Menopause Facts and Tips

Women who are approaching their 40's and even younger may dread the approach of menopause because they've heard horror stories about what it's like. So preparing for menopause by becoming informed is a wise choice.

Menopause is a perfectly normal time of life that does not need to be feared. The main thing that happens at menopause is the ovaries no longer function. So when menopause is complete, menstrual cycles will totally cease. Fifty years of age is the average age of menopause.

It's important to understand though that because the ovaries have stopped producing estrogen, it may be wise to consider hormonal replacement therapy.

An alternative to the use of a hormone replacement is soy and vitamin E. However, their use as an option is not fully endorsed by the medical community. That's because natural remedies have not been studied as much as prescription remedies using hormone replacement.

The best thing for you to do is to talk to your doctor and together decide what you will do to alleviate some of the symptoms of menopause -- if you are experiencing any. Symptoms such as hot flashes or erratic menstrual cycles and sweating at night are common experiences of many women, but other women don't experience these symptoms at all. But there are other women who do experience symptoms that can be severe.

So be sure to check with your doctor if your symptoms are unmanageable.

It takes a while to go through menopause. When you haven't had a period for a year, you'll know you've gone through it completely. While you're in the progress of going through menopause, you may still be able to become pregnant.

Some women go through menopause at a young age -- perhaps because they have had surgery of the uterus are ovaries. If a woman goes through menopause at an early age, she can receive hormone replacement therapy. It was once thought that hormonal replacement therapy, or HRT, protected a woman against heart disease, but this belief is no longer held by the medical community.

Although many women fear menopause because they feel that it signals the beginning of old age and that their lives will drastically change, this is not the case in the lives of many women. After all, menopause is normal and it as a part of life.

A severe result of going through menopause because of the decrease in estrogen is osteoporosis. Bone mass decreases because of the loss of estrogen and this can lead to brittle bones. You can't tell if you are suffering from osteoporosis until a long time after you've begun to lose bone mass. But you can have your bone density measured and your doctor can advise you if you develop osteoporosis. You need to check to see if hormone replacement therapy is right for you. Hormone therapy can help prevent bone loss and other side effects of menopause, but it is not without risk. And if you have a history of breast cancer in your family, your doctor needs to advise you about whether it is right for you to take hormone replacement therapy or not.

Life after menopause can be very fulfilling. That's because women at this age have already raised their children. Now there is time for them to pursue many new adventures that previously were not possible for them to experience because of the responsibility of raising a family.

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