[Debbie L.]

Becky, your thoughts about the "erratic period of menopause" (oh, don't we know!) are really interesting to me. I'd never thought about that. Thinking, thinking . . . for example, although we wouldn't know it from this board, most breast cancer is detected in postmenopausal women (and it's more likely to ERPR+). We could hypothesize that it might begin during that time of erratic and wide hormone fluctuation, but not become detectable until women were truly menopausal. Just thinking aloud (atype) here but that could be another interesting link to the lower incidence of breast cancer in Japanese women. I believe that they are also far less likely to experience severe menopausal symptoms (but I'm relying on my memory in saying that so please correct me if you know differently). Hmm.

Debbie Laxague