Menopause
WHAT IS MENOPAUSE?
Menopause is the natural stage in a woman’s life when her ovaries stop producing
estrogen and her reproductive cycle begins to wind down. In general, a woman
will enter menopause around her 50th birthday. Women who have had cancer,
diabetes, thyroid disease or other autoimmune deficiencies can have the onset of
menopause as early as 40 years old. For a very small number of women, menopause
can come while they are still in their 30s. Menopause can also come about as a
result of surgery, such as a hysterectomy where the ovaries are removed.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSE?
A host of symptoms have been associated with menopause. Indeed, menopause
represents a very dramatic change in a woman’s body’s hormone levels, and it
should not be surprising that the body can react in an uncomfortable and
sometimes unpredictable manner.
The symptoms everyone knows about are hot flashes and night sweats. Menopause
can also cause urinary problems, such as increased urgency or frequency. The
change in hormones can cause joint pain, and contribute to osteoporosis.
Potentially even more dramatically, menopause can have a dramatic effect on a
woman’s psychological health. A woman going through menopause is apt to feel
tired and irritable, with a lowered sex drive and even memory loss.
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH MENOPAUSE?
Until recently, the accepted manner of dealing with menopause has been through
hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A HRT treatment reduces many of the common
symptoms of menopause by giving the body a synthetic estrogen. This approach was
especially recommended for women at heightened risk for osteoporosis because is
slows blood loss. While many health professionals still recommend HRT, recent
studies have shown that it can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and
breast cancer. There has also been a philosophical movement away from treating
menopause as a ‘problem’ that needs to be solved with drugs.
Regardless of whether a woman decides to use HRT, a key component of any attempt
to deal with menopause is exercise – at least 30 minutes a day. Indeed, to
ensure that a woman’s bones are a strong as possible, this exercise routine
should start even before the onset of menopause. The younger a woman starts
exercising, the lower her risk of osteoporosis. Along with a active lifestyle,
women should also have a healthier diet. Women should choose foods low in fat
and cholesterol, and be sure to get high amounts of Vitamin D and calcium.
As for the other symptoms of menopause, while there is no way to make them go
away, women can adopt strategies to deal with them. For instance, if a woman is
having trouble sleeping through the night, she should avoid caffeine in the
evening, and establishing a set routine for bed times. A woman who is dealing
with mood swings can try relaxation exercises, and a woman dealing with memory
problems can keep her mind fresh with memory exercises. If a woman is
experiencing hot flashes – a common complaint – they should pay attention to
what they are eating or what else is going on in their lives could be triggering
the flashes. Caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods and stress, for example, have all
been found to trigger hot flashes in some women.
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