Early menopause symptoms - every woman at some
point in her thirties or forties will wonder if what she is experiencing
is really the first symptoms of menopause. Menopause is defined as the
cessation of menses or the end of menstrual cycles for a period of 12
months or more. Menopause is a natural process for a woman, not an
illness. It is quite common for a womans hormone balance to begin
shifting in her early thirties to forties, resulting in early menopause
symptoms. Why? There are several reasons why.
Women often demand much of their bodies. Stress exists in many forms
for an active, involved woman today. Women have demanding and stressful
careers. Women have family responsibilities. The relationship with the
spouse or partner may not be the best. Aging parents can add to the
burden. These and other responsibilities add up in the toll they take on
the body, health and well-being of a woman.
And at the same time, the womans body may not be getting the support
it needs to function as it was designed. Obesity, lack of exercise,
poor nutrition, excess caffeine and alcohol add to the problem instead
of helping the body cope with what is demanded of it. This stressful
lifestyle, coinciding with inadequate support given to the body,
contributes to experiencing many of the early menopause symptoms.
Common first symptoms of menopause for women are:
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Light or heavy menstrual flow
• Lumpy or tender breasts
• Fibroid tumors
• Endometriosis
• Mood swings
• Water retention and bloating
• Sleep problems
• "Foggy, fuzzy" thinking and memory lapses
• Anxiety and depression
• Inability to handle stress
• PMS
• Hot flashes and night sweats
• Vaginal dryness
• Weight gain
Then there are the hormones, the menstrual cycle and hormone
production in the body. In the normal menstrual cycle and a healthy
woman, estrogen is the dominant hormone that is produced for the first
10-12 days following the previous menstrual flow. Ovulation then signals
the female body to produce progesterone, which happens for the next 12
days or so. If there is no pregnancy, progesterone and estrogen levels
will drop at around day 28, allowing menstruation to begin.
However, if there is no ovulation, progesterone will not be produced
by the body that month. This event, called an annovulatory cycle, is a
typical occurance today for women in their thirties and forties - no
ovulation, no progesterone. This leaves the woman with an excess of
estrogen and a deficiency of the hormone progesterone.
Many women in their thirties and forties are actually having fewer
ovulations which creates hormone imbalance, resulting in many of the
early menopause symptoms. And once ovulation ceases at menopause,
progesterone levels fall to virtually zero. At the same time, estrogen
is still being produced, again leading to hormone imbalance and the
resulting first symptoms of menopause. If a hysterectomy has happened,
surgical menopause means the woman no longer produces progesterone.
Besides the problems created by missed ovulations or hysterectomy,
excess estrogen is regularly obtained from other sources. Birth control
pills, household chemicals and pesticides, certain foods that have been
sprayed or given chemicals and many construction materials used in homes
are all sources of estrogen which leads to excess in the body.
Doctors call this hormone imbalance condition of excess estrogen in
the body "estrogen dominance". What are the symptoms of estrogen
dominance? The symptoms include low sex drive, bloating and weight gain,
headaches before the menstrual period, mood swings, irregular periods
and excessive menstrual bleeding. If the amount of unbalanced estrogen
in the female adult increases beyond what is desirable and healthy, you
will definitely experience early menopause symptoms. On the other hand,
when your hormones are balanced, you feel more alert, energetic and
ready to take on the challenges of life.
How can a woman tell if the first symptoms of menopause being
experienced are because of hormone imbalance? An easy and effective way
is to take the online test provided by a leading womens health clinic
for early menopause symptoms. It takes just a few minutes and the test
is free. Find out more about your health, premenopause and menopause
symptoms, what the symptoms are telling you and what to do about it
based on your answers to important questions. Read more about hormone
imbalance, estrogen dominance symptoms, side effects of a hysterectomy
and physician-recommended natural treatments for eliminating the early
menopause symptoms.
