Author: The Beauty Nation

What are the symptoms of Menopause?

Check the menopause symptoms below:

Menopause Emotions

People once mistakenly thought depression and moodiness were to be expected of women going through their change of life. Although we now know it’s a myth that women can “go mad” during menopause, most women do report emotional changes as their hormone levels fluctuate and readjust, even so far as describing their experience as an emotional rollercoaster.

Long-standing emotional difficulties may worsen during menopause. However, it does women an injustice simply to point the finger directly at their biochemistry.

Research studies in the physiology and psychology of women as they proceed along the life span show that these conditions have varied causes.

Emotions triggered by hormonal changes often are intensified by other changes in your life and vice versa. You may experience stresses in your social world as children leave home, your parents die, or your marital status changes; you may feel out of place in our youth-oriented society; you may mourn the loss of your reproductive capacity; you may feel new pressures on the job. You may feel diminishing self-esteem and social power (sometimes culture devalues older people, and older women most of all.)

Fortunately, natural therapies are effective tools in learning to cope successfully with the psychological and mental aspects associated with menopause, as well as the physical ones.

Menopause Memory, Confusion, Forgetfulness, and Poor Concentration

It’s happened to everyone: you simply just lose your train of thought; you meet someone for the first time and immediately forget her name, having just entered a room, you can’t for the life of you figure out why you went there, balancing your checkbook is becoming more of a challenge. If it feels as if your brain has simply stopped working the way it used to, you may simply be overstimulated.

In an effort to stay caught up, many women are simply trying to do too much and stuff too many pieces of information into their gray matter. While animal experiments have demonstrated that too little stimulation causes the brain to shrink, and an appropriate amount of stimulation causes new brain cells to grow, too much stimulation causes stress and appears to cause the brain to shut down and possibly deteriorate. It’s as if it hangs out a sign that reads Sorry It’s Full.

Although fear usually sharpens the mind, poor concentration often accompanies anxiety. We all have times when we’re so worried we “can’t think.” Most of us know that we have to write down even familiar phone numbers and keep them near us since, if we’re faced with an emergency situation, we can’t recall them! Sometimes when we’re stressed, we can’t recall even our own number or the names of our best friends!

A mixture of confusion, forgetfulness, and poor concentration may also occur when your brain isn’t getting enough oxygen or nutrients. Or they may be due to conditions that are either self-correcting or have relatively simple solutions.

For example, confusion and forgetfulness are common for many months after surgery that required a general anesthetic. These symptoms may also occur because of poor sleep patterns or depression (see “Insomnia” and “Depression”).

Many commonly prescribed drugs and non-prescription drugs affect the concentration as well. The widespread fear that aging women just can’t cut it mentally is simply unfounded. A study at Duke University found that people sixty-five to seventy-five years old experienced no general decline in intelligence. However, if you find you’re not the brilliant, witty, clear-thinking genius you used to be, the following natural approaches offer safe ways to help you bounce back.

Menopause Depression

Almost everybody gets the blues at certain times, but it would be a mistake to confuse being temporarily down in the dumps with true, major depression. Changing hormones change your moods and we know that a drop in estrogen is associated with depression and restoring levels to normal frequently lifts depression.

It should come as no surprise, then, that women are twice as likely to suffer a bout of major depression as are men, and premenstrual syndrome includes depression among its long list of symptoms. There are receptors for sex hormones in the brain, so it’s easy to understand how a hormone imbalance could affect your nervous system.

Menopause Mood Swings, Moodiness, and Irritability

In spite of recent surveys and studies that suggest that mood swings or instability of moods are not demonstrably more frequent during menopause, some women report an increased incidence of irritability, nervousness, and “bad moods” during the menopausal years. Changes in self-image, job pressures, family upheavals, sleeplessness due to hot flashes, and hormonal fluctuations affect how a woman feels.

Also, women often attribute feeling bad to being bad. They may feel guilty for not being able to care for others’ needs while they feel lousy and may blame their physical limitations on themselves.

For example, we might sometimes say, “I can’t do anything with myself,” or “I just can’t seem to get it right.” Pay attention to your self-talk. When you use self-deprecatory expressions like these, immediately forgive yourself for your harsh words and undo the damage with affirmations. The power of positive thinking has been proven time and again to affect the way we feel and behave.

Guilt about being sick and needing something from others instead of the other way around causes some of us to deny ourselves care and comfort, even when it’s freely offered. It may sound irritability but it is really low self-esteem. Therapists often attribute irritability to repressed anger.

Women are discouraged from expressing anger overtly and usually want to be nice all the time, even when insulted or challenged. This pent-up tension may result in all kinds of irritability, from crying to tantrums, and worsen which leads to physical problems. Another possibility is any moodiness is related to PMS.

