Menstrual
Myths
·
Every woman's cycle is or should be 28 days long.
· Every woman will or should bleed every month.
· Every woman will or should ovulate every cycle.
· If a woman bleeds, she is not pregnant.
· A woman cannot ovulate or get pregnant while she is menstruating.
The above statements are myths. Every woman is different.
Did
You Know?
·
Women lose between 20 and 80 cc's (1-2 ounces) of blood during a
normal period.
· One in six fertilized eggs naturally results in miscarriage,
some of which are reabsorbed by the body and the woman is not aware
she's been pregnant.
· The length of a woman's menstrual cycle (the number of
days from the first day of one period to the first day of the next)
is determined by the number of days it takes her ovary to release
an egg. Once an egg is released, it is about 14 days until menstruation,
for nearly all women.
Menopause
Technically
menopause is the last menstrual flow of a woman's life and the climacteric
is period of time preceding and following this event. In general
usage, menopause refers to the whole process. For most women, menopause
usually occurs between the ages of forty and sixty and takes place
over a period from 6 months to three years.
The menstrual cycle usually goes through many changes, some slow
and some sudden, before stopping altogether. A woman's periods may
become erratic, closer together, or further apart. She may skip
a period or two, or have spotting at other times in her cycle.
A common experience is loss of large amounts of blood with a period
and passage of large clots. When a woman nears the cessation of
her periods, she may not ovulate for one cycle or several cycles.
In this case, the endometrium doesn't receive the chemical message
to stop thickening. It grows and grows until its heavy bulk causes
a heavy flow.
Signals of menopause include hot flushes, changes in sleep patterns,
headaches or migraines, high energy, high creativity, and/or mood
changes. As with PMS, some of these symptoms are hormone imbalances
caused by poor nutrition.
Menopause:
Treatment Options
Treatment
for the symptoms of menopause can be approached in two phases :
1. Early in menopause, you and your doctor should discuss your symptoms
and whether to treat them as they occur. You should be evaluated
for your risk of getting breast cancer, osteoporosis (severe bone
loss), and heart disease. If you're not at high risk for breast
cancer, you may want to consider taking estrogen for a limited time,
and using the lowest effective dose, which can help manage several
symptoms at once. If you are at risk, other treatments are available.
2. Later in menopause you should focus on effectively preventing
disease. Your earlier symptoms will probably disappear.
You and your doctor should form a partnership and share information
that will help you make the best decisions about your health. There
are many things to keep in mind, because menopause and the years
that follow it usually cover the second half of a woman's life.
Talk to your doctor about all of the treatment choices to decide
what is right for you.
Hormone
treatment options
Many
women want to replace the estrogen their body is losing, because
estrogen does relieve many symptoms of menopause. Women who still
have a uterus usually take a combination of estrogen with a form
of progesterone, called progestin. This is called hormone therapy
(HT).
Estrogen increases the risk of uterine cancer if taken alone. If
a woman has had her uterus removed, she can take estrogen by itself.
This is called estrogen therapy or ET.
If you have a family history of breast cancer or have survived breast
cancer, you probably should not take estrogen or HT, although not
all studies support this conclusion. You also should not take estrogen
if you have had cancer of the uterus, liver disease, history of
blood clots, heart disease or unusual bleeding from the vagina.
Estrogen can help to reduce hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and skin
changes. Estrogen is a good way to protect your bones from rapid
weakening as you age.
For symptoms of early menopause:
Here
are some ways to treat your symptoms without choosing HT:
· Clonidine is a blood-pressure-lowering drug that is also
used to reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes.
· Medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate, progesterone-type
drugs, may be used to treat hot flashes.
· The SSRI (Selective-Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) drugs
are useful in two ways - treating depression and treating hot flashes.
· Counseling or support groups can also help you to handle
sad, depressed, or confusing feelings you may be having as your
body changes.
· Vaginal lubricants, such as Vagisil or Replens, can help
women with thinning vaginal tissue or dryness.
· Low-dose vaginal estrogen is generally a safe way to take
estrogen to solve vaginal thinning and dryness problems without
substantially increasing the levels of estrogen in the blood.
· Lack of desire can be helped with more open communication
with your partner, creating a pleasurable atmosphere at home, making
a point to enjoy other activities with your partner, and counseling.
"Designer Estrogens"
Tamoxifen (used to prevent breast cancer) and raloxifene (used to
prevent osteoporosis) are drugs known as "designer estrogens."
These drugs have been developed to act beneficially as estrogen
on some tissue and to act as estrogen-blockers (anti-estrogens)
on other tissue. These drugs also are known by the more technical
name Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators or SERMs.
The SERMs:
· help to protect your bones
· lower levels of bad cholesterol; and
· may lower the risk of breast cancer.
Tamoxifen, however, acts like an estrogen on the uterus, increasing
the risk of uterine cancer. Raloxifene blocks the harmful effects
of estrogen on the breast and does not stimulate the lining uterus,
so women who still have a uterus may want to try raloxifene.
Menopause:
Lifestyle Issues and Prevention
Women have many choices in the ways they can treat symptoms of menopause.
All women, however, should aim for a healthy lifestyle: Eat a healthy
diet, including 1500 mg of calcium daily, lower the amount of fat
in your diet, and the right balance of calories to maintain an active
lifestyle; if overweight, weight reduction is advisable.
· Quit or try to cut down on smoking;
· Use alcohol moderately;
· Exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week;
· Avoid stressful situations; and
· Have a yearly mammogram and breast examination by a health
professional.
Preventing disease will be a major concern after you go through
menopause. Your risk of bone loss, bone fractures, heart disease,
and other conditions increases as you age.
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