Women's Health Archive

Here are some signs of an alcohol use disorder — and ways to find the help you need if you suspect you're drinking too much.

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The thought of hangovers and binge drinking may conjure an image of a college-age student or a 20-something out on the town. But increasingly, those terms apply to people who probably look a lot like you.

Alcohol use problems often start innocently enough in older women. A problem may begin with a drink at night to combat insomnia, says Dr. Olivera Bogunovic, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. But then one drink turns into two, and a 9 p.m. cocktail turns into all-day drinking, she says.

The procedure can improve symptoms such as vaginal dryness, mild urinary incontinence, and discomfort during sex.

Many postmenopausal women suffer from a number of nagging symptoms, ranging from vaginal dryness and atrophy to mild urinary incontinence and pain with intercourse. Specialists refer to this collection of symptoms as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), which can result in general discomfort and a loss of sexual intimacy, says Dr. Roger Lefevre, an instructor in obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. You don't have to resign yourself to live the rest of your life in a state of perpetual discomfort, he says. Today there are multiple options — including laser treatments like those long used to rejuvenate skin on the face and body — that can help.

A laser, where?

Let's be honest: the thought of getting a laser treatment on the most sensitive and intimate part of your body might make you reflexively cross your legs. But the results of the three-minute treatment, which most women report causes only mild pain and discomfort (some say it feels like the snap of a rubber band), makes the procedure worthwhile for many women. The laser treatment activates the body's own healing mechanism by making a series of tiny holes in the tissue, which then stimulate the body to grow new tissue to heal these tiny wounds. The therapy is intended to boost collagen levels and elasticity. It can also increase the blood supply to the area, which can help restore lost sensation.

Ask the doctors

Q. Is there any way to tell if you are getting osteoporosis? Are there symptoms?

A. Osteoporosis is a disease that causes your bones to become weak and brittle and more likely to break. Unfortunately, you probably won't have any symptoms until the disease is advanced or you actually experience a fracture. However, there are two visible clues of osteoporosis: changes in your posture (such as a hunched-over appearance) and loss of height. Both of these changes may be caused when your spine becomes curved or compressed from weakness or tiny fractures (called compression fractures) in your vertebrae, the small bones that make up your spine.

It's called "weight bias," and even health care providers aren't immune.

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If you've ever delayed a doctor's appointment so you could lose a few pounds before your annual weigh-in, or hesitated to exercise in public because you felt self-conscious among a sea of hard-bodied gym goers, your weight may be affecting your health — but not in the way you might think.

Even if you're otherwise healthy, sometimes excess pounds bring increased health risks, especially if they keep you from following recommended health practices that offer protection over the long term.

As a group, men have nudged down their stroke numbers over the past decade. Why haven't women seen the same improvement?

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Men are less likely to have strokes than they were 10 years ago, but the risk for women has stayed about the same, according to a study of stroke data from Ohio and Kentucky, published online on August 21 by Neurology.

The question is, why?

"This study raises important concerns about the lack of decline in stroke rates in women," says Dr. Kathryn M. Rexrode, associate professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Women's Health at Harvard Medical School. Study authors suggested it's likely that better treatments for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, and a reduction in the number of people smoking helped to reduce the risk for men for having the most common type of stroke — ischemic stroke, which is typically caused by a clot that blocks blood flow to the brain. But women, who in theory should benefit from the same interventions, didn't see any improvement in their stroke rates over the study period.

All women, regardless of risk, should focus on preventing diabetes.

Can a blood test act as a crystal ball, alerting you to a health hazard that may await you down the road? Researchers say they've found one that may do just that for diabetes. It could help predict whether women — even ones with no other signs of the disease — may develop the condition in the future.

In a study published online June 21 by the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, researchers showed that in many cases, a test called lipoprotein insulin resistance (LPIR) did a better job, at predicting which women would go on to develop diabetes, says Dr. Samia Mora, one of the study authors and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In many cases, it was more accurate than traditional measures — such as

Experts says it's too early for alarm, but the findings provide another good reason to pay attention to oral health.

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Is gum disease linked to cancer? A study published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention suggests a tie between the two, finding that older women with gum disease had a higher risk for cancers of the breast, lung, and esophagus as well as melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

But it's not time to sound the alarm just yet, because while the study was published in a well-regarded journal, it had limitations that may have affected the results, says Alessandro Villa, instructor in oral medicine, infection, and immunity at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and associate surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Even so, he says, your oral health should still be a top priority because while it may be premature to say gum disease and cancer are linked, research has shown that gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, may increase the risk of heart disease and other health problems.

Challenging a long-held belief, a new study found that women who received epidural anesthesia during labor did not have prolonged labor or higher rates of cesarean births.