Menopause Anxiety

No aging woman should be surprised if she experiences some anxiety during and after menopause when you consider the important physical and life changes that take place at that time.

Anxiety can be expressed in both obvious and sneaky ways. Among the former are phobias (the intense and non-rational fear of some activity or place leading to complete avoidance of the offending stimulus), pounding heart, insomnia, high blood pressure, and overeating or loss of appetite. Some people are not really consciously aware of feeling anxiety and may express it covertly, such as by picking quarrels, heightened irritability, excessive use of alcohol, or “spacing out.”

Many sources of anxiety in menopausal and older women have to do directly or indirectly with the low esteem in which aging women are held in our culture, which overvalues youth and beauty in females.

Women may fear signs of aging: Wrinkles, Mature physique, Greying hair

This makes them lose their social and economic power, and to a large extent, reality confirms these fears. Older women do have trouble finding jobs, in spite of the fact that they may be more reliable and healthier workers than younger people of either sex; older heterosexual single women do have more trouble than younger ones and more trouble than older men, especially in finding intimate partners.

Older women also have more trouble getting heard in meetings than younger people and older men. The poorest people in America are older women. So the loss of power makes older women feel more helpless than when they were younger about changing their lives. They see their choices of where to live, where to work, and of intimate partners as severely limited, or likely to be limited. Thus they feel anxious.

Anxiety and depression are two ends of the same process, and the solution, like the cause, is multifactorial. Both psychotherapy and medications including anti-depressants (such as the much-adored Prozac), tranquilizers, and sleeping pills can be combined with natural therapies for greater effect, or natural remedies may be effective alone, and without the side effects of prescription anti-depressants.

Menopause should be an easy, smooth transition in a woman’s life once it is recognized. For many, it brings a new capacity for work, pleasure, health, and self-esteem. These women say they feel freer and more attractive once they no longer expend energy on a monthly period.

It was discovered by a healthcare physician that ideal menopause is a reasonable goal for most women. It is important to determine your levels of testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone.

Each of these hormones plays a critical role in your health during and after menopause. But it’s not enough to consider each one separately hence you also need to look at the patterns of balance or imbalance of the three in relationship to each other. The relationships between the hormones are a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Once you find out what type of hormonal imbalance you have, you can take steps to restore the balance. (As each woman’s menopause occurrence varies, you can’t generally determine your menopause type just by listening to other women’s experiences.)

Here are 12 types of Menopause:

Type 1: Ideal Menopause

If you are lucky enough to have ideal menopause, you might find it hard to understand why your friends complain about their menopausal symptoms since your menopause is almost totally free of discomfort.

Over the course of a year or so, you simply stop menstruating.
You might never experience a hot flash, vaginal dryness, or fatigue.

In general, your experience of menopause is smooth and virtually free of symptoms. And after the changes of menopause are complete, you feel absolutely fine. While few women in this group experience very mild symptoms related to subtle changes or variations in hormonal levels.

Type 2: Low Testosterone

In this type 2 menopause, your body is producing enough estrogen and progesterone to meet your needs, though your levels of both hormones might be at the low end of the “normal” range. But your body is not making enough testosterone. The result can be subtle, or quite intense. You might feel basically fine, but a little lacking in drive and confidence, or “vim and vigor,?

Mild depression and fatigue can be signs of low testosterone levels.
You may also feel some loss of libido, though probably not a complete lack of interest in sex.

It might not occur to you that these are signs of menopause and you might say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t seem to have any problems with menopause or hardly any hot flashes, but I’m a bit tired and lethargic, and I keep procrastinating about things I used to love doing.”

Type 2 menopause may include physical symptoms and risks. A testosterone deficiency can cause hot flashes, even when there are adequate levels of estrogen and progesterone.

Testosterone deficiency can increase your risk for disorders of the vulva, such as lichen sclerosis, a condition in which the labia and vulva become thin and fragile. Low testosterone can cause your muscle tone to weaken and is associated with wrinkles and sagging skin. And you are at a somewhat higher risk for osteoporosis, or chest pain due to spasms of the coronary arteries.

Type 3: High Testosterone

Type 3 menopause similar to the first two types, may be relatively easy. With adequate levels of both estrogen and progesterone, things can go fairly smoothly. But too high a level of testosterone can be a problem.

While testosterone boosts your confidence, strength, and libido.
Too much of it can leave you feeling agitated and angry.

This frustration can even lead to a kind of depression but not to be confused with Type 2 depression. Facial hair, oily skin, and acne are some of the other ways excess testosterone makes itself known.

A more serious problem is that high testosterone can increase certain major health risks.

High testosterone levels have been linked to insulin resistance, a condition that interferes with your body’s ability to regulate your blood sugar levels.

Insulin resistance can cause adult-onset diabetes and can increase your risk for heart disease as well as cancer of the breast and uterine lining.

