Menopause: a Natural Occurrence at a Critical Time

The menopause is a natural occurrence or condition that happens to every normal woman who lives out an average lifetime. Yet it is a critical time as well - the reason why the menopause is likewise referred to sometimes as climacteric - that a woman, before reaching this condition, should take all the necessary care to ensure that the perturbing influences are prevented, as well as to put her body into the best possible condition. She has to be completely aware and fully prepared of the fact that troubling symptoms often accompany the menopause. (In men, the condition is called andropause, but this will not be taken up here.)

Except during pregnancy or lactation (the period of milk secretion), menstrual cycles normally take place about once a month from puberty to the menopause stage. As the inevitable period of menopause draws closer, there is often an irregularity of the menstrual flow. It could either be too profuse/too frequent flow, or a missing of a period. Usually, the menopause occurs between the ages forty-five and fifty-five.

As the menopause nears, the pelvic organs start to become smaller. The sex organs begin to lose their reproductive power, too. Also at this time, the woman often experiences hot rushes accompanied by chilliness. In some cases, a woman may lose weight or fail in overall health, or she may have a poor appetite. There exist the conditions of weakness, nausea, belching, and manic depression. Symptoms that commonly burden women during the menopause include severe headache, pesky backache, constipation, digestive interference, pain in the breasts, and even fainting in some instances. There may even be a consistent feeling of uneasiness at times.

The menopause differs to a great extent in duration from woman to woman. Some women stop menstruating abruptly with no discomposing symptoms. Irregular menstrual symptoms ordinarily last from a few months to about a couple of years. But with some women, the symptoms may continue for years. To avoid the pains and distresses that normally accompany the menopause, there should be a conscious effort to treat the menstrual disorders ahead of time and to maintain good health.

Health experts suggest outdoor exercise, light work, healthful diet, and adequate sleep to improve overall health. Tonic treatments (example, cold mitten frictions applied daily) can make the menopausal symptoms less severe. Your doctor may also prescribe certain medicines, such as estrogen or other synthetic or semisynthetic steroids. However, before beginning with such hormone therapy, you and your doctor should thoroughly discuss and carefully consider its benefits and risks. For instance, hormone therapy can help retard the progress of osteoporosis by slowing down the accelerated loss of bone minerals (in some women, this problem occurs to a serious degree after menopause). But the same therapy may heighten the risk of developing uterine cancer. [Read the Original Article]