Welcome to the Healing Room
What is menopause?
Menopause represents the date of the last menstrual flow.
At what age a woman enters menopause?
The average age of women at menopause is 50 years, ranging from 48 to 52 years. When it occurs in women under 40 years is called premature menopause.
What are the symptoms?
The most common symptoms are:
- Heat waves, called flares / flushes
- Changes urogenital caused by estrogen deficiency leading to atrophy of the vaginal epithelium. In the vagina, atrophy causes narrowing and shortening, loss of elasticity and decrease the secretions, causing vaginal dryness and discomfort during intercourse (dyspareunia). Other adverse events occur at the level of the urethra and bladder, such as urethral syndrome, characterized by recurrent episodes of increased urinary frequency and burning, plus the feeling of impending urination;
- Changes in mood, emotional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, irritability, memory loss and insomnia due to hormonal changes that affect brain chemistry.
- Modification of sexuality with decreased sexual desire (libido).
- Skin changes, such as dryness;
- Loss of bone density (osteopenia - osteoporosis), among others.
How to prevent the symptoms?
You can not prevent the symptoms, but it is possible to avoid future problems such as osteoporosis or even treat symptoms such as hot flushes.
Can Menopause cause other diseases? Example osteoporosis?
Yes, the patient may experience a significant loss of bone mass, which would be a decrease of - 2.5 standard deviations in the test called bone densitometry (for examination for assessment of bone mass).
What changes in women's health?
For some women there are changes in health, but for others, due to the changes already described above, there may be changes such as increased cholesterol levels, which may increase the risk for cardio-vascular problems, loss of bone density, leading to osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures, among other conditions.
Hormones are essential for women who are in menopause?
Not necessarily. Only through a good analysis of gynaecology with the patient clarify whether there is need for hormone replacement or not.
Are there other options for women who are predisposed to cancer?
Yes, there are non-hormonal medications or hormonal depending on the risk and the need of the patient and emergency for treatment.
Last updated: 09/02/2012
