Women's Menopause
Menopause
Menopause and Perimenopause is a stage in reproduction that every woman will experience, some earlier than others, some later. Menopause is a normal condition in which the body stops producing the hormones necessary for ovulation.
DECREASED LIBIDO AND DESIRE
A low libido (or sex drive) can be attributed to many physical, psychological, and social factors. Emotional and physical health, as well as life experiences, personal or religious beliefs, socialization, and current partnership, all play a role in shaping a woman’s sex drive.
In some ways, menopause is both a physical and psychological factor that can decrease the desire for sex. During menopause, estrogen levels drop dramatically, resulting in a decreased interest in sex. Lower estrogen levels also reduce lubrication causing dry vaginal tissues, which might lead to discomfort or even pain during sex, which can have a rippling effect on sexual desire. Decreased blood flow also affects vaginal lubrication and overall arousal. As a result, a woman may not enjoy sex as much and may have difficulty achieving orgasm.
During the menopause transition, the physical side effects of falling estrogen levels—including hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness—can undermine sexual motivation and drive. Although not directly related to menopause, the age-related decrease in testosterone may reduce desire in midlife women, as these hormone levels play a role in women’s sex drive and sexual sensation.
The precise role of testosterone in desire is complex, however, because low sexual desire in women has not been shown to be related to testosterone levels in scientific studies. Also, some women who undergo abrupt menopause (caused by the removal of both ovaries or by chemotherapy), which leads to an immediate drop in both estrogen and testosterone, suffer a greater reduction in desire than women who experience natural menopause. Interestingly, other women in the same situation do not have a decrease in desire.
A lower estrogen level is not the only culprit behind a decreased libido; there are numerous other factors that may influence a woman’s interest in sexual activity during menopause and after. These include:
- Bladder control problems
- Sleep disturbances
- Depression or anxiety
- Mood swings
- Stress
- Medications
- Health concerns
- Relationship issues with a partner
Other symptoms that lead to loss of libido, such as night sweats, do eventually go away for most women. Without the protective effects of hormones such as estrogen, women face an increased risk for heart disease, weight gain, and other new health challenges.
Although many women continue to have and enjoy sexual intercourse in menopause, others find that sex begins to feel like a chore. Menopausal and postmenopausal women may notice that they’re not as easily aroused, and they may be less sensitive to touching and stroking. And while many women and their partners can still enjoy a sense of intimacy without sexual intercourse, other couples struggle to cope with these changes.
BREAST CHANGES AND MENOPAUSE
Though breast changes might have an impact on your self-esteem, rest assured that it is normal. Almost all menopausal women will notice some breast changes from menopause when they look in the mirror.
The greater cause for concern is the increased risk of cysts, fibroids, and other abnormal growths in the breast tissue. Women can develop abnormal growths at any age, but menopausal women are certainly in a higher risk category. But if you notice a breast lump, don’t wait to be offered to screen – see your health care provider rule out breast cancer. Breast cancer is most common in women over 50.
You may feel discomfort in one breast or both breasts. Not all women experience breast discomfort in the same way. Breast pain in the postmenopausal years may be coming from the chest wall, arthritis of the spine, or, only rarely, from cancer.
DRY AND ITCHY SKIN IN MENOPAUSE
Most women approaching menopause to know about hot flashes and night sweats, but other side effects of menopause are not often discussed, such as dry and itchy skin after menopause. Hormonal changes during menopause can cause a range of skin complaints, including hot flashes, sweating, and itchiness.
Dry skin actually results from the decreasing estrogen levels in the bloodstream at the onset of menopause. Estrogen stimulates the body’s production of collagen and oils, which keep the skin naturally moisturized through most of a woman’s life. Once your estrogen levels begin to decline, your body’s ability to produce oil slows down, leaving your skin dry and itchy.
One of many menopause symptoms, you might start to notice your skin drying out on the elbows and the T-zone – the area of your face covered by a capital T, which includes the forehead, nose, and chin. However, dry patches can appear anywhere, including your chest and back, arms, legs, and even genitals.
