OTHER DISORDERS OF HRT: WOMEN WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE OR A HISTORY

Such women need more intensive surveillance than usual if they try HRT. In any case, it is a good idea for women on HRT to have their blood pressure checked regularly. If significant changes occur, it is important to have a full medical assessment and prompt treatment to control the problem (with blood pressure medications).

If you have a personal history of blood clots that developed for no apparent reason, or a family history of clotting disorders, you should tread cautiously where HRT is concerned. A thorough investigation of clotting function should be completed before deciding about whether or not to embark on hormone therapy. Genevieve developed a spontaneous clot in one leg during her thirties and, many years later, when she was contemplating HRT, a full investigation of her clotting factors was carried out. These revealed some minor abnormalities. However, Genevieve decided to start on a hormone patch to relieve her wide-ranging and severe menopausal symptoms. She asked her doctor about using aspirin to minimise the risk of further clot development, and was told that this was appropriate in her situation.

If clots are triggered by something definite like pregnancy, childbirth or previous surgery, HRT in patch form may be considered suitable. Some studies suggest that HRT does not significantly increase the risk of clots. But where there is any doubt it is wise to avoid taking the hormones in pill form, giving preference to patches. This is because the liver, which plays a major role in blood pressure control and blood clot formation, may become overactive when called on to handle the larger hormone load that occurs with pill formats (the patch releases hormones more gradually).

INSOMNIA – INTRODUCTION

It is certainly annoying when you cannot get to sleep in spite of being tired. But it is even worse to lie awake for hours because the tensions of the day simply do not leave you, and are transformed into problems of insurmountable magnitude. Unpleasant daytime experiences prevent sleep and create a state of depression and the ‘wheels’ which are supposed to stand still during the night turn faster and faster. The restless individual tosses from side to side and finally, because he knows no other way out of his predicament, he reaches for a sleeping pill.

This, of course, is the worst thing he could do, because in no time at all, if he continues using such help, he will find he cannot do without it. He tends to forget that drugs destroy the body’s ability to react and respond in a natural way and that their continued use has a destructive effect that can be far-reaching. It is far more sensible to isolate the cause of the problem that keeps you awake. Then, by resolving it, you will eventually restore your natural ability to fall asleep and rest.

HOMOSEXUAL OFFENDERS VS. CHILDREN: CRIMINALITY

The homosexual offenders vs. minors include a moderate number of individuals (14 per cent) with records of juvenile convictions, falling between the two other homosexual-offender groups in this respect. However, a rather large proportion of these convictions led to imprisonment for six months or more—that is, the offenses were more than trivial. The homosexual offenders vs. minors rank fourth in the number with juvenile sex offenses (7 per cent), and one will recall that the homosexual offenders vs. children ranked third.

The involvement in antisocial or asocial behavior, as measured by conviction, was rather slow until these men were well into the third decade of their lives. About one fifth had been convicted by age eighteen, but the one-half mark was not attained until the midtwenties. By age thirty three quarters had been convicted and from that age on their percentages are intermediate.

There is nothing remarkable about the average age at which they were first convicted—twenty-five—or at the age they were first convicted for sexual behavior with a minor boy (30.2). The latter age is identical with that for the average homosexual offender vs. children at his first conviction for sexual activity with a boy under twelve.

Taking all the convictions of the homosexual offenders vs. minors, one finds a large proportion (62 per cent, third largest) were for sex offenses and a small proportion (38 per cent, third smallest) were for other offenses. Similarly, a very large number, about three fifths, had been convicted solely for sex offenses—only the homosexual offenders vs. adults had more “pure” sex offenders.

This specialization in sex offenses is again visible in an examination of type and number of offenses. These men had 3.74 convictions per capita, a moderate number insofar as total convictions are concerned. However, they also had 2.32 sex-offense convictions per capita, a number exceeded only by the most repetitive groups—the peepers and exhibitionists.

Turning to the nonsexual offenses, we find that, as is true for homosexual offenders in general, very few (3.6 per cent) were offenses against the person. No group displayed a smaller percentage. On the other hand, the homosexual offenders vs. minors had a large proportion (44 per cent, second in rank-order) of their nonsexual charges for vagrancy and/or disorderly conduct. This type of charge is easily lodged against perambulating or loitering males looking for homosexual contacts, and is even more readily lodged against adult males loitering around places where children or minors congregate.

As stated previously, the homosexual offenders vs. minors tend to confine their misdemeanors and felonies to sex offenses; in addition, they tend to limit their sex offenses to homosexual offenses, which constitute 85 per cent of their sex offenses. Within the homosexual category, of all their sex offenses other than those against minor boys, 36 per cent were against male children, and 24 per cent against male adults. Their next most frequent offenses, against willing or acquiescent females, comprised only 14 per cent.

The homosexual offenders vs. minors are very like the homosexual offenders vs. children in their moderate rate of recidivism: nearly one fourth had only one conviction, one fourth had two, and slightly over one fourth had four to six.