Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

One of the most popular treatments of menopause symptoms is estrogen therapy. One of its side effects occurring in big number of cases is weight gain. As the reason of weight increase is estrogen that is required for relieving menopausal symptoms, it is impossible to stop taking it and reduce the weight fast. In this case the regulation of body weight requires much knowledge and time.

If the problem of excessive weight becomes urgent, the best way of its solution is consulting a doctor for prescription of non-estrogen therapy for menopause treatment. In such a way you will be able to fight hormone-related weight gain and come to norm with diet and lifestyle correction. According to modern variety of medications it is fully possible to select the treatment that suits your body with minimum side effects.

Scientists have different opinions
The controversial results of various studies do not lead to one certain conclusion of estrogen influence on body weight. Some of them say that there is definite connection between hormone concentration and the weight increase, while other connect weight gain to age changes. In the age around 40 human body gain weight more intensively. To prevent obesity or unwanted kilos it is better to reduce food intake and use physical exercises.

It is fully possible to control your body weight using the combination of diet + physical training + non-estrogen treatment. You can even improve your body shape during menopause paying more attention on your appearance. The reaction on hormones is very individual, but it is one common effect occurring during the course of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) – most of women gain extra weight.

The effect of HRT
Hormone replacement therapy results in extra weight for most of women, but each case is very individual. Some women can manage with weight loss easily, using little physical exercises and limitations in diet, while other need strict long-term diet and everyday exhausting training. For better results it is necessary to study your own type of body, habits in lifestyle and diet to see what is preferable to change. Using correct changes it is possible to gain great results in fight again excess weight.

When using hormone replacement therapy the concentration of estrogen in the body is constantly increased that lead to intensification of weight gain. If it is impossible to refuse from HRT, the only solution is to reduce its dosing.

In addition to HRT limitation it is highly recommended to follow the balanced diet and select the type of physical exercises that will help to gain the best body shape. By the way, such changes of the lifestyle will help not only to control body shape but also to relieve other hormone-related symptoms of menopause and its therapy.

Don’t think that you are lonely with your body weight problem: millions of women worldwide experience the same impact to their shape from hormone replacement therapy. Obesity will never become your problem if you will do exercises, follow diet and pay more attention on this problem.

If you are afraid that your body weight became out of control, it is better to consult a physician to define whether it is the side effect of HRT and it is normal or it was caused by other disorders. Anyway there is a therapy that will help you to come to norm.

Loss of sexual desire is one of the most harmful symptoms of menopause, as it touches not only the physiological sphere, but has a great impact on relationship. Loss of libido is a common menopause ‘side effect’ that covers about 20 – 40 % or all women at the period of menopause. It is important to understand that such changes usually have complex reasons, like hormonal imbalance, psychological disorders and age-related changes.

If you want to manage with loss of libido, as well as other menopause symptoms, you should study the causes and potential remedies of this disorder. By understanding its origin you will be able to find appropriate solution to remove the source of the problem and return to a stable healthy lifestyle.

Loss of Libido in Details
Loss of libido is a complex disorder that relies on various psychological, physical and hormonal reasons. It has highly individual character, different for each woman.

Traditionally the term ‘libido’ is associated with sexual desire, describing the level of person’s sexual activity. In medical sense loss of libido is a disorder displaying in reduce of interest to sexual activity, lack of desire to have sex.

Women experiencing libido loss admit that they become less sensitive to sexual caress, they are not aroused or it takes too long to get aroused during sexual contact. Also they have no energy for sex, they lose the feeling of their own sexuality. When having sex, women with loss of libido experience vaginal dryness and painful feelings during intercourse.

Some women during menopause become unable to achieve orgasm or even arouse enough for sex. These symptoms are also associated with loss of libido, although such women didn’t lose the physiological ability to have sex. These symptoms mostly caused by hormonal imbalance and psychological problems.

