Menopause affects mood and this tragic health news update underlines the effect of the loss of hormones, especially in women.  Menopause can cause irritability, depression and mood.  It is now known that hormones must be replaced and it is much preferable that hormones be replaced with a bioidentical hormone replacement therapy because they are safer than synthetic hormones.  Bioidentical hormones will remove the worst symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, sleep problems and mood issues.  Bioidentical hormones can be prescribed by doctors who have special training in monitoring hormone levels at menopause.

This story comes from the BBC health news site.

Woman’s death blamed on menopause

A woman who refused to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) died while suffering from a menopausal episode, an inquest has heard.

Margaret Drew from Hayle in Cornwall was killed when she walked out of her family home on to nearby railway line and was hit by a train.

The Truro inquest was told the 55-year-old had no history of depression or suicidal behaviour.
Cornwall Coroner Dr Emma Carlyon recorded an open verdict.  The former secretary’s husband, Clifford Drew, said his wife had suffered from menopausal problems, including hot flushes and mood swings, for about five years.

Mr Drew said 99% of the time she was an “absolutely delightful, lovely and friendly lady”, but she would become depressed and angry during the mood swings, sometimes for a few days.
“When my wife was in one of those bad moods she was totally irrational and the only way to get over it was to give each other space,” he said.

He suggested his wife try HRT or homeopathic remedies, but she refused to have any treatment.
Mr Drew told the inquest when he returned from shopping on Friday 3 July, his wife was “clearly angry about something”.
He went into another room and, unknown to him, his wife left their home and wandered on to the railway tracks opposite Chapel Lane.
Train driver Stuart Bilby told the inquest Mrs Drew she was about 50ft in front of him when he saw her on the tracks.
She was looking down and walking along the sleepers, he said.
‘Nature’s way’
Mr Bilby said when he sounded the horn and applied the engine brake, Mrs Drew appeared “startled” and seemed to step out of the way. “I then heard a heavy, dull thud and I knew I had hit her,” he said.

The court heard Mrs Drew’s GP was unable to shed any light on her death as she had never attended surgery.
Mr Drew, a retired railway station manager, said he and his wife had discussed suicides on several occasions, because he had come across many instances in his long career.
“She always expressed the view that it was a selfish thing to do,” he said.

Recording an open verdict, Dr Carlyon said: “There’s often no reason for the menopause, it’s just the way nature doles it out really.”

The coroner said although it was “strange” Mrs Drew was on the railway line, the facts did not point to anything in particular.
“There is no trigger to this at all, except the hormones making her do things that she normally wouldn’t do,” Dr Carlyon concluded.

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The Tank Chair gives all-terrain freedom to the disabled

Health news for those seeking a new wheelchair on the market:  There is a new behemoth on the market today, tearing up the streets and carving a path of destruction wherever it goes; a new vehicle that will put hairs on your chest and turn you into a great big strong manly man full of testosterone the very moment you sit down. It’s not a new pick-up truck, however, and it’s not a tank (although you’re close). No, it’s a wheelchair.

The Tank Chair, created solely for the purpose of conquering off-road terrain, offers people who are disabled the chance to go anywhere. Using tracks (like the ones that you find on a tank) instead of wheels, the chair is equipped to travel over any obstacle; snow, sand, mud, rocks, you name it. The bulky size might make it somewhat of a hassle to maneuver around narrow paths and corridors but for an outdoor setting, it’s perfect. It is even capable of climbing up stairs. The following link will be able to tell you more.

Such a revolutionary idea does not come without a catch, though. The Tank Chair has to be custom built to suit people of different weights and disabilities.  A 300 pound person with a T1 spinal break would have a different chair than a paraplegic who weighs 150 pounds. This is an issue for their safety but what this means, unfortunately, is that you won’t be purchasing one on a whim any time soon. But if you’re a wheelchair-bound person and you miss the great outdoors, this may be the perfect investment for you.

Health news from Italian researchers has revealed that a new medicated eye drop could possibly cure the symptoms of glaucoma. Glaucoma is the build up of pressure, called intraocular pressure – inside the eye which causes damage to the optic nerve cells. In this article from the BBC website, the findings discuss this newly developed eyedrop and its potential.

“The study of rats and human patients found drops containing a nerve growth factor may stop these cells dying, and actually improve vision. It is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It is estimated that 77m people have glaucoma around the world.  The build up of intraocular pressure can sometimes be controlled through other techniques. But once pressure has started to damage optic nerve cells, called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), it has proved impossible to recover that lost function.

And often people with glaucoma do not seek expert help until the condition is already relatively advanced. The researchers, from the University of Rome, treated rats with symptoms of glaucoma with eye drops containing nerve growth factor. The animals who were given the eye drops showed decreased levels of RGC death compared with those who did not receive the treatment.

The researchers went on to test the drops in three human patients whose intraocular pressure had started to be controlled, but who still showed signs of progressive deterioration in their vision.  In two of the patients vision improved, while in the other it was stabilised. The improvements lasted up to 18 months after the eye drops were applied.

Nerve growth factor appears to trigger chemical changes within cells that prevent them from dying in response to damage.  It might also enable cells whose function had begun to be damaged to bounce back. And it might boost the capacity of healthy RGCs to form new connections within the optic nerve, to compensate for any damage that had already taken place.

However, nerve growth factor cannot rescue RGCs that have already died – in common with brain tissue, the optic nerve cannot regenerate. Lead researcher Dr Stefano Bonini said: “Although neuroprotection in glaucoma has already been attempted with several compounds, this is the first time that an improvement in visual function is observed in patients with advanced optic nerve damage.”

David Wright, chief executive of the International Glaucoma Association, warned against drawing firm conclusions from such a small study – but said the results were encouraging.  He said: “There have been many false dawns in the search for neuro-protective agents for the treatment of glaucoma and it is a feature of research on other compounds that early promise does not always translate into clinical effectiveness when larger studies are undertaken.”

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