IF YOU’RE A WOMAN WITH DIABETES,
the years leading up to menopause—a
time known as perimenopause—can
present challenges. Since women with
diabetes sometimes experience premature
menopause, you should talk to your
doctor about managing your diabetes as
you head into the change of life.
“Menopause will
affect any woman over
the age of 40,” said
Ashtabula County
Medical Center
OB-GYN Soldrea
Thompson, MD. “The
average age of a woman
at menopause in the
U.S. is 51. However,
diabetes can be a key
trigger to an early arrival of menopause.”
According to Dr. Thompson, there are
important facets of menopause that can
affect diabetes:
➜
➜
Estrogen and progesterone levels
begin to drop during perimenopause.
And that can cause your blood glucose
levels to fluctuate—or even go out of
control.
➜
➜
You might mistake a hot flash caused
by perimenopause for a symptom of
diabetes. If you respond by consuming
extra calories to increase your blood
glucose level, you could cause blood sugar
to surge.
➜
➜
Perimenopausal night sweats can
disrupt sleep. So can the low blood sugar
that may occur more often in midlife. And
not getting enough sleep
might make your diabetes
harder to control.
“Stress can also cause
women to experience
menopause early,”
Dr. Thompson said.
“That makes sense when
we consider diabetes,
because stress can have
a big impact on our bodies.
Can we eliminate it?
Probably not, but we need to learn to
control the factors in our lives that are
controllable.”
ACMC certified diabetes educator Lori
Gilhousen, RN, echoed that, saying the
key to successful diabetes management
—Continued on back page
Schedule an appointment
with Soldrea Thompson,
MD, today to talk with you
about menopause. Call
440-997-6915
. She sees
patients at The Ashtabula
Women’s Health Center.
Diabetes can cause
OB-GYN
Soldrea
Thompson, MD
prematuremenopause
ACMC Pulse •
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