How to handle menopause

Menopause, the time when a woman stops having menstrual periods, is not a disease or an illness. It is a transition between two phases of a woman’s life. Many women experience a variety of symptoms as a result of the hormonal changes associated with the transition through menopause. Around the time of menopause, women often lose bone density and their blood cholesterol levels may worsen

Symptoms of menopause

• Hot flashes or cold flashes
• Night sweats
• Irregularities in monthly periods
• Vaginal dryness
• Decrease or absence of sex-drive
• Mood swings/getting emotional or tears
• fatigue
• Osteoporosis
• Weight gain/weight loss
• Memory lapses
• Itchiness, tingling sensation
• Breast pain
• Mental confusion
• Depression,
• Indigestion, gas problems
• Aching joints
• Burning tongue or roof of the mouth

Causes of menopause

Menopause occurs due to a complex series of hormonal changes. Associated with the menopause is a decline in the number of functioning eggs within the ovaries. At the time of birth, most females have about 1-3 million eggs, which are gradually lost throughout a woman’s life. By the time of a girl’s first menstrual period, she has an average of about 400,000 eggs. By the time of menopause, a woman may have fewer than 10,000 eggs. A small percentage of these eggs are lost through normal ovulation (the monthly cycle). Most eggs die off through a process called atresia (the degeneration and subsequent resorption of immature ovarian follicles – fluid filled cysts that contain the eggs).