FATIGUE IN MENOPAUSE
While around two-thirds of post-menopausal women have difficulty sleeping at night, about 90% report feeling worn out in general. The symptoms of menopause fatigue come standard with menopause – anxiety, depression, hot flashes, and night sweats – may make it nearly impossible to get a good night’s sleep.
Remember that menopause is a natural transition in the life of many women, not a medical condition characterized by a debilitating fatigue. Constantly feeling tired is a common complaint from many menopausal women.
When you’re feeling fatigued with low energy levels due to poor sleep, you might find it more difficult to concentrate on day-to-day tasks. Activities that you once enjoyed may sound more like a chore than a good time.
When you’re in the menopause transition, the symptoms may seem challenging. Lifestyle changes can help. Please talk to us about these changes.
PAINFUL INTERCOURSE AND MENOPAUSE
PAINFUL INTERCOURSE
AND MENOPAUSE
Painful intercourse – or dyspareunia (“dis-pah-ROO-nee-ah”) – is persistent or reoccurring pain in the genitals that can strike just before, during, or immediately after sexual intercourse. Another medical condition is vaginal atrophy (atrophic vaginitis).
Vaginal atrophy is thinning, drying, and inflammation of the vaginal walls that may occur when your body has less estrogen. Vaginal atrophy occurs most often after menopause.
Sexual pain as a category of female sexual dysfunction is relevant at any age. For women dealing with vaginal dryness as a result of estrogen deficiency, it may well be the dominant issue.
For many postmenopausal women, dyspareunia is caused by inadequate lubrication resulting from low estrogen levels. Often, this can be treated with topical estrogen applied directly to the vagina. The vaginal tissues tend to become less elastic, more fragile, and more susceptible to bleeding, tearing, or pain during sexual activity or during a pelvic exam. It can make sex painful or even impossible. The loss of estrogen can also cause urinary problems.
It’s fairly normal for women going through menopause to experience pain during intercourse. The most likely cause is a lack of lubrication resulting from lower estrogen levels. For those entering perimenopause or menopause, you may experience:
- Pain in a normally pain-free sex life
- Pain at entry (initial vaginal penetration)
- Pain at each instance of penetration, including inserting a tampon
If these symptoms are present, you may be suffering from vaginal dryness, which is often also a symptom of menopause. Over-the-counter lubricants can help make intercourse more comfortable, however, there are other treatments that can provide additional relief.
PERIMENOPAUSAL ACNE
On average, women enter menopause at 51 years, meaning that most women today live about 30 years into their post-menopausal period. This intimate experience varies greatly for each woman. Besides other prevalent physiological changes like fatigue and hot flashes, it is common for women to report skin problems during menopause. Sadly, this issue is often neglected and there is a lack of research exploring it.
There is no denying that skin changes during menopause can be both uncomfortable and distressing. Hormonal changes, stress, and genetics, just to name a few, are possible culprits. It is usually hard to narrow down acne to a single cause.
Perimenopausal Acne develops in women for much the same reasons that it curses our years in puberty. The changes and imbalances in hormone levels during this stage of life impact our skin’s natural defenses and trigger acne.
In most cases, adult acne is caused by hormonal imbalances in which the body produces too much androgen (male sex hormones), or increased sensitivity to normal levels of androgen at the level of the skin. In addition, anything that compromises the immune system, whether it is emotional stress or nutritional deficiency, is likely to upset your cortisol and insulin balance, which can affect your skin, as well. For some women, it may also be responsible for a deepening of the voice and the appearance of facial hair.
Menopause often comes with a plethora of skin changes. Sometimes, these changes include acne. It doesn’t seem fair to have to battle pimples, wrinkles, and menopause symptoms at the same time, but please know that you are not alone.
Acne in perimenopausal women is rarely severe enough to warrant medical treatment, and once your hormones balance out, the acne usually disappears.
