Early Menopause And Your Emotions

Learning that you?re going through premature menopause can be devastating and it?s not unusual to suddenly fall into a period of depression upon receiving this unwelcome news.

Even if you weren?t planning on having children, learning that you?re suddenly infertile is an experience that can wreak havoc on your emotions. Somehow you feel as though you?re less of a woman or perhaps no longer sexy; as if a very integral part of you has died.

You try to share your feelings with friends or family, but early or premature menopause is something that few others understand. Like suffering a miscarriage or the death of a parent, unless someone has gone through it, they just can?t comprehend how emotionally devastating and upsetting early menopause can be.

Because early menopause is often unexpected, women who experience it are more at risk for depression than are older women who are approaching or experiencing symptoms of menopause. Women who are faced with early menopause as a result of surgery are often even more devastated due to the fact that they?ve not only gone through a major surgery, but a big part of who they believe they were is suddenly gone.

No matter what the reason for early menopause, all women who experience it ? both mothers and career women ? feel a profound loss and a significant amount of grief, shock and disbelief. These feelings won?t disappear right away; as a matter of fact, there?s a healing process that most women must go through before they begin to accept the fact that they?re experiencing menopause prematurely and much sooner than they would have preferred.

One woman I interviewed for this project says ?Once I learned to accept what I had become, I realized there was nothing I could do about it. I finally decided that I would do the best I could to remain young and feel good. What choice did I have?? So, certainly, you will mourn and it will take time, but eventually you will get through this and you will feel better. As a matter of fact, each day will bring less feelings of despair and time will bring you back to your old self ? determined, strong and capable; perhaps even more so than before.

One of the first steps to returning to the old you is by looking in the mirror and seeing how you really are still yourself. Your youthful appearance is still intact; as a matter of fact, all of you is still intact. Yes, your reproductive system is not working the way it should, but you?re still a wonderful, young and vibrant woman with so much potential and so much to offer.

Susan Megge started experiencing symptoms of menopause several years ago and researched various avenues to deal with these symptoms naturally. This led to her discovery of the significant role that exercise plays in making menopause a very manageable, and even wonderful time in a woman's life. Susan Megge is the author of "Being Beautiful Beyond 40," a book dedicated to helping women to be inspired, confident and beautiful as they approach menopause. Learn to cope with symptoms of early menopause by visiting http://www.40isbeautiful.com/Early_Menopause.html.

Menopause Symptoms and the Search for Relief

A woman may experience menopause symptom for years before she is actually "in menopause", which is when a woman has not had a menstrual period for a full year. The signs of menopause vary from woman to woman. Some women only experience mild symptoms of menopause and are not particularly bothered by them. Other women seem to have all of the different menopause symptoms and search for relief.

Hot flashes, night sweats and insomnia are some of the first signs of menopause that women usually notice. Hot flashes may happen at any time of the day. They are described by most women as a warm sensation that begins in the chest or around the breasts and then spreads up the back of the neck. Beads of sweat sometimes pop out on the forehead and some women experience red blotches on their skin. Hot flashes are caused by changing estrogen and other hormonal levels.

Night sweats are hot flashes that occur at night and may interrupt sleeping, leading to insomnia. Women sometimes wake up covered in sweat, with pillows and other bedding wet. Getting up, cooling off and coming back to bed, only to find that now the bed is too cold, chilled from the dampness. Anything that will relieve these early symptoms of menopause is welcome and most women try a number of different herbal and natural products before they find something that works. Some women resort to hormone replacement therapy, which was once thought to be safe, but is now believed to be associated with serious health problems in post-menopausal women, including heart disease, breast cancer, blood clots and stroke.

Other menopause symptoms include mood swings, fatigue, depression, irritability, racing heart, headaches, joint and muscle aches and pains, vaginal dryness, decreased or increased sex drive and bladder control problems. Women who experience migraines during their teenage years and early twenties, may seem them return before or during menopause. It has been difficult for researchers to determine if all of these signs of menopause are related to changing hormonal levels. Some may be related to other factors.

Of all the different symptoms of menopause that a woman may experience, the only one that doctors fully understand is cessation of menstrual periods. When the ovaries stop producing eggs and a woman is no longer fertile, then menstrual periods stop and this, by definition is menopause. During perimenopause or pre-menopause, women may notice changes in their menstrual periods. They may become irregular, heavier or lighter. Doctors sometimes prescribe birth control pills to regulate menstrual periods when women experience these menopause symptoms, but, as most women know, birth control pills have sometimes unpleasant and unwanted side effects and if they are not needed to prevent pregnancy, most women would prefer not to take them.

When signs of menopause include mood swings, depression, anxiety or fatigue, doctors sometime prescribe anti-depressants. Anti-depressants have side effects of their own, including a decrease in sex drive, difficulty obtaining orgasm and a general feeling of numbness. Natural products, including many common vitamins may help relieve these symptoms of menopause, without the side effects. Good nutrition is important at all times during a woman's life, but is particularly important at this time of her life. Not only to decrease menopause symptoms, but to decrease the risk of post-menopausal health problems, such as osteoporosis, arthritis and heart disease.

Before a woman finds the routine that works best for her, experimentation is often necessary. Since the signs of menopause vary so greatly, it is often difficult for a doctor to know what to prescribe. We often hear, "Let's try this," which is understandable, since so little is known about the hormonal changes that cause the symptoms of menopause, but still frustrating. This writer knows exactly how frustrating all of this can be. Visiting the whole round of doctors becomes a seemingly endless circle of frustration, which increases the depression, the mood swings and the anxiety, not to mention the fatigue. Then, when she finally finds something that works, it comes not from the world of modern medicine, but from the natural world, the "earth mother" herself.

