Going through the menopause is an experience every woman will experience in her life as it’s part of the natural process of female development and growth. The name given to this change of life - menopause - comes from the Greek meanings of “cease” and “month”. Roughly translated it means the end or ceasing of the monthly cycle or periods. In general, most women start to experience early menopause symptoms from their early 50s - but it can start as early as 40 and end as late as their late 50s.
The symptoms and signs of menopause that each woman will encounter will likely be very different from person to person. Most women - about 80% if statistics are to be believed - experience very few menopause symptons other than their menstrual cycle coming to an end.
As your body ages (gracefully of course) it goes through a lot of changes - and at this stage in your life your body’s production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone start to decline. It is this reduction in natural levels of the female hormones that brings about the menopausal symptoms and change of life.
The three clear signs of the onset of menopause are an irregular monthly flow, hot flashes, and vaginal dryness. Hot flashes have long been considered the classic symptom of menopause. A woman experiencing a hot flash may feel a sudden wave of warmth in the face, neck, and chest, lasting for several minutes and accompanied by reddening of the skin, like blushing.
A hot flash can make you perspire - in some cases profusely - and may bring on headaches, dizziness and an increased heart rate (though it’s nothing to be overly concerned with - it’s usually just your heart trying to cope with the increase in blood flow). An effective method for dealing with hot flashes (or hot flushes depending on what part of the world you live in) is to help control your temperature by wearing several layers of clothing. When you get hot, you can always take some layers off. A cool shower often works well, but depends if you’re at home or have access to a shower. Drinking cool liquids (not necessarily cold, but nicely cool) usually has a very beneficial effect as well.
Vaginal dryness is another classic sign of menopause, though one less talked about. As your body is producing less female hormones (estrogen and progesterone), the side effect of this is to thin out the urinary tract and vaginal walls, which leaves the skin there even more delicate and susceptible to damage and infection. In some cases, this thinning can make sexual intercourse an uncomfortable and even painful experience.
There are many natural herbs for menopause that you can take to ease the symptoms, but one of the best remedies for the dryness is to use natural creams and/or lubricants like ky jelly, apricot or vitamin E oil. All of these will make having sex a much more pleasurable experience again (but unfortunately can’t account for the performance of a partner!). There are other over the counter or prescription creams that your physician may also recommend, many of which contain extra estrogen.