Estrogen is a powerhouse hormone. It stimulates the maturation of a girl’s body at puberty. It helps keep a woman’s bones strong. The decline of estrogen levels during this stage of a woman’s life may affect skin change.
Another thing estrogen does is stimulate the formation of skin-smoothing collagen and oils. That’s why, as menopause approaches and estrogen production diminishes, dry skin, and at times itchy, become very common.
HAIR LOSS AND MENOPAUSE
HAIR LOSS
AND MENOPAUSE
With all the changes your body is going through during menopause, it may feel as though you’re enduring something like puberty all over again – you’re dealing with mood swings, putting on weight more easily, and hair growth is happening in places that it never did before. Well, now let’s add menopausal hair loss to the list of side effects women experience with menopause.
Many post-menopausal women find that the hair on their scalp thins and won’t grow like it used to. For some, this can cause a lot of social anxiety. Many women experience hair loss at this stage of their lives making them feel more vulnerable.
This type of hair loss is very common for post-menopausal women. In fact, about half of women have experienced some hair thinning (also known as androgenetic alopecia) by the age of 50. The main type of hair loss in women is the same as it is in men. It’s called androgenetic alopecia, or female pattern hair loss. Luckily, androgenetic alopecia hardly ever leads to balding. A complete loss of hair, as seen in men who sometimes go bald, is much rarer in women and is generally caused by a medical condition.
Causes of Menopausal Hair Loss
During menopause, the effects of androgens (male hormones) increase. This hormonal imbalance, as a result, hair to grow at a much slower rate and hair follicles to shrink, which produces weaker hair and ultimately causes hair loss. Some research also suggests that the pattern of hair loss in senior women may actually result from decreases in both estrogen and progesterone hormone levels during menopause.
Most women’s health care providers agree that replacing these hormones can alleviate many of the other troubling symptoms of menopause, unfortunately, hormone replacement alone does not seem to radically alter a woman’s “follicular fate,” and can even sometimes make matters worse.
However, other factors might lead to hair loss as well. Some women are genetically predisposed to hair loss, while others may lose hair due to stress or illness. Hair loss can also result from an excess of androgen, which is a hormone that fuels male characteristics. Your doctor can determine the cause of your hair loss and recommend the best treatment options.
HEADACHES, MIGRAINES AND MENOPAUSE
HEADACHES, MIGRAINES
AND MENOPAUSE
Millions of Americans deal with regular migraine headaches, but did you know that 7 in 10 migraine sufferers are women? This is largely due to fluctuations in the production of estrogen levels. During menopause, a woman’s estrogen hormone levels decrease, and this may have an impact on your headaches and migraines. Menopausal women may experience a change in their migraine attacks in association with menopause, the change occurred perimenopausal or postmenopausally.
Women experience headaches and migraines in many different ways. In some women, headaches are linked to hormonal fluctuations, and they tend to come and go with their menstrual cycle. For these women, menopause may actually provide some welcome relief from migraines.
For others, migraines may worsen or just start for the first time during perimenopause. A large number of women suffering from migraines are either perimenopausal or postmenopausal. Many of those who are perimenopausal believe they will be cured of migraines after completing the hormonal changes of menopause. If you’ve begun hormone replacement therapy, you might find headaches springing up as a side effect. Some may first experience migraines while using hormonal contraception. If you experience migraines while using hormonal contraception, please speak to your women’s health care provider.
IRREGULAR BLEEDING
Throughout the reproductive years, a woman’s body increases and decreases the production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone in a regular pattern, causing monthly menstrual cycles. The regular pattern of hormone production is what gives your monthly bleeding its predictable quality.
During perimenopause – the period preceding menopause – your body begins to slow its production of these hormones, and the pattern becomes irregular. As a result, you can experience some irregular periods and bleeding. Some months, your period may seem lighter, heavier, shorter, or longer. Your period may come sooner or later than expected, or you may skip a period altogether.
