Menapause – more accurately spelled menopause, but since 1000′s of women search for “menapause” we decided to make it easy for them – is a change of life, that time in a woman’s life in which the menstrual cycle ends, according to WordNetWeb.Princeton.edu/perl/webwn. For some women, menapause can be a very difficult time, while others just sail through it serenely, and you cannot predict which, if either, is likely to be your scenario.
Now when a woman first starts menstruating, it is on one day – a date that you are often asked about later in life! – but menapause, or menopause doesn’t just start. There are changes that lead up to this and these can occur over several years. In fact we often talk about menapause when it should strictly speaking be perimenopause, which is the time leading up to menopause when a few changes are starting to occur.
menopause or menapause - all women go through it
Menopause can start anywhere between the ages of 30 and sixty, with the average being in the early fifties, and it generally lasts anywhere from 2 to ten years. However, every woman is different, and not even the timing of your mother’s menapause can accurately predict your own, or how long it is likely to last. The doctor can have you take a blood test to see whether you are in the menopause cycle, or whether thyroid health issues are causing you symptoms similar to menopause, but we say that menopause has begun when a woman has not had a period for twelve months.
It should be noted that menapause, or menopause is a natural event in a woman’s life, and is not a disease, or an illness. That is not to say that it cannot be a difficult time for some women. Again, the signs of menapause vary for each woman, with irregular periods, either closer together, or further apart, and with heavier flow, or lighter flow. Some women have a lot of signs, some very few, and none of this is predictable!
Other signs can include weight gain, the infamous hot flashes which can come in the form of night sweats, causing difficulties sleeping. There can be vaginal dryness, fatigue, joint pain, mood swings – as if we haven’t had enough of those!- itchy skin, urinary tract infections, dry eyes, bowel upsets, and there could be short term memory problems too. The good news is that not every woman has all of these signs of menapause, or has them at the same strength. They can be mild or hardly there for some, but severe for others.
Menapause is different for the different cultures too, for different lifestyles and genetics as well, and also depends on health and stress levels as well.
A report in ScienceDaily.com quoted a report saying that Japanese women reported fewer problems with menopause than other cultures, which is interesting, but doesn’t really help if you are American! However, it does confirm that cultures do in fact play a part in women’s health.
If your ovaries have been removed, or you have undergone chemotherapy or radiation, or have had an ovary malfunction, then you could experience “induced” menopause, which could result in more severe symptoms of menapause, caused by the non-production of the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, but this can be treated with hormone replacement therapy, HRT. Of course you need to talk to your doctor about this, as there are some issues that you need to be aware of.
Be aware that although some women sail through menapause with no problems, for others, (and their families!) it is a very challenging time. The best way to prepare for this is to eat a good balanced diet, and to exercise regularly. Also try to reduce stress, and perhaps join a support group for women going through menapause. Remember that every case is different, but menopause, or menapause is something women all go through in the cycle of life.
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