Living Well With Menopause

Hot flushes, cold sweats and insomnia. The symptoms of menopause are not simply something you must endure.

The most common misconception about menopause is that women will have a dreadful time, says Dr Elizabeth Farrell, President of the Asia Pacific Menopause Federation and a Director at the Jean Hailes Foundation for Womens Health. The majority transit through menopause relatively easily. But theres a portion who struggle. The latter, she believes, make up around 20 per cent.

Put simply, menopause is your last menstrual period; the point when you run out of eggs. In Western societies, the mean age is 51, with a broad range of 45 to 60. According to some studies, eight per cent of women are menopausal prior to 45, the majority go through it by 53, and a small quota continue their periods up until 60. [1]
But ovaries arent just egg factories, as reporter Rae Fry explained on ABC Televisions Quantum programme. Theyre also glands: secreting oestrogen and progesterone. Around the time of menopause, production of these hormones fluctuates wildly, and finally, falls dramatically oestrogen by 90 per cent over just a few years.

With this change, common symptoms include erratic periods some far heavier than normal, vaginal dryness, bladder irritability and hot flushes. Though the medical profession doesnt precisely understand why, hot flushes are linked to a drop in oestrogen levels. The brain seems to sense that the body is overheating, thus heat-losing mechanisms kick in: blood vessels in the face, neck and chest dilate, and skin temperature rises.

Original Article By : Tony Uechtritz from articlesnatch.com