Menopause Symptoms – 4 Tips Every Woman Must Know
Menopause is the particular point in time when the last menstruation occurs. If refers to that specific point of cessation of menstruation. But in ordinary language, menopause embraces both the times before and after the exact time of menopause. In medical terms, this is called Climacteric. In this context, the term menopause shall be used in ordinary sense that is covering the pre- and post- menstrual periods.
At puberty, the cells surrounding each egg in the ovaries form a follicle and produce two types of hormones, estrogen and progesterone. These hormones are vital to the reproductive life of a woman. It is these hormones that allow the eggs to be released. As from the age of 35, the production of estrogen begins to decline which means fewer eggs are released each month. From the ages of 44 and 48, menopause begins. Of course, this does not apply to everybody. Some women do not experience menopause until they are in their fifties, while some experience menopause before the age of 44.
Here are the 4 major menopause symptoms that tell a woman she is approaching menopause:
Irregular Menstruation
The first menopause symptom is the change in the menstrual period. As from the age of 35 or 40, a woman may find out that her period becomes irregular, or scanty. The flow may be excessive or prolonged. The period may come bi-monthly instead of monthly, or it may come every two weeks. All of these are signs and symptoms that should remind women that they cannot be fertile forever, that they are nearing menopause, even though the actual menopause may be 10 or 12 years away.
Hot Flashes
Hot flashes present a menopause symptoms whereby you are sleeping peacefully in your bed, suddenly you wake up. Your body feels so hot that you think it's on fire. You begin to sweat profusely as if you have been running a marathon. You feel like stripping yourself naked or lock up yourself in a freezer. When you lie in your bed, the sheets are soaked with sweat. If you experience all or some of these symptoms, you are at menopause. These experiences can be disturbing to many women. Hot flashes at night result in insomnia. Women need to understand these menopause symptoms so as to adapt properly to them.
Vaginal Dryness
This is one of the most serious menopause symptoms that may cause marital problems if proper care is not taken. One effect of estrogen shortage is that the vaginal walls become dry and stiff. The walls become thin and lubrication diminishes or disappears altogether. The skin around the vulva becomes thin and dry and easily irritated. As time goes on, the vagina becomes shorter and narrower like that of a little girl. Sexual intercourse becomes very painful if not impossible.
Aches and Pains
Pains and aches all over the body are other menopause symptoms that women nearing menopause may experience. Some women have aches and pains before, but at menopause the pains increase. This is because of the decreased estrogen. Estrogen is the hormone that nourishes and strengthens the body tissues, especially in the female genital track and the breasts. With the decline in estrogen, the tissues become weaker and prone to infections. They become stiffer causing aches and pains to arise.
Sensations
It often happens that at menopause, a woman begins to experience some sensations all over the body. Some feels as if ants are crawling all over their body. Some women feel sweats trickling down from their head to their cheeks, but when they reach to wipe it off, they feel nothing. Some feel tingling sensations in the face and prickles and tingles running around the body. The decreasing estrogen causes all these. If you are a health worker, you will notice that most of the women who complain of these signs and symptoms are between the ages of 40 and 50.
Menopause is one thing that must come in the life of every woman. Therefore, women should be armed with necessary menopause information that will enable them stand firm when menopause symptoms set in. Researching on issues bothering menopause and making proper inquiries from medical personnel are good way to get menopause information.
Safe Ways to Raise Testosterone
Low testosterone levels can lower sex drive, and cause muscle loss and weight gain. To avoid these unwanted side effects, many patients immediately turn to artificial sources of Testosterone Tablets. But injections, gels, pills, patches and other artificial testosterone sources can have unpleasant or even dangerous side effects. The safest way to raise your testosterone level is to work with your body to maximize its production of the hormone. And once you raise your testosterone naturally, you may no longer need to turn to artificial sources.
