and natural therapy schools also have their own logic: many people's symptoms are not serious and do not need to take medicine at all. They can get through it smoothly by adjusting their physique through syndrome differentiation, adjusting their work and rest diet, and practicing mindfulness and relaxation. I met Aunt Li a while ago. She has a family history of breast cancer and has type 3 breast nodules. She does not dare to take hormones. She consulted a traditional Chinese medicine doctor for three months and cooperated with jogging for half an hour every morning. Now the symptoms of hot flashes have basically disappeared and her sleep has become much more stable. There is no distinction between these two plans. If you try it yourself and you are comfortable and your physical examination indicators are OK, you can write it into your passport as an "exclusive plan". There is no need to compare with others.

In the 6 years I have been doing gynecology missionary work, I have seen too many women regard menopause as a "shameful thing", and they still bear it even though they are extremely uncomfortable, thinking that they are "hypocritical". This passport also has a hidden magical effect: one day if you can't explain your discomfort to your family, just take it out and show it to them. You have insomnia until 3 o'clock for 12 days in half a month, and you are inexplicably irritable five times a week. It's not that you have a bad temper, but your body is really sending out signals, which can reduce unnecessary family conflicts. A previous patient even wrote down the signs of getting angry every time. Later, when he felt tightness in his chest and sweaty palms, he knew it was hormone fluctuations. He went to the balcony and stood for two minutes to take deep breaths, and the number of quarrels he had with his daughter was reduced by more than half.

In fact, this passport has never had a unified template, nor does it require you to fill in the standard answers. The effective prescriptions used by others may not work for you. The hormones that others avoid may just solve your problem. In the final analysis, menopause is not a "sign of aging", nor is it a downhill road in your life. It is just a different stage of your body. To put it bluntly, this passport is a "passport" you give yourself - you don't have to force yourself to "get through it" or force yourself to meet other people's expectations. Your feelings are always the first criterion for judgment. You can remember whatever you want, whatever feels comfortable, that's enough.