Irregular bleeding during this time is normal and is no cause for alarm. However, it would help if you always let your gynecologist know when you start to experience changes in your bleeding. Abnormal bleeding can also be a symptom of several other gynecological conditions.
JOINT PAIN AND MENOPAUSE
JOINT PAIN
AND MENOPAUSE
The list of menopausal side effects is extensive – from mood swings to hot flashes, fatigue, night sweats, and more. And now we add joint pain to the list.
Joint pain affects many people as they get older, but unfortunately, it’s also common among menopausal women. As if we don’t have enough to worry about as we approach midlife.
Aches, stiffness, and swelling around the joint are common symptoms of menopausal joint pain. As a woman approaches menopause, her body goes through drastic hormonal changes that can affect her in many ways.
What Does Joint Pain Feel Like?
Menopausal joint pain usually hits the worst in the morning and eases as the joints loosen up with the day’s activities. Most women complain of back pain, neck pain, as well as pain in the jaw, shoulders, and elbows. Wrists and fingers can also be affected.
The pain can be accompanied by stiffness, swelling, or even shooting pain traveling down the back, arms, and legs. Some women report more of a burning sensation, especially after a workout.
MEMORY & CONCENTRATION LOSS
Poor memory, forgetfulness, and difficulty concentrating can cause problems at work and at home. Around 60% of women in menopause or perimenopause report feeling like they’re in a “brain fog”. It’s common to experience lapses in memory and concentration during the early and middle stages of menopause. This menopausal memory & concentration loss can be alarming.
One major change to the body that may cause normal forgetfulness during menopause is a reduction in the body’s hormone levels. During perimenopause, your estrogen levels go up and down a lot. This is when many women experience symptoms associated with the transition to menopause. Estrogen is one major hormone that can impact memory before or during menopause. While absolute hormone levels could not be linked with cognitive function, it is possible that the fluctuations that occur during this time could play a role in the memory problems that many perimenopausal and menopausal women suffer from.
While memory lapses in old age are popularly associated with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, studies have shown that most menopausal women have improvements in their memory after menopause is complete.
What Causes Memory Loss During Menopause?
In women’s health, declining estrogen levels can lead to many discomforts, and common symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, and mood swings. These menopause symptoms can keep you up at night and leave you feeling fatigued and mentally drained. A particular type of memory known as working memory — your ability to assimilate and manipulate new information — does not perform as well as usual during menopause.
In addition, researchers believe that estrogen may play a role in attention, mood, language, and memory. When your estrogen levels fluctuate, your brain functioning can suffer. In one study, researchers linked the severity and frequency of hot flashes to lapses in verbal memory.
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MOOD CHANGES, IRRITABILITY, AND MENOPAUSE
MOOD CHANGES, IRRITABILITY,
AND MENOPAUSE
For many women, menopause can feel like an emotional rollercoaster. Much like the mood swings and irritability of PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome), mood changes during menopause are caused by fluctuating production of the hormone estrogen. Menopausal mood changes and irritability, aggression, depression, fatigue, and other feelings are not uncommon.
Hot flashes, night sweats, lack of sleep, fatigue…these symptoms of menopause would make anyone irritable. But irritability is also its own menopause symptom. You know what we’re talking about. The reduction in estrogen levels during perimenopause and menopause can lead to uncomfortable symptoms, like vaginal dryness, irregular periods, hot flashes, and disturbed sleep. These causes menopausal and perimenopausal depression symptoms like low mood, anxiety, irritability, fears, and mood swings. Menopause mood swings can wreak havoc on your psyche.
If you’re feeling a range of emotions that have not been as present in the past, you might be experiencing some of the negative mood changes that with menopausal symptoms.
Common Mood Changes During Menopause Can Include:
Perimenopausal and menopausal women experience the following during this stage of their lives:
- Irritability
- Sadness or depression
- Lack of motivation
- Aggression
- Anxiety or stress
- Fatigue
- Forgetfulness or the inability to concentrate
It is important to remember that emotional symptoms can also be associated with other psychiatric or medical conditions. In other words, knowing the cause of these feelings can be rather complicated, which is what we as medical professionals are here to help you figure out.
