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What Is Menopause

Does the thought of approaching menopause make you break out in a cold sweat? You may find it's a change for the better.

Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop producing the hormone estrogen. Menstruation ceases. Menopause may occur naturally or when the ovaries are removed surgically.

From a health perspective, menopause means:

• The end of the ability to become pregnant, with its potential health risks.
• The end of the fear of becoming pregnant.
• The end of menstruation, including periods, heavy flow, cramps and/or PMS.

Women today enjoy several advantages over their mothers and grandmothers:

• Doctors understand menopause better than in the past. Effective treatments are available for the most common symptoms. Research now underway should expand and refine these treatments.
• Menopause no longer carries the social stigma it once did. Women today are valued for contributions other than reproductive roles. Further, menopause itself is no longer a taboo topic.
• Women today often are in better shape -- and frequently have more health awareness -- than those of previous generations.
• Many women going through menopause today have participated more in their health care than in the past.

The experience of menopause is different for each woman. Although some women experience menopausal symptoms for a year or less, the symptoms of menopause can begin before your last period and continue for months or years after your last period. It's a highly individual event -- many women make the transition easily, but others find that it significantly disrupts their lives.

The decline in the female hormone estrogen may cause short-term symptoms such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, urinary incontinence, and sleep disturbances.

Over the long term, the loss of estrogen increases the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death among women. A woman's risk of heart disease begins to approach that of a man's by age 65.

Menopause may also cause the thinning and weakening of the bones known as osteoporosis. One out of two women over age 50 will break a bone in her lifetime due to osteoporosis.

If you are having bothersome symptoms that aren't going away on their own, talk to your doctor.