Generally, these symptoms consist of: menstrual irregularities, hot flashes, night sweats, arthralgia, muscle aches, headache, irritability, anxiety, low mood, vaginal dryness, memory impairment, palpitations, decreased libido, osteoporosis and dryness of skin and hair.
Although according to statistics the average age at which a woman enters menopause is 51 years, it is not uncommon for the onset of at least some of the menopausal symptoms to occur before the age indicated above.
It is difficult to define and predict the symptomatological course of menopause for a woman: each interested subject, in fact, represents a case in itself. The content of this article should therefore not scare you: although it lists all the possible symptoms of menopause, it is not certain that these occur all together and / or with severe intensity.
What Menopause Is: A Brief Review
Menopause is that physiological (therefore natural and non-pathological) period of a woman's life, which marks the end of her fertility as well as the repetition of menstruation.
In other words, a postmenopausal woman is no longer subject to menstruation and is no longer fertile.
The period of menopause often coincides with the appearance of some specific symptoms and mild psychophysical disorders.
Menopause: When Does It Start?
According to experts, to be able to talk about real menopause, it is necessary to wait at least one year from the last menstruation.
The biological event underlying menopause and the end of the menstrual cycle is the sharp drop in the production of estrogen and progesterone by the ovaries, the two female sex hormones par excellence.
In a woman's life, menopause is usually placed between the end of the forty "years and the beginning of the fifties.
According to the most reliable statistics, the average age at which a woman enters menopause would be 51 years (with an interval that varies from 45 to 55 years).
However, there is the possibility of the so-called precocious menopause, that is the menopause that is established definitely before the canonical age just indicated (generally under 40 years). Having a frequency equal to one woman in 100, premature menopause can have both natural and iatrogenic causes (for example, in the case of the removal of the ovaries).
To learn more: What is Menopause? ; others still, finally, can be considered late disturbances, distinctive of the final phase.Taken together, the symptoms of menopause are often referred to as "climacteric syndrome"
Menopause: the Initial Symptoms
The symptoms that warn of the onset of menopause and / or that characterize its initial phase are different.
The most common and characteristic of these symptoms is menstrual cycle irregularity. This irregularity can include a variety of abnormalities - including infrequent and short-lived menstruation, profuse and long-lasting menstruation, extremely painful menstruation, menstruation every 2-3 weeks. or every 2-3 months etc. - which resolve when the menstrual cycle reaches a definitive conclusion.
In addition to menstrual irregularities, the other possible warning and onset symptoms of menopause are:
- Hot flashes. Generally, they are short and sudden, affecting the face, neck and chest;
- Night sweats. They are related to hot flashes that occur during the night;
- Palpitations;
- Insomnia. It derives, in part, from the hormonal changes that characterize menopause and, in part, from nocturnal hot flashes (which disturb sleep);
- Anxiety, irritability, low mood and ease of fatigue. They are largely dependent on insomnia;
- Headache. According to some experts, it is due to irritability and anxiety; according to others, however, it is due to the same biological mechanisms that cause headaches during menstruation;
- Decreased libido and sexual desire. These are two logical consequences of the decline in estrogen that characterizes menopause.
Curiosity
The symptoms that warn of the imminent onset of menopause are often identified with the term "symptoms of perimenopause", perimenopause is the characteristic period that precedes the actual menopause.
Menopause: Intermediate Phase Symptoms
In an intermediate stage, menopause determines:
- Increased vaginal pH. In childbearing age the vaginal pH is around 3.5 - 4.5, while in menopause it rises to 7.0 - 7.3;
- Vaginal atrophy (or vulvo-vaginal atrophy). With this term, doctors indicate the condition characterized, mainly, by the thinning and drying of the internal vaginal wall. The result of a net decrease in circulating estrogen, vaginal atrophy is a source of: vaginal dryness, discomfort, itching and burning in level of the vagina, and pain during sexual intercourse;
- Arthralgia accompanied by muscle pain. Arthralgia is pain in one or more joints. According to statistics, it affects over 50% of postmenopausal women and mainly affects the neck, shoulders, elbows and hands. It appears to be the result of hormonal changes. imposed by menopause;
- Memory deficit and decreased ability to concentrate. It is not clear what exactly triggers these two symptoms. According to some hypotheses, however, the protagonists would be, once again, estrogens: scientific studies, in fact, have shown the presence of estrogen receptors also in the brain.
In any case, in many women, memory deficits and the decrease in the ability to concentrate are transient, in the sense that, in the postmenopausal period, they are no longer traced.
Curiously, they are more common in women with more episodes of hot flashes and night sweats; - Urinary disorders. The most common of these disorders is the so-called urinary incontinence, ie the involuntary loss of urine.
Urinary Incontinence: brief discussion
The hormonal changes typical of menopause involve some unfavorable changes in the connective tissues of the bladder, urethra and, in general, of all those structures involved in the elimination of urine.
The very unpleasant result of these changes is the aforementioned urinary incontinence, which manifests itself above all under stress (therefore during a sneeze, a loud laugh, etc.).
Menopause: Late Symptoms
Symptoms and late consequences of menopause include:
- Aesthetic repercussions such as weight gain, hair dryness, skin dryness combined with loss of elasticity, skin thinning, wrinkles, loss of nail shine, reduction of muscle mass, etc. They are the result of changes in the connective tissues of the organism, imposed, in turn, by the hormonal changes typical of menopause;
- Osteoporosis. Linked to the exhaustion of circulating estrogens, it is a particularly late symptom;
- The increase in blood pressure (hypertension) and the consequent increase in cardiovascular risk. The increase in cardiovascular risk leads to an increase in the risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, vascular dementia, etc.
- Digestive problems, such as bloating and frequent indigestion. Like the aesthetic changes, they depend on the alteration of the connective tissues, caused by the decrease of estrogen in the organism.
Effects of early menopause
Compared to their peers who are still fertile, women who have had an early menopause are more likely to suffer from diseases such as osteoporosis, stroke, vascular dementia and myocardial infarction.
These greater possibilities represent the confirmation of the link between the aforementioned pathological conditions and menopause, with all its hormonal changes.
Summary of the Symptoms of Menopause
Symptoms of menopause in brief
Irregularity of the menstrual cycle
Insomnia and sleep disturbances
Hot flashes and night sweats
Loss of mood and depression
Vaginal dryness from vaginal atrophy
Dryness of skin and hair
Loss of libido
Arthralgia and muscle aches
Difficulty concentrating
Memory deficit
Urinary disorders
Pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia)
Headache
Palpitations
Digestive disorders
For example, in the face of skin that becomes drier and less elastic, a woman can limit exposure to the sun; in the presence of an increase in adipose tissue or the onset of osteoporosis, she can resort to physical activity. targeted and controlling diet; etc.
All the concepts exposed so far become even more important, if we consider the inseparable binomial between mind and body, between physical health and mental health. If something on the upper floors works incorrectly, the whole body ends up being affected.
If to mark the relationship with the impending menopause are internal fears and conflicts, the resulting anguish involves only an aggravation of the symptoms and disorders typically related to the physiological end of fertility.
Percentage of women affected: 67%
Depends on what: from the decrease of estrogens and the consequent attempt of the organism to increase the synthesis of the aforementioned hormones, through the increase of the activity of the aromatase, that is the enzyme of the adipose tissue responsible for the conversion of androgens into estrogens. In other words, faced with a drop in estrogen, the organism of the postmenopausal woman responds with an increase in adipose tissue, as this tissue contains the enzymatic system essential for the conversion of androgens into estrogens.
Other correlations: it can also be associated with causes of a psychological nature, such as anxiety and nervousness, which lead to bulimic crises.
Hot flashes
They represent the most classic menopause disorder.
They affect more than 70% of women, last on average for a couple of years, but in 25% of cases they can persist for even more than 5 years.
Percentage of women affected: >70%
Features: They manifest themselves with a sensation of intense heat that runs through the body like a "wave; this heat lasts from 30 seconds to 3 minutes and usually ends with cold sweats.
Hot flashes can recur several times over the course of a day; the daily number of episodes, in fact, can be as high as 15-20.
Nighttime hot flashes disturb sleep, causing insomnia.
Associations: they are often associated with palpitations.
Other consequences: they are not a worrying phenomenon, but they can be very annoying and irritating for those who suffer from them.
Arthralgia and Muscle Pain
Percentage of women affected: 83%
What they depend on: most likely, they are closely related to the drop in estrogen.
Features: they reduce the elasticity and motility of the joints.
Ease to Fatigue
Percentage of women affected: 43%
Features: it is a symptom of variable entity, which generally depends on pre-existing character aspects and / or on concomitant socio-environmental factors.
Irritability and Nervousness
Percentage of women affected: 49% and 47%
What they depend on: certainly from insomnia and hormonal deficits typical of menopause.
In some women, it is also an expression of the discomfort that the woman develops in the face of the loss of fertility and "youth".
Associations: often accompany the decline in mood.
Night Sweating
Percentage of women affected: 44%
Features: it is associated with the phenomenon of night flashes.
Aftermath: it disturbs the night's sleep, therefore a potential cause of insomnia.
Headache
Percentage of women affected: 45%
Depends on what: It is found more often in women with more episodes of hot flashes, night sweats and insomnia.
Insomnia
Percentage of women affected: 38%
Depends on what: from hormonal alterations and nocturnal hot flashes.
Loss of Mood (Depression)
Percentage of women affected: 33%
See what is reported under irritability and nervousness.
Palpitations
Percentage of women affected: 46%
Features: they are the consequence of a sudden increase in heart rate; generally, they are transitory.
Associations: can accompany hot flashes.
Pain During Sexual Intercourse (Dyspareunia)
Percentage of women affected: 33%
Depends on what: from "vaginal atrophy.
Urinary Disorders
Percentage of women affected: 38%
What they depend on: from the alteration of the connective tissues that make up the bladder, urethra and all the other anatomical structures responsible for the elimination of urine.
Vaginal dryness
Percentage of women affected: 26%
Depends on what: from "vaginal atrophy.
