|
|
 |
|
|
Confirming The Signs And Symptoms Of Menopause
You are now scheduled for a doctor's appointment. You plan to seek medical advice to verify if you are one of countless women in their menopausal years. However, to make the process of screening easy, it is best to know first some signs and symptoms of menopause which you may be experiencing.
Trusting your senses
The most important symptom of menopause is if you haven't had a menstrual period for 12 months. Another common symptom of menopause is hot flashes, which is characterized by waves of heat suddenly hitting your body. These are sometimes accompanied by palpitations and may bring about disturbances in your sleep at night. Other more vasomotor symptoms are nausea, migraine and lightheadedness.
You may begin to notice that you easily get irritated, depressed, and anxious. In addition to this, you may realize that you often lose your concentration or forget things easily. And as if these aren't enough, people around you may tell you that your mood shifts often and that you are too sensitive. While you may take this as a complete change in your attitude, you may find relief in knowing that these are actually some psychogenic symptoms of menopause.
When it comes to urogenital changes in your body, you may notice that your vaginal area is dry, thus making sexual intercourse painful recently. Moreover, there is the decrease in your libido. While excreting urine, you may also feel a stinging sensation. In addition to this, there is the incontinence of your urine. The last one means that there is a leaking of urine whenever you cough, laugh or sneeze.
As for skin symptoms you may experience dryness and a crawling sensation over your skin. You may also find that some hair grows on your facial area. More on, your breasts may undergo shrinkage plus you may experience some soreness or even pain in one or both of them. Lastly, you may experience some aches and pains in your muscles and joints.
The blurry side of menopausal symptoms
While checking for the mentioned symptoms seems like an easy task, what makes it hard to screen for menopause correctly is when symptoms are few that you have doubts about whether they actually signal menopause. The same is true if your age does not fall within the bracket of late 40's to early 50's, the common time when menopause pays a woman a visit. It will also be hard for you to determine by yourself the coming of menopause if you had undergone a hysterectomy.
These are why it is best to seek assistance from your health provider. Furthermore, some symptoms of menopause are actually symptoms of some diseases. You don't want to mistake a serious disease or infection for a normal stage in your life such as menopause.
Going beyond your senses
To verify accurately if symptoms truly translate to menopause, your health provider is likely to ask you about your medical history. After this, one or more exams are going to be performed on you.
The most common tests performed by health providers are the blood test and urine test. These tests are tools in determining the levels of such hormones as estrogen and progesterone in your body. If you are positive for menopause, the levels of these hormones must be low. In contrast, levels of your follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone usually rise during menopause. To measure such hormonal levels, the same types of tests are employed.
Pap smear may also be used to detect certain changes in your vaginal lining and in your estrogen levels. Older women, especially those older than 65, are usually advised to undergo a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry screening. This is for the purpose of determining their bone density, to make sure that they are protected from the increased risk of osteoporosis. The same screening test may be done on you if you have experienced bone fractures in the past.
While you may have the mindset that certain changes and sensations in your body are just normal symptoms of menopause, you can never go wrong about paying your health provider a visit just to set things straight. This way, you not only get to confirm your hunches, you also get to talk to someone who can logically explain this challenging stage in your womanhood.
|
|
|
