Menopause in women - what is it, signs, symptoms, age of onset and treatment of menopause. When does menopause begin - how to recognize menopause? When does menopause begin in women?

Panic attacks, hot flashes, problems in intimate life are phenomena that ladies face when menopause occurs. Its primary symptoms are similar to some diseases of the nervous, genitourinary system. How to navigate, identify the real problem? Age can be a guideline.

What you need to know about menopause

To understand at what age menopause occurs, in women at what age menstruation completely stops, what accompanies the process, what are the symptoms of menopause, one should understand the mechanism of the phenomenon. Menopause is characterized by the extinction of the reproductive function, the restructuring of the body. Slows down estrogen synthesis. Against the background of an insufficient amount of the hormone, the process of growth and rejection of the endometrium is first disrupted, and then completely stopped - this is how menopause occurs.

A woman notices similar changes in her own body during the menstrual cycle. It becomes difficult to predict, to calculate the moment of the offensive. There are changes in the nature, form, volume of secretions. Each time, menstruation lasts differently: sometimes only 4 days, in other cases - 1-2 weeks, or even a month.

Several years pass between the beginning of the process and the complete cessation of menstruation. During this period of time, the representative of the beautiful half of humanity will observe a number of unpleasant symptoms. Most of them are associated with the same estrogen deficiency.

The hormone is necessary not only for the organs of the genitourinary system, but also for the brain, blood vessels, and bones. Without it, calcium is more difficult to absorb, cholesterol accumulates faster, and the body's ability to maintain normal blood pressure decreases.

Important! Distinguish between menopause and menopause. The first is the logical conclusion of the last.

When to expect change? It is impossible to say with certainty at what age menopause occurs in women and when it ends (read about the duration of menopause). In each case, the indicators are individual. For some, the process is activated prematurely, proceeds extremely quickly, and some lucky women retire without having the slightest idea about the problems in the female body, and do not even take maintenance drugs. For some ladies, premenopause lasts only 2-3 years, for others - 8-12 years.

Even the symptoms of menopause are different for everyone. Some tolerate the condition easily, others are haunted by menopausal syndrome. At the same time, some of the fair sex meet the "women's autumn" so calmly and painlessly that they even conceive a child.

Note! It is possible to get pregnant during menopause. However, not at every stage. In this case, the mother and fetus will be at risk. Interruption, most likely, will entail the complete extinction of the reproductive function without a chance for recovery.

Stages and phases of menopause

The moment of complete extinction of the female reproductive system is preceded by several years. During this time, the fair sex goes through 3 stages:

premenopause. The phase counts from 1 problematic menstruation. It ends with a complete cessation of secretions. In this period, it is possible to conceive a child, but the number of active eggs does not exceed 10 thousand.
Menopause. The body no longer synthesizes estrogens. A year has passed since the last period.
Postmenopause. The body gets used to living in acute deficit. Changes in the work of organs dependent on estrogen. Doctors prescribe replacement drugs. A woman can no longer conceive a child.

Premenopause lasts the longest - sometimes up to 10-12 years - and postmenopause.

At what age does menopause begin in women: symptoms of process activation

The main manifestation is a pathological decrease in estrogen levels, which entails a violation of the cycle. It should be borne in mind that the process of reduction itself is natural. A 30-year-old body produces much less hormones than during puberty or even in the period from 20 to 30 years. The second milestone is 35 years. Then the estrogen level curve sharply rushes down.

The female body is ready for tests of this kind. They are not considered a deviation, provided that the hormone levels are within certain limits. If the level is too low and continues to fall, it can lead to menopause.

How to recognize pathology? When menopause age comes, it always affects the sexual side of life. From the ladies who are faced with a problem, complaints of the following content are received:

excitation does not lead to the development of lubrication;
the walls of the vagina lose their elasticity, which causes discomfort at the beginning and at the end of sexual intercourse;
sensations from intercourse are dulled;
libido falls, interest in the opposite sex fades.

