Menopause Symptoms

The symptoms that menopausal women report vary widely. All women experience irregular or shorter periods during the year or so before their periods stop altogether. The majority of women going through menopause also experience hot flashes. These typically begin with a feeling of mild to intense warmth in the upper part of the body, spreading to the face. Hot flashes may last for several minutes, and be accompanied by sweating and blushing. Their severity varies from mild to causing extreme discomfort. In some women, hot flashes may occur while asleep, causing them to wake up, resulting in insomnia or sleeplessness. Headaches and a racing heartbeat may also be experienced during menopause, sometimes coinciding with hot flashes and adding to overall discomfort.

Women going through menopause may experience a number of emotional symptoms. These include irritability, depression, anxiety, fatigue, lowered motivation and tension. While these emotional symptoms are a normal part of menopause, they may also be found in a variety of other conditions. It is best to consult a doctor if emotions are getting in the way of normal daily activities.

Many women have joint and muscle aches during menopause. Some of these women may be developing osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become weak. Hormonal changes during menopause, and a lack of sufficient physical activity, aggravate the development of osteoporosis. A doctor should properly evaluate any joint or muscle pain.

A distressing symptom some women experience during menopause is some loss of bladder control. Decreased estrogen levels cause this; estrogen helps keep the pelvic muscles that control the bladder strong.

Women going through menopause typically experience reduced sex drive. Some of this is attributable to vaginal dryness that develops during menopausal hormonal changes. Insomnia, depression, anxiety and other symptoms experienced during menopause may also contribute to decreased libido.

Menopausal women suffer a range of symptoms in varying severity: loss of periods, hot flashes, emotional disturbance, joint and muscle aches, bladder weakness and loss of libido. Fortunately, much is known about their origins, and there are many treatments available to improve them.

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Menopause provides detailed information about menopause, early menopause, male menopause, menopause and osteoporosis and more. Menopause is the sister site of Chronic Insomnia.

Menopause Symptoms - 17 Key Indications

What Is Menopause?

As the menopause approaches, there is a decrease in estrogen production by the body. This most often happens between the ages of 45 and 55. This shift in hormone balance affects nearly every body system and causes a mixture of symptoms. Fortunately, alternative therapy offers some solutions to these symptoms.

As menopause symptoms can vary massively from woman to woman, it can sometimes be hard to tell whether they are produced by menopause or another health issue. For example, symptoms of low blood sugar and those of menopause can sometimes be confused. Hot flashes and variations in mood can accompany low blood sugar as well as menopause.

Menopause Symptoms

The commonest menopause symptoms include:

* Hot flashes, referred to hot flushes in the UK

* Irritability, anger and frustration

* Night sweats

* Fatigue or a drained feeling

* Loss of libido

* Vaginal dryness

* Insomnia

* Depression (while menopause is not thought to be responsible for depression the two can occur at the same time)

* Foggy thinking

* Reduced appetite

* Rapid heart beat (palpitations)

* Diminished skin elasticity

* Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

* Panic attacks

Some other conditions can be aggravated during menopause which are not so noticeable. These include:

* Arteriosclerosis, and

* Osteoporosis

Can Anything Be Done About Menopause Symptoms?

Menopause isn't life threatening but some have reported that it can feel like it is, because menopause symptoms can be so frustrating! Happily, various measures can be undertaken to help head off menopause symptoms using a programme of natural healthcare. You can create this programme yourself by using the ideas in this article as a starting point. If practical, involve experienced practitioners in complementary therapy for advice and treatment.

Your healthcare programme should include diet, exercise, relaxation and herbal or homoeopathic remedies. Acupuncture can also be very helpful at this time. A programme of this kind can be most worthwhile at menopause, helping you to deal proactively with the symptoms in a regulated fashion.

Herbs such as agnus castus and dong quai have a long history of helping women. However, remember that these will give optimal benefits when used as part of a holistic approach to healthcare - 'your programme'.

Natural Healthcare For Menopause Symptoms

When menopause symptoms begin consider using natural methods to help you manage it. For best results, develop your own 'programme' of measures and follow it conscientiously.

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Max Hill has been a practitioner in natural healthcare for 20 years. He loves sharing what he knows about natural healing, for example see http://www.herbal-menopause.com
This site gives valuable details about menopause symptoms and how to treat them with diet, exercise and herbal remedies. Take a look today - and get the benefit of Max's valuable knowledge and experience.

Simple Ways To Alleviate Menopause Symptoms

Tiredness, irritability, hot flushes, night sweats and heavy irregular periods are the menopause symptoms that are greatly causing inconvenience for a lot of women. Luckily, research suggests that nearly all women claim that they look and feel better than ever after experiencing menopause. But what can be done in the meantime to fight these undesirable symptoms? HRT or what we call the Hormone Replacement Therapy is the answer, however many women have abandoned this treatment because of the studies that links it to cancer and strokes.

But then again experts claim that HRT is safe for majority of women but the damage is still done and confidence has been lost. The good news is that there are natural menopause treatment and alternatives which are both effective and cost efficient that will help you be able to mitigate the effects of menopause.

Changing Your Diet

Before you even consider popping some pills, improving your diet is the first step towards combating menopause symptoms. Research suggests that for majority of women, the key to busting menopausal distress lies in basically increasing their consumption of the right kind of foods and eliminating the less helpful. The important advice is to incorporate an increased intake of fresh fruit, vegetables and essential fats from oily fish. Consume a lot of whole grains, oats, and beans; they contain a lot of fiber that will aid in balancing your hormones. If your diet is deficient, you can use multivitamins most particularly those that are designed for menopausal women. It is a must to eat foods that are rich in phyto-oestrogens.

