☯ What is menopause
Menopause is a period that female hormones are no longer produced since the ovaries cease to function. In other words, once woman becomes menopausal, she cannot get pregnant. This is about 10 years of before and after menopause.
When woman is in her late 40s, ovarian function is gradually decreased and the levels of female hormones get lower. Through this period, menstruation becomes irregular and bleeding may be lighter. As a result, woman stops menstruation; menopause.
☯ Causes
When female hormones are drastically decreased, body adjusts to this change. Some women who go through menopause fine don't feel severe pain. By contrast, others who have a tough time during menopause have several symptoms caused by instability of the autonomic nervous system.
A tenth of menopausal women even don't notice it. One-third go through menopause smoothly. But one- fifth have severe symptoms, so daily life would be affected.
☯ Symptoms
- Hot flushes that are a sudden feeling of heat on the face -
⋅ A sudden reddening of the face, head, neck etc
⋅ Sensation of heat spreading over the body
⋅ Heartbeat
⋅ Sweating
⋅ Symptoms last from a few seconds to a few minutes
- Difficulty concentrating and memorizing -
⋅ Forgetting what you just heard
⋅ Forgetting where you put things
⋅ Even forgetting the names of your children
- The most common symptom of menopause; Depression -
⋅ Emotional instability
⋅ Mood swings
⋅ Feeling sad or down
⋅ Other common symptoms during menopause ;
fatigue, irritability, demotivation, nervousness, anxiety, aggression, low self-esteem
- Change in reproductive and urinary system-
⋅ Vaginal dryness because of lack of lubrication
⋅ Vaginal discharge and itchiness caused by vaginitis
⋅ Incontinence of urine ( unintentional loss of urine)
⋅ Descensus uteri, prolapsed bladder led by weakening of the pelvic support structures
- Sexual problems -
⋅ Painful sex because of
- hormone deficiency
- thinner and smaller in width and length vagina
- lack of lubrication
- atrophic vaginitis
⋅Having less sex and loss of libido for the reasons stated above
☯ Complications
Since average life expectancy is increasing, women will live over one third of their life after a menopause. Living well through menopause makes your life fruitful and worthwhile. If there's no proper treatments for menopause, chronic complications occur as follows ;
⋅ Osteoporosis
⋅ Obesity
⋅ Ischaemic Heart Diseases (IHD) - Angina, Myocardial infarction
⋅ High blood pressure
⋅ Hypercholesteremia
⋅ Women's cancers - Uterine cancer, Breast cancer, Ovarian cancer
⋅ Stroke
⋅ Diabetes
☯ Korean medicine for menopause
- Acupuncture for balanced internal organs & relieving local pain and disorder
- Herbal acupuncture for improving symptoms caused by lack of hormones & boosting immunity
- Cupping for getting rid of extravasated blood & promoting body circulation
- Herbal medicine based on symptom and constitution
- Moxibustion for boosting energy & promoting blood circulation in reproductive organs and urinary system