Reasons of Loss of Libido
Loss of libido is one of menopause symptoms that occur mostly because of hormonal changes in female organism. Besides endocrine disorders, libido is very sensitive to various psychological problems, like stresses and conflicts, especially if they are caused by sexual partner.

Hormonal Aspects of Loss of Libido
As was said before, hormones are the root source of libido changes in female body. The imbalance of three main hormones levels can reduce the desire to have sex and ability to get sexual satisfaction.

Estrogen
Estrogen is a female hormone responsible for female sexual sensitivity and influencing on the process of vaginal lubrication output. It influences greatly on the normal state of vaginal tissue.

During menopause, female body produces less natural estrogen. As a result, it causes various unwanted symptoms like night sweats, vaginal dryness, irregular menstruation, and of course it has much impact on libido.

Progesterone
Progesterone hormone is acting in female organism in pair with estrogen. Any imbalance between these two hormones leads to various health problems, like irregular menstruation, lack of energy, constant tiredness. All these effects may cause loss of libido.

Androgens/ Testosterone
Androgens are naturally produced in less concentration within the age-related changes. The balance between estrogen and estrogen hormones (like testosterone) is very important to female organism, as only the normal levels of all hormones provide stable operation of reproductive, immune and circulatory systems. Less testosterone in female body can also mean the decreased sexual desires and discomfort during the sex.

Besides hormonal reasons, there are some other causes of loss of libido that also deserve attention if you want to get rid of this problem. There is a list of potential non-hormonal reasons of loss of libido.

What Else May Cause Loss of Libido?

For better convenience alternative causes are divided into three groups: physical, emotional and relational.

Physical causes include the following:
-Various pains during the sex

-Sexual dysfunction

-Using medicines with side-effect of decreased libido

-Surgery (hysterectomy)

-Vaginal dryness

-Diabetes and other chronic diseases

-Heart disorders

-Anemia

Emotional reasons usually include this:

-Stresses, depression

-Tiredness

-Changes self-appraisal due to weight problems and other visual changes

-Age concerns

-Conflicts

-Feel of anxiety and other psychological disorders

Relational reasons touch the following spheres:
-Conflicts with sexual partner

-The changes in intimate relationship

-Partings

-Changes in social status

-Other life changes

-Lack of communication with partner

-Changing the sexual partner or divorcing

-As a rule a combination of these causes may lead to loss of libido and problems in sexual sphere.

Therapy for Fighting The Loss of Libido
There is variety of available approaches for loss of libido treatment. Usually the choice of remedies is made according to the cause of the problem. If it is a psychological problem, you should take care of your emotions and try to normalize your state by relaxation practice, psychologist consultations, changing the lifestyle.

Correct your diet to exclude possible food impact on your libido, orient your ration to soy products, protein-comprising foods, magnesium sources like leafy greens, buckwheat etc. Also it will be useful to include liver, oysters, red meat and other products that contain zync.
Physical activity is also helpful for both physical and emotional causes of loss of libido. It is recommended to use aerobics, yoga practices, Kegel exercises to maintain your vaginal tone. Stretching is also helpful for improving body shape and tone.

Most of menopausal problems of loss of libido is directly connected with hormone changes that should be removed by using natural herbs that will help to adjust endocrine system to a normal state. The hormone problems can be solved by other therapies like chemical drugs or surgery, if they become too severe and don’t react on homeopathic treatment.

Menopause is called “premature” if it happens at or before the age of 40. For some women, it happens naturally. This could be due to family history of prema-ture menopause. For other women, it is brought on by medical means, such as:

• Medical treatments, such as surgery to remove the ovaries

• Cancer treatments, such as chemo-therapy or radiation to the pelvic area that damage the ovaries — although menopause does not always occur

For women who want to have children, premature menopause can be a source of great distress.

Women who still want to become pregnant can talk with their doctors about other ways of having children, such as donor egg programs or adoption. Having premature menopause puts a woman at more risk for osteoporosis later in her life.