Attention! Specialized drugs will help stop the manifestations. In this case, you should consult with your doctor. It is necessary to determine the feasibility of taking birth control pills, given that they can become the root cause of premature menopause, sometimes their use leads to bleeding during premenopause, and the risk of unwanted pregnancy in this phase is still high.

In addition to the listed manifestations, the following symptoms of menopause occur at first:

hot flashes (the earliest indicator, occurs in ¾ of women);
sleep disorders (insomnia develops against the background of hot flashes, incontinence; pathological daytime sleepiness is diagnosed as often as the first symptom on the list);
weight gain;
violation of the excretory function (incontinence);
manifestations of the mental plane (emotional fatigue, sensitivity).

Climacteric syndrome is characterized by other manifestations:

increased heart rate at rest;
hypotension or low blood pressure (accompanied by headaches, sweating, weakness, dizziness);
hypertension or high blood pressure (often accompanied by midges, loss of working capacity, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pain);
panic attacks (unmotivated fear with various vegetative manifestations; most often they are afraid of death, loneliness, old age, making fateful decisions, change, insanity);
decrease in bone mass (leads to bone fragility, slows down the process of recovery after fractures or makes it impossible);
hair loss;
atrophy of glandular tissue (breast changes shape; nipples become flat, less sensitive).

External manifestations include a drooping tired look, a decrease in skin tone, fading of hair on the head. The symptoms of menopause also spread to the personality of a woman. Some withdraw into themselves, do not share their worries with relatives. Close up. Others, on the contrary, cannot control themselves. In the latter category of patients, increased aggressiveness is often observed.

Content

Menopause is a natural physiological process that is inevitable for every woman. Its onset means that the body ceases to perform a reproductive function. Menopause can begin at different ages. It is worth talking in more detail about when the representatives of the weaker sex should prepare for it.

When does menopause occur in women?

With age, the body ends the process of producing the female sex hormone - estrogen. Because of this, the functioning of the woman's ovaries gradually stops. The maturation of eggs occurs less and less and disappears. Menstruation stops. Lack of menstruation is one of the main symptoms of menopause. Along with it, signs of aging appear: wrinkles, flabbiness of the skin. All these are direct and indirect signs that the female body is no longer ready for conception, gestation, childbirth.

At what age does menopause begin?

For every woman, ovarian failure occurs at different times. The average age when menopause begins is 45-50 years. However, this is not the case for all the fair sex. Allocate early menopause, which begins at about 40-44 years (in rare cases after 35). There are also situations when the menopausal period begins after 60. This is typical for only 3% of women.

When is the menopausal period

The whole process is conditionally divided into three main stages, each of which has its own characteristics. The first is perimenopause. The organism enters this state approximately after 40-45 years. From perimenopause to when menopause occurs, it can take a very long time. The premenopausal stage is characterized by a gradual decrease in the amount of estrogens. Menstruation begins to go irregularly, may be more scarce. As a rule, this period does not cause any physical or psychological discomfort.

Changes characteristic of the body during premenopause:

the chances of conceiving a child are minimized;
the menstrual cycle is very confused;
the interval between periods is getting longer;
gradually the amount of bloody discharge decreases, menstruation ends.

This is followed by the turn of menopause, the period when menopause occurs directly. Estrogen production ends and menstruation stops completely. The climatic period lasts a year from the day when the last menstruation ends. On average, it occurs in women after 51 years, but there are a lot of factors that affect how old menopause begins, so it happens both earlier and later. If in premenopause there was still a chance of getting pregnant, albeit small, now it is completely excluded.

The last stage of ovarian failure is postmenopause. It begins a year after the menopause occurs. The duration of this period depends on how quickly the endocrine system and the whole organism adapts, but, as a rule, the symptoms disappear after 3-15 years. Postmenopause is characterized by the development of osteoporosis, diseases of the thyroid gland, heart, blood vessels. They can begin due to the lack of sex hormones in the body. During the postmenopausal period, a woman's body undergoes the following changes:

the skin becomes flabby;
thinning pubic hair;
the shape of the breast changes, the nipples become flatter;
a gynecological examination reveals a lack of mucus on the cervix.

