A Guide To Menopause In Women
Menopause is a wholly natural process, occurring to every woman in her life. It is not an illness, however various physical symptoms often quite unpleasant and a general feeling of loss often accompany menopause, sometimes causing even psychological problems. Menopause in women often makes them realize that they are nearing death, or the feeling of loss of fertility can be understood as a grievance in itself. However, after menopause, women can still live to be ninety years old, live forty or fifty more years, just as much as they lived before it. The fact they do not have to be afraid of getting pregnant after menopause can have a liberating effect, especially if no severe symptoms go with this transition.
Causes Of Menopause In Women
Menopause in women naturally occurs between the age of forty-five and fifty-five, the average being fifty-one years, when the ovaries stop working and there are no more menstrual cycles. However, there is quite a long perimenopause, the phase leading up to actual menopause, which can begin in the early forties or even in the thirties, when the ovaries start producing less estrogen and progesterone. This decrease in the production of female hormones results in physiological symptoms.
Symptoms Of Menopause In Women
As the physiological changes start long before the actual date of the menopause in women, symptoms can be felt years before it, simultaneously with the first changes. Some women may experience very few of these symptoms, while others may have severe problems, sometimes requiring medication. Most obviously, women start having irregular periods, as a result of the changes in the ovaries, not having a period for months, or having them more often. Fertility also declines, which does not mean though that a woman cannot get pregnant even around the time of her last menstrual cycle. Hormone levels rise unevenly, you may have hot flashes, sleep disturbances, or increased abdominal fat for example. Vaginal dryness can be a further unpleasant symptom, as a result of the thinning of the lining of the vagina , which can cause irritation or pain during the sexual intercourse. One may also experience urinary symptoms, the lining of the urethra becomes thinner and dryer, which can lead to the need to urinate more frequently, incontinence or urinary tract infections. Menopause in women may also result in emotional or behavioral symptoms, research has not yet fully shown which emotional symptoms are the direct results of hormonal changes, however women may experience the feeling of tiredness, fatigue, sudden mood swings, irritability or may have memory problems for example. All these symptoms however, definitely do not accompany menopause in women all the time, most women will actually experience a rather smooth transition from one life-period to another, and will not regard menopause as the ultimate sign of aging.
