Women, are we really going to put our health before our ego?!

I read an article in The Times a while ago (‘Could Scientists really stop the menopause?’ by John Naish, 14th July) which spoke about two new techniques that could apparently halt and even reverse the menopause.  There are very good scientific and medical reasons for both treatments e.g. premature menopause brought on by cancer or other medical conditions, a revitalisation of the ovaries allowing for reproduction – sometimes science is truly amazing.

However I was shocked to read how these medical techniques can be potentially offered to create an extreme form of what they termed, ‘Lifestyle Surgery’ – designed to preserve fertility into the later years, and here I mean into our 50′s and to preserve a youthful appearance.

One technique which is already quite advanced is called ‘ovarian grafting’ – taking young healthy tissue from the ovaries, freezing it, and implanting it again when the ovaries need to be revived.  The other technique involves multiplying healthy stem cells from the ovaries (in a laboratory) and re-implanting them as revitalised ovarian cells.  Both techniques are clearly amazing and bring tremendous hope and benefit to young women who potentially can become infertile from their life saving cancer treatment, but should we really consider these invasive techniques in order to keep ourselves looking young?!

The article suggests that it is a question of ethics, suggesting that it is for society to decide!  Understandably staving off some of the affects of menopause or the possibility of taking HRT treatment may be seen to be a good thing…. but the risk of damage to the ovaries, together with the associated health risks of more mature women having higher levels of oestrogen in their systems (than nature intended) and the potential for breast and womb cancer surely should make us think twice, especially when cases of breast cancer seem to be increasing?!

Tags: abdominal stress, anxiety, endocrine, fertility, hormonal, Hormonal Changes, Hormones, menopause, oestrogen, peri-menopausal, post-menopausal, progesterone, stress, well-being, worry