|
-
-
Menopause
The menopause is an important phase in every
woman’s life.
Yet until recently, the subject was seldom
discussed, so women often didn’t know what to expect. 100
years ago, the average life expectancy was 50 to 55 years.
Today it is 78. A woman can expect to live up to 1/3 of her
life with consequences of the menopause. The menopause is
defined as that point in a woman’s life when periods stop
and she no longer able to became pregnant. This happens at
an average age of 51. For some women it happens earlier, for
others later. The time preceding and following the last
menstrual period is called the climacteric. When you reach
puberty your ovaries produce the sex hormones estrogen and
progesterone. Estrogen is the most important of all female
sex hormones. It stimulates the transition into adulthood,
for example, by stimulating the growth of the breast and
creating a fertile environment in the womb. While estrogen
prepares the womb for a fertilized egg, progesterone
sustains and supports the egg. During each monthly cycle the
levels of these two hormones rise, then fall. A menstrual
period results if the egg is not fertilized.
When a woman enters the climacteric, the production of these
hormones slows. The ovaries stop producing progesterone,
while the production of the estrogen declines to low levels.
Periods become irregular. When this occurs, women may
experience any number of symptoms: night sweats, hot
flushes, anxiety or fatigue. Many women also complain about
an inability to concentrate and problems with memory. Later,
estrogen deficiency can dry out the moisture in the vagina.
About 1/3 women never have problems, but more often women
have episodes of hot flushes or night sweats. On average,
symptoms last about 3 to 5 years. Yet, every woman is
different, and it is impossible say exactly how severe
symptoms will be or how long they will last.
One consequence of the menopause is osteoporosis, also
called brittle or porous bones.
Bone is a living tissue. The loss of estrogen after the
menopause causes women to lose bone mineral faster than men.
These condition causes a bone mass lose, and may lead to
osteoporosis. If a woman develops osteoporosis, the result
is fractured bones, most often in the spine, wrist or hip.
All this changes can effectively prevent by appropriate
hormone replacement therapy-HRT. It must be continued as
long as your physician recommends. Special scanning
equipment can measure bone mass by looking right into your
body and taking pictures of different parts of the skeleton.
The problem with osteoporosis is that it is a silent
disease. Treatment is available and advisable for women who
find the quality of their life disrupted either emotionally
or physically during the climacteric.
|
|
