When Vickie Lynn received HIV positive results in 1991, when she was 21 years old, she thought she had given him a death sentence. I certainly never imagined that I would live enough to see an event that affects women in later stages of their lives, menopause.
Now that she is 57 years old and postmenopausal, Vickie still remembers how difficult it was to find a medical provider (HCP, for her acronym in English) who took her six-months.
“TenÃa symptoms que nadie entendÃa realemente or que no se asociaban con la menopause”, said Vickie.
Lidiar con el estres de trabajar en su tÃtulo de doctorado durante la menopause no investment con esa situación y fue difÃcil para Vickie determinar la causa de sus symptoms.
“Es el VIH, la menopausia om la tensioni del programa de doktorado?” Estaban ocurriendo muchas cosas y nadie podia darme respuestas directas,” said Vickie. “Fueron momentos muy difÃculos”.
Gracias a un tipo de tratamiento llamado therapy antiretroviral (TAR), las personas viven más tiempo con VIH. Almost half of people living with HIV in the United States are 50 years or older.
Para las mujeres, senvejecer con HIV puede implicar desafÃcios medicos únicos, including during the menopause transition. A lack of studies about how menopause affects women who live with HIV and a lack of providers who understand the best way to treat these women could make it more difficult for women. the support and attention they need.
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When does menopause start and why is it so important?
Para mujeres que viven con HIV, puede ser complicado saber cuando empieza la menopause. This is due to the fact that many women with HIV have abnormal menstrual periods related to medical conditions associated with HIV, said Sara Looby, Ph.D., ANP-BC, a researcher at the General Hospital of Massachusetts and Boston and adjunct professor at the faculty. de medicina de Harvard.
“Es muy importante para los trabajadores clinÃcios no asumir que se trata de una menopause real cuando periodios menstruales nocurren”, said Dra. Beans. “They should also evaluate other factors apart from menopause, including psychological, behavior and physical changes that women who live with HIV could experiment with and that could prevent the persÃod from occurring.”
Taking this into account, some research suggests that women with HIV start menopause three to five years earlier than other women. It is important to know that because between earlier a woman goes through menopause, more soon she will lose the protective effects of estrogen against cardiac diseases, changes in mood, loss of appetite, and so on. Puesto que las mujeres con VIH son más propensas a experimentar estos problemas, la menopause puede volverlas even more vulnerable.
Researchers to reduce estrogen that occurs as a result of menopause, which can be CD4 de la mojeres. CD4 cells are white blood cells that play an important role in immune health and the quantity of these cells is a good indicator of how well your immune system works. Entre menos célús CD4 tengas, más débil será tu sistema immunológico y teráras un major riesgo de desarrollar enfermedades graves.
Living with HIV could result in worse menopausal symptoms
Las women with HIV could go through menopause earlier than other women and the symptoms could be worse. “There have been conflicting results, but there are many studies at the moment that suggest that women with HIV could experiment with embarrassing more graves and with greater frequency compared to women without HIV,” said Dra. Lobby:
La Drara. Lobby participation is the subject of investigations. She and a team of researchers did a study in which 33 women with HIV and 33 without said virus with similar ages, races and menstrual patterns participated. They discovered that women with HIV had worse embarrassment and had more chances of altering their lives.
Otro estudio descubrió que los symptoms menopáusicos afectan afectan la capacidad de las pacientes de tomar medicamentos de terapias antiretrovires (TAR) , which shows the prescriptions. A third study evaluated 714 women in Nigeria with and without HIV and discovered that the symptoms of menopause were generally worse for women who live with HIV and that these women had three times more severe symptoms.
Encontrar attention puede ser un challenge
With the difficulty that it is for women to handle the double challenge of HIV and menopause, it could be even more difficult to find help.
Includes los HCP specific to menopause, not menopause experience, but also regulated the larva that will treat VIH and not very specific specialized VIH son experts and menopause.
“Para mujeres en Estados Unidos que han vivido con HIV por mucho tiempo, su cabecera frequente es un produtore de servicios medicos espalidades enfermedades infecciosas”, said Dra. Lobby: “Estos providoses son phenomenales en lo que se refere al manejo del VIH de sus pacientes y la attención que providen, even cuando muchos no necessarely están capacitados para evaluar, diagnosar y treatar la menopause”.
The providers of medical services who treat menopausic women who live with HIV could be receptive to prescription treatments such as hormonal therapy (HT, for its acronym in English), also known as rempleTRH hormonal therapy. dicamentosas y otros problemas, y las pacientes podridan ser reacias a tomarlos. In a study of more than 800 menopausal women living with HIV, only 8 out of 100 said they used HT during the transition.
This is true even though under the correct circumstances, HT could be useful for some women who live with HIV to manage menopausal symptoms and improve their quality of life.
“I think there is much fear in the prescription of hormonal replacement therapies for certain populations, including for women with HIV because there are no data that demonstrate safety and efficacy for this population.” Beans. “Se necesita más investigation y educación sobre la menopause y la terapia hormonal para mujeres con VIH y sus providos deservicios medicos que sea utilis para apoyar el processo compartido de toma de decisis”.
La Drara. Lobby also indicated that HCP of women with HIV should carefully consider the risk factors of each patient’s health in addition to existing guidelines for the use of menopausal hormones in women who live without HIV. This careful consideration plays an important role in helping patients and their medical service providers make informed decisions together.
The information is important to deal with menopause when you have HIV
When Vickie was menopausal and trying to understand what was happening to her body, she felt demotivated by the general lack of information about HIV and menopause.
“El no poder siquiera encontrar cualquier literatura investigativa de lo que estaba atravesando was my frustrating,” said Vickie.
As, ¿a qué lugar mujeres que viven con VIH should come to know what to do sobre las varias situaciones que ocurren por la menopause? Vickie, a public health and social work professional who has spent the last three decades protecting rights related to HIV problems, suggests communicating with organizations such as The Well Project, which has rights related to HIV problems. with organizations, Tales como The Well Project, que pueden derechos relacionados con problemas del VIH personas quienes entienden lo que están experimentando.
“I would like all community organizations that provide services to people living with HIV to have a specialist in menopause or the aging process,” said Dra. Lynn: “Hay tantas de nosotras que estamos envejeciendo y se conoce tan poco. TodavÃa estamos aprendiendo”.
Gilead is ready to be prepared.
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