NIGHT SWEATS AND HOT FLASHES
Night Sweats and Hot Flashes are one of the most common complaints in women’s life experience during menopause and perimenopause. Over two-thirds of women experience hot flashes during perimenopause, which is the gradual slow-down of a woman’s reproductive system as she approaches menopause. Just one of many menopause symptoms. Menopause causes a variety of familiar symptoms, such as hot flashes, mood swings, and vaginal dryness among others. Hot flashes are the most common symptoms of menopause and perimenopause.
What can I do about Menopausal Night Sweats and Hot Flashes?
There is no estimated length of time that perimenopausal and menopausal women will have to endure hot flashes and night sweats. Some women will experience only a handful of them at the onset of menopause, while others will have them for life. The good news is that generally hot flashes tend to decrease in severity over time.
While you probably cannot completely prevent menopausal hot flashes, there are some known triggers that you can avoid to decrease their impact on your life:
- Hot Environments
- Spicy foods
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Cigarette smoke
- Tight clothes
- Stress
Keep your bedroom cool at night and wear light pajamas made with natural fibers, like cotton. You may also find that daily exercise eases hot flashes. If you’re not used to exercising, you could try activities that are easy on your body, like swimming, biking, and walking.
Relax and reduce stress. Slow and deep breathing and meditation are techniques that can help relieve stress and reduce hot flashes.
OSTEOPOROSIS AND
OSTEOPENIA IN MENOPAUSE
OSTEOPOROSIS
AND OSTEOPENIA
IN MENOPAUSE
Like our other organs, bones are living tissues going through their own “circle of life.” Different types of bone cells are each responsible for forming, maintaining, and reabsorbing bone tissue. When we are young and still growing, bone cells create bone tissue faster than the tissues die and are reabsorbed. Osteoporosis is a bone disease in which the bone cells can’t make new bone as fast as the old bone degenerates.
For those with osteoporosis, bones are brittle and fragile and at risk of fracture. It can be so severe that a minor impact, or even a cough, can be a fracture risk. Osteopenia is not a diagnosis. It’s a description, a state. This is a key difference between osteopenia and osteoporosis. The word “osteopenia” means “low bone mass”— stating an observation that your bone mass is lower than that of a woman in her late 20s—someone at the peak of their bone-building and strength. Women’s peak bone mass occurs in their late 20s.
Osteopenia, if it happens at all, usually occur near age 50. The exact age depends on how strong your bones are when you’re young. If you have hardy, healthy bones, you may never get osteopenia. If your bones aren’t naturally dense, you may get it earlier.
Osteopenia usually doesn’t have any outright symptoms. This makes it difficult to diagnose unless you have a bone mineral density test. Osteopenia will lead to osteoporosis but may lead to full-on osteoporosis if ignored.
As we age, our bone strength decreases, hence the risk of developing osteoporosis increases. Women, especially white and Asian women, are more susceptible to the disease than men. This is why we encourage pre- and post-menopausal women to talk to their physician about their concerns, and start taking preventative measures while their bones are still relatively healthy.
Symptoms of Osteoporosis
One of the dangers of osteoporosis is that there are no outward symptoms to warn you until you already have the disease. After many years, you may notice signs like back pain, a loss of height, or a stooped posture. For some people, the first sign they have of the disease is a broken bone, usually in the spine or hip. However, there are some things you can do to reverse some of the effects of osteoporosis even after you’ve developed some symptoms.
Bones weakened by osteoporosis may cause:
- Back pain
- Stooping or slouching posture
- Shrinking stature over time
- Unexpected bone fractures
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, it is important to talk to your health care doctor about how to prevent further bone loss. You may also be at higher risk if you went through early menopause, if your parents had any hip fractures in their old age, or if you took corticosteroids (i.e. cortisone, hydrocortisone, and prednisone) for a long period of time.
SLEEP DISORDERS AND MENