FIRST OPINION
Endometriosis is more than a gynecological disease
New clinical guidance finally acknowledges that endometriosis affects the body more broadly than previously supposed, something more like a systemic inflammatory condition than a purely gynecological disease, writes physician Sarah Berg.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released updated clinical guidance earlier this month that has upended the field's idea of the diagnosis of endometriosis. The most notable change: a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms and examination — and not just surgical confirmation — is sufficient to start treatment.
Endometriosis has long been stigmatized and patient pain often explained away through other diagnoses, with the average diagnostic delay for endometriosis lasting four to 11 years. But Berg sees a shift in the public's understanding of this disease.
Read more for Berg's read on the updated guidelines and the patient that changed her perspective.
FIRST OPINION
Is it hormones? Or is it just aging?
After making a killing marketing products for menopausal women, the field of woman's health has pivoted to perimenopause, which has become a new buzzword. This movement sells women the "lie" that they are ruled by their hormones, write Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman, who both work at PharmedOut, a rational prescribing project at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The writers take their aim at a new movie, "The M Factor 2: Before the Pause," which expands the "medicalization" of menopause to women in their 30s, arguing that their hormones will ruin their cognitive, physical, and mental health. Hormone swings are quite common in the years leading up to menopause, but not every symptom a woman experiences should be blamed on perimenopause — which is already tough to define.
Read more from Bencivenga and Fugh-Berman to understand why they suggest symptoms attributed to perimenopause may be simply due to aging.
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