Despite being an experience shared by all women, most aren’t prepared for the changes and symptoms they will face before, during, and after menopause.
Chetanna Okasi, MD, at Women’s Wellness MD, finds that women often hesitate to seek help for menopause symptoms. Many believe they must accept and live with the changes or think their symptoms will disappear eventually.
However, hot flashes can last seven years or longer, while other menopause symptoms (yes, there are many others) don’t improve without treatment. Here’s what to expect during perimenopause and menopause.
Perimenopause is the 3-5 years before menopause begins. On average, menopause begins around 51, which means that many women start perimenopause in their late 40s.
During this stage, your hormone levels start to fluctuate, causing two types of symptoms:
Your menstrual cycles may be longer or shorter. Your periods could occur less frequently, more often, or irregularly. Period bleeding may stay the same but usually gets heavier or lighter.
Hot flashes (and the other menopause symptoms described below) can start during perimenopause.
Menopause occurs when you don’t have a period for 12 consecutive months, which is a sign that your ovaries no longer release eggs or produce estrogen (and other hormones). Low estrogen is the primary cause of menopause symptoms.
Each woman has a different experience during menopause. Some have few or no symptoms; others struggle with severe challenges. Whether your symptoms are nonexistent, mild, or severe, here’s what you may encounter:
Estrogen has many roles outside the reproductive system. One such job is helping to regulate body temperature. When estrogen levels change, the brain occasionally thinks your body is too hot (even though it’s not).
Then, the brain expands blood vessels in your skin and activates sweating (a natural response to release excess heat). These changes cause sudden hot flashes. Up to 80% of women have moderate to severe hot flashes (vasomotor symptoms).
Hot flashes eventually improve, but since they can last up to 10 years, you may not want to wait for them to stop before seeking treatment.
Brain fog is a combination of difficulty concentrating and memory loss, a common problem during menopause.
These symptoms are frustrating and may make you wonder if you’re developing dementia. However, they begin because the lack of estrogen affects brain chemicals essential for cognitive function.
Estrogen also helps regulate mood. As a result, menopause causes mood swings, depression, anxiety, and irritability in many women.
At least half of women develop vaginal atrophy when their ovaries stop producing estrogen. Unlike hot flashes, this condition won’t improve without treatment.
Vaginal atrophy causes loss of elasticity, dryness, and thinning of vaginal tissues. As a result, you have symptoms like itching, burning, and vaginal soreness.
These changes are also responsible for one of the most unexpected challenges of menopause (and perimenopause): pain during sex.
Hot flashes and mood swings alone can affect your sex drive (libido). But even if you still have a healthy desire, nothing will interfere with your sex life like painful intercourse.
Dry, inelastic vaginal tissues and the lack of lubrication can make sex uncomfortable or outright painful. The thin, fragile vaginal tissues may bleed during and after sex.
The same changes that happen inside the vagina also occur in your urinary tract. The tissues become thin and muscles wane, including those controlling the urine flow. As a result, you may start to leak urine.
Even if night sweats don’t disrupt sleep, low estrogen levels may cause insomnia (difficulty falling or staying asleep). Estrogen helps regulate sleep, which means your sleep-wake cycle may get out of balance at menopause.
Though topical estrogen and lifestyle changes can help manage mild menopause symptoms, hormone replacement therapy is the only way to eliminate moderate to severe challenges.
We offer bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in pellet form; they are made from plants and match your natural hormones.
Pellets are small hormone-containing capsules. We implant the pellet under your skin, where it continuously releases a steady stream of hormones, ensuring you can achieve optimal hormone levels that eliminate your symptoms.
Call the nearest Women’s Wellness MD office today or book a consultation online to learn how to manage menopause symptoms.
