What are the first signs of menopause?

Menopause

December 16, 2019

You must be aware that menopause is the time that marks the end of your menstrual cycles. It is usually diagnosed after you have gone 12 months without a menstrual cycle. Read on to know more.

Menopause symptoms

You might experience the listed below menopause symptoms.

Irregular periods

This might be what you notice first. Your periods may no longer be regular. They might be shorter or last longer. You might bleed more or less than usual. These are all normal changes. But to make sure there isn’t a problem, book an appointment with your homeopath if your periods come very close together, you have heavy bleeding, you have spotting, your periods last more than a week, and your periods resume after no bleeding for more than a year.

Vaginal health and bladder control

Your vagina might get drier. This could make sexual intercourse uncomfortable. You could also have other health problems such as vaginal or bladder infections. Some women also find it hard to hold their urine long enough to get to the bathroom. This loss of bladder control is called incontinence. You might have a sudden urge to urinate, or urine might leak during exercise, sneezing or laughing.

Hot flashes

Having hot flashes which can last a few years after menopause might be related to changing estrogen levels. A hot flash is a sudden feeling of heat in the upper part of or the entire body. Your face and neck become flushed. Red marks might appear on your chest, back, and arms. Heavy sweating and cold shivering can follow. Hot flashes can be mild or strong enough to wake you up. Hot flashes can happen several times an hour, a few times a day, or just once or twice a week.

Sleep problems

Around midlife, some women might start having trouble getting a good night’s sleep. Perhaps you can’t fall asleep easily or you wake too early. Night sweats might wake you up. And you might have trouble falling back to sleep if you wake up during the night.

Mood changes

You might feel moodier or more irritable around the time of menopause. Scientists don’t know why this happens. It is quite possible that stress, family changes like growing children or aging parents, a history of depression could be causing these mood changes.

Menopause causes

Menopause can result from:

Natural decline of reproductive hormones
Hysterectomy
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy
Primary ovarian insufficiency

Menopause complications

It is observed that your risk of certain medical conditions increases after menopause. Listed below are some of them.

Heart and blood vessel disease

The decline of your estrogen levels decline can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in women as well as in men.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis causes bones to become brittle and weak. And this leads to an increased risk of fractures. During the first few years after menopause, you might lose bone density at a rapid rate, increasing your risk of osteoporosis. Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis are particularly susceptible to fractures of their spine, hips and wrists.

Urinary incontinence

As the tissues of your vagina and urethra lose elasticity, you might experience frequent, sudden, strong urges to urinate, followed by an involuntary loss of urine i.e. urge incontinence), or the loss of urine with coughing, laughing or lifting i.e. stress incontinence. You might have urinary tract infections more often.

Weight gain

Many women gain weight during the menopausal transition and after menopause as metabolism slows down. You might need to eat less and exercise more, just to maintain your current weight.

Conclusion

It is highly recommended to book an appointment with your homeopath and seek menopause treatment as soon as you notice menopause symptoms.