Am I going into menopause? These are the symptoms

You’re in your mid-40s and have a headache. Can these be menopause and their symptoms? Recognising the typical symptoms of menopause often turns out to be difficult.

First of all, every woman is individual. In every woman, the menopause manifests itself differently – just like menstruation or pregnancy. A clarifying conversation with your doctor is therefore always advisable here.

The menopause doesn’t have to be bad at all:many women experience the menopause without symptoms. They are still powerful, sporty and can concentrate fully. One third of women suffer from severe symptoms, one third experience only mild symptoms and the remaining third do not suffer from them at all. For most women, the change takes a few years. 10 of the women still experience clear symptoms after more than ten years.

There are a whole range of symptoms that can occur – in completely different intensity and form.

The menopause and the most common symptoms

Generally, during menopause, the most common symptoms are:

• Flushing
• Insomnia
• Mood
• Vaginal dryness
• Dry skin

Flushing

During menopause, your hormone levels decrease. sinkt Your body produces less. The hormones also regulate the distribution of heat in the body. This allows you to suddenly feel heat – up to sweating. Heat attacks and hot flashes are not uncommon.

The hot flush starts with a slight pressure in the head. You feel uncomfortable and it feels like the heat is literally rising. It then spreads quickly across the entire face, neck and torso. You turn red and suddenly you start to sweat.

The dreaded sweat breakout is here.

This can be liberating for some women, while in others the heat is staggering – at least that’s how it feels. But sometimes you can be cold after that and you’ll be freezing.

The whole haunting lasts between half a minute and several minutes. Some women hardly notice the hot flush and rarely have it. Others are often plagued by it.

In figures, this is 85 of the womenwho suffer from hot flashes during menopause, or at least perceive and talk about them. Just over half of all women feel it at the perimenopause – at the beginning of menstrual disorders before the actual menopause. On average, this symptom accompanies a woman over 5.2 years. Some never, some forever.

Medicine does not yet know an exact cause. There is only the presumption from a 2015 study that the estrogen fluctuations confuse heat regulation. However, this has not yet been researched.

The hot flashes are often part of the next symptom.

Insomnia

The change therefore means a hormonal change. This also leads to the problem when sleeping through. The hot flashes can make the night even more difficult for you with sweat attacks. Mental and physical consequences are programmed.

Your deep sleep phase is shortenedto four hours due to the lack of estrogen. That’s why many women wake up between three and four in the morning. At this time, sweats often break out. Falling asleep doesn’t really work and even if it does, a not quite relaxing two-hour dream phase follows.

However, it is not always the reason for sleep disturbances themselves. Often it is worries and thoughts that make you sleep.

As your physical performance decreases, the psychological strain increases.

Mood

You may know. Some women experience a real emotional chaosduring menstruation. In menopause, it’s not much different. Nervousness, tension or depression may occur.

Estrogens generally brighten your mood. Your body produces less during menopause. Your mental well-being can already suffer as a result. Women can then feel depressed and powerless.

One moment you are happy and everything is fine and the next moment you are saddened. You’re having fun, you’re annoyed – all at short intervals. Mood swings are noticeable.

Nervousness and irritability to aggressiveness also occur in some women. It is less common for anxiety or even anxiety. Here you should definitely ask your doctor.

Hormones are a factor in some mental health problems and illnesses, but rather it is your life and external factors that strongly influence them. In the menopause there are also often changes in private life or in professional life. This also influences your emotions, but has nothing to do with the menopause itself.

If your mental health problems persist for longer and complicate your daily life, therapeutic support is important. Your first start-up partner can be the familiar family doctor (and of course the male doctors of trust). You can help here.

Vaginal dryness

One hormone that your body produces only less is estrogen. This decrease also reduces the blood weniger flow of the vaginal mucosa and reduces the body’s vaginal fluid. This is why many women complain of itching, burning or vaginal dryness during menopause.

The lack of estrogen, by the way, causes the thickness of all mucous membranes in a woman’s body to decrease: vagina, urethra, bladder as well as mouth and eyes.

The missing mucous membrane – or at least the thinner layer – can make your vagina feel drier and therefore more vulnerable. Especially during sexual intercourse, pain can occur. Can, but does not have to: keyword lubricant.

Your vaginal flora can be out of balance by the change. The pH of your vagina is suddenly different. This in turn happens because of the lack of protective lactic acid bacteria. This in turn means that your vagina is more susceptible to bacterial infections.

This is where hormonal vaginal creams or vaginal tablets help to compensate for the hormone deficiency. It is best to contact the gynaecologist first.

Dry skin

When we talk about dryness, it affects not only the mucous membrane, but your skin as well. This, too, can suffer from menopause.

The skin becomes drier, thinner and less elastic. It can itch or redden. Pigment spots are also not uncommon and even wound healing decreases.

You can get bleeding gums for the same reasons. Your skin will also be impure than before.

