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Some Symptoms of Menopause

This is a list of some of the symptoms of menopause.

I have reproduced below the list of symptoms identifeid by Dr Christaine Northrup in her best selling book on the Menopause, "The Wisdom of the Menopause"

Many women sail through “the change” without any symptoms at all. Others experience a wide range of symptoms, all of which have physical, emotional, and psychological aspects.

During the years before menopause levels of progesterone typically decline, while estrogen levels remain stable or even increase. This is the most significant issue for the majority of women; many of the early symptoms that women feel are due to progesterone levels that are too low, in relation to their levels of estrogen.

This state of a low progesterone-to-estrogen ratio is also referred to as “estrogen dominance.”

Some of the symptoms that women suffer when progesterone declines include:

Breast swelling and tenderness

Mood swings

“Fuzzy thinking”

Irritability

Trouble sleeping

Water retention

PMS

Weight gain

Testosterone levels may also start to decline well before the last menstrual cycle. While the symptoms of low testosterone are often more subtle that those of low progesterone, for some women they can be significant.

Symptoms of low testosterone include:

Loss of sex drive

Decreased sexual response

Decreased sensitivity in your erogenous zones

Decreased sense of well-being, energy, and ambition

Depression Loss of or thinning pubic hair

Estrogen is often the last hormone to decline, but is the hormone that is traditionally associated with menopausal symptoms. As you approach menopause your ovaries slow their production of estrogen. While your ovaries continue to make some estrogen for the rest of your life and your body is still producing it from other sources, the overall effect is a dramatic drop in the level of estrogen circulating in your body—about 30–60 percent for most women.

Symptoms of estrogen decline include:

Hot flashes

Night sweats

Vaginal dryness

Decreased energy and ambition

Depression or mood swings

Dizziness

Headaches

Mental confusion

Urinary incontinence

Recurrent urinary tract infections

Increased susceptibility to vaginal infections

See more at: http://www.drnorthrup.com/perimenopause-transition

Please note this list is not exhaustive and if you are in any doubt you should seek medical attention from your General Practitioner.

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