Menapause Symptoms

Symptoms of Menapause

The effects that menapause symptoms and especially oestrogen deficiency can have on women are varied and not all women will be affected in an adverse way. It also depends on a woman's mental attitude and outlook on life and things in general. This can have a profound effect on the way that an individual will cope with this milestone in her life.

Indeed, there are women who fly through menapause without any emotional changes at all. For some, the mood swings and terrible stomach cramps they may have suffered whilst menstruating, will be gladly forsaken and swapped for the menapause, which they may find to be a more tranquil and less shaky time than their menstrual cycles provided.

That said, the lack of oestrogen can have a wide variety of symptoms. Some of these are listed below:

A loss of libido
Hot flushes
Excessive sweating
Headaches
Itching or burning sensation in the skin
Insomnia
Fatigue
Arthritus
Joint pains
Irritability and anxiety
Sudden increase in facial hair
Dry skin and or sudden onset of wrinkles
Vaginal dryness
Dizziness

Oestrogen deficiency can have such a vast effect on the body because receptors for this hormone can be found in many places in the body such as genital organs, bones, skin and brains.

The long-term effects of oestrogen deficiency affect women differently. Some women will suffer from many of the ailments listed above whilst others won't appear to have any problem and seem to have come out of the menapause unscathed. Menapause and weight gain can be a symptom as well as weight loss.

Generally, over time, oestrogen deficiency causes a higher risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and sexual dysfunction in women who have gone through the menapause.

Cardiovascular Disease
For women, the risk of cardiovascular disease (diseases pertaining to the heart and blood vessels) increases after the menapause. This increase in risk of exposure to such diseases may be related to the oestrogen deficiency which in itself causes changes in blood cholesterol levels. That is, the levels of 'bad cholesterol' increase and levels of the so-called 'good cholesterol' decrease. This resulting cholesterol imbalance increases the chances of atherosclerosis (blockage and hardening of arteries).

In fact studies have shown that women who have early menapause have a far greater risk of heart disease than women who undergo menapause ten years later. However, research has also shown that some sort of oestrogen replacement can restore the imbalance in cholesterol levels. In fact, the risk of cardiovascular disease can be reduced by up to 50% if women start to take oestrogen during or soon after menapause.

Its not only their cardiovascular system that is affected by the menapause. A few years after having gone through "the change", women may have some dryness, thinning and atrophy (shrinkage) of the vagina. This can be avoided to a degree by taking oestrogen replacement therapy. And there are women who continue to have fulfilling and active sexual experiences well into their sixties and seventies. So, menopause need not necessarily be the end of a fertile and loving period of one's life.

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