Attention: You are using an outdated browser, device or you do not have the latest version of JavaScript downloaded and so this website may not work as expected. Please download the latest software or switch device to avoid further issues.
News
To speak with a family physician expert, Contact Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com or 773/754-1185.
AAFP Education
AAFP Menopause Clinical Collection,
Menopause Management: When Hormone Therapy Is Appropriate, and
AAFP Menopause and Perimenopause CME.
IAFP and AAFP Support Menopause Equity Policies that:
*Improve insurance and Medicaid access to evidence-based hormonal and nonhormonal menopause treatments and appropriate formulations*Reduce unnecessary coverage and prior-authorization barriers that interfere with individualized care.*Increase investment in research on menopause and perimenopause.*Support access to evidence-based physician education without adding mandated CME requirements.*Recognize family physicians and primary care as essential partners in improving menopause awareness, access and health equity throughout Illinois.
IAFP family physicians share a message for all who are walking the menopause journey.
Menopause Awareness Week is October 11-17.Your family physician is here to help, always.
Share this video with your patients - Link on You Tube
Did you know 70% of women who seek medical care for menopause symptoms don't receive the treatment they need? And only 19% of women 40–60 ever receive a diagnosis at all? This Menopause Awareness Week, we're changing the narrative and sharing the information you need—from understanding your symptoms to available treatment options, we've got your back. Talk to your family physician.
Learn more at bit.ly/ILMenopause
#MenopauseAwarenessWeek
Do you have questions about symptoms, care, or how menopause can affect your day-to-day life? Family physicians are here to help by listening, looking at the whole picture, providing evidence-based options and continuing the conversation with you. #MenopauseAwarenessWeek
Learn more: https://familydoctor.org/condition/menopause/
Dr. Santina Wheat is IAFP President-elect and program director for McGaw Family Medicine Residency at Delnor Hospital in Geneva.
Did you know 70% of women who seek medical care for menopause symptoms don't receive the treatment they need? And only 19% of women 40–60 ever receive a diagnosis at all?
This Menopause Awareness Week, we're changing the narrative and sharing the information you need—from understanding your symptoms to available treatment options. IAFP President-elect Santina Wheat kicked off the discussion live on the radio.
Click the button below to hear Dr. Wheat on WGN-Radio on Sunday morning.
Dr. Tabatha Wells is a past president of IAFP and a family physician in Chatham.
The AAFP specifically identifies an opportunity for family physicians to help patients distinguish social media buzz from evidence-based guidance. That conversation includes hormone therapy. Current evidence supports an individualized approach rather than a one-size-fits-all answer. For appropriately selected patients younger than 60 or within 10 years of menopause onset who have no contraindications, the benefits of systemic hormone therapy for treating vasomotor symptoms can outweigh the risks. Hormone therapy can substantially improve hot flashes and other symptoms, while evidence-based nonhormonal treatments are also available for patients who cannot or do not wish to use hormones.
Dr. Sassetti is a past IAFP Family Physician of the Year and Co-Chair of IAFP's Women in Leadership Member Interest Group.
Menopause is a common stage of life that impacts individuals, families, workplaces and communities. Family physicians are here to help by listening, looking at the whole picture, providing effective options and continuing the conversation over time.
This Menopause Awareness Month, IAFP encourages Illinoisans to start that conversation with their family physician. Menopause is a normal stage of life, but people don’t have to suffer through treatable symptoms. Menopause care is health care. Menopause care is primary care.
Dr. Helen Xenos is a certified menopause care provider and Co-Chair of the IAFP's Women in Leadership Member Interest Group.
Family physicians care for patients across the lifespan and across conditions and they are particularly valuable during perimenopause and menopause because symptoms rarely fit neatly into one category. A patient may come to her family physician because she cannot sleep. Another may report anxiety, depression, brain fog, irregular periods, hot flashes, painful intercourse or urinary symptoms. At the same visit, she may need attention to blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes risk, cancer screening, contraception, bone health or other preventive care.
That is the strength of family medicine: seeing the whole patient rather than treating menopause as an isolated set of symptoms.
Dominique Fons, MD is a family physician in Peoria and a member of the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians board of directors.
Typical menopause symptoms may have a different root cause. Comprehensive primary care ensures a comprehensive evaluation that does not dismiss your difficult symptoms in mid-life as something you have to endure. Family physicians care for patients across the lifespan and across conditions. That relationship means more than ever during perimenopause and menopause because your doctor knows you as a person.
FamilyDoctor.org has information that can help.