High testosterone levels are known to reduce blood levels of good cholesterol, which is another effect that can increase your risk for heart disease. High testosterone levels have been linked to insulin resistance to the condition that interferes, with your body’s ability to regulate our blood sugar levels.

Type 4: Low Estrogen

Your body doesn’t produce enough of these estrogens. It could be that, because of stress or other factors, your adrenal glands aren’t able to increase their production of making estrogen as well as they should.

One common sign of this menopause type is hot flashes.

Actually, hot flashes can be produced by some hormonal imbalances, so they appear as a symptom in most of the few menopause types. You may be mentally less sharp than usual, with decreased verbal skills.

Many women with low estrogen levels complain that they have trouble remembering names. These problems can be frustrating.

Low estrogen can also give rise to feelings of despair or depression. Physically, a shortage of estrogen can show up as thinner skin; more wrinkles; reduction in breast size; stress incontinence (“wetting your pants” when you sneeze or cough); or excessive, irregular vaginal bleeding. Without enough estrogen to balance your testosterone level, you can develop oily skin and acne. Estrogen is also needed to keep the libido healthy, so you may also suffer from some loss of sexual desire.

Finally, you may have a harder time doing precise work with your hands, such as the dexterity required for embroidery and other fine motor tasks.

You probably also know that excess estrogen has been linked to certain cancers of the breast and uterus.

But too low a level of estrogen can also cause serious health problems. As estrogen helps regulate your bone mass, a drop in your body’s estrogen levels can increase your risk of osteoporosis.

Estrogen is also protective against cardiovascular disease. Premenopausal women rarely suffer heart attacks. Further, too low a level of estrogen may promote the development of insulin resistance, which can contribute to diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Type 5: Low Estrogen, Low Testosterone

Although this type of menopause has many of the physical discomforts of Type 4, its most painful effects may be emotional. Low estrogen and low testosterone each affect a woman’s mood; together, their effects can be devastating.

Many women with Type 5 menopause feel dull, listless, or depressed.

A characteristic sign is a lack of interest in things or even people who are of great importance in your life. Loved ones may be hurt or puzzled, not realizing that these emotional changes are signs of a hormonal imbalance. “It’s as if she doesn’t love me anymore” is a typical complaint of a husband whose wife has this type of menopause.

If you have Type 5 menopause, you may have trouble with your memory, or with learning new things.

The deficiency in both estrogen and testosterone leaves your libido doubly diminished, and a thinning and drying of your vaginal walls can make intercourse painful. As with Type 4, stress incontinence can be a problem.

A deficiency in both estrogen and testosterone can affect your skin and muscle tone, leading to premature sagging and wrinkles. The breast tissue can also shrink and begin to sag due to a loss of collagen.

And you run the same health risks that come with Types 2 and 4: osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance.

Type 6: Low Estrogen, High Testosterone

Women with Type 6 menopause can suffer from an awkward combination of agitation and fatigue. High testosterone levels can make you feel irritable, while low estrogen can make it hard for you to concentrate and remember names.

A woman with this menopause type may have a strong libido, but feel too irritable to enjoy sexual intimacy.

This type of menopause is also associated with sleep disturbance, a troublesome condition that can rob you of needed rest and leave you feeling even more tired and irritable by the day.

Type 6 menopause, like Type 3, involves imbalanced testosterone to estrogen ratio.

In Type 6, however, this imbalance is even more pronounced than in Type 3. In addition to oily skin and acne, it can cause a condition called “androgenic alopecia” (hair loss or even baldness).

If you have Type 6 menopause, you face the greatest risk for insulin resistance, especially if your estrogen level.

Type 7: Low Progesterone

The classic sign of Type 7 is anxiety. In the body, progesterone has a soothing effect on the nervous system. In fact, progesterone and its by-products can affect some of the same nervous system receptors that are affected by anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium and Xanax.

Sometimes, when your progesterone levels fall too low, it can be almost as if you are withdrawing from one of these medications, the primary symptom of which is unusual irritability. A gnawing feeling of anxiety is enough to make anyone lose perspective.

Progesterone deficiency has been associated with poor sleep.

This menopause type has the added burden of inadequate rest at night.

Women with this menopause type can also suffer from pain and inflammation.

This may show up as muscle aches or joint inflammation. Either way, these discomforts only worsen an already irritated nervous system. A progesterone deficiency isn’t good for your long term health, either. When progesterone levels fall too low to balance out your estrogen, your risk for uterine and breast cancer increases.

Low levels of progesterone also increase your risk for osteoporosis, since progesterone plays a role in bone formation. By lowering good cholesterol levels, low progesterone elevates your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Type 8: Low Progesterone, Low Testosterone

The symptoms of Type 8 menopause are similar to Type 7 but involve lower spirits and a greater tendency toward depression. The lack of libido, drive, and motivation that accompany low testosterone levels don’t do anything to cheer up a woman who’s already feeling anxious from a progesterone deficiency.

