Menopause, what is it all about? is your final menstrual period, which occurs when your ovaries have stopped producing the hormones that drive your menstrual cycle.
It is diagnosed definitively when you have missed your period for 12 consecutive months. For most women, it is a natural process that occurs between the ages of 40 and 58, although some go into premature menopause or have induced menopause due to surgery or an injury to the ovaries.
The hormonal fluctuations around menopause can cause symptoms including hot flashes and vaginal dryness, and you might seek relief from these with symptomatic treatments.
Symptoms
Every woman experiences menopause differently. Some women may have very severe menopausal symptoms, while other women will barely have any complaints. However, there are some predictable menopausal symptoms that are commonly noticed by most women.
During your menopausal transition, you might start to notice some changes in your period. Lighter and/or less frequent periods are a normal change and an expected response to your decreasing hormone levels. (Heavier and/or more frequent periods need to be evaluated by your doctor.)
Hot flushes are a very common and unpleasant symptom of menopause. The clinical term for a hot flash is a vasomotor symptoms. Sometimes this may also be associated with anxiety or heart palpitations. A typical hot flash lasts anywhere from one to five minutes, and most women will have at least one, two or three per day.
- Vaginal dryness in menopause is due to a lack of estrogen and progesterone balance. Without adequate amounts of it, the walls of your vagina lose volume and moisture and become thin, dry, and easily irritated. This can lead to painful sex, an increase in vaginal infections, and chronic vaginal discomfort
- Sleep disturbances are common due to hot flashes, insomnia, stress, or depression.
- Emotional symptoms such as mood swings, anxiety, and depression are also seen.
- Weight gain is a frequent problem in menopause, and the loss of estrogen shifts fat distribution to the waistline. This type of weight gain is particularly unhealthy and is associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease.
The signs and symptoms of menopause are caused by the changes in the function of your ovaries. There are three different ways your body can enter menopause:
- Naturally occurring menopause: This is the most common progression to menopause. Every woman will eventually stop getting her period. This usually occurs around age 52. However, it is completely normal for menopause to occur between age 40 and 58.5
- Premature menopause: This is menopause that happens before age 40. Unlike naturally occurring menopause, premature menopause is considered abnormal. It is often associated with other autoimmune disorders and puts you at increased risk of osteoporosis. If you are less than 40 years old and you think you are in menopause, it is very important that you discuss this with your doctor.
- Induced menopause: This type of menopause occurs when there is some injury to the ovaries, which is typically related to medical treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. Unlike naturally occurring menopause, which happens gradually, induced menopause is usually abrupt, and menopausal symptoms are often sudden and intense.
Unless your ovaries have been removed surgically, menopause doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, your ovaries gradually decrease the amount of hormones they produce. This winding down of your ovarian function typically takes several years and is called perimenopause or the menopausal transition.
Your ovaries don’t slow their function in a predictable way. Some months your ovarian hormone production could be close to normal, while other months your hormone production could be far from it. Menopause is not reversible. Once your ovaries have stopped producing hormones, you will no longer get your period.
Diagnosis
If you are having menstrual irregularities and other symptoms of menopause, report them to your doctor. They might be signs of another condition or a need for adjustment to your medications or treatment for your existing medical conditions.
Your doctor will diagnose menopause when you report you have not had a menstrual period in 12 months. Because of the way your hormone levels change around menopause, there is no accurate and reliable blood test to diagnose it, although some may be done to rule out other conditions, such as thyroid disease.
Treatment
Despite all of the symptoms and changes in your body, menopause is not a disease that needs to be treated—it is simply a normal part of getting older. You can wait out the symptoms, but it can be helpful to discuss treatment options with your primary care doctor, gynaecologist, natural practioners or a menopause specialist.
There are many choices to help ease the menopausal transition and improve the symptoms of menopause. They range from mind/body practices such as yoga and meditation to hormone replacement and other prescription medications that address specific symptoms. For example, for those experiencing painful sex, options like a natural lubricant (water free) from the chemist will help or a vaginal low dose estrogen cream to ease the symptom.
Menopause is the perfect time to take a look at your lifestyle. Follow the general principles of a healthy, well-balanced diet and regular physical activity. In addition to general exercises try some gentle muscle building with strength training. You start to lose lean body mass (muscle) at the age of 40.
Introduce Vitamin D, Calcium and Magnesium into your diet and a good all round Omega Oil supplement. Vitamin C is also a wise choice as it works well with the other vitamins.
Using Natural Progesterone Cream
Using Natural Progesterone Cream on a regular basis, with the dose suggested by our consultant, you will help many of the symptoms you are suffering with. ProgesterAll is known as the happy cream, why?
The first things it does is to make you feel alive again and brighter all round. After a few weeks, if used correctly you could be rid of Hot Flushes, Night Sweats and those dreaded migraines! they will take about 2 months to remove, but balancing your hormones is the secret and key to a happy menopause. ProgesterAll is natural and has no side effects, it works well with vaginal low dose estrogen creams and is easy to use and is the first choice for women looking for a natura solution.
Take Care of YOU
For Natural Progesterone to be 100% effective, it is vital that you make lifestyle changes, that means taking care of yourself and organising your life and work program. Take time for family and work, and take time for yourself. Meet friends, go for lunch or an evening meals with other couples, go for a walk in the park or forest near by, read, watch a comedy film, join a book club or art class. Take some time to do things you have always wanted to do.
This is the time of life where you have usually given your all to your work and family, however now is the time to assess how you live and who you associate with. A stress free relaxed lifestyle can be yours but you must make the changes and let people around you know, that, you mean business.
The Natural Approach to Hormone Balance with Mi Vida Natura
Find out more about ProgesterAll Cream