You need to know that menopause happens because as a woman ages their natural levels of estrogen go down, which results to a hormonal imbalance and the uncomfortable symptoms previously mentioned. HRT works by simply replacing the estrogen, however what a lot of people don't recognize is that you can actually obtain the same process in a natural way through the food you eat that contains phyto-oestrogens. According to research you can minimize hot flushes by up to 50% through drinking two glasses of soya milk a day. Therefore, it is recommended that you take in at least one phyto-oestrogens rich food per day.

You need to cut down spicy foods and products rich in caffeine. Since alcohol and smoking are shown to exacerbate the symptoms of the menopause it is a must to avoid them both.

Increase Activity Levels

In order to help you cope with the changes of your body, keeping fit is crucial. To combat the risks of osteoporosis walking, running and dancing are great ideas. Bear in mind that exercise helps modulate a person's mood swings and aches and pains. Not only that, exercise is also found to reduce hot flushes. So, why not find some form of exercise you enjoy and include it into your weekly routine.

Try Alternative Remedies

Considering natural or herbal supplements as a part of your battle against menopause symptoms would be a great idea. Keep in mind that herbal supplements are classified as food supplements rather than drugs. Look for and use the one that works for you. Experts recommend that you speak to a nutritional expert since the long term effects of many of these herbs are still unknown.

Incorporating these helpful steps will enable you to reduce the occurrence of menopause symptoms and live a comfortable and enjoyable life.

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Nicole Keller is a medical professional. She is committed to provide helpful information about natural menopause treatments and ways to ease menopause symptoms. She agrees that there are many natural ways that can help ease menopause symptoms.

Causes For Early Menopause

If you are like most women, the thought of never getting your period again is a welcomed though! However, when it comes to menopause, it is much more serious than simply not having a period. For some people, menopause does come early. When this happens, it is usually due to one of the three following reasons. Regardless of the reason, early menopause symptoms will mirror normal menopause symptoms.

Premature Ovarian Failure

This is one of the most common reasons for early menopause. This is usually caused by an autoimmune disorder where your immune system accidently attacks itself. Your body believes that the immune system is a disease and sends out antibodies to fight this thread. In some cases, your body may direct these antibodies to the reproductive system.

When this happens, early menopause can happen because the ovaries are severely damaged. When the ovaries are damaged that means that ovarian function will not occur, and that is the basic definition of menopause, even early menopause. Though there is no real way to reverse this, you can take charge of your health by knowing what to expect and looking into your family history to see if there are autoimmune disorders present.

Surgery

Surgery on your reproductive system can put you into early menopause. For example, if you have to have your ovaries removed, then you will obviously be instantly thrust into early menopause. If you have a full hysterectomy, i.e. having your ovaries, uterus, and fallopian tubes removed, you will of course experience early menopause as well.

The major drawback to surgically induced early menopause is that it can often be much more intense than traditional menopause. This is because there is no gradual reduction of hormones in your system and everything happens instantaneously.

Even if you are able to keep your ovaries during your hysterectomy, you may still be thrust into early menopause. Why? This is because it is common for ovaries to be damaged during surgeries on the reproductive system. So even if the ovaries remain, it is possible for them to stop functioning after surgery. This is also true with tubal ligation as that surgery can also send a woman into early menopause.

Chemically Induced Early Menopause

The final category for early menopause is chemically induced menopause. This occurs after radiation therapy and chemotherapy because both can severely damage the ovaries. Sometimes women only experience this stop of menstruation during the actual chemical treatment, but even if menstruation returns often times the ovaries are too damaged to allow fertility to return.

Many cancer treatment drugs, especially for breast cancer, block the production of estrogen which will also send a woman into early menopause. Unfortunately, often times this is the only way for many people to have a shot at becoming cancer free.

What You Need To Know About Menopause

As a woman, there are many life changing moments in our lives. From when we get our first period to pregnancy and child birth to eventually menopause we are always experiencing changes in our bodies and reproductive system.

Many people fear the end of our reproductive system: menopause. Understanding this change of life can help you better cope with it and live with the changes your body will experience because of it.

What It Is

Quite simply, menopause is the end of your body’s ability to produce children. There comes a point in time when your body is unable to grow a child, and this change of life is nature’s way of putting a halt to the child bearing years. While some people believe that nature can be averted by in vitro fertilization and other fertility methods so that a post menopausal woman can get pregnant and reproduce, it is an extremely controversial topic.

Many doctors will only consider in vitro fertilization on a post menopausal woman if she experienced early menopause due to something like cancer, hormonal changes, or other non-natural occurring reasons for losing the ability to produce eggs at an earlier than normal age.

What You Can Do

Many woman fear menopause because of the horror stories related to it. Most women will, in fact, experience some of the most common symptoms related to menopause. The change of life drastically changes the hormones in your body, so it is true that symptoms like hot flashes and moodiness are common when you cease getting your menstrual cycle.

The hormones in our bodies regulate everything, so when they start fluctuating and changing, it only makes sense that our bodies would react differently. In addition, symptoms like vaginal dryness, sweating profusely, and even hair loss are also common. If you feel that you cannot handle any of these symptoms, please talk to your doctor about what you can do to help.

Do Your Research

However, before you talk to your doctor about what to do to stop or alleviate your menopause symptoms, make sure that you do your own research. Whereas hormone replacement therapy was the norm up until just a few years ago, more and more doctors are speaking up as research comes out connecting these hormone therapies with even more adverse affects such as cancer.

Make sure you know what you are talking about when you go into your doctor’s office so that you can be an advocate for yourself. While you do not need to go through menopause without any help, sometimes it might just be better to let nature take its course!