At what age can menopause begin with risk factors

You already know that there is the concept of early menopause. It is worth talking in more detail about why this happens and at what age menopause occurs, if the extinction of the reproductive function is caused by external factors. Early menopause can start due to:

surgery to remove the ovaries or uterus;
a number of autoimmune diseases in which antibodies to ovarian cells are produced;
silent ovary syndrome;
chromosomal disorders;
hereditary predisposition;
premature exhaustion of the ovaries;
stress;
radiation therapy;
oncological diseases;
chemotherapy;
bad habits, including in adolescence;
lack of sexual life;
uncontrolled intake of oral contraceptives;
abortion;
gynecological diseases.

All these factors can provoke the onset of menopause in a woman under 45 years old, with a preliminary premenopause. As a rule, menstruation either stops altogether or turns into heavy bleeding. Early menopause always proceeds very abruptly, in an accelerated version. A woman has strong hot flashes, nervous disorders, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, excessive sweating. The condition of her skin, hair and nails is deteriorating.

- 52 years old. However, there are those ladies who face this phenomenon at the age of 40. It is unlikely that you will be able to predict exactly when your period will come. However, it is still possible to try to predict the onset of menopause.

Reasons why menopause may come earlier

There is no way to delay the onset of menopause. However, you can prepare for it. After all, menopause is a rather serious test for a woman's body.

menopause symptoms

Often, menopause comes unexpectedly, and a woman is not ready for it. Therefore, the symptoms that she may encounter are not always interpreted correctly. Insomnia, a strange taste in your mouth, mood swings, increased irritability or sensitivity are all the first signs of menopause. Of course, the clearest evidence that this is menopause is the cessation of menstruation.

In addition, the onset of menopause may indicate:
- tachycardia;
- tingling sensation in hands and feet;
- numbness of the limbs;
- sleep disturbance;
- muscle pain;
- feeling of lack of air;
- dry eyes, etc.

Experts attribute the appearance of these symptoms and the deterioration of a woman's health to a sharp decrease in the blood level of the hormone estrogen. As a result of this, the biochemical reactions that occur in the body usually change, and the production of other hormones decreases.

There are lucky women who are lucky enough not to experience any of these symptoms. Also among the lucky ladies are those whose symptoms are not too intense. True, such lucky ones are rare.

By themselves, the symptoms, according to doctors, are not at all dangerous. However, they can sometimes cause quite significant changes in the physical or psychological state of the lady. How many more problems can bring the first time without menstruation is unknown. Sometimes the consequences are such that ladies even begin to envy men.

No one can predict what the symptoms will be, and when they will appear. Therefore, it is worth mentally preparing for the fact that menopause can come unexpectedly, and not make a tragedy out of this event. Moreover, this does not mean at all that life has come to an end. On the contrary, menopause symbolizes the beginning of a new stage in life - mature.

With age, any woman from 45 to 50 years of age decreases the secretion of female sex hormones. At this time, significant changes begin to occur in the body of a woman. From this age, a woman's life can be divided into three periods:

premenopause

The first, early period of menopause, which is called premenopause or pre-menopausal period, the time from the beginning of the decline, the extinction of the hormonal function of the ovaries, until the complete cessation of menstruation. It is at this time that the first signs of menopause in women appear. This stage lasts for each woman in different ways, on average from 2 to 10 years. Physiologically, the following happens in the body:

A woman's ability to conceive drops sharply.
There is a failure of menstruation, they become irregular, scarce, or vice versa, abundant, uterine bleeding occurs.
If premenopause proceeds normally, then the interval between periods gradually increases from 40 to 90 days until menopause.
When scanty menses are observed, each time the discharge of blood decreases until the final cessation of bleeding.
Perhaps the appearance of such a symptom as engorgement of the mammary glands due to fluctuations in the amount in the blood.
Very rarely, but there are cases when a woman's menstruation ends abruptly.

