If you haven’t already noticed, your overall health and wellness can undergo dramatic changes during your reproductive journey. From puberty to menopause, your reproductive health casts an incredibly wide net, which includes influencing key areas of your health.
For the more than two million women in the United States who enter menopause each year, health screenings can, and should, shift to accommodate the changes that come with this hormonal transition.
To help you decide which screenings to start or pursue more diligently during and after menopause, we turn to the team at Women’s Wellness MD. Under the direction of Dr. Chetanna Okasi, we present a list of screenings that all women experiencing menopause should consider.
We start with breast cancer since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Menopause isn’t associated with any serious changes in your risk for breast cancer, but age is.
The median age for breast cancer diagnoses in the US is 64, and only about 4% of breast cancers are diagnosed in women under the age of 40.
We recommend screenings for menopausal and post-menopausal women annually until age 55 and biannually after that, as long as you expect to live another 10 years.
During menopause, bone loss increases significantly — about 20% of bone loss can occur around menopause.
Dr. Okasi recommends an initial bone density scan, or DEXA scan (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), as you transition through menopause.
Based on these findings, we recommend the correct bone density screening schedule moving forward.
The loss of estrogen that comes with menopause can very much impact your lipid levels. More specifically, LDL cholesterol levels (the bad cholesterol) often rise while HDL levels (the good cholesterol) fall. Also, triglyceride levels can increase.
As a result of this lipid imbalance, your risk for cardiovascular disease can also increase.
Dr. Okasi recommends frequent lipid panels, and the frequency depends upon your results as you transition through menopause.
All those Pap and HPV tests that you’ve had over the years help you stay one step ahead of cervical cancer. Up until the age of 65, we suggest:
After age 65, assuming you’ve had no abnormal results, you can discontinue this screening.
It may or may not surprise you that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have doubled in people aged 65 and older. Thanks to new solutions for sexual health, such as hormone replacement therapy, post-menopausal women can have active sex lives.
If this involves new partners, we suggest STI screenings; we’re happy to provide guidance.
Menopause can change your health, and we want to track these changes to stay one step ahead. To determine which screenings are best for your circumstances, contact us by calling one of our offices in Columbia or Greenbelt, Maryland, or use our online booking feature today.
