What is menopause? Understand its phases

The menopause is defined as the last menstrual period, featuring the final completion of the reproductive phase of women .

Truly, it can only be confirmed after 12 months without bleeding, as menstrual irregularities can occur. That is, menopause is, clinically, the last menstruation.

Several concepts have already been developed for this period of female life. But the definition adopted today was based on an article published in 1816, which described menstrual absence as “La ménopause”.

The term comes from the Latin menopausis , which means mēn = month or moons, and paûsis = end, that is, something like the end of monthly periods.

Although the term refers essentially to the last menstrual period, a number of changes and changes are usually noticed beforehand. In fact, a few years earlier, featuring a pre-menopause.

The premenopausal can give signals when, around age 40, fertility starts to reduce and symptoms attributed to menopause can be present, usually in a slightly milder.

Hot flashes, menstrual irregularity, decreased or increased blood flow, as well as changes in the skin are some signs that can occur and tend to be more present as time goes by.

Read more:  What is Irregular Menstruation? Know the types, causes, symptoms

But it is when menopause is close to occurring – that is, when the last menstrual period comes down – that these symptoms intensify and reach their peak.

The period also has a name: perimenopause (or climacteric) and comprises about 2 years before and 1 year after bleeding.

At this stage, the hormonal amounts in the body are no longer sufficient for menstrual regularity.

Remembering that, every month, the body is prepared to fertilize and generate a life. When this does not happen, the uterus flakes and menstruation comes down.

But without the balanced hormones to prepare the body for pregnancy, the woman may have a very large irregularity of cycles: a few months without menstruation or even more than 1 bleeding in less than 30 days.

The lack of bleeding occurs because the woman’s eggs are depleted and, along with this, the production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone occurs . However, the absence of menstruation is only one of the signs of the non-reproductive period.

There is an intense hormonal fluctuation in this phase, which is responsible for the unpleasant symptoms and usually experienced by the patients – including symptoms that are not so common, such as headaches, tiredness and agitation.

In addition to some signs of well-being, it is the taboos that permeate and still frighten many women. The idea that there will inevitably be a reduction in sexual desire or the abandonment of affective and sexual life is quite wrong.

Signs in the body can appear and, at first, hinder the maintenance of the sexual routine – among them, the greatest delay in lubrication, vaginal dryness and intimate irritation. But they have treatment and should not sound like an impediment to quality of life.

In addition, symptoms do not last forever in most cases. Until about 12 months after menopause, they are still intense, because it is in this phase (perimenopause) that the hormonal oscillation is at its peak.

After that, most women have a reduction – which may be gradual or more abrupt – of signs and symptoms.

The postmenopausal extends to 65 years, when the woman enters the elderly. Hot flashes, irritation, intense sweating and changes in mood, in general, are replaced by greater risks of osteoporosis , breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

But it is noteworthy that even far from menopause, some women in old age can still live with some symptoms.


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