The New Middle Age

Woodbury

More than 35 million U.S. women age 45 to 55 are approaching or experiencing menopause; millions more age 55 and older are considered post-menopausal. For help with the aging process, women often turn to their doctors.

“We are advocates for our patients,” says Dr. Barbara Toppin, a partner at Adefris and Toppin Women’s Specialists in Woodbury. “We want them to be well and stay well, so before attempting any form of treatment, we determine just how significantly certain symptoms affect a patient’s quality of life.”

To alleviate the sometimes bothersome symptoms that accompany menopause, women may turn to hormone therapy. Not so fast, advises Dr. Toppin. “Hormone therapy for every patient is cookie cutter medicine,” she says. “Each woman experiences menopause differently. It just doesn’t make sense to address everyone with the same solution.”

For decades, doctors routinely eased the symptoms of peri- and post-menopause with hormone replacement therapy—synthetic medications containing female hormones that replaced the ones the body stopped making. It was widely believed that not only did hormone therapy relieve symptoms, it also was a simple remedy for aging, diminishing heart disease and osteoporosis by boosting estrogen levels after menopause.

Share this Article

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•