Do You Know All About Menopause?
Posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
We think we know all about menopause: hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings, but a new study reveals that’s not all. Menopausal symptoms can affect every aspect of a woman’s life.
The Menopause Impact Survey, sponsored by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and conducted by Yankelovich, revealed that 67 percent of women stated that menopause negatively affected their personal health and well-being; 58 percent stated that menopause affected their sex life; 52 percent stated that menopause impacted their relationship with their significant other. And two-thirds of the women said that they were not prepared for the symptoms.
“While women theoretically understand that they will experience menopause, many underestimate the symptoms they may experience and how they will be impacted physically and emotionally,” said David Portman, MD, Director and Principal Investigator of the Columbus Center for Women’s Health Research. “Some studies have shown that women can have upwards of a dozen moderate-to-severe hot flashes a day, with each one lasting a few minutes. It is no wonder symptomatic women report such an impact on their lives and relationships.”
Menopause can lead to vaginal dryness because of the lack of estrogen and atrophy, thinning of the vaginal walls. Older Women who had partners reported a higher incidence of vaginal impact because of menopause.
“The transition into menopause begins when women begin ceasing to produce estrogen. Symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats are more common at the beginning stages, and for most women, will subside over time,” stated Portman. “However, as estrogen continues to decline, women will, if left untreated, experience more severe vaginal dryness and atrophy, which can lead to pain with sex. This varied spectrum of symptoms shows the need for women to partner with their healthcare provider in order to find the appropriate treatment.”
Menopause also affected women’s mental health. Eighty-seven percent experienced anxiety, depression and mood swings.
More About Menopause
Menopause is defined as: “the time in a woman’s life when the menstrual cycle ends.” Once a woman enters into menopause, the length of time for which to recover is completely based upon the individual going through menopause.
The age of a woman who naturally enters into menopause is between 45 and 55. The average age is 51 years old. However, some women can enter menopause as early as 30 and as late as 60. Generally, doctors advise their patients that menopause can occur most often around the time that their mothers entered into menopause.
Of course, menopause can be surgically induced when a woman has a complete oophorectomy, or the removal of both ovaries. This surgical procedure renders the woman unable to have menstruation, resulting in menopause. Cancer and radiation treatments can also cause a woman to enter into menopause.
The symptoms of menopause are based upon the woman and her body.
Irregular vaginal bleeding, spotting, or excessive bleeding, can be both unpredictable and uncomfortable for the menopausal woman.
Hot flashes, which can last from 30 seconds up to several minutes, or night sweats, which are drenching sweats that occur when sleeping, can occur for up to 5 years in menopausal woman. This contributes to irritability caused by lack of restful sleep.
Vaginal symptoms caused by the thinning of the vaginal lining and low estrogen levels can contribute to dryness and itchiness. Urinary symptoms including frequent urinary tract infections are not uncommon in women experiencing menopause.
Some women experiencing menopause report difficulty sleeping, memory issues, irritability, and rapid mood changes. Weight gain, adult onset acne, and changes in skin texture are also common for women of menopause.
Estrogen replacement therapy or hormone therapy is, as it should be, an individual decision based upon education and consultation with one’s doctor.
There are risks to the therapies including increased vaginal dryness, heart attack, breast or endometrial cancer, which is a cancer of the lining of the uterus.
A woman who chooses to not participate in hormone therapies can choose the alternative school of thought, which is taking steps to live a healthier lifestyle. While this may result in longer recovery times of the symptoms of menopause, studies suggest that regular exercise, quitting smoking, and eating properly will make dealing with the symptoms much easier.
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