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Menopause (climacteric) is a natural process in women in which their menstrual cycles cease and their child-bearing ability is lost. It is clinically defined as the cessation of menstruation for consecutively 12 months. It occurs around the age of mid-forties to mid-fifties. Symptoms like mood swings, hot flashes, and weight gain are often noticed and perturb daily lives. The details and how to handle menopause will be covered below.
Menopause is a natural change, not a disease. It is inevitable for women. When it happens, there is a huge dropoff in hormone production in the ovaries (i.e. oestradiol and progesterone). This will cause the body's processes which depend on these hormones to change, most prominently the menstrual cycle. The ongoing menstrual cycles are maintained by the production of oestradiol and progesterone. During menopause, these hormones diminish. Menstrual cycles, which prepare the body to bear a child, stop. Therefore, the child-bearing ability is no longer present. Clinically, menopause is defined as the absence of menstruation for a year.
For most women, the last menstruation occurs at 44 to 58 years old. This marks the onset of menopause. In rare cases, due to other reasons like surgeries or faults in the endocrine system, menopause comes earlier.
Menopause is a natural process in most cases. The ovary ages, causing the cells inside to deplete and stop producing and releasing sex hormones, leading to menopause.
However, there is a slim chance that menopause comes in other ways. Most causes are not known. The known causes include:
Menopause may, sometimes, occur at an earlier age. The following factors might accelerate it:
Menopause, sometimes, can be troublesome. As the sex hormones produced by ovaries are involved in many body processes, their diminishment causes much disturbance in many females’ daily lives and for those around them. The more observable signs and symptoms of menopause include:
Menopause symbolizes an enormous change in the female sex hormones, which are essential in a lot of processes in a women’s body. As the absence persists, the long-term effects will start to show up, which may include:
Menopause can be diagnosed with actual evidence, other than reporting signs and symptoms despite that being sufficient usually. Test confirming if the level of female sex hormones has decreased can be used to diagnose premature menopause.
Menopause, in most scenarios, does not require medical treatment as it is just a natural process. However, sometimes, the impact of the symptoms of menopause, physical or mental, will have a large impact on daily life. That is when certain interventions or managements come into play:
There are also some specific treatments for the symptoms:
During menopause, there is a huge dropoff in hormone production in the ovaries. Fat inclines to deposit not on the hips but around the middle. Also, it will decrease your metabolic rate, making it hard to burn fat. Therefore, menopausal women will appear fatter and weigh heavier.
Yes, it may. As it may also happen during menstruation, it will also happen the same way during menopause unpredictably as the menstrual cycles become unpredictable. Breast pain results from fluid accumulation in the breasts. What can be done is to wear the right bra that fits you well, as well as massage and apply analgesics to the breasts. If it persists or becomes intolerable, seek medical help as soon as possible.
Yes, it does. Firstly, menopause usually comes when women get older, so the rise in blood pressure is something pretty natural as the blood vessels stiffen. Secondly, menopausal women can become more sensitive to salts. Salts will retain water and make the blood pressure increase. Thirdly, nitric oxide production, which dilates blood vessels, decreases.
This article was independently written by Healthy Matters and is not sponsored. It is informative only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be relied upon for specific medical advice.
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