Menopause Survival Guide : Surviving the Change of - Softcover

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Donna Rogers became the author of THE MENOPAUSE SURVIVAL GUIDE out of necessity. When she was unable to find easy-to-understand information about menopause, she began to do her own research....in printed media, on the internet, and by talking with hundreds of other Change of Lifers. This twelve years of research culminated in the writing of THE MENOPAUSE SURVIVAL GUIDE, a comprehensive discussion of medical issues written in real-woman language. Donna Rogers and her family live in Kansas City, Missouri.

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CHAPTER 3 MENOPAUSE: WHAT IT IS

MENOPAUSE

The word MENOPAUSE is derived from the Greek words MENO meaning monthly, and PAUSIS meaning cessation. In simple terms, a woman stops having a monthly period. And when has not had a period for one year, she has reached the medical definition of menopause. Menopause is also called the Climacteric which refers to the climax or grand finale. In a broad sense, climacteric means any crucial period in the life of a person. More specifically, it refers to the time of menopause, when fertility and sexuality start to decline. (CLIMAX comes from a word meaning ladder. Apparently, menopause was considered the last rung in the ladder of life.)

But menopause is much more than the single event of no longer having periods. For some women, that is the least of the menopausal process. Menopause truly is a Change of Life because we are permanently changed, physically and emotionally. Nearly everything seems to revolve around the changes menopause brings about. It is definitely a NEW experience.

Although it s no fun, menopause is a necessity and a blessing. Think about it. If our ovaries didn t shut down, we would remain fertile forever. That means we could get pregnant at 78. And you can take it to the bank that FEW women are interested in being 78 and pregnant. Not only that, without menopause, women would continue having periods right up until we die. What a gruesome thought!

Medical types often divide menopause into three stages. Pre-menopause, menopause, and post-menopause. That may be trying to split hairs because menopause is actually one big process, just with different manifestations. Most of the symptoms commonly associated with menopause occur during the pre-menopause, called perimenopause. This is when periods get irregular, mood swings are the wildest, and hot flashes and night sweats are the worst. Then about ten years later comes the actual menopause which is nothing more than an anniversary date of not having periods for one year. (Yippee!) The post-menopause is the rest of the woman s life, and is usually when the worst effects like osteoporosis or cancer may occur. Unless it is specifically defined, whenever the word MENOPAUSE is mentioned in THE MENOPAUSE SURVIVAL GUIDE, it refers to the entire menopausal process.

PERIMENOPAUSE

Before we actually reach menopause, there is a 5-10 year transition period known as perimenopause. (PERI is a prefix meaning near.) This is the pre-menopausal phase which usually starts when a woman is in her 40 s. It is the time when estrogen levels first begin to decline. The production of eggs slows, the hormone progesterone decreases, and the hormone estrogen fluctuates. It is during this perimenopause that women will experience the symptoms most associated with menopause such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, loss of interest in sex, chest pain, shortness of breath, mood swings, memory difficulties, panic attacks, fatigue, irritability, and even depression. Physiological changes begin in perimenopause that may develop into serious concerns later. For example, the bone loss that later causes osteoporosis occurs during the first seven years of perimenopause. Rises in cholesterol, increased blood pressure and weight gain may contribute to heart disease or stroke. And the loss of tissue strength may later cause uterine prolapse or bladder incontinence.

POST-MENOPAUSE

A woman s life seems to be divided into two halves: Before menopause and after menopause. The post-menopausal stage is everything that happens once periods officially stop. Most of the hot flashes and mood swings have settled down, but you may now be facing more serious complaints like those described in the above paragraph. Most women agree, however, that post-menopause is a cakewalk compared to the wild and crazy perimenopause years.

CAUTION

Because ovulation continues throughout perimenopause, even though on an intermittent basis, a woman may become pregnant. Do not assume that just because you are entering menopause that you cannot become pregnant.