Menopause Resource Center

Menopause article syndicated from NIA
Menopause, or the “change of life,” affects each woman in a different  way. Hot flashes and sleep problems troubled your sister. You felt a new sense of freedom and energy. Your best friend was hardly aware of a change at all.

Alternative Therapies for Managing Menopausal Symptoms article syndicated from NCCAM
Deciding whether to use hormone therapy (HT) after menopause is a difficult decision many women face as they age. Research has shown that HT is very effective for relieving menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. It can also reduce the risk of osteoporosis. However, there are also known health risks and uncertainties about long-term use. Recent research has demonstrated that long-term use of estrogen--either alone or in combination with progestin--results in more risks than benefits.

Menopausal Hormone Use: Questions and Answers article syndicated from NCI
Menopause is the time in a woman's life when menstruation ends. It is part of a biological process that begins, for most women, in their mid-thirties. During this time, the ovaries gradually produce lower levels of sex hormones--estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen promotes the development of a woman's breasts and uterus, controls the cycle of ovulation (when an ovary releases an egg into a fallopian tube), and affects many aspects of a woman's physical and emotional health. Progesterone controls menstruation (having a period) and prepares the lining of the uterus to receive the fertilized egg.

Exercise Builds Bone Mass in Postmenopausal Women Whether or Not They Use Hormone Therapy
article syndicated from NIAMS - Aerobic, weight-bearing and resistance exercise improves bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women whether or not they use hormone therapy, according to results from the Bone, Estrogen and Strength (BEST) study funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health.

Facts About Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy article syndicated from NHLBI
Choosing whether or not to use postmenopausal hormone therapy can be one of the most important health decisions women face as they age. As with taking any treatment, the decision involves carefully weighing the risks and benefits involved. But, until recently, the picture of those risks and benefits has been unclear. Studies gave conflicting results about the therapy's effects on breast cancer, heart disease, and other conditions.

Menopause article syndicated from Wikipedia
Menopause (also known as the "Change of life" or climacteric) is a stage of the human female reproductive cycle that occurs as the ovaries stop producing estrogen, causing the reproductive system to gradually shut down. As the body adapts to the changing levels of natural hormones, symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, increased depression and anxiety, and increasingly scanty and erratic menstrual periods are common.

The Ayurvedic Approach to Menopause and Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy by Nancy Lonsdorf M.D.
The medical community is quickly evolving its understanding of menopause. Following the abrupt, early halt to the HRT portion of the Women's Health Initiative last July, due to findings that Hormone Replacement Therapy's risks outweighed its benefits, headlines now read "Menopause is not a disease, but a normal part of life." Hormone "replacement" therapy (HRT) has become simply hormone "therapy" (HT) in recognition of the fact that replacing estrogen is not natural and brings dangerous side-effects, rather than the fountain of youth once touted.

Menopause article syndicated from NWHIC
Menopause, a normal and natural event, is the end of menstruation. It is usually confirmed when you have not had a period for 12 months in a row (with other causes for this change ruled out). Menopause starts when your body's level of the hormone estrogen falls permanently to very low levels and your menstrual periods stop for good. Menopause is also known as "the change of life."

Perimenopause article syndicated from NWHIC
Perimenopause is the time leading up to menopause (when you have not had your period for twelve months). During perimenopause, your body starts making less of certain hormones (estrogen and progesterone), and you begin to lose the ability to become pregnant. Perimenopause varies in how long it lasts. Women normally go through menopause between ages 45 and 55. Many women experience menopause around age 51. However, perimenopause can start as early as age 35. It can last just a few months or a few years. There is no way to tell in advance how long it will last OR how long it will take you to go through it.

Talking to Your Health Care Provider About Menopause article syndicated from NWHIC
Some women say their doctors treat menopause like a disease. It's important for you to remember that menopause is not a disease. However, you may have some symptoms that are difficult to cope with. There are ways to make this time in your life easier.

