What is menopause?
Menopause is a crucial difference in the lives of women. Usually it occurs around age 50 and is considered to have started when the woman has not had a rule for a year.
Many women experience symptoms of menopause and irregular periods for some years, until menopause. This is called menopause and represents the gradual decline of the normal functioning of the ovaries.
Why does menopause occur?
Menopause occurs because the ovaries are not able to perform the function of ovulation (producing an egg each month) long.
When the ovaries of women are unable to respond to hormonal signals
from the brain, for the production of female hormones (estrogen and
progesterone).
The cause of the symptoms of menopause is the lowering of the levels of these hormones into the bloodstream.
Research on the menopause is recent. A hundred years ago when life expectancy was shorter, many women did not live long in menopause and knew very little about it.
¿Symptoms of menopause?
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What is menopause?
Do you have symptoms of menopause? Take our test and get some answers.
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All women experience menopause in different ways. Many do so without an apparent change of life, except for the fact that their periods become irregular and disappear. On the other hand there are many others whose life changes completely because they suffer all the symptoms of menopause.
What kind of changes cause menopause?
When a woman enters menopause often experience hot flashes or hot flashes. You may sweat a lot and then move to a facial redness. Attacks can occur at any time, and often occur often several per hour at the start of menopause. Each warm flushing lasts 3-6 minutes.
Some women have trouble sleeping. They often fall asleep, they are restless and wake up at night drenched in sweat. Some women sweat so much that they have to change the sheets several times during the night.
Some women experience depression , mood swings, fatigue and headaches . Others have trouble remembering things. Some have a little tolerant mood and get angry easily. They often cause confusion in the rest of the family.
The psychological changes are only a part. But there are other changes
- During menopause, women's skin becomes thinner.
- The lack of estrogen often causes the glands do not produce vaginal lubrication secretion for causing pain and burning during intercourse. Some women do not feel pleasure when having sex while others find that their orgasms are less intense.
- The lack of estrogen also affects the bladder and women need more frequent trips to the bathroom.
- It is given special attention the issue of osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) in relation to menopause. The decline in estrogen during years that the bones of postmenopausal women have greater ease of collapse or fracture.
- There is a gradual increase in the risk of heart disease and stroke after menopause. Besides the drop in estrogen causes unfavorable changes in blood cholesterol and blood fat levels, which predisposes to these diseases.
Medical treatment consists of adjusting hormone levels of women who have problems with the symptoms of menopause. Some hormonal treatments can make reappear the rules, but there are types of medication-free periods.
This treatment is called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is that the woman receives a small amount of estrogen and progesterone daily.
HRT is effective in the resolution of hot flashes and many women report improvement in their overall condition.
But HRT is not magic and if a woman has mood or behavior changes
because of problems at home or at work HRT can not be expected to solve
their problems.
HRT often for a short period of 6 months to a year is taken to address hot flashes. If a woman continues to take over a period of two years or more, it increases protection against diseases of the heart and late bone fractures that occur in the decade of 60-70 years.
Recent studies show evidence that use of HRT decreases the development of Alzheimer's disease and intestinal cancer.
How do you take HRT?
There are many ways of taking HRT.
The most common is taking a daily tablet, but alternatives include
transdermal patches, a small implant under the skin, or gel applied
daily to the skin.
What kind of side effects is HRT?
Most women have no side effects, but the most common are:
Most of these symptoms disappear after the first few months of treatment. If not disappear you should consult a gynecologist to adjust medication.
Sometimes hormone replacement therapy can not be used, either because
it is contraindicated, because it is well tolerated by women. In these cases we have other alternative treatments .
- Sickness
- Breast pain
- Weight gain
- Fluid retention
On balance women taking HRT live longer than those who do not take. Even the aforementioned side effects are minor when compared to other more serious than may appear without HRT.
Women taking HRT for five years or more appear to have a significantly increased risk of breast cancer . These five years should be counted from the 50 or more before 50 does not have.
This does not mean women should stop taking automatically after 5
years, but surveillance of breast cancer should be performed and perform
breast self-examination to detect lumps.
There is also an increased risk of venous thrombosis (blockage in leg
veins clots) during the first 6 months of the start of HRT. The risk is very low but women with a previous episode of thrombosis need blood tests before starting special treatment. The decision to receive treatment should be based on weighing the benefits against the risks of receiving it. The treatment is by prescription and is the doctor who should be warned of these risks before starting treatment.
What you can do to have an easier menopause? - Exercising regularly sa walking for 20-30 minutes three or four times a week can improve health and add years to your life. The exercise strengthens bones, improves quality of life and makes you sleep better.
- Eating the right thing is very important. For healthy bones, the body needs about 1,500 mg of calcium every day that come from dairy and cheese products.
- Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Recent studies show that eating five pieces of fruit or vegetables a day can prevent these diseases.
- No smoking and that is not good for health.
- Having a positive attitude can help change life less traumatic. Menopause is the beginning of a new stage of life in which they can make even large projects.
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