Lose Weight
Your body stores estrogen in your fat cells. The more fat you have, the more estrogen you have. And the more estrogen you have, the less testosterone you have. One of the safest ways to raise your level of testosterone is to lower its level of estrogen. If you are more than 30 percent over your ideal body weight, you can do this simply by losing weight. But stay away from crash diets. If you cut your daily caloric intake by more than 15 percent your body will go into starvation mode and stop producing testosterone altogether.
Lift Weights
Compound weight-lifting (weight-lifting that targets several large muscle groups at the same time) does more than build muscle. Exercises like squats, dead lifts, bench presses, power cleans and military presses force your body to produce more testosterone. To get the best Testosterone Boosters, lift at your upper limit. The weight should be heavy enough so that you can only do roughly three sets of five reps each with a minute's rest in between. But don't overdo it. If you don't give your muscle groups at least 24 hours' rest between workouts, your testosterone production will drop by 40 percent.
Menopause and Hot Flashes – Treatment
The top complaint most women have about menopause hovers around the insufferable hot flashes. This experience could be explained as waves of heat that start in the chest and radiates to the neck and head. This results in the woman feeling sweaty, hot, flushed, irritable, and uncomfortable.
According to experts, about seventy-five percent of women experience these episodes. A single hot flash can last anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes; however, two to three minutes is more common. Women usually experience them for three to five years.
As if hot flashes were not bad enough, they turn into an even more irritating beast in the dark of night. This beast comes in the form of night sweats, which wake women up at all hours of the night, leaving them soaked from head to toe. Night sweats associated with flashes disrupt sleep patterns; therefore, making them more difficult to deal with than daytime hot flashes. They can leave women exhausted, fatigued, and longing for one good night of sleep.
During perimenopause, women experience a drop in estrogen, thus leaving the door open for hot flashes and night sweats. Because of the lack of sufficient amounts of estrogen as well as other hormonal changes, the body's ability to regulate heat is greatly diminished.
Remedies for hot flashes
If you drink a lot of alcoholic beverages then this might be a good time to stop. A glass of wine a day is OK, but binge drinking is definitely a big no. Along with many other health risks, alcohol consumption plays a big part in the onset of hot flashes. When alcohol is consumed, it causes the blood vessels to dilate. This allows a large amount of blood to rush to the surface of the skin, and produce a hot flash.
Another problematic beverage that many people drink to get through the day is coffee. Hot caffeinated beverages are another contributor to the problem. Drinking soda and hot tea is fine. However, according to experts, it is not the heat or the caffeine that causes trouble, but the combination of the two.
Increase breast volume: a recent research opens new frontiers
The news comes from well-known clothing brand Marks & Spencer, which has conducted a detailed study on the breasts of European women. From this study it was concluded that the biggest breasts in Europe are those of British women, who each year grow dramatically.
Conducting more extensive research, scientists have discovered that the causes of this growth are manifold. Starting with the chemicals contained in cosmetic products, and more in lipstick, it comes to recruitment of estrogen (such as women in menopause) that affects much on the increase in breast.
Dr Marilyn Glenville, registered nutritionist at the Royal Society of Medicine, explains fact that most women during the menopause are forced to make a hormone replacement therapy, thus experiencing a strong growth of the breast. It must be said, explain the scholars, which even our daily habits affect a lot about this phenomenon. Excessive intake of alcohol, and more’s obesity are the factors of greatest importance, but also the profound changes acquired by women, for example, to have fewer children, which changes the appearance of hormones, especially the tendency to develop faster.
The director of the Pediatric Clinic Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Professor Giuseppe Chiumello, confirms all the studies conducted by researchers. The tissue that forms the female breast, he explains, contains cells that contain estrogen receptors, so it's absolutely true that by taking food or by making therapy based on estrogen, can increase the volume of the breast and this was verified also in men, that forced for various causes or diseases, to take estrogen, they found a greater volume of the chest.
Of great importance, explains Prof. Cumiello, is also the early development of girls, this would lead to increased exposure to estrogen, it should also be very cautious with regard to 'alcohol intake but this will increase the volume of the breast but only with the increase in adipose tissue.