Menopause

If a year has passed since the last menstruation that a woman had, this means that the period of menopause has come. After the last menstruation, a woman will no longer be able to get pregnant naturally.

Postmenopause

Postmenopause is considered the period from the last spontaneous menstruation to the end of a woman's life. At this stage of a woman's life, the production of hormones by the ovaries finally stops, and the level of estrogen becomes steadily low. The skin of the labia becomes flabby, pubic hair becomes sparse, the shape of the mammary glands also changes, the nipples flatten, the skin becomes flabby. During a gynecological examination, a decrease in the amount of mucus from the cervix is noticeable, gradually it disappears completely.

How does menopause begin in women?

At what age, when, with what first signs menopause will begin in each particular woman, not a single gynecologist can determine with accuracy. Each woman is unique, any organism has individual characteristics, so a woman must be sure that with the advent of menopause, life does not end, but her new wonderful stage simply begins. How does menopause begin in women?

famous hot flushes and night sweats- the very first signs of menopause in a woman, and these are the most frequent complaints that are noted by almost all women who have entered this period.

FLUSHES - this is the occurrence of heat in the whole body, heat, starting from the face, neck, chest and further down the body. In this case, the skin may become blotchy, reddened, the pulse quickens, and the body temperature may also rise. Hot flashes are often accompanied by increased sweating.

Many women note that hot flashes bother them even at night. In addition to the main signs of menopause in women, other symptoms are also characteristic of premenopause, which every woman either has and is very disturbing, or does not happen at all:

Insomnia - women may be disturbed by insomnia, sleep disturbance, difficulty falling asleep, before going to bed a woman worries, remembers troubles, fixates on problems, all this prevents her from falling asleep.
Palpitations - periodic strong attacks of palpitations may disturb.
Numbness of the legs and arms, a squeezing feeling in the chest - occurs in women with severe circulatory disorders.
There is a feeling of tingling, trembling in the limbs, crawling on the skin.

- Chills - disturb women most often at night, from which women wake up.
- Weakness, decreased ability to work, fatigue, muscle pain.
- Fluctuations in blood pressure, that is, high blood pressure is abruptly replaced by its decrease, which is accompanied by a sharp dizziness, headaches, up to a short-term loss of consciousness.

Decreased libido or vice versa increased sexual desire.
Anxiety - frequent causeless anxiety, anxiety, mood swings, irritability, decreased concentration and memory, some women have neurotic disorders with obsessive ideas that they are terminally ill (see).
Temperature - daily fluctuations in body temperature.
Feeling short of breath.
Change in taste sensations.
and in the eyes (see).
Pain - may be bothered by pain in the lower back,.
Skin and mucous membranes - with the appearance of the first signs of menopause, the stage of skin aging and dryness of the mucous membranes begins. This is due to the fact that female sex hormones, the production of which is decreasing every day, do not cope with their function of supporting skin elasticity, do not provide protection to the mucous membranes. Therefore, gradually the skin fades, becomes dry, wrinkles deepen on it, inflammatory processes are provoked both on the mucous membranes and on the skin.
Hair - signs of hair aging begin to appear - women can turn gray sharply, hair becomes brittle, brittle,.
The figure of a woman is also undergoing changes, she begins to become less feminine.

The appearance of these first signs of menopause in modern women signal the age-related extinction of ovarian function and the approaching complete restructuring of the woman's body. Sadly, at this age, the body begins to age rapidly.

The transition to a new period of a woman's life exacerbates existing chronic diseases, increases the likelihood of new ailments, and also delays the recovery process after suddenly onset diseases. With mild and moderate menopausal syndrome, women do not need medical care, but there are rarely cases of severe manifestations of menopause, in which a woman needs medical treatment.