Member Advice on Menapause : Read reviews at Ciao.co.uk

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Advantages:	Do away with the tampons .
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I am amazed that this topic has only had two reviews, maybe because there are so many younger women on Ciao, but the menopause is the most difficult and soul-destroying part of a woman’s life. I know because mine started early at 40 and is now past (hopefully).

So exactly what is the menopause?

It is the time in a woman’s life when technically the cessation of menstruation starts to cease. This occurs because the levels of Oestrogen hormones start to decline and the ovaries no longer produce ova (eggs) for fertilisation. The normal age for this is between the ages of 45 and 55, but a hysterectomy at an earlier age can also produce the same effects as the menopause.

Signs and symptoms.

These vary from one woman to another. Textbooks normally say that “hot flushes” are the first sign, but for many women the first signs are changes in menstruation. A fairly typical reaction is to have heavier periods or more frequent periods, sometimes as many as three in five weeks. This is then followed by no periods for six to eight weeks, again this is a rough estimation, and many women differ. This stage is called pre-menopausal by most doctors although not all doctors recognise this pattern. In these early phrases a woman may experience “hot flushes” a very disturbing and distressing time as they can occur both in the day and nighttimes, there is no control over this and both the face, neck and chest can go bright red. Nighttimes sweating also can occur leading to a frequent need to change sheets and bedding. Again, most textbooks say this can occur for between two and five years, but in reality can go on much longer.

A simple blood test can determine the levels of oestrogen in the body and is an accurate gauge of pre-menopausal or full menopausal. My own personal advice is to keep a diary if your periods have always been regular, stress can change the normal frequency of periods and a diary is helpful to persuade a doctor to do a blood test. Lifestyle, diet and stress can often rule out menopausal symptoms, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Apart from irregular periods there are other symptoms that need to be checked. Vaginal dryness is the major symptom in 20% of women. It occurs because the virginal skin and its secretions diminish with the fall of levels in oestrogen.
Intercourse may become painful as the vagina shrinks and loses its elasticity, the neck of the bladder and urethra undergo similar changes and can lead to minor incontinence.

The physiological symptoms, tearfulness, loss of concentration, lose of sexual desire, mood swings, depression and memory loss are often put down to a reaction of changes due to middle age although more doctor’s are now accepting this as menopausal changes.
It is important to find out as soon as possible if it is the menopause, research has shown that the bones become thinner, especially in the first to five years of the menopause and can lead to osteoporosis in later life (brittle bones).

So now you are probably feeling “What do I have to look forward to” it all seems like doom and gloom. There are certain advantages, no more periods, no worry over birth control and some minor inconveniences.
This is a good positive attitude to take; many women enjoy much more freedom when the menopause is past.

But what about all those side effects and not knowing when it’s finally over?
There are a lot of pros and cons over taking HRT. A history of heart disease or breast cancer in the family may rule our HRT for you, but there are a lot of other ways you can help yourself if you cannot take HRT. A diet of Soya based foods can help to control the symptoms and being cholesterol free can also cut down the risk of heart disease. Health food shops stock some good alternative treatments if you can’t face Soya products. A supplement of Calcium and Magnesium are vital to good bone health, the addition of magnesium helps the body to absorb the calcium, thereby preventing bone problems. A healthy diet of calcium enriched foods are a natural form of dispensing with costly supplements, but too many milk products can cause hardening of the arteries, so caution is needed with dairy products.

Green vegetables, fish, pulses and salads with Olive oil dressing are another good source of calcium and bone protection. A diet that contains oily fish such as Sardines, mackerel and trout are also good for the bones. But the only thing that can help with night-sweats and hot flushes are Soya products, which can be taken in the form of tablets.

If you are able to take HRT then it is necessary to try different forms until you find one that suits you. Most HRT tablets contain a course of oestrogen for half the month and progesterone for the other half. While you are taking oestrogen the womb needs to shed it’s lining every month to protect against cancer of the womb.
Does this sound rather scary? It is something to think over very carefully, my experiences were that tablets did not suit me, for two weeks I felt wonderful but the next two weeks I felt even more depressed. I started to feel like I was on a merry-go-round of highs and lows. I then tried hormone patches which worked well for me, but had a bad habit of coming unstuck at the most inconvenient moments (I’ll leave that one to your imagination), suffice it to say that it ended up on the wrong person and played hell in the swimming baths.

The best advice I can give is to first consult your doctor if you feel this is happening to you, don’t take no for an answer, I plagued my doctor for a year before I had my blood test and suffered that year until I finally had my test, I was pre-menopausal at 40 and now at 52 have passed through it.
If you can afford it then see an alternative therapist, it’s YOUR body and you should choose your own course of treatment. I have seen many a friend benefit as well as myself from herbal remedies.
HRT suited me at the time, but it’s something every woman will face one day and forewarned is better than being fobbed off.

No one treatment will cure all the side effects, be prepared to know that you need to help yourself. Light exercise, especially walking will help with bone density problems.
Swimming is the best form of exercise, as it puts no strain on the body. Watch your diet carefully and try to include fish, olive oil and plenty of green vegetables in your diet.
Talk to you partner and get him to go to the doctor’s with you. A man does not suffer the same way and including him in your treatment can help him to understand your point of view. Strange how a man will listen to a doctor rather than you, but it’s not their fault, all they have to face is baldness and maybe a middle-age crisis of their own.

For the night-sweats I kept a change of bedding handy and also a towel to dry myself with. I also kept plenty of water to drink by my bedside dehydration is another side effect. A plastic container filled with water and a flannel was a godsend to me. A light duvet is better than a heavy one, the cost of it is worth the money, even in winter I found a heavier one got soiled and the cost of getting it washed by a laundrette was £5 per time.
A lighter duvet went into my washing machine with ease.

For anyone at the start of this problem, don’t worry too much, it may take a while to go through it but it does get easier. There are too many web sites to list, I bought myself a very good book and it helped me to weigh up the pros and cons of natural against HRT.
It’s out of date now and most doctors will now recommend a good book to read, if not then send away for one, don’t suffer in silence.

Thanks for reading; I hope it may help someone.

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