Taking Charge of Menopause by Lynne L. Hall
"I was 40 when I first started having night sweats," says Patti Shields, 42, of Birmingham, Ala. "I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and even though the air conditioner was running full blast, I'd be covered in sweat." Shields is talking about menopause, the rite of passage that signals the end of a woman's reproductive years. "Those night sweats--and the other symptoms I began to notice--suddenly made me feel old. One day I'm a young woman in her prime, and the next day I'm worrying about whether or not I'm prepared for retirement and thinking about 'getting my affairs in order.' It was a classic overreaction," she says, laughing.

Menopause & Hormones article syndicated from FDA
Menopause is a normal change in a woman's life when her period stops. That's why some people call menopause "the change of life" or "the change." During menopause a woman's body slowly produces less of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. This often happens between the ages of 45 and 55 years old. A woman has reached menopause when she has not had a period for 12 months in a row.

New Attitudes Towards Menopause by Sheryl Weinstein
Imagine a cocktail party conversation in 1966 turning to menopause. It would have been as unlikely as a female high school student yearning to be a soccer star. But times have changed. Just as participating in sports has now become significant to many young women so has being open and even activist about menopause become equally important to their mothers.

Menopause and Bladder Control article syndicated from NKUDIC
Some women have bladder control problems after they stop having periods (menopause or change of life). If you are going through menopause, talk to your health care team. After your periods end, your body stops making the female hormone estrogen (ES-truh-jun). Estrogen controls how your body matures, your monthly periods, and body changes during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Some scientists believe estrogen may help keep the lining of the bladder and urethra (yoo-REE-thrah) plump and healthy. They think that lack of estrogen could contribute to weakness of the bladder control muscles.

Questions and Answers About Black Cohosh and the Symptoms of Menopause article syndicated from ODS
Although preliminary evidence is encouraging, the currently available data are not sufficient to support a recommendation on the use of black cohosh for menopausal symptoms. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health is funding a rigorous scientific study to determine whether treatment with black cohosh reduces the frequency and intensity of hot flashes, and other menopausal symptoms.

Male Andropause (Menopause): Symptoms and Solutions by Dr. Loretta Lanphier
At about ages 40-50, starting even as early as their 30’s, men go through a change when they realization hits them--they are aging. Their bodily changes are accompanied by changes in attitudes and moods. During this time men frequently begin to question their values, accomplishments, and life’s direction. The entire pattern of these changes has led to the notion of the mid-life crisis. But let’s look deeper into this cultural phenomenon.

The Great Awakening - Menopause by Dr. Loretta Lanphier
Menopause is a natural transition all women experience, as natural as adolescence. For your grandmother and great-grandmother, life expectancy was shorter. Reaching menopause often meant that their life was nearing an end. But this is no longer true. Today women are living longer—on average, until age 78. How you experience menopause is determined by many factors: attitude, diet, overall health, genetics, and your cultural group. Medical science views menopause as the state of your body after you had completed one full year without having a period. It is most definitely not a disease! By making wise decisions about your menopause and healthy lifestyle, you can make the most of the 20, 30, or more years afterwards!

Menopause Symptoms - What's the Hype About? by Dr. Loretta Lanphier
Everywhere you turn these days—TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, junk mail, Internet—menopause and aging are turned into a disease to get rid of quickly! That is, if they are talked about at all. Advertising and media play a very powerful role in American life. So much so, most of us will not take the time to educate ourselves about particular issues, especially health issues. And why should we, when someone else will do it for us? We have been lulled to sleep by those who would say, “Don't worry we’ll take care of you.” It seems that you cannot deal with these natural processes—aging and menopause--without some form of drug or surgery being advertised as the newest solution.

Premenopausal Years by Susun S. Weed
The actual age at which menopausal Change begins varies considerably from woman to woman; the norm is 45, with a normal range of 35 to 55. During these premenopausal years, menstrual periods may become noticeably different (closer together, farther apart, scantier, more profuse). Night sweats or hot flashes come, if at all, only occasionally and are usually blamed on too many blankets or a rich meal.

