Menopause – an Alarm for Extra Health Care

Menopause, a pause to a woman’s menstruation cycle, plays a vital role in her health and brings a lot of changes in her, physically and mentally. It is very common among the women of age group ranging from 40 to 50, depending up on their health, genetic makeup and functioning of hormones.

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Women with good lifestyle, doing exercise, with healthy diet and avoiding alcohols and smoking habits will get menopause a little late than the normal group. Also hormones like estrogen and progesterone plays important roles in deciding the time for menopause. It is not determined by single factor. Though menstruation looks like a troubling cycle every month, which causes bloating and bleeding, with lots of inconveniences, pause to that have lots of adverse effects in body. One should be ready to handle that.

Types of Menopause

Menopause is categorized into three types in general.

1.       Natural Menopause, which is a normal one to happen, with increase in age.

2.       Medical or Surgical Menopause, which happens due to the removal of uterus and ovary. Sometimes it could be due to chemotherapy.

3.       “Cold-Turkey” Menopause is the one which happens due to menopausal hormone therapy, which happens for those who suffer with breast cancer.

Common Symptoms

The symptoms of menopause differ from individual to individual. Sometimes the symptoms are misdiagnosed as endogenous depression, migraine or general debility.

The major symptoms are

1.       Vasomotor Symptoms – Women will suffer disturbances in the nerves and muscles that cause the blood vessels to constrict or dilate.

2.       Hot Flushes or Hot Flashes Symptoms – One will feel heat in the face and upper body, causing lot of sweat and tiredness. Women having these symptoms will feel weak most of the time. They will feel lot of uneasiness, before and after those moments of hot flashing. This is also called as symptoms of exhaustion.

3.       Vaginal Dryness Symptoms – During the approach of menopause, estrogen deficiency happens, which in turn leads to atrophic changes. It reduces blood flow to the genital tract and urethra, causing dry vagina. This leads to infections and irritations often.

4.       Headaches Symptoms – One will suffer with headaches often than usual, without any cause or reason.

5.       Swing of mood Symptoms – One cannot predict the mood of the person. Women having this symptom may get angry even for small issues and shout at everyone at home. They burst at every problems and will feel uncontrolled.

6.       Muscle, joint pains Symptoms – Often feels pain in the muscles and joints. It is called as premenopausal Osteoporosis.

Problems in health

1.       Risk of Osteoporosis – The concentration of lipoprotein in blood will get reduced, causing reduction in bone mass. It is called as postmenopausal osteoporosis.

2.       Risk of Heart problems (Cardiovascular diseases) – Palpitation will be very common in women passing the phase of menopause. But heart problem is not that common, unless if that individual has the habits like smoking, and has hypertension. They will have high risk of heart problems.

3.       Risk of Hair fall and weak nail – Brittle nails are so common for women with menopause. They too complaint excess hair falls.

4.       Risk of sex life – They will have less or no interest in sex life, leading to misunderstandings and gap with life partners.

5.       Risk of Psychological problems – They will have lot of anxiety, irritability leading to depressions and lose of attachment with family and friends.

Precautions and Overcoming

1.       Healthy diet – Should always have calcium and iron rich food. A check up once in a year to find deficiencies will help to find the supplements.

2.       Good Lifestyle – Exercising regularly helps to be healthy even after menopause. Those who cannot exercise much should go for walking at least.

3.       Regular Checkups –For heart, breast and hormones will help.

4.       Meditation and Yoga – Will help to reduce depression and anxiety.