8 Important Medical Tests For FOF Women

LEAVE A COMMENT 2019 February 11

Most of us have self-consciously slipped our bare feet into the metal contraptions on the gynecologist’s examining table, year in and year out, for our annual PAP smears. At last, we don’t have to go through this female ritual quite so often. Read on to find out why, and to learn what other female-specific medical tests we need to do, and how often.

FabOverFifty got the lowdown from one of our favorite doctors, Alyssa Dweck, who specializes in treating menopausal and postmenopausal women.

1. PAP SMEARS

“This is all the rage right now in regards to changes in guidelines. The Pap smear can now be done as infrequently as every three to five years in women 30 and older who’ve had normal Pap smears for a while.  The test for Human Papillomavirus (HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical cancer) is performed simultaneously.  Most women over 65 years old no longer need Pap smears since the risk for cervical cancer is quite low for women in this demographic. (more…)

Take Control Of Your Blood Pressure Without Medication




If you’re reading this, chances are you have high blood pressure. As a matter of fact, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) predicts 90 percent of boomers will develop the chronic health condition, which is reaching epidemic levels around the world.

A whopping 140 million US adults now have elevated blood pressure, reports the American Heart Association. Left uncontrolled, it can lead to stroke, heart attack, hardening of the arteries, kidney disease, and even memory impairment.

Cardiovascular disease causes 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year, and is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.

If you’re one of the millions living with the potential dangers of high blood pressure, you’ll absolutely want to know about jiaogulan, which the Chinese have been calling “the herb of immortality” for centuries.  It’s completely natural and can dramatically lower your blood pressure!

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A Love Letter To My Estrogen Patch

LEAVE A COMMENT 2016 October 12

Almost six months ago–Wednesday, April 20th, to be precise–I put on my first Estradiol patch, which dispenses 1 mg of estrogen a day through my skin.

I started taking estrogen again after bidding it adieu seven years earlier, because I could no longer stand what was happening to my body without it. Weight gain.  Thinning hair. Lipid levels out of whack. Skin sagging on my face, not to mention elsewhere. Bones weakening.

It was especially disturbing when the cardiologist I was seeing started pushing statins to lower my cholesterol, and I mean pushing. My good and bad cholesterol numbers had always been impressive (a doctor once joked that I could get infusions of bad cholesterol and still have great numbers!) but they started creeping up, post estrogen, and it took me years to connect the two. The cardiologist, a woman in her fifties, didn’t have a clue about the benefits of estrogen for our lipid levels, or heart health, but she sure sounded like she was a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical companies that sell statins, one of the most prescribed drugs in the US.

love-formula

I recently had a full blood workup and a fasting 24-hour urine test and, lo and behold, my cholesterol numbers markedly improved. Here’s how they look.

Although my overall cholesterol, at 206,  is still a bit high, the numbers that are far more significant are the 20 percent  improvement in LDL (bad) cholesterol and a 19 percent improvement in non-HDL cholesterol.  

Keep Reading…

Would You Want To Know If You Had Alzheimer’s?

LEAVE A COMMENT 2016 September 12

“That’s a hard question. On one hand, yes, so that I could prepare my family and make sure that they understand about this dreadful illness. But on the other hand No, because it would make me miserable and the thought of my mind becoming nonfunctioning would scare and depress me every second of every minute of every day.” Pamela Martin

serious discussion (more…)

Hepatitis C: Why Baby Boomers Should Be Tested

LEAVE A COMMENT 2016 May 17

This post is sponsored by Quest Diagnostics.

Over 3 million Americans are living with Hepatitis C, but most of them don’t even know it. What’s even more alarming is that 75% of those infected are boomers born between 1945 and 1965.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month and we are encouraging the FabOverFifty community to understand why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that all baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965 get tested for the disease, which may show no symptoms for decades.

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What is Hepatitis C and how is it diagnosed?

Hepatitis C is a liver infection, triggered by a blood-borne virus that is primarily spread through contact with blood from an infected person. While some people only experience a short-term infection, 70-85% of those with Hep C develop a chronic infection, according to the CDC, which can lead to liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and even death. Unfortunately, the liver already will be severely affected once symptoms of the chronic illness do appear.

Hep C is diagnosed through a simple blood test. (more…)