Menopause

- Looking for Menopause Symptoms?

There comes a time in every woman’s life where she stops her menses. Known by many names; “Auntie Flow, the curse…” menstruation is when women battle with cramps, mood swings, feeling bloated or tired during that time of month when she is bleeding. These symptoms are known as PMDD- Premenstrual Dysphoris Disorder otherwise known as PMS.

Scientists have finally determined that while a woman’s menses are in full swing, there are changes taking place in the brain chemistry which is affecting her mood.

Depending on the age that menopause hits some women embrace it. Others run from it; ignoring the symptoms. Telling themselves it just can’t be happening to me.

During menopause, there is a significant change or shift in the hormones. Prior to the onset of menopause, a woman can experience major changes in her moods and attitude. She can enter into a depression easily. Become fatigued and tired most of the time.

During menopause, it is believed that when estrogen levels drop, this decreases the amount of serotonin available to the brain. This drop in estrogen levels greatly contributes to the depression and the ability to recall detail, struggle with memory that some women feel when they are experiencing menopause.

Estrogen levels when high in the body stabilize the serotonin to the brain. Life just feels easier. This is why pre-menopausal women are often placed on hormone replacement therapy.

Most women will not experience the onset of premenopausal symptoms until they reach their fifties. It is a turbulent time for some, coming to the understanding that the days of being fertile is now coming to an end. Definitely more difficult for the childless woman, menopause can test your emotions, drain your energy and sap your soul. For those having difficulty coping, it is wise to visit the doctor and discuss frankly with him these changes going on inside.

Generally in the past when a woman advanced into menopause, a doctor would routinely prescribe estrogen or progesterone in various strengths. This treatment known as Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT has declined recently due in a large part to a new study out by the National Institutes of Health that now link HRT with the development of certain cancers.

Since a woman’s ovaries cannot last her entire lifetime, the menses become fewer and farther in between, until stopping altogether. Once the estrogen and progesterone cease being manufactured by the body, other symptoms may begin:

• migraines
• sweating
• mood swings
• fibroid tumors 
• endometriosis
• PMS

These are some of the variety of symptoms a woman can experience.

When this happens the woman should see her doctor and ask for a special test known as TSH thyroid-stimulating hormone as part of the exam. The doctor will talk about staying menses- free for at least a year. Then prescribe a low- dose of birth control pill to regulate the body and even out the chemical imbalance occurring.

If HRT is too controversial, there are natural ways a woman can help herself through menopause.

• Relaxation therapy
• watching the diet
• Using herbs that act as a natural estrogen

These herbs are:
Anise, dong quai, fennel, fenugreek, ginseng, licorice, red clover, sage, suma, wild yam.

Although some women look at menopause with dread and fear, increasingly today more and more women are embracing this new time of life. Freed from the monthly visits, the water retention, the apprehension of becoming pregnant, more women look to this phase as not being the end of a life, but the start of a new one.

With proper medical care and careful consideration to lifestyle and diet, menopause does not have to mean that the woman is no longer useful or vital. Just that she is aging, and with age comes change.