USF-COM
Department
of Family Medicine
Patient Education Information on...
Index of
Patient Education Topics
What
causes menopause ?
Menopause is a time in a woman’s
life when her ovaries stop making the female hormones estrogen and progesterone.
As a result, her periods stop and she cannot have children anymore.
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When
will it happen to me ?
The average age for menopause to
occur is 50, but the normal range is anywhere from 41 to 59. Often, a woman
will experience menopause at the same age as her mother; however, smoking
can cause it to occur earlier. It is abnormal for menopause to occur
before the age of 40.
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What
symptoms will I have ?
Although for some women their periods
will simply stop, for others, monthly cycles may become irregular first,
and completely stop years later. To be considered truly postmenopausal,
your periods must be gone for at least six months.
Hot flashes are the most common
symptom of menopause, affecting up to 85% of women. They may last
from a few seconds up to an hour, and can occur for as long as 5 years.
They tend to occur more intensely at night producing night sweats, nausea,
or dizziness. Hot flashes can be severe enough to disrupt sleep and cause
insomnia.
Vaginal dryness or pain with
intercourse also results from menopause as the skin of the vagina and vulva
becomes thin and less lubricated. As this happens, you may also feel burning
with urination and are more prone to develop bladder and urinary tract
infections.
Emotional symptoms such as sadness,
nervousness, and anxiety have often been linked to menopause. However,
it is possible that they are actually the result of other symptoms of menopause,
for example, lack of sleep.
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How
can it hurt me ?
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Osteoporosis is most common in
women after menopause. Other risk factors include being white, Asian,
having a small bone frame, cigarette or alcohol use, lack of exercise,
and family history.
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Heart disease, the leading cause
of death, also becomes more of a risk factor after menopause.
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So,
what can I do about menopause?
Symptoms can tell you that you
may be entering menopause. In addition, your doctor can perform a
simple blood test to confirm your hormone status. It is important
for you to maintain a healthy level of exercise, eat a well-balanced low-cholesterol
diet, and take at least 1500mg of calcium daily. You may also be
a candidate for hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
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What
is HRT and how does it help?
Hormone replacement therapy saves
lives! It does this by reducing the incidence of death due to heart
disease and osteoporosis. HRT also reduces the symptoms of menopause
to improve the quality of daily living.
HRT involves taking the hormones
your body is no longer producing: estrogen and progestin (the synthetic
form of progesterone, which cannot be taken orally). Taken together
they slow the progression of osteoporosis and help prevent disabling wrist
and spine fractures, as well as life threatening hip fractures. There
is also mounting evidence to support that HRT has a protective effect against
Alzheimer’s disease.
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What
are the risks of HRT?
Estrogen taken alone, in any woman
who has not had a hysterectomy, can increase the chance of endometrial
cancer; thus, it is important to take progestin as well. There is
no increased risk of vaginal, vulvar, ovarian, or cervical cancer.
It is still not known if breast cancer is increased in women on HRT.
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Visit
these web-sites for more information about menopause