In society, men in midlife crisis bought red sports cars and dumped their wives for younger women. What about women in midlife crisis? Women are identified with hot flashes, moody swings, weigh gain and lack of sex drive.
Women call the menopause as "the change" or "Rite of Passage" as the gateway to a Second Adulthood. Some women prefer to call it as "Power Surge", rather than the rite of passage.
Inside the dark tunnel you begin to glimpse at a small light, soon you will cheer "No more pads, no more tampons, and no more worries about pregnancy". First you have to experience through the menopause transformation. Sometimes you wonder why grandmothers and mothers did not share information about "the change" in their lives.
In the 19th century the life expectancy was the average age of 50 or less. Therefore in the 21st century the life expectancy age for women has increased to the average age of 80. Information about menopause is lacking since baby boomer generation women enter into their midlife during the change. There is insufficient data about women's health during the menopause life.
Not all women have same symptoms or are through the menstrual stages. Every woman's life experience "the change" differently but their menstrual period ends until the age of 60. Approximately 15% women had no problem through menopause while 70% women had some problems.
It is time for researchers to ask older women, or especially baby-boomer women to join in the health clinic study for gathering facts about how menopause affects women of all ages from early to post menstrual period.
Menopause is a natural biological process, not sickness. It is an important time in a woman's life.
There are some types of menopause as follows:
Menopause:
Women has missed menstrual periods for 12 continuous months. This marks the permanent end of fertility. It occurs between the ages of 40 to 58, and an average age of 51. |
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Perimenopause:
Women's menstrual periods are declining and fluctuating in the transition phase toward the menopause. It lasts between 5 to 15 years. |
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Early Menopause:
Sometimes it is called as induced or surgical menopause. Sometimes women before the age of 40 or younger have natural menopause due to genetic, autoimmune disorders (lack of research or little information) and medical intervention. |
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Post Menopause:
After 12 months of the final menstrual period, women are in postmenopause for the rest of their lives. They can look forward to 25 years or more. |
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Common Symptoms of Menopause:
Physical:
Hot flashes, night sweats, hair loss, irregular vaginal bleedings or missed periods, irregular heartbeats, painful intercourse, urinary incontinence (or urine leakage), joint stiffness, vaginal dryness and weight gain.
Emotional:
Mood swings, difficulty sleeping, anxiety and depression
Mental:
Forgetfulness, lack of focus or concentration, headaches
Menopause As An Earth Changing Experience:
An Interview with Susun Weed by Randy Peyser
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The metamorphosis in nature that most of us immediately think of, is the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly.
This metaphor works out really well in talking about menopause because there are basically three stages or forms that a woman will feel herself in.
The first is the cocoon stage. Envision the caterpillar out there, eating leaves, munching lawns, feeling great. Suddenly the caterpillar says, “I don’t know what’s coming over me but I really want to be alone. All these other caterpillars are just driving me nuts with their munching day and night.” The caterpillar goes off and finds a quiet, secret dark place to be. It’s intuitive.
Each menopausal woman in her own way will encounter that feeling of needing and wanting to be alone. Let everybody else deal with whatever they need to deal with, it’s time to focus on you.
The second stage is melt-down. Within that cocoon, the caterpillar does not just lose a few legs and grow wings, the caterpillar melts down. The caterpillar actually turns to goo or slime, and then has to rebuild into a butterfly.
Each woman in her own way, will experience part of the melt-down phase of menopause. It may be hot flashes, it may be waking up all night, it may be crying at every thing, it may be feeling like your bones suddenly have nothing in them. In some way, each of us is going to encounter melt-down, the dissolution of everything. As with anything, we can either sulk about it or we can say, “What opportunity is this?”
Of course, the opportunity is to become a butterfly. And the butterfly, having then been created, says, “What am I doing in here? It’s really tight in here; I wonder what’s happening outside?” Riiiipppp! It splits open the chrysalis from the top of the cocoon and emerges as a transformed being.
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Susun Weed is the founder of the Wise Woman Center and editor-in-chief of Ash Tree Publishing. Her popular books include, “Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year,” “Healing Wise,” and “Menopausal Years, the Wise Woman Way.” You can contact Susun to find out more about her books, her home-correspondence courses and her workshops: Susun Weed, POB 64, Woodstock, NY 12498, (914) 246-8081.
Visit her website. |
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The standard treatment for menopause since 1940s is hormone replacement therapy (H.R.T.). The disadvantage for HRT is to increase the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. Maybe H.R.T. is not the best course for most women because it causes side effects including weight gain, heavy bleeding, and PMS-like symptoms.
Additionally, some minor concerns are urinary tract infections and gout.
Would women be able to remedy the symptoms? Yes sometimes it work effectively or not. There are alternate treatments including homeopathy, Chinese medicine and herbal treatments.
| By the survey at the WebMd website: |
36% Herbal Remedies
16% Soy
21% Yoga or Exercise
27% HRT |
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Black cohash, or soy may help remedy hot flashes and night sweats. Black Cohosh is a native American medicinal plant as an alternative to H.R.T. In recent findings, black cohash may not be effective or it has not found as evidence yet.
Soy supplements may fail to help menopause symptoms due to its downside of heavy or long term use of soy products that increase the risk of thyroid disease.
Homeopathy is another alternative if you want to see a homeopathic physician to determine appropriate remedy. Reiki Healing is one of several alternate treatments
and is becoming popular.
Suggestions:
For Hot Flashes
Regular exercise, cold showers, less stress, cooler rooms, reduce use of tea, alcohol or hot beverages, avoid spicy foods, wear thin layers of all cotton clothes (removable clothing), and don't wear clothes with collars.
For Diet
Avoid caffeine and soda (lead to increase bone less), meats including pork, beef and chicken because of high amount of saturated fats that decrease the body's ability to metabolize estrogen; eat grains, oats, wheat, brown rice, tofu, almonds, cashews, fresh fruits and vegetables.
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