As women experience many important and unusual life events around 45, menopause is not always easy to diagnose. This is the time when most are at the top of their professional career, in many families children are at the age of puberty or leaving the family home, and important hormonal changes also occur about this time, leading up to menopause. Physical, psychological and environmental changes often generate symptoms similar to those of the change of life. Menopause can be diagnosed if the patient has several of the symptoms and the results of a hormone test, overseen and interpreted by a professional, confirm it.
Hormonal roller coaster
The gradually decreasing activity of the ovaries begins with the fact that ovulation no longer takes place regularly, causing the hormones to change rapidly and resulting in what feels like a hormonal and emotional roller coaster ride.
Common symptoms
A symptom that indicates the change in many women is actually bleeding disorders due to the disrupted cycle. First, women experience so-called breakthrough bleeding, which can be so severe that many women find it frightening, especially if they only had weak bleeding before.
Another common symptom of menopause is the occurrence of hot flashes, which are sudden heat attacks and sweats. About two-thirds of women are affected, although the severity of the symptoms varies with the individual.
Hormonal changes, especially estrogen deficiency, may cause further symptoms such as breast tenderness to varying degrees of pain and discomfort, weight gain, bone density loss and joint pain, and even cardiovascular disorders, skin and vaginal dryness, bladder infections, the possibility of dementia, and many more. The physical symptoms are even more impactful with the mood swings hormonal imbalances cause: the line between depressive mood due to menopause and serious depression can be very thin.
Reach out
To decide which therapy method could be effective for a woman’s individual condition, hormone testing may be required. To alleviate the symptoms of menopause, contact your gynecologist once you encounter these issues.