If you are over 40 and you are beginning to see some or all of the menopause symptoms described above, take a deep breath and relax. There is help. You do not have to suffer from the symptoms of menopause for ten years like your mother did. Osteoporosis is not a part of life. Breast cancer and heart disease can be prevented. It will take some effort on your part. But, probably the first step is to recognize the signs of menopause when you first see them. Begin a regular vitamin regimen, quit smoking, continue to exercise regularly and eat a health diet that is rich in vegetables and other plant foods. Use meat as a side dish and restrict your intake of dietary fats, sugars, caffeine and alcohol.

By increasing your vitamin intake, particularly the B-complex vitamins, you will increase your energy. You will feel more like exercising and regular exercise, rather than wearing you out, will increase your energy levels, reduce fatigue, improve your sleep and increase your sex drive, in other words, combat the symptoms of menopause. Calcium, vitamin D and according to recent studies, vitamin K reduce your risk for developing osteoporosis. Black cohosh and other herbs can reduce or even eliminate night sweats and hot flashes. To learn more about natural products that can help relieve menopause symptoms, please visit http://www.menopause-and-pms-guide.com.

Patsy Hamilton has been a health care professional for over twenty years and currently writes informational articles for the Menopause and PMS Guide

Early Menopause And Your Emotions

Learning that you?re going through premature menopause can be devastating and it?s not unusual to suddenly fall into a period of depression upon receiving this unwelcome news.

Even if you weren?t planning on having children, learning that you?re suddenly infertile is an experience that can wreak havoc on your emotions. Somehow you feel as though you?re less of a woman or perhaps no longer sexy; as if a very integral part of you has died.

You try to share your feelings with friends or family, but early or premature menopause is something that few others understand. Like suffering a miscarriage or the death of a parent, unless someone has gone through it, they just can?t comprehend how emotionally devastating and upsetting early menopause can be.

Because early menopause is often unexpected, women who experience it are more at risk for depression than are older women who are approaching or experiencing symptoms of menopause. Women who are faced with early menopause as a result of surgery are often even more devastated due to the fact that they?ve not only gone through a major surgery, but a big part of who they believe they were is suddenly gone.

No matter what the reason for early menopause, all women who experience it ? both mothers and career women ? feel a profound loss and a significant amount of grief, shock and disbelief. These feelings won?t disappear right away; as a matter of fact, there?s a healing process that most women must go through before they begin to accept the fact that they?re experiencing menopause prematurely and much sooner than they would have preferred.

One woman I interviewed for this project says ?Once I learned to accept what I had become, I realized there was nothing I could do about it. I finally decided that I would do the best I could to remain young and feel good. What choice did I have?? So, certainly, you will mourn and it will take time, but eventually you will get through this and you will feel better. As a matter of fact, each day will bring less feelings of despair and time will bring you back to your old self ? determined, strong and capable; perhaps even more so than before.

One of the first steps to returning to the old you is by looking in the mirror and seeing how you really are still yourself. Your youthful appearance is still intact; as a matter of fact, all of you is still intact. Yes, your reproductive system is not working the way it should, but you?re still a wonderful, young and vibrant woman with so much potential and so much to offer.

Susan Megge started experiencing symptoms of menopause several years ago and researched various avenues to deal with these symptoms naturally. This led to her discovery of the significant role that exercise plays in making menopause a very manageable, and even wonderful time in a woman's life. http://www.40isbeautiful.com/Early_Menopause.html

Common Symptoms Of Menopause

Menopause is a natural process in the life of women. It typically occurs in the early to mid-forties, and, unfortunately, it is accompanied by a number of symptoms that can cause women much concern. Learning to identify those symptoms for what they are, may be your first step to learning to deal with this new life stage.

One of the first and most noticeable symptoms of menopause is irregular or missed periods. At the onset of menopause, the body suffers a great decrease in estrogen and progesterone levels, stimulated by the ovaries. The ovaries are no longer signaled to release the egg, meaning that a woman will notice a disruption in her normal monthly cycle. Following puberty, the only occurring menstrual cycle disruptions are as a result of disease or other ovarian or pregnancy problems. However, once menopause begins, it is not uncommon to experience serious menstrual disruptions.

Another common symptom of menopause is the hot flash. Greater than seventy five percent of menopausal women suffer hot flashes, in varying degrees of severity. A hot flash makes a woman feel flush. For example, she may be in a room that is only seventy degrees, but she will feel the overwhelming sense that someone has turned the temperature up to ninety degrees. In an instant, she may feel as if the temperature has decreased by fifty degrees, and she is suddenly shivering. Hot flashes can be accompanied by other symptoms like faintness, dizziness, and heart palpitations. Many hot flashes can be up to ten minutes in duration, but not for all women all of the time. In some cases some women simply acknowledge them and keep functioning as if nothing is wrong. Extreme hormone fluctuations cause the hypothalamus to incorrectly regulate a woman's body temperature. Factors such as poor diet and elevated stress levels have been shown to affect the entire process in a negative manner. Most women will experience hot flashes for five to six years, though there are women who endure them for the ten to twenty years prior to and following menopause.

Hot flashes commonly lead to another prevalent menopause symptom: insomnia. Because hot flashes can occur during the day as well as the night, many women will find themselves awoken drenched in their own sweat. Often they get up to change their clothes and their sheets due to the dampness caused by the sweat. If a woman is a light sleeper anyway, she might find it impossible to fall asleep again. Interestingly enough, though, night sweats are not the only cause of sleep disturbances. The blood hormone levels also affect the quality of a woman's sleep. Adjusting these hormone imbalances can sometimes alleviate sleep difficulties.

Patricia Smith writes content for several web sites, on healthiness and women's health topics.