Menopausal Climax Years by Susun S. Weed
The menopausal climax years include the year or two before and a year or more after your very last menstruation. The average age of a woman in the midst of her Change is 51. But women come to their menopausal climax in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, as well. Some achieve menopause by surgical means, some by way of chemotherapy or radiation, and some just naturally arrive early. (Menopausal climax before the age of 40 is considered "premature.")

Post-Menopausal Climax Years by Susun S. Weed
The post-menopausal years symbolically begin on the fourteenth new moon after your final menstruation. (And continue, of course, for the rest of your life.) Hot flashes, aching joints, heart disease, incontinence, vaginal atrophy, and broken hips may diminish the quality and quantity of these years. Use of Wise Woman ways in the post-menopausal years can halt and reverse osteoporosis (the bones accept calcium once again), keep estrogen- and progesterone-sensitive tissues in the vagina and bladder from weakening and drying out, and maintain a healthy, vigorous heart and circulatory system.

Menopause Metamorphosis by Susun S. Weed
"Menopause is a metamorphosis, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The caterpillar needs a cocoon, and so do you. One of the most important things you can do during menopause is to take time for you. Go into your cave, go into your cocoon, go into your room and shut the door."

Menopause Is Enlightenment by Susun S. Weed
The energy aspects of menopause are of special interest to me. As a long-time student of yoga, I was struck by the many similarities between menopausal symptoms and the well-known esoteric goal of "awakening of the kundalini." Though the ideas presented in this section may seem strange or difficult to comprehend, they contain powerful messages about menopause which lie at the heart of the Wise Woman approach.

Soy Supplements Fail to Help Menopause Symptoms by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Supplements that contain concentrated phytoestrogens -- plant-based estrogens found in soy -- do not appear to improve mood, memory or menopause symptoms in women over age 45. Some studies had suggested that a diet rich in soy may alleviate symptoms of menopause. However, daily dietary supplements of a concentrated soy isoflavone extract had no effect on a small group of postmenopausal women, reported Dr. Gail Hochanadel, of the Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, on Friday at the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society meeting in Carlsbad, California.

Annual Pap Smears May Not be Warranted After Menopause article syndicated from www.mercola.com
After menopause, many women may not need to be screened for cervical cancer as frequently as they were when they were younger, researchers report. Postmenopausal women who choose to be screened more frequently should be informed of the risk for false-positive results and the need for further diagnostic testing.

Menopause and Hormone Balance Issues article syndicated from ZRT Laboratory
In the years leading up to menopause (perimenopause) menstrual cycles that may once have been like clockwork start to become erratic. Bleeding may be heavier or lighter than usual—although women are not officially in menopause until they have had 12 consecutive months without a period. Erratic cycles are a sign of erratic ovulation leading to highs and lows in estrogen and progesterone, an effect many women describe as an emotional roller coaster.

New Federal "Report on Carcinogens" Lists Steroidal Estrogens Used in Estrogen Replacement Therapy to List of Known Human Carcinogens article syndicated from NIH
The federal government today published its biennial "Report on Carcinogens", adding steroidal estrogens used in estrogen replacement therapy and oral contraceptives to its official list of "known" human carcinogens. This and 15 other new listings bring the total of substances in the report, "known" or "reasonably anticipated" to pose a cancer risk, to 228.

Yoga for Menopause by Susan M. Lark, M.D.
Yoga stretches can benefit both the body and the mind, bringing energy and balance. This is particularly helpful to women who are currently in menopause or in menopause transition because their hormonal levels and body chemistry may be fluctuating rapidly. This can leave women feeling out of balance and truly victims of their changing bodies. Yoga exercises level out this physiological instability by relaxing and gently stretching every muscle in the body, promoting better blood circulation and oxygenation to all cells and tissues.

Hormone References by Dr. John R. Lee
Not too long ago Dr. Lee was confronted at a conference by the owner of a large herbal products company who claimed that Dr. Lee was incorrect in referring to the progesterone used in the creams as "natural" because it was manufactured or synthesized in a laboratory, and that made it synthetic. This is a confusion in semantics that we hear frequently. In fact progesterone is far more natural to your body than any plant is because your body actually manufactures the identical substance.

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