subject: The Menopause - Making It A Pleasant Experience [print this page] The Menopause - Making It A Pleasant Experience
Forall women, the menopause signifies the end offertility and the end of the menstrual cycle for good. As a woman's periods begin to come to an end, she needs to adjust tothesehighly significant physical changes, which can also produce quite intense emotions. However, a woman's menopause takes time to develop and so she does have the opportunity to adjust to all the different transitions she is going through.
The majority of women will see their menopause start at roughly the age of 52. Once they have had a year withouta period they are considered postmenopausal. It isn't particularly uncommon, however, to finda woman going through this process a little bit earlier. A premature menopause is said to occurbefore the age of 45. And some women have the menopause even sooner: roughly one in a hundred go through the process before 40 years of age, and a tiny number before they are 30 years old.
The menopause is generally thought of as a relatively discrete eventbut this isn't actually always the case. The period of time prior to the menopause is commonly known as the perimenopause and during this time a number ofdifferent hormonal changes can occur, causingirregular periodsand early symptoms of the menopause. As a woman's hormones begin tosignificantly fluctuate she will experiencesymptoms of the menopause including night sweats, hot flushes, mood swings, and some alteration in lubrication to her vagina.
She may also experiencemood swingsinduced by changing hormone levels in her body, and lesser or greater emotional consequences of thebodily changes such as the end of her periods and the loss of fertility. Roughly half will find it very difficult to deal with this situation which is usually signalled by an irregular menstrual cycle.
There is, of course, very little clarity in the overall division between the perimenopause and the actual menopause itself. Indeed, it may not be helpful distinction, since the perimenopause is simply the initialphase of a longer process, andin fact the symptoms during the perimenopause andthe menopause are pretty much identical -they differ only in degree, the symptoms becoming more acute as the menopause progresses.
Anothercommon side effects that many women will see will be a disturbance in their sleep patterns. In order to combat this particular side-effect a general holistic approach is suggested, incorporating alternative and conventional medicine such as reflexology, Reiki, acupuncture, homoeopathy and hormone replacement therapy, so that a woman can more quickly come to terms with the different symptomsshe may be experiencing.
It is important, also, for any woman to effectively deal with changes to her vaginal lubrication. The reason for this is simplythat it can have an effect upon her relationship, causing problems during intercourse. Localised treatment, however, through administration of estrogen pellets, will usuallyensure the vagina lubrication is adequate and vagina atrophy does not occur.In turn, this canmake a relationship a lot easier by ensuring thatthe normal pleasure can bebe gained from sexual intercourse and there is no pain or bleeding during sex.
Some women willsuffer from problems with urinary tract infections, most commonly cystitis, during both the early phase and the main phase of the menopause. Again, a holistic approach should help to deal with this issue. If yeast infections do occur, they can be addressed using yeast infectionhome remedies.
Reports have indicated that only about one in ten women will seek medical aid when they go through the menopause. This is partly because they won't necessarily think they need treatment, but it is also an indication that there are plenty of women who are unaware of the helpthat can be obtainedtodeal with the more intense and troublesomesymptoms. This includes antidepressants, hormone replacement therapy, vaginal lubricants, and other drugs as well as complementary therapies.
As a side note, any woman who is not looking to get pregnant should certainly continue to make use of contraceptives for at least a year following her last period.
Many of the symptoms of the menopause can easily be combated using hormone replacement therapy, or HRT. This particular therapy will replace oestrogen and progesterone and can be prescribed in a number of different ways, such as an implant, a skin patch, or as a gel or cream. Certain people have raised concerns about the safety of HRT, but in general these concerns are based on misinformation. When administered in low doses, HRT is perfectly safe. In addition, if your problem is only related to replacing lubrication and other vaginal problems, a number of localised treatments such as pelletes areavailable for this purpose.
HRT certainly isn't just about convenience now. It is also about preventing problems such as osteoporosis in later life and also in generally maintaining a higher quality of life into old age. Effective therapy will certainly lead to positive results if done properly and there is no reason why lifestyle changes should occur even after the menopause.
An acknowledged menopause expert,Dr Christiane Northrup,has written extensively on the subject and encourages women toadopt a holistic approach to the different changes, both emotional, physical, and mental, that the menopause can induce. If you would like to go through your "change of life" positively and with joy, Dr Northrup's books areessential reading.
And, if you are suffering from problems such as mood swings or irritability then antidepressants can be helpful. On this topic, however, many people consider a holistic approach that combines reflexology, nutrition, and acupuncture to be equallyeffective.
