Most women over 50 have a hot-flash story to tell.So begins Newsweek writers Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert's new book Is It Hot in Here? Or Is It Me? (Workman Publishing Company, 2006).The authors tell the story of a 40-something friend who made a stop at a convenience store to pick up a drink for her teenage son. When she went to the counter to pay, she became dizzy, nauseated and felt an intense heat all over her body. She sat down in the car, hoping the sensation would pass, but it didn't. Panicked, she told her son to call 911. She thought she was having a heart attack.Just as she heard the sirens of the ambulance, her dizziness and nausea went away and that heat was replaced by sweat. Then it hit her -- she was having her first hot flash. She later told friends that after an awkward explanation to the emergency medical technicians, she knew the only thing she was dying of was embarrassment.Dr. Terry Zanovich, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Tulsa OBGYN Associates, hears hot flash stories every day -- from women who are having their first to women who wonder when they will stop and even from women who wonder why they haven't had any at all.The concern over hot flashes has to do with the physical discomfort, of course, but also about the broader question: "Does this mean I'm in menopause?"
Zanovich said the average age for a woman to stop having her period is 51. But a missed period isn't the only sign of menopause, and age 51 isn't a magic number.
"Even before and after a missed period, there is a long period of time where a change is going on," Zanovich said. "Just the other day, I had two women who were 58 and still having monthly periods and another woman, that same day, who was 36 and had completely stopped her periods."
That's why Zanovich says he's reluctant to offer one answer to the question of how to best get through menopause.
"Just about the time I think I've figured out women, I find out something different," he said. "In every patient I've ever taken care of, I have to individualize my treatment."
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