If you have premature menopause, talk to your doctor about whether MHT might be an option for you. We don’t know for sure how MHT might affect younger women. But some researchers think that for these younger women, the risks of MHT use are likely to be smaller and the benefits greater than those in older women who begin MHT at or beyond the typical age of menopause.

Breast pain and tenderness is a usual symptom that accompanies menopause period. It is caused by instable balance of hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone. Breast pain can be experienced by women after menopause, but it is more common for women of pre- and perimenopausal periods.

Breast pain is very popular symptom among women of almost all ages. Statistic shows that about 70% of women experience pain in breast during the life time. 10% of women feel severe pains in breast that bring much discomfort in everyday life, relationships and professional activities.

The only way to prevent yourself from painful symptoms during menopause is to study the problem and understand its nature. This article is aimed to help women that struggle from breast pain.

Breast Pain in Details
Breast pain has many scientific names, like mammalgia, mazodynia or mastalgia. All these terms mean the same – increased breast tenderness, pains in breasts of different strength and discomfort due to abnormal feelings in mammary glands.

Breast pains can be cyclical (regular) or acyclic. The first type of pains is usually caused by hormonal changes, it is typical for women during menopause or before it. Acyclic breast pain has nothing with hormonal misbalance, and it is more common for postmenopausal period. Besides two aforementioned breast pain types there is a third kind of breast discomfort – extramammary pain that occurs outside the breast.

The breast pain display is different among women, it depends on individual characteristics of each woman. As a rule, breast pain symptoms include increased tenderness, painful feelings in the breasts area (one or both), swelling, and the feel of burning. Sometimes it is accompanied with breasts hardening.

What is the reason of Breast Pain?
The most widespread reason of breast pains is age-related hormonal changes during menopause. Such stages as pregnancy, menstruation and menopause cause the changes of estrogen and progesterone hormones level that influence on female organism causing various disorders. The result of such changes is breast pain.

Hormones are not the only reason for breast discomfort. Other less common reasons also can take place.

These are:

-Breast tumors and cyst

-Past breast surgeries

-Various traumas

-Emotional instability and stresses

-Breast size

-Birth control pills intake

-Mastitis

-Various medicines like antidepressants, hormone replacement therapy and heart medicines.

-Alcohol and drugs

Potential Diagnosis for Breast Pain
Breast pain is a symptom that should be discussed with a doctor, because it can be caused not only by menopause, which is the most common reason. Also it may be a symptom of other disorders, in rare cases it can indicate a cancer. To eliminate these potential diagnoses, consult a doctor. He also will help to find helpful treatment to relief pains and breast tenderness.

Sometimes it is impossible to set an exact diagnosis without additional tests available only at clinic. The detailed diagnostics gives the best changes for correct diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes a doctor can prescribe medications after a common physical examination and a few questions. Anyway, don’t use self-treatment, it is better to consult a professional.

Breast Pain Therapy
Currently a wide range of natural therapies are available for treating breast pains during menopausal period. Natural medicines are good for having no side effects, while some measures like diets or physical exercises, relaxation practices can significantly improve menopausal course.

The measures described above can significantly relief pains but they don’t remove the cause of brain pains, like hormonal imbalance. Natural therapies may help in this, by normalizing the level of hormones in female organism. They are safe and reliable methods of treatment that combined with self-care measures can bring successful results in fighting menopausal breast pains.

Most of medics recommend first try all these measures and only if they don’t bring expected pain relief, a patient can use chemical medications for stronger effect. Don’t use chemicals before trying natural therapy, as it is rather risky way of treatment that should be used only when there is no alternative.

For more effective results, you should change your lifestyle properly, start doing exercises, aerobics, and make some diet changes. All this is very helpful in combination with herbals and other therapies. Ask your doctor what is the most useful in your case.

