All You Ever Need to Know About Menopause

Perimenopause and Menopause are caused by perfectly natural changes in women. Post-menopause is also caused by natural changes in the female body.

What exactly is Perimenopause

Perimenopause begins when women start to age and the natural order of the menstrual cycle begins to come to an end. The number of eggs that a woman has begins to go down and the quality of the eggs also wanes significantly during this stage. Hormone levels in the body begin to fluctuate drastically. Due to sporadically changing levels, the menstrual cycle becomes more and more unpredictable. Scientists and researchers have named this stage of sheer spontaneous behavior, Perimenopause.

Menopause and Post-menopause

The levels of progesterone and estrogen in your body begins to go up and down and then they begin to decline sharply. After your estrogen and progesterone levels decline below a certain level, your ability to get pregnant and produce a menstrual cycle officially ends. After you reach the point where you have not had a menstrual cycle for more than one year, you are considered to be finished with menopause and officially in the process of post-menopause.

After about twelve months of post- menopause the estrogen levels in your body will become consistent, but at a lower level than you were used to before the process of menopause. What many women fail to realize is that estrogen plays a significant role in many other functions of the female body and since it sharply declines after menopause your body is going to react and function defiantly. Your urinary tract and vagina will begin to behave very differently. If a woman experiences chemotherapy, the removal of her ovaries or any other drastic procedure, menopause can occur before it’s time.

What does early menopause come from?

Early menopause usually comes from a medical procedure such as chemotherapy, a hysterectomy or the removal of the pituitary gland. A vegan diet can also cause early menopause. Many people do not know this but a low amount of body fat can also lead to early menopause.

Menopause and Perimenopause

A woman is officially considered to be in the stage of menopause when her menstrual period has not been present for at least a year. When a woman reaches menopause her ability to bore children is over. Many women commonly refer to menopause as “the change”. When listening to women converse about menopause you will most likely hear them saying “ I am going through the change”.

Menopause most frequently occurs around the age of fifty. You should not judge the normality of your menopause depending on others behaviors and age of occurrence. Menopause varies depending on the woman and some woman experience menopause as early as their mid 40’s.

Perimenopause is defined as the process of oddities and changes that happen before menopause. This process can begin as early as the early 30’s. For some women the process of Perimenopause can begin as late as the mid 50’s. Perimenopause usually lasts for a average of two to eight years. This time is generally marked by irregular periods and mood swings.

Why does menopause happen?

The first thing that women should know is that menopause is a natural and inevitable process. During this time the level of hormones in the body begin to change drastically and your moods and emotions begin to act accordingly. The number of eggs you have begin to decline and the odds of you becoming pregnant lessens with time. After estrogen levels reach a certain point of lowness the ability for you to have menstrual period disappears. Sometimes menopause happens because of a medical procedure. Surgeries like hysterectomies and pituitary surgeries are often responsible for the occurrence of menopause. Chemotherapy can also cause a woman to experience menopause.

And the symptoms of Menopause are…

When you begin to experience excessively varying periods and they start to become more and more unpredictable, odds are you are experiencing symptoms of menopause. Your period may become more difficult to track and sometimes your may skip menstrual periods all together. Experiencing hot flashes is an infamous symptom of menopause. Due to a shift in hormone levels sleep may become more difficult to obtain, that being said, insomnia is a symptom of menopause. Having mood swings is also an infamous sign of menopause. Vaginal dryness is also a popular sign of menopause and so are headaches and migraines.

The severity of symptoms can vary from woman to woman. Some women experience very intense mood swings and hot flashes while other women have mild symptoms. Also, it should be noted that women do not have to have all of the aforementioned symptoms, while one woman may have trouble sleeping another woman may only experience vaginal dryness. When menopause first begins, that is when symptoms are the worse. When a female’s hormones begin to level out that is when symptoms will begin to subside but at first the symptoms can be very intense and bothersome.

There are only few women who are lucky enough to breeze through menopause. Most women, however, suffer significantly during the menopausal stage. Because of hormonal imbalance, the female body experiences some drastic changes which causes drastic reactions from the body.

The Stage of Menopause and their Symptoms

There are three stages of menopause: the perimenopause, the menopausal stage and the postmenopause. These conditions could be identified through the symptoms the female body experiences.

Perimenopause is stage wherein the body starts to experience the effects of menopause. Hormonal imbalance starts to take its toll in the body.

The following are the symptoms of perimenopause:

irregular menstruation
swinging menstrual periods (the first month will be light and the next month will be very heavy)

When menopause happens, the female body experiences the full effects of hormonal imbalance. This will usually last for 1 to 2 years in the female body and the effects could be unfortunately felt for more than five years.

The symptoms that tell the female is on her menopausal stage are:

insomnia
mood swings
lack of interest in sex
inability to concentrate
hot flashes
headaches
heart palpitations
itching in different parts of the body.

These symptoms will even be experienced more if the female had experienced medical procedures. Post menopause also has its signs. This is the time wherein the hormones in the female body are starting to balanced.

The following are the signs that the female is in post menopausal stage:

Lack of menstrual periods – the women will stop experiencing menstruation because of the inability to reproduce.
Low collagen content in the body – this causes dry skin, hair and even nails.
Vaginal irritation which includes itching
Increased susceptibility to urinary tract infections
Inability to perform during sexual encounter because of the pain during penetration.

How is menopause diagnosed?

Due to the distinct changes and symptoms involved with menopause, you and your physician will most likely come to the conclusion that you are experiencing menopause with out the help of a test. Most of these symptoms are exclusively associated with menopause and only menopause. Sometimes doctors will do tests in order to prove that an increase in bleeding is due to menopause and not something more serious. Seeing a doctor about your menopause is not really necessary, but it is vital that you keep up with your annual or bi annual checkups. When menopause is reached you become more prone to certain health problems so you must become more pro active with the maintenance of your health and this requires you seeing a physician on a regular basis.

Is treatment necessary?

Considering that menopause is a completely natural an inevitable occurrence in life, treatment is not necessary to maintain your health. If your symptoms are considerably adverse and you do not wish to suffer through them, you can request to be put on some type of supplement by your physician that will ease the rigors of menopause. One change you can make independently is to live a healthy life. The more healthy your everyday practices are, the easier your symptoms will be to deal with. You should try your hardest to eat healthy and maintain a healthy diet. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water and are hydrated, eating fruits and healthy omega fatty acids will also help with the symptoms of menopause. Exercise will also prove to be beneficial. Meditating and walking will also be good stress relieves and this will help curb your symptoms of menopause.