These symptoms may also occur during menopause

As you know it from friends, family or numerous reports, these are by no means all symptoms. There may be a number of vegetative, neurological or psychological ailments. They are just not so well known and also partly not so common:

• Hair loss: Suffering with thinner hair. Due to the lack of estrogen and the excess of testosterone, the hair can suddenly become more “male”. The head hair becomes thinner and in some cases the facial hair can become stronger. Here, however, we are talking about much less “excesses” than in men.
• Menstrual pain, severe bleeding: As a rule, the opposite should actually occur, shouldn’t it? Well, unfortunately not with every woman – at least in the short term during the change.
• Irregular bleeding.
• Sweat outbursts / dizziness: The hot flashes are often also associated with a circulatory weakness and you can feel dizzy.
• Breast discomfort: From mild feelings of tension to pain, women can feel the full range.
• Urinary bladder weakness or incontinence: The countless advertisements already convey it. Menopause can also lead to bladder weakness or incontinence. This can be attributed to the lower thickness of the mucous membrane. Similarly, in some women, pelvic floor muscles decrease, which can amplify both this and the next symptom.
• Urinary tract infection. Here it is also the mucous membranes that can make your life more difficult.
• Slackening the skin: Not only does it get drier, it can also become flaccid. That’s not because you’re getting old! The change plays along.
• Rheumatism-like complaints: Joint and muscle pain is not uncommon in women alternating. Muscle mass decreases without sport from 35. Joints and the back suffer the most. Due to the lack of estrogen, the joints and muscles are no longer so well blooded, cartilage becomes thinner and the joint fluid decreases. As a result, the risk of osteoporosis increases. Your bones can become more fragile. You also lack endorphins. This makes you more sensitive to pain.
• Weight gain: Yes, suddenly your weight can be a problem. Less estrogen unfortunately leads to a higher testosterone concentration. Typical male problems, such as more fat retention on the abdomen, also lead to increased cardiovascular disease. It must be stressed, however, that this symptom has less to do with change than with age. Women 45 and over need less energy because, as just described, they have less muscle mass. So if nothing is changed with meals, that’s the weight. Here you should also pay attention to your thyroid function and contact the doctor. During the menopause, this hormone gland likes to make itself felt.
• Heart turf: Tension, pressure and pain. The heart itself can also come into the lawn.
• No desire for sex: One side effect of the change is the sexual displeasure. Due to the vaginal dryness, it hurts and the change in sex hormones also influences the pleasure.
• Cognitive problems: You can no longer remember everything and have slight memory problems. This affects at least 60 of the women in menopause.

The menopause and its symptoms: What in the body is affected by estrogen and progestin?

As you already notice, estrogen and its close relative, the progestin,have a lot of influence on your tissues and organs. But alternating, you lack precisely these hormones.

The following body parts and functions are affected by estrogen:

• Skin: Estrogens promote water retention. This may sound bad, but it leads to smoother skin.
• Blood vessels and cardiovascular system: Itlowers blood pressure.
• Nervous System: It brightens your mood.
• Fat metabolism: The ratio between HDL and LDL cholesterol is balanced.
• Sugar metabolism: It promotes blood sugar levels.
• Lung: Lung function benefits.
• Bones: Helps build bones and inhibits bone degradation. It therefore prevents osteoporosis.
• Intestines: Intestinal movements and function are promoted.

Progestins affect the following functions and parts of the body:

• Skin: Progestin regulates skin circulation and temperature.
• Blood Vessels / Cardiovascular System: It dilates the veins and narrows the arteries.
• Nervous system: It calms you down.
• Lung: You breathe deeper and it promotes breathing rate.
• Intestines: Unlike estrogen, it reduces intestinal movement and can promote constipation.

Symptoms of menopause in men. Is that even there?

Yes, hormonal change is also taking place in older men. There are even similar symptoms:

• Reduction of sexual function.
• Decrease in muscle mass.
• Increase in abdominal fat.
• Hair loss.
• Depressive mood to depression.

Also in men, the amount of sex hormone decreases – in this case, testosterone. Globulin,which binds sex hormones, on the other hand, increases. Other sex hormones also affect this “change”.

Here, too, however, this is enormously individual. Some men have a significant testosterone drop, others don’t affect it at all. This is why many men are reproductively capable and sexually active until old age.

In fact, however, men only talk about menopause, because this time is so called in women. There are several names:

– Male menopause.

– Climatic virile.

– Andropause. But this is rather controversial, because it literally means “death of the man”. Menopause means “death of the period”.

– PEDAM (partial endocrine deficit of the ageing man).

– PADAM (Partial androgen deficiency of the aging man).

However, the “change years” in men are different from the woman. There is no drastic hormonal drop in a short period of time. For men, it is more of a gradual, steady change. Therefore, doctors recommend PADAM rather than designation.

It is also controversialamong experts whether menopause actually occurs in men and hits them in the same way as women. It is often referred to as the invention of the pharmaceutical industry.

No desire for sex, sleep disorders, depression, erection problems and many other symptoms are part of the natural aging process. Hormone change is not the reason for this.

The hormonal changes are real. However, the associated complaints have little to do with menopause.

I have symptoms during menopause. Is it all over now?

Not! With a balanced diet,a healthy lifestyle (and attitude!)and a critical look at your nutrientvalues, all this can be achieved. In an emergency, you can compensate for any deficiencies that occur with dietary supplements.

There are even studies that show that a positive approach to change helps to make it easier and more complaint-free. Think positively!

However, in case of severe discomfort, your doctor will help you to successfully bridge the short time.