I know that so many of you ask yourselves the same question that I did... Menopause, really? I guess I always felt so young and vibrant. I still do, so then why does menopause make me feel like I've just aged? For me, I should have seen it coming, in fact, about 5 years ago it all started but like everything else in my life, it just took it's sweet old time arriving and has yet to exit the building. The hot flashes are horrible, although the girls at work laugh, and my dad thinks I am crazy. Like the Katy Perry song, I'm "Hot & Cold" all the time. One minute I'm under the covers and the next I am stripping my clothes off because it's hotter than hell in here. So what is menopause? It is simple...the onset of menopause signals the ending of a woman's reproductive cycle. I'm happy about that but really is all this crap necessary? Listen, I am going to be so glad to be rid of that...good ridden, but at the moment, my body is trying to understand what is happening to me. My mom and grandmothers went through it in their very early 40s. I didn't get so lucky. I guess my body is stubborn and is taking it's sweet old time. I am a very patient woman but this is pushing my buttons a bit.
Menopause actually begins after the women's last period. Guys if you don't understand this you might want to read up now because if you are in a relationship with a women experiencing this or if you are married to one you need to know that side effects so that you can run when her mind turns crazy! LOL... This event marks the culmination of several years of peri-menopausal changes during which hormones secreted by the ovaries (estrogen and progesterone) gradually decline. Peri- and menopausal symptoms vary considerably from person to person. Asians are known to have few to no symptoms other than irregular menses. Western women, however, have much higher incidences of body changes such as hot flashes, night sweats, reduced libido, forgetfulness, heart palpitations, loss of bladder control, frequent urination, and joint pains, to name a few. For some, these symptoms are like a "living hell." All women go through menopause. There is no escape for anyone. Once menopause arrives the body's internal production of estrogen and progesterone stops altogether for that woman.
Women can no longer depend on their own body to produce these two hormones to protect themselves against osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. The result to their health can be devastating. The symptoms of menopause include night sweats, mood swings, depression, hot flashes, sagging breast, vaginal dryness, osteoporosis, fibrocystic lumps, night sweats, painful intercourse, and memory problem. Lucky for me it's just hot flashes and night sweats. It could be worse...I could have lost my sex drive. It's been so long since I've used it that if I did lose it, I'd be the last one to know. I think we're good in that department. The girls are still perky, and even if there were dryness, I brought enough lubricants home from the lingerie show in Las Vegas to keep the state of Ohio wet for days.
Let's get a bit technical now shall we: What exactly are the chemicals and what is going on with your body?
Progesterone is a biochemical precursor to estrogen. Progesterone cream alone is sufficient to restore estrogen balance and relief many of the symptoms. If after 3 months of progesterone cream, proper diet, nutritional supplementation of magnesium and B6 do not relive the symptoms, then low-dose natural estrogen may be considered. 2.5 mg of natural tri-estrogen cream (10% estrone, 10% estradiol, and 80% estriol) provides the equivalent action of 0.625-conjugated estrogen such as Premarin. Herbs like black cohosh have weak estrogenic effect and may be considered as well. Osteoporosis is the loss of bone density, leading to fractures. Post-menopausal women low in estrogen have a 25% chance of serious bone loss and fracture. The lifetime risk of hip fracture approaches 30% for those afflicted with osteoporosis, resulting in the loss of independent living. Many will die from their injuries. Estrogen increases pliability of blood vessels, lowers "bad" LDL-cholesterol, increases "good" HDL-cholesterol, and decreases platelet aggregation that leads to blood clots. These protective properties of estrogen result in pre-menopausal women having a lower risk of heart disease than either men, or post-menopausal women. Post-menopausal women are just as vulnerable to heart disease as men of the same age. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women over 45 years of age.
Estrogen actually is not a single hormone but a trio of hormones working together. The three components of estrogen are: estrone, estradial, and estriol. In healthy young women, the typical mix approximates 15/15/70 percent respectively. This is the combination worked out by Mother Nature to be optimum for human females. Out of the three components of estrogen, estrone and estradiol are pro-cancer, while estriol is anti-cancer. Synthetic estrogen such as Premarinâ contains the pro-cancer components of estrogen (estrone and estradiol) in higher proportions compared to estriol. Progesterone is made from pregnenolone, which in turn comes from cholesterol. Production occurs at several places. In the women, it is primarily made in the ovaries just before ovulation and increasing rapidly after ovulation. Functionally, progesterone acts as an antagonist (opposite to) to estrogen. For example, estrogen stimulates breast cysts while progesterone protects against breast cysts. Estrogen enhances salt and water retention while progesterone is a natural diuretic. Estrogen has been associated with breast and endometrial cancer, while progesterone has cancer preventive effect.
If you are like me and you are suffering this, try to make the best of it...for this too shall pass.
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