The Connect Dialogues®

What is the best way to announce a pregnancy to an employer? This is one of the most difficult issues for a working woman about to become a mother. Dr. Jane Halpert, an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, talks with host Dr. Lisa Mazzullo about challenges our pregnant patients may encounter in the workplace and how they can deal with discrimination.

Treatment of pelvic pain is often handled by a gynecologist. The most successful approach to treating pelvic pain and dyspareunia may be a team approach. Judith Florendo, the Midwest regional representative in the women's section of the American Physical Therapy Association, joins host Dr. Lauren Streicher to discuss how pelvic physical therapists determine treatment for the problem. It begins with a complete medical history, and may include ultrasound, biofeedback, internal exams of the pelvis and electrical stimulation. The two also look at the significant increase in quality of life following treatment and the length of treatment for women with pelvic pain.

Maternity care accounts for a very large expenditure in the US healthcare system, which can include overuse of procedures, drugs and tests. How can all of this be corrected to increase quality? Carol Sakala, director of programs for the Childbirth Connection, tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about how a balance can be achieved with evidenced-based maternity care and why doctors and their patients should take notice.

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Sex is the last issue on a woman's mind after being diagnosed with cancer or facing a hysterectomy. Studies show that only half of gynecologists bring up the issue prior to a hysterectomy and only 13 percent of patients have the guts to ask their doctor about it. So, how do doctors bring up the issue, and when in their patients' recovery is it appropriate to bring it up? Host Dr. Lauren Streicher and Dr. Laura Berman, assistant clinical professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, discuss the protocol for bringing up sexual dysfunction, body image after surgery and medication used to treat sexual dysfunction in women.

While postpartum depression shares many features in common with major depression, there are distinguishing characteristics and unique treatment challenges.  Host Dr. Leslie Lundt welcomes Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody to discuss postpartum depression.

Diabetes during pregnancy can pose a serious threat to mother and fetus. What are these risks? Do long-term diabetics face different dangers those with a new diagnosis during pregnancy? Dr. Thomas Moore, chairman of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, joins host Dr. Michael Benson, to discuss these issues.

Join Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, author of A Woman's Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause and A Woman's Guide to Sexual Health, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale University's School of Medicine, to discuss PMS and Menopause.