At Moreland OB-GYN, we specialize in gynecology, obstetrics and women’s preventive health care, prioritizing the needs of our patients. We're here to provide expert answers to the questions you've been searching for or never even knew you should be asking.
The Morning Blend on TMJ4 recognized the need for this information to be shared with women ages 35 to 50 and even women who are approaching this age group.
View the segment below or read what Tiffany Ogle, from The Morning Blend, and Moreland's Dr. Nelson and Dr. Herzberg had to say about women's preventive health.
Tiffany Ogle begins the segment by introducing the topic, "Women between the ages of 35 and 50 have to juggle a lot: a career, a family, a household, aging parents, and on top of that you've probably noticed changes in your body, your emotions, and your hormones. Our next guest says that taking proactive changes now can have a positive impact on your future health."
Joining her is Dr. Allison Nelson and Dr. Jessica Herzberg from Moreland OB-GYN associates.
She asks Dr. Herzberg, "This age frame of 35 to 50 is a time when there's so much going on in our lives and you say there's a lot we can do in this age frame to impact our future health. What kinds of things should we be thinking about between these ages?"
Healthy Habits for Women
Dr. Herzberg agrees and says "I feel like as women, we take on so much between our households, our jobs, and our families. In general, the things that we can focus on are really working on ourselves; getting in to see your doctor, talking about your concerns, and making sure that you start healthy habits. Something as simple as exercise and a diet that works for you, talking about your concerns with your periods if those are changing, talking about what other things you can be doing at this stage of the game, so, in 10 to 15 years or more, you're still using those habits to keep yourself healthy."
Kick-start your healthy habits with our preventive health information page.
What Is Perimenopause?
Tiffany then makes the statement "between these ages, we're not quite menopausal yet, for the most part, most women are not" then asks "what do we need to as women if we're not menopausal? What types of things are we looking for?"
Dr. Nelson gives her expert advice, "That period of time as patients are approaching menopause is called perimenopause. A period of time as hormones are starting to change and women are approaching menopause."
She then continues with symptoms that come with perimenopause such as "seeing changes in your period, irregular bleeding, and spacing out of periods. In terms of mood changes and metabolism changes, all of that can be wrapped up in that perimenopausal time."
Tiffany adds, "There's not a single woman that I talked to that doesn't say 'I just can't get these 10 - 15 pounds off, it's like it just changed overnight' and I'm sure you hear those things as well."
Hoping to talk directly to a doctor about your symptoms or physical changes? We'd be happy to help, just take a moment to request an appointment with one of our doctors.
Tests and Screenings Women Need After Age 35
Tiffany continues with a question for Dr. Herzberg. "As we talk about health risks or changes with our health," says Tiffany, "after age 35, what kinds of screenings or tests should we be asking for or talking about with our gynecologist?"
"There are definitely different tests as you age," says Dr. Herzberg. "Starting off with breast and pelvic health, we make sure that you're getting your PAP screening, as appropriate to your risk factors, and we also want to make sure mammograms are started. Those are typically started around age 40 and then looking into things like cholesterol screening, someone who's healthy it might be recommended every five years, but talk with your doctor, make sure that you're telling them what your family history risk is. Looking into thyroid screening and diabetes screening is another big one. All of these tests can be done with us or your primary care doctor and it's as easy as a blood test that you can go and get."
Dr. Nelson then answers Tiffany's question about whether these are tests that we have to ask for or if a gynecologist would suggest these to us, by saying "typically they're going to come up in the course of good preventative health screenings for everybody. I think what's unique about this age range is that there are a lot of tests that don't necessarily get suggested to you in your 20s, but it becomes more important as you approach your mid-30s. Particularly, some of the lab work checking cholesterol, where it just becomes much more apparent to have a handle on what your test results are."
Women's Hormones Age 35-50
Tiffany then brings up the next topic: hormones. "Another thing women are really feeling is hormones. We know that hormones change as we age, sometimes we feel the fluctuation in our emotions. Especially throughout the course of a month." Tiffany hints at PMS symptoms and then asks, "what do we need to know about hormone decline and what it means for us as we age?"
Dr. Nelson explains aging and hormones by saying "with approaching menopause, what drives that is changing hormones estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is a hormone that plays a big role in bone health, heart health, and brain health. When we see a decline in progesterone, that's where those irregular periods and irregular bleeding comes from in perimenopause. We talk with our patients about these changing hormone levels that are certainly going to be some symptoms of menopause and perimenopause."
Take a look at our preventive health information page to get all of the details you need to know about changing health between 35-50.
Hoping to talk directly to a doctor about your emotions, symptoms or physical changes? We'd be happy to help, just take a moment to request an appointment with one of our doctors.
At Moreland OB-GYN, we specialize in women’s health and preventive health care, prioritizing the needs of our patients. We hope you’ll connect with us to help answer your questions and we hope you’ll turn to our experts as a trusted resource for information.