Q: How does migraine display?
A: Migraine is a prolonged severe headache that lasts 4 – 72 hours. The headaches can be recurrent, common or disabling. There are several common symptoms typical for migraine disorder. They include pains in one or both throbbing sides of the head, the character of these pains can vary from moderate to severe, they can be stable or periodical, repeating during long period of time. As a rule the pain worsens during usual physical activities like walking or going upstairs. Light and sounds are also irritants that can cause symptoms worsening.

Sometimes migraines are accompanied with visual effect known as aura. As for menstrual migraine it is usually occurs without aura that includes such fortification figures as light spots, sparkling, lines appearing before the eyes. Sometimes aura worsens to the loss of sight. Most patients with migraine prefer to stay in the dark room during the painful attack, it is better for eyes. Migraine is not a fatal disease, but it affects everyday life, disabling a person from doing usual activities.

Q: What is the reason of migraine?
A: Migraines are the result of chemical imbalance inside the brain that influence on blood vessels. The migraine pain is not connected with blood pressure drop, it is caused by vessels expanding. Some matters can stimulate migraine pains, they are alcohol, caffeine, nuts, chocolate, onions, nitrates and MSG in food, etc. The emotional triggers are stress, depressions. The increased eye strain also can cause migraine attack, as well as weather changes, bright light or magnetic storms. Women can struggle from migraine due to the hormonal changes in their organisms during periods.

Q: Menstrual Migraine: what is it?
A: There are two types of Menstrual Migraines also known as hormonal migraines – Pure Menstrual Migraine (PMM) and Menstrually Related Migraine (MRM). PMM is a migraine attack happened during menstruation period and a short time before and after it. MRM is another type of migraines that occur during the periods and other phases of women’s cycle like ovulation. They occur several times per cycle.

Q: What is the reason of Menstrual Migraine?
A: The causes of Menstrual Migraines are still not studied properly. There is an obvious connection between hormone changes due to menstrual cycle and migraine attacks. The studies admitted that migraine is certainly caused by hormonal level change that precedes periods. Women suffering from Menstrual Migraine pains react on hormonal trigger in such a way. It is an individual characteristic of their organism.

Q: How often does Menstrual Migraine occur?
A: There are about 21 million of US women experiencing migraines. 60% of them struggle from MRM or PMM.

Q: How does Menstrual Migraines differ from usual migraine?
A: As a rule Menstrual Migraine is characterized by more severe headaches that take longer. Menstrual Migraine attacks can occur more often than usual migraines among men.

Speaking in medical terms, which is used in most reference books, ovulation it’s a process when ready to fertilize egg leave the follicle an get into the abdominal cavity with subsequent promotion of fallopian tubes to the uterus itself. The first ovulation occurs slightly later than the beginning of puberty, the last – after the extinction of menstrual function during climax. During pregnancy, ovulation does not occur, but after the birth, it is restored.

Ovulation in women of childbearing age occurs periodically (every 21-35 days).
There are several subjective signs that a woman at this particular time is ovulate. These include short-term and slow abdominal pain, increased mucus, allocated by the cervix, lowering the temperature in the mouth or vagina. In addition, some women during ovulation have a very sharp sexual attraction to the partner, which was caused by the action of hormonal substances. However, all these signs can not be completely accurate.

Objectively, there are two methods for determining of ovulatory period. First, it’s ultrasonic monitoring of the follicle and its rupture (ovulation itself) development. Secondly, the definition of the dynamic nature of hormonal substances in the urine. The latter method can be used at home with the help of special tests recommended by your doctor.

Techniques used to establish ovulation, mostly for those women who want to become pregnant because the possibility of pregnancy exists only a few days – before, during and after the fact of ovulation.

However, not all that simple, if you plan to avoid pregnancy by calculating the “dangerous days”. Nature is much smarter than all mathematics. As a result of severe mental strain or stress there can occur not only the shift of the ovulation day, but even one more ovulation, during one menstrual cycle matures not one but two eggs.

For every women, standing ovulatory rhythm is changing within 3 months after the abortion, within one year after childbirth, and after 40 years, when the body is preparing for pre-menopausal.

