Test Yourself on Women’s Health
In our second piece in the Tasting Menu, you’ll find a link to a quiz on women’s health. We’d love to hear how you do.
And we are committed to raising all our scores on that subject!
That learning journey is why awareness months play a key role in education and reminders for us to prioritize our health. Frankly, October is overloaded with awareness topics. Here’s the list:
Breast Cancer Awareness
World Menopause Month
Primary Care week (October 4th - 8th)
World Mental Health Day is October 10th
October 18th is both World Menopause Day AND National Mammography Day
Osteoporosis Day is October 20th
October 31st is Annual Maggie fails to get a Halloween costume day
We’ve got so much to bring you in October! Let’s get started.
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
The Tasting Menu
Breast Cancer Awareness: Risk Factors
The Under-education Around Women’s Health
Do You Need a Primary Care Doctor and a Gynecologist?
Breast Cancer Awareness - Risk Factors
One of the most well-known awareness months for women’s health is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To honor it in 2022, we’ll be doing a series on breast health.
Just last week, Katie Couric shared that she is one of the 13% of women who will develop breast cancer. This week we will take a high-level look at the risk factors.
Family history is important in many cancers, including cancer of the breast. If you have a first-degree relative with breast cancer, your risk is almost twice as high.
However, those family history connections account for less than 15% of people with breast cancer. And while the gene mutations BRAC1 and BRAC2 also create a higher risk, especially in younger women, they account for only 5% to 10% of a breast cancer diagnoses.
Some other risk factors include:
The age at which you had children. Women who have their first child before they are 30 are at a lower risk
The longer your reproductive years are, the higher your risk. In other words, the younger you wee when you started your period and the older you are at the onset of menopause, the higher your risk
For postmenopausal women, levels of estrogen and weight post-menopause are risk factors
What we’ve shared here is not a full list. To learn about other risk factors and those under study, the Susan G. Komen organization created simple tables of risk factors you can view.
The most important steps you can take for early detection are self-exams and mammograms. There is some conflicting information on when to start getting mammograms. The Mayo Clinic recommends starting at age 40 while others recommend optional screening before 50 and annually after your 50th birthday.
The Under-education of Women About Our Own Health
We started this newsletter because we were appalled at how much education we didn’t have when it comes to our own health. We’ve talked about how women have been excluded from research and clinical trials, left out of medical texts for doctors-in-training, and how we’re often dismissed by doctor’s when we raise concerns.
And when we haven’t been taught about warning signs of certain conditions or know what common health issues women face, it doesn’t help us advocate for ourselves and can have serious consequences.
How undereducated are we?
Well, the company MDVIP conducted a women’s health IQ quiz, which 94% of women failed (Stephanie took the test and got an F 😢, Maggie got a C but had been doing breast cancer research #disclaimer).
Some of the results:
9 in 10 women don’t know heart disease is the leading cause of death in women
8 in 10 don’t know Pap tests only screens for cervical cancer
62% of women 20-34 feel that scheduling a doctor’s appointment is a chore; and 35% of those women say that a condition was not properly addressed or diagnosed
Needless to say, there’s a lot we don’t know. Which means that, we’re more likely to dismiss symptoms or neglect seeing a doctor - and the women’s health IQ quiz tells us that 44% of women don’t visit the doctor until symptoms are urgent.
Lack of knowledge - coupled with a tendency to be dismissed by doctors - means that preventable and/or treatable conditions can become life-threatening. For example, 810 women around the world die each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Consider that women make up half of the global workforce, we’re the primary caregivers to children and elders across the globe, we make up more than 75% of public school teachers in the USA – just some of the contributions women make to society. When we aren’t healthy – we have to miss out on work, caring for our families, and can make less contributions to our communities.
This is why we can’t afford to not know about our own health and the issues and conditions that can affect us, our families, and all of those around us.
Do You Need a Primary Care Doctor and a Gynecologist?
You start out life seeing a pediatrician and at some point, you started seeing a gynecologist. Recommendations vary on when young women should start seeing a gynecologist if there are no concerns and she isn’t sexually active.
Once we start seeing a gynecologist, 20% or more of us consider that provider to be our primary healthcare provider. And not everyone uses a separate provider for primary care.
The question is - should we?
Annual Exams
A well-woman exam includes a more extensive exam related to our reproductive, sexual, and breast health than an annual physical from a primary care provider. One point for the gynecologist.
A large study of patient visits revealed that health issues in other systems such as digestion, skin, and metabolic conditions are more than twice as likely to be uncovered by a primary care provider. One point for the PCP.
And they are more likely to identify mental health concerns as well. Another point for the PCP.
Specific concerns
If you have specific needs or concerns with sexual health, conditions of the uterus, ovaries or cervix, or fertility concerns, the gynecologist has specialized training to address those needs. Another point for the gynecologist
If you have a chronic condition unrelated to women’s wellness or an acute issue like the flu, your gynecologist is unlikely to treat that. Back to the PCP.
Both types of providers can prescribe birth control, and order tests like mammograms or pap smears. Points all around.
Okay. so what’s a woman to do? First and foremost, talk with your provider. Not all gynecologists see themselves as your PCP or want to act in that role. Your PCP may or may not conduct all the appropriate exams for a well-woman assessment.
Medical Term of the Week
Breast density
We think of mammograms as an important diagnostic tool to detect breast cancer. And they are. They also show your breast density, which shows the proportion of the different types of breast tissue you have.
We all have glandular, connective, and fat tissue in our breasts. If you have dense breasts, that means you have a lower amount of fatty tissue and higher amounts of the other two. This shows up in almost half of us.
Why should you care? Well, there is a higher risk of cancer if you have dense breasts and it makes them harder to read on your mammogram.
Next time you get your scan, ask your doctor about the density of your breasts.
The Latest
While its early days, a new drug showed an impact in reducing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s. Almost two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients in the US are women. Years to go on this for approval although it is the first drug to show this level of promise. (from The Guardian)
Women are more likely to seek help for depression and anxiety. Could it be due to all the unpaid labor we do? New research suggest that might be the case (from The New York Times)
We believe biological sex makes a difference in how our bodies react to a variety of health related issues. That’s not a common belief among immunologists, apparently. (From MIT Technology Review)