From the religious angle this will drive more zealots to agitate for more control over women's bodies...

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/04/medical-procedure-delay-menopause

A medical procedure that allows women to delay the menopause for up to 20 years has been launched by IVF specialists in Britain.

Doctors claim the operation could benefit thousands of women who experience serious health problems, such as heart conditions and bone-weakening osteoporosis, that are brought on by the menopause.

But the specialists believe the same procedure could also improve the lives of millions more women by delaying the onset of more common symptoms of the menopause, which range from low mood, anxiety and difficulty sleeping, to hot flushes, night sweats and a reduced sex drive.

The procedure, which costs between £7,000 and £11,000, is being offered to women up to the age of 40 through ProFam, a Birmingham-based company set up by Simon Fishel, an IVF doctor and president of the UK Care Fertility Group, in collaboration with other specialists.


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“This has the potential to be of significant benefit to any woman who may want to delay the menopause for any reason, or those women who would have taken HRT, and there are lots of benefits around that,” Prof Fishel told the Guardian.

Nine women have so far had the procedure to remove and freeze their ovarian tissue with a view to delaying the menopause when they are older. Doctors use keyhole surgery to remove a small piece of ovarian tissue, which is then sliced up and frozen to preserve it.

When the women enter the menopause, potentially decades from now, the frozen tissue can be thawed out and grafted back into the body. To restore falling hormone levels, doctors typically choose a site with a good blood supply, such as the armpit. Provided the ovarian tissue survives the process, it should restore the woman’s declining sex hormones and halt the menopause.

“This is the first project in the world to provide healthy women ovarian tissue cryopreservation purely to delay the menopause,” the company’s chief medical officer, Yousri Afifi, told the Sunday Times.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2019 02:28PM by Tevai.

As someone who was unwittingly used as a test subject for birth control pills, and who has had to deal with the consequences of those particular birth control pills ever since, I would be highly skeptical of this procedure.

Similar (though not identical) effects could be achieved from optimizing: adolescent-forward nutritional intake, nutritional balance, optimum nutritional supplements and foods, and optimum clear water intake beginning (at least) by adolescence.

To me, this appears to be a "full employment for gynecologists" strategy....a way to insure that women patients WILL come back in the future for procedures--and damn the possible physical consequences to any particular patient.

Not all medical improvements are actually "improvements."

P.S. I am definitely not against birth control pills! I AM against, in essence, unwittingly being used as a test subject for those pills, something I am still "paying for" as I type this. (The birth control pills used today are radically different in important ways from the ones I was prescribed as a new bride--largely BECAUSE of what was learned by my personal experience, and the personal experiences of countless other women who were, back in the day, "used" the same way I was--and at least most of them weren't told the truth either.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2019 12:25PM by Tevai.

Tevai - if you don't mind, what year was that?

Ok, I'm going there.

I am one year past menopause and so far, I LOVE IT!!!

I am glad I no longer have my period. Flat out. But maybe I've been lucky, symptom-wise...

Yup. The other side of menopause is all unicorns and rainbows for me. Sure, the road there was a bit rocky, but's it's worth the trip.

The procedure as described sounds very sketchy to me.

The program to me sounds as though it was designed by men and for men. If I were a woman, I would be very leery of being one of the early subjects to sign on for it.

I'm glad both of you made it through the metaphorical roller-coaster ride relatively unscathed. My wife says now that our family is complete, she's sufficiently tired of the monthly issues that she will not be sad to see it all go.

For six months it was rather brutal. It was like my body lacked a thermostat. All night long it was covers off, covers back on. But once that six months was up, it was great. If a woman has very heavy periods such as I had, having them cease is such a relief.

I'm more than 10 years past menopause and I often tell my daughter, "One of the benefits of getting older, I'd never go back." It is SO NICE to not have periods any longer. (Costs a lot less, too.)

I agree, no way would I have signed up for another 20 years of hormone induced migraines.

men taking control of women's decisions?


WHAT COULD GO WRONG???

Yep.

Who wants to be going through menopause in their 60s!

This reads like a horror story!

I never liked menstrual cramps, and wouldn't like a repeat of all that in midlife, all over again, plus cramps in my armpit, as well.

Anxiety, low mood, difficulty sleeping--isn't that part of the middle-aged lifestyle, with being overworked, worried about kids and money, and declining physically, etc?

Hot flashes and night sweats are no big deal--but reduced sex drive? Ah, there's the reason the men want to do this procedure on women! GNPE has a point.

They ought to do something to the men, in order to increase the women's sex drive. Teach them something about their approach towards sex, teach them how to be respectful and polite and loving, and joyful.

It isn't about punishment, guys! Cutting up your women ain't gunna cure anything! Yikes!

Oh yes, Yousri Afifi, I sexually desire you--please don't cut me!

I was another lucky one who sailed through menopause with barely a symptom apart from an occasional headache. I love being on the other side now and would never have considered delaying things.

Who the heck still wants to worry about birth control in your 50's? OH and I love the freedom :).

Delay menopause ? Is this really a good idea ? Do we want 70 year old women having kids ?

There are women who suffer from early menopause and it's tragic for them. I think this is aimed to help those women.

I wouldn't call early menopause exactly "tragic" (every woman who has her ovaries removed in these years also experiences early menopause; it's not a total rarity), though any woman going through legitimately premature menopause (as in prior to the age of 40) has my sympathy, and such poses risks for several conditions. I would understand considering all options in such cases. The link provided, however, seems to focus more on delaying the normal onset of menopause.

Thanks for the info. I was only pointing out that for some women early menopause is tragic -- not necessarily all.

Many women take drugs to eliminate estrogen. Even women who are menopausal continue to produce lowered levels of estrogen throughout the rest of their lives. If they've been treated for cancer, they take drugs to lower estrogen which lowers risk of contracting new cancers.

Delaying menopause would help some health problems but would intensify others.

It would certainly be a problem for anyone with pituitary, adrenal, or other serious glandular diseases.

who'd want to delay it? It's the best part of life. Just take hormones until you're through it, then enjoy.