STRAW Defines the Reproductive Aging Process in Women

Georgia-based medical practitioner Robert Windsor, MD, has performed outpatient pain management procedures for more than three decades. The recipient of a number of accolades, including the PASSOR Clinician Award, Robert Windsor, MD, also focuses on age management and has written extensively on the impact of age-related hormone modulation on women’s health.

Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop (STRAW) is a diagram of hormone modulations associated with menopause. Divided into seven stages, STRAW delineates the conditions that appear throughout a woman’s cycle from menstruation to post-menopause. 

The reproductive stage is divided into early, peak and late periods. During the late period, menstrual cycles become more irregular and levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) increase, which correlates with a lower egg supply. During the menopausal stage, a woman may regularly skip several period cycles.

Common symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats will appear during this stage. The last period marks the beginning menopause. The early postmenopausal stage encompasses the first five years following the final menses.