Unlike the low estrogen menopause types, this type doesn’t involve memory problems or fuzzy thinking.

But clear thinking isn’t much comfort when you’re anxious or achy.

A typical Type 8 complaint is, “I feel like my personality has taken a real downturn. I don’t enjoy sex as much as I used to, I don’t have the energy to do most of the things I’ve always loved doing, and my muscles ache. But I have plenty of energy for worrying. My kids are getting annoyed with me because I keep phoning to see if they’re okay. Nothing much seems to be wrong physically, but I just don’t feel like myself.”

Women with this menopause type can also have trouble getting enough restful sleep.

These menopause typefaces all the health risks associated with Type 7 and Type 2, plus episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hypoinsulinemia (or low blood insulin) if estrogen levels are too high. Low blood insulin and low blood sugar can increase feelings of fatigue and cause poor concentration.

Type 9: Low Progesterone, High Testosterone

When you combine low-progesterone anxiety with high testosterone testiness, the result isn’t fun.

If your menopause is Type 9, you may feel easily alarmed.

Your loved ones may see you as overreacting to everything. With nerves so frayed, women with this menopause type often sleep poorly.

Also, like Type 6, this menopause type can include episodes of sleep apnoea (interruption of breathing for brief periods during sleep), which can cause further sleep disturbances. Naturally, the lack of sleep doesn’t improve anyone’s mood.

Type 9 menopause may involve the highest risk for endometrial (uterus) cancer(since both low progesterone and high testosterone contribute to this risk.)

You can also suffer from abnormal uterine bleeding, which can be irregular, prolonged, and quite profuse. This abnormal bleeding may begin in perimenopause (the years leading up to menopause) but can continue beyond the expected end of menses.

Type 9 also includes the health risks listed under Types 2 and 7. Also, you face an increased risk of hyperinsulinemia.

Type 10: Low Estrogen, Low Progesterone

This menopause type involves a profound lack of two important hormones in a woman’s body: estrogen and progesterone. Women with this menopause type may feel lacking in significant ways.

Physically, a Type 10 menopause can include a wide array of the symptoms described for Types 4 and 7, such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, fatigue, or poor sleep.

Emotionally, you may struggle with depression, feelings of hopelessness and futility, and memory problems.

Of all the types, this one is most likely to include some trouble with stress incontinence (“wetting your pants” when you laugh or sneeze).

Oily skin and acne can also be a sign of a Type 10 imbalance since the levels of estrogen and progesterone are not adequate to control the effects of testosterone.

The health risks associated with Type 10 menopause can be serious. Low levels of estrogen and progesterone have a doubly damaging effect on bones and blood cholesterol, greatly increasing your risk for osteoporosis and heart disease.

Type 11: Low Estrogen, Low Progesterone, Low Testosterone

Menopause is difficult enough when it involves deficiencies in both estrogen and progesterone, but when your testosterone level is low as well, you can feel deeply uncomfortable.

Physically, you may be feeling hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and lack of sexual desire, fatigue, or weakness.

Even if you feel any desire to attempt sexual intercourse, the thinning and drying of the vaginal walls can make it too painful.

Urinary incontinence can become quite a problem; you may find it hard to hold your urine even for a very short time.

Mentally and emotionally, you may struggle with anxiety, depression, dullness, memory problems, and a feeling of apathy.

You may feel easily tired, even while your other symptoms are making you work harder to get things done. You may have trouble sleeping. In general, you can suffer from a number of the symptoms described under Types 2, 4, and 7.

As with Type 10, this menopause type brings especially high health risks. Women with Type 11 menopause are also at risk of becoming insulin resistant and developing hyperinsulinemia. The risk for osteoporosis is especially high with this menopause type since all three of these hormones play a role in protecting bones.

If you have this type of menopause, you have probably depended on support from your family and friends, this really is about as tough as it gets! But remember that some natural and medical treatments can help.

Type 12: Low Estrogen, Low Progesterone, High Testosterone

Like Types 10 and 11, this menopause type can bring a profoundly disturbing sense of being out of balance. With a high testosterone level, you may tend to feel more agitated or frustrated.

The combination of high testosterone with deficiencies in both female sex hormones can also lead to “masculine” effects, such as facial hair, shrinking breasts, and deepening of the voice.

All of the symptoms discussed under Types 3, 4, and 7 can come into play here.

Women with this type of menopause almost always have insulin resistance, which if untreated, can increase the risk for endometrial cancer, breast cancer, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and heart disease.

Type 12 menopause also involves a high risk for heart disease, but the high testosterone levels can reduce the risk for osteoporosis that comes with a dual deficiency in estrogen and progesterone.