Barb DePree, MD

So my medical journals are telling me, AGAIN, that I need to eat better and keep moving. Gee, folks, thanks for the news! But I rarely receive such specific advice as I have these past few weeks. They have handed me very, very clear directions:

In an ideal world, we’d all love our bodies exactly as they are. We’d love our little muffin tops for the reminder of all the ice cream sundaes we’ve shared with a best friend, our marshmallow tummies for the children we carried, and our pancake boobs for making bras (practically) pointless.

But we don’t live in an ideal world, and the way we perceive our bodies affects how we feel about having sex. We probably all have personal experience with this, and research backs it up.

Be sure to consider Medication Side Effects

Now that the FDA advisory panel has pulled the plug on two nonhormonal drugs to treat hot flashes and night sweats, what’s a grumpy, sleep-deprived, sweaty, menopausal woman to do?

For most of us, hot flashes are uncomfortable and inconvenient. For some of us, hot flashes are debilitating and make it hard to sleep or function normally. And except for hormone therapy, no treatment regimen is guaranteed to alleviate them.

Given all of the unpredictability of perimenopause, you’re wondering which symptoms carry over into menopause and which are resolved: Will you feel your best all the time? Or your worst?

I so wish I could give you a solid answer. The reality is that multiple factors are at play, and your genetics, overall health, and lifestyle will affect how they combine.