Menopause Symptoms - The Most Common Ones
The most common menopause symptoms experienced by the majority of women are, in no particular order.
Hot Flashes We may all have seen middle aged women in public places suddenly start to take of jackets and loosen their clothing around the neck line and maybe even start frantically fanning themselves, and they may get very red in the face and neck.
Yes this is usually a hot flash.
A sudden increase in body temperature associated with menopause or more accurately perimenopause or pre menopause.
Hot flashes may not be life threatening but they can be very unpleasant, much more than just feeling a little warm.
Night Sweats Not surprisingly these are the night time equivalent of hot flashes, a very sudden increase in temperature in the upper body which wakes you and really does make you sweat.
Apart from feeling very uncomfortable they can happen a number of times during the night so you lose sleep as well.
Unfortunately this is a time of life when you may already be experiencing lack of sleep.
Irregular Periods As your ovulation begins to decrease it can also become very erratic, you might have periods which are lighter than usual or heavier.
You may even miss some periods altogether.
You should be aware that you can still get pregnant during perimenopause, in fact menopause is defined as the time when you have not had a period at all for one year.
Mood Swings Many women suffer quite serious changes of mood at this time, you may find you're feeling depressed, you might cry for no reason or get upset over something that you know isn't really important.
You can feel like you're not in control of your emotions at all.
These feelings can be because of your changing hormone levels but also partly due to tiredness from lack of sleep.
Bladder Problems You may experience various urinary problems because your levels of the hormone estrogen are falling and as well as controlling your fertility it helps with keeping your bladder in good health.
You may find you need to get up often during the night to go to the bathroom, you may also experience stress incontinence, this is when sneezing or coughing or bending to lift things can cause urine leaks.
You might also be more susceptible to urinary infections.
Lack of Sex Drive.
Because of all this upset in your hormone levels it's quite possible that you will suffer from vaginal dryness this not surprisingly can make intercourse difficult or unpleasant, you may also find that you're just not as easily aroused as you used to be and my not be as sensitive to touch.
Hot Flashes We may all have seen middle aged women in public places suddenly start to take of jackets and loosen their clothing around the neck line and maybe even start frantically fanning themselves, and they may get very red in the face and neck.
Yes this is usually a hot flash.
A sudden increase in body temperature associated with menopause or more accurately perimenopause or pre menopause.
Hot flashes may not be life threatening but they can be very unpleasant, much more than just feeling a little warm.
Night Sweats Not surprisingly these are the night time equivalent of hot flashes, a very sudden increase in temperature in the upper body which wakes you and really does make you sweat.
Apart from feeling very uncomfortable they can happen a number of times during the night so you lose sleep as well.
Unfortunately this is a time of life when you may already be experiencing lack of sleep.
Irregular Periods As your ovulation begins to decrease it can also become very erratic, you might have periods which are lighter than usual or heavier.
You may even miss some periods altogether.
You should be aware that you can still get pregnant during perimenopause, in fact menopause is defined as the time when you have not had a period at all for one year.
Mood Swings Many women suffer quite serious changes of mood at this time, you may find you're feeling depressed, you might cry for no reason or get upset over something that you know isn't really important.
You can feel like you're not in control of your emotions at all.
These feelings can be because of your changing hormone levels but also partly due to tiredness from lack of sleep.
Bladder Problems You may experience various urinary problems because your levels of the hormone estrogen are falling and as well as controlling your fertility it helps with keeping your bladder in good health.
You may find you need to get up often during the night to go to the bathroom, you may also experience stress incontinence, this is when sneezing or coughing or bending to lift things can cause urine leaks.
You might also be more susceptible to urinary infections.
Lack of Sex Drive.
Because of all this upset in your hormone levels it's quite possible that you will suffer from vaginal dryness this not surprisingly can make intercourse difficult or unpleasant, you may also find that you're just not as easily aroused as you used to be and my not be as sensitive to touch.
Source...