Menopause is a physiological change in the human anatomy that all women experience with age. Menopause describes the changes in a lady or the symptoms experienced by her only before or after she stops having her periods, labeling the end of her reproductive period.
[Read: Early Menopause Symptoms]
What causes menopause: Menopause occurs as there are a limited number of eggs in your ovaries and, in due course, no longer eggs are left to be released from the ovaries for fertilisation. The ovum undergoes changes through its development in every menstrual cycle to make a mature egg. During this evolution it produces the female hormones estrogen and testosterone. The female hormones estrogen and progesterone are synthesised and released under the effect of FSH and LH secreted from the pituitary gland. As you get older, when there are no more eggs left for development the female hormones estrogen and progesterone which restrain your ovulation and ovulation also decrease. The decrease of those hormones leaves your ovulation and menstruation irregular and after a few years you stop having periods. When a girl no longer has menstruation or her phases she enters the menstrual period of her life.
Age of menopause: Menopause does not occur at a fixed age. Your family history affects your menopause, which usually means you will likely undergo menopause around precisely the exact same period as your other close female relatives (grandmother, mother, or sister) did. But, in most women menstruation stops entirely by about 50 years of age but the entire menopausal process occurs over a couple of years. Menopause usually starts sometime between the ages of 45 and 55 but it may occur at a younger age (as early as 35) or later (as late as 60).
[Read: Side-effects of Menopause]
Premature menopause: Menopause can occur naturally when your ovaries no longer produce mature eggs and the female hormones. However, in some women it can happen prematurely because of surgery (hysterectomy) and certain medicines or treatments (radiation therapy and chemotherapy). Menopause is deemed early when it occurs before age forty years (whatever the cause). Other causes of premature menopause include damage to the ovaries or reduced levels of estrogen secretion due to any problem.
Treatment for menopause: Experience of every woman during menopause is different. Some may hardly notice ‘the change’, except that the fact that their periods become irregular and eventually stop where as others could have a variety of symptoms (often quite bothersome).Medical treatment can ease transition into the menopause for women who have signs which are significant. Hormonal treatment and a selection of ‘complementary’ medical treatments are available to alleviate menopausal symptom.
Recall that menopause is not an illness or a health hazard. It’s a physiological process which all women go through (some sooner others a few years later);it’s simply a period of life to which you’ve got to adapt and live with.
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