The ovulation stops during the pregnancy and after the extinction of the menstrual function. Establishing the period of ovulation is important in selecting the most effective time for fertilization, artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization.

In recent years, abnormal menstrual cycle is considered to be one of the most common diseases in gynecology. And telling the truth, it’s not just scientists’ conclusions, it’s my own notice on my friends and my own body in particular. So, I decided to make my own research on this theme and post here, in order woman can read and know what happens with their organism while menses.

The cause of menstrual irregularities may serve avitaminosis, hormonal disorders, psychological trauma, communicable diseases, and gynecological intervention. Disorders of the menstrual cycle are also caused by liver disease and obesity. Important role in the development of menstrual disorders has a genetic predisposition.

So, if you notice any symptoms, evidence of violations of the menstrual cycle, you should turn to the gynecologist. Symptoms in this case are scarce or too abundant in front of menstruation, irregular menses after long delays, with severe menstrual pain.
All deviations from the normal menstrual cycle in women are considered in gynecology menstrual irregularities or abnormal menstrual cycle. There are usually two large groups of disorders: hypomenstrual or hypermenstrual syndrome.

Besides, one of the serious forms of the menstrual cycle violations in women is amenorrhea. Amenorrhea – the absence of menstruation is more than six months. There are also other violations of the menstrual cycle in the form of oligomenorrhea (rare or scanty menses, the interval between which is more than 35 days), dysmenorrhea (irregular menses), menorrhagia (irregular menses), menorrhagia (excessively heavy menstrual bleeding), polymenorrhea (frequent menses, with a short interval of less than 25 days).

Algomenorrhea – is one of the types of abnormal menstrual cycle, which manifests itself as cramping, aching pain at least in the lower abdomen, waist during menstruation and the accompanying deterioration of general well-being. This condition refers to the most frequent types of gynecological diseases, which observed in 35-57% of women aged 13-48 years.

Off course, the causes of abnormal menstrual cycle are rather individual, so, in order to avoid some further health problems, in any case, consult the doctor and if necessary, start treatment, as all this may lead to sad consequences, like infertility.

When a woman is close to 45-46 years old, her life begins to acquire previously unknown nuances. Although menstruation do not give a failure, and doctors even recommend the use of contraceptive drugs for contraception. In the reproductive system of female body gradually develops involution processes, at the result of which reduce the synthesis of sex hormones in the ovaries. Exact at this period a woman enters a time of menopause.

Menopause literally means “the complete cessation of menstruation”, however, gynecologists denote this condition by a fairly long period during which there occur various changes relating to cessation of ovarian function.

Conditionally menopause is divided into three phases:

pre-menopausal – the start time reduction of ovarian function before menopause

perimenopause – extends the period of pre-and postmenopausal, including a year after menopause

postmenopausal – life time after menopause to the old ages.

In other words, while menopause, the woman reproductive period becomes unproductive, i.e., gradually the woman loses ability to conceive and birth a child.

Quite often, with the beginning of premenopausal marked changes in the functional status of many organs and systems. Ovulation occurs less frequently, the development of progesterone slows down, and consequently, the duration of menstrual cycles varies considerably. A similar phenomenon during menopause can last for several months or several years.

In general, the processes occurring in women during menopause, on the one hand, typical, and on the other – are individual in nature. The organism can individually respond to those or other changes in hormonal background – for example, someone will has a tendency to weight gain, and others, however, noticeably lose weight, and such manifestations of menopause set. They deliver a lot of unpleasant moments for women…but, however, we are strong goddesses, and we will be able to live out this moment!

P.s. Here are some early signs of menopause. Have you noticed some of them?

1. Changes in mood
2. Depression
3. Chronic fatigue
4. Headaches
5. Changing the monthly cycle
7. Change the hair on the body
8. Pain, cramping,
9. Fluctuations in blood sugar levels
10. Water retention
11. Night sweats
12. Sleep disorders
13. Increased premenstrual syndrome
14. Loss of interest in sexual activities
15. Reduced vaginal mucosa

If you feel something unusual in your organism, please, consult the gynecologist.

Before, I thought that PMS is rather rare conditions for young woman, but having experienced on my sister, I understand that this is a real problem, painful and unpleasant time. In order to start treatment we have read a lot of information about menstrual cycle, PMS and its symptoms. So, here you are what I’ve find.

Most women experience some discomfort before menstruation. Some of them do not bring these feelings of anxiety, as not pronounced and prolonged. For others – on the contrary, strongly violate the overall health and deliver a lot of trouble. Uncomfortable phenomenon may last from several hours to several days, the nature and manifestations of these discomforts diverse and individualized for each woman.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) – it’s emotional and physical discomfort before menstruation. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) brings suffering to 80% of women of childbearing age (20-40 years). Approximately 30-40% experiencing so much suffering that disrupted their rhythm of life. And if it is left unattended and can not be cured, then over the years before menstruation discomfort will be felt stronger and stronger. And the most dangerous thing is that then premenstrual syndrome may gradually develop into menopause, and monthly pain will become daily.

The main symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) (they all don’t occur at once), which usually occur for 7-14 days before menstruation:

- Weakness, fatigue, absent-mindedness.

- Insomnia or drowsiness.

- The heightened perception of noise.

- Headache , dizziness, fainting.

- Retardation, speech difficulty, tingling, numbness or a feeling of “chills” in the hands.

- Painful breast engorgement.

- Irritability, resentment, moodiness, tearfulness, conflicts, sudden outbursts of anger.

- Edema, a small weight gain, oliguria.

- Swelling or soreness of the joints, cramps in the calf muscles, aching muscle pain, limitation of movement and discomfort in your neck.

-Skin rash accompanied by itching, acne.

- Seizures heart palpitations.

- Nausea, vomiting, flatulence (gas formation increased in intestines), and constipation.

- Fever, nasal bleeding.

- Increase in appetite, change in taste (taste for salty, sweet), poor tolerance of alcohol.

- Increased susceptibility to infections and disorders of the urinary tract, aggravation of hemorrhoids, the appearance of asthma attacks, allergies.

What should do a woman who wants to constantly keep in touch with her body, and spirit? On my own example, I may suggest: keeping clear records of your monthly cycle – it’s the best way to keep abreast of changes occurring within you. In addition, it is also a great way to know in advance the date of your period (even if your monthly cycles are irregular), and be well informed on the most appropriate time for impregnation.

Cervical mucus.

The presence of this mucus is very easy to detect, because it stands out in your daily activity. Cervical mucus occurs in the cervix for several days, when the egg matures and is ready for ovulation. Isolation of cervical mucus – a sure sign of your fertility, but above all, it is not only a kind of “indicator”, but also serves directly for impregnation. Thus, I strongly recommend that you closely monitor your secretions, as well as maintain appropriate records regarding discharge of cervical mucus.

Basal Body Temperature.

If you are not sure that you are ovulating, you can measure your temperature. Under the influence of progesterone produced when ovulation, the normal temperature of a relaxed body is increased by 0,2% Celsius. To test this feature, you must measure your temperature at the same time, early in the morning. (This is not as difficult as it seems. The procedure takes less than 2 minutes, but then again you can go to sleep, if you want). Measure your temperature every day, after waking up to 7:30. Rhythms of the body (circadian rhythms) are observed 24 hours a day. Your temperature is the lowest in the early morning and highest – during the day. After 7:30 rhythms are accelerated. If you go to bed until midnight and wake up before 7:30, you get the most accurate temperature readings. Many women found that digital thermometers require a very short time to measure the temperature, which facilitates the procedure for its measurement before the rise. Measure the temperature with the mouth. Armpit and ear temperature is not sufficiently accurate for purposes such as planning pregnancy.

And finally, if after 18 days from the last slimy discharge your menstrual period has not yet started, it probably means that you are pregnant.