Women's Health

Health problems after menopause

Life after menopause differs from the years before it in some ways. One obvious change is that you won't have to manage menstrual periods anymore. Less obvious: Some health risks can rise for women, partly due to the lower levels of estrogen hormones that exist after menopause. Health risks to watch for include: Heart disease. Before menopause, women generally have a lower risk of heart disease than men do. After menopause, as the protective effect of estrogen which may help keep cor...

Women: Take good care of your heart

Like many women, you might consider breast cancer your top health concern. But you may not realize there's an even bigger risk to your health: heart disease. It's the leading killer of both men and women, and it's surprisingly common. Heart disease strikes nearly 1 in 3 women during their lifetime, compared to 1 in 8 women who will get breast cancer. Some things can make you more likely than the average person to get heart disease, which sets the stage for heart attacks. For instance, your risk ...

How to Prevent Cervical Cancer

Here's something every woman should know about cervical cancer: It's almost always preventable. Cervical cancer is rare in women who are regularly screened for it. And there's a vaccine that protects against its most common cause, the human papillomavirus HPV . Most cervical cancers start with precancerous changes that gradually turn into cancer. Screening can find these abnormal changes, which doctors can then treat. That stops cancer from ever developing. Screening always includes the HPV test...

Ovarian Cancer: Watch for Early Clues

It was once considered a silent disease—often going undetected until it was too late to do much about it. Now doctors believe that ovarian cancer may cause early symptoms. If you're a woman, it's important to become familiar with them. Around 94% of women whose ovarian cancers are found and treated early will live five years or longer—and many will live much longer and can even be cured, according to the American Cancer Society ACS . Unfortunately, only 20% of ovarian cancers are act...

Leading in Women’s Health

Women face health challenges throughout their lives that are unique to them. At Watson Clinic, our specialists have long made strides to advance the cause of women’s health. Gynecologic oncologist Dr. Richard Cardosi was the first surgeon in Polk County to perform a robotic-assisted hysterectomy using a single-site incision. Since it opened in 2006, our Women’s Center has set the standard for early detection and breast cancer treatment, offering powerful 3D mammography capabilities a...

Cervical cancer: Take steps to prevent it

The most important thing to know about cervical cancer may be this: It's largely preventable. Here's a look at how to protect yourself—or your daughter—from a disease that afflicted over 13,000 women in 2017 and kills more than 4,000 women every year. A Pap test can find pre-cancerous changes in the cells of the cervix that can be treated before they have the chance to turn into cancer. Most cases of cervical cancer are found in women who haven't had regular Pap tests. Your doctor ma...

The Facts about Menopause

Menopause typically occurs between the ages of 45 – 58 and marks the end of menstruation cycles. These cycles will usually change in the years leading up to menopause due to a shift in estrogen levels. Estrogen levels begin to shift in the years leading up to menopause, which causes a change in menstrual cycles. This time frame is referred to as perimenopause, and can last for as long as eight years. During this time, periods can become unpredictable in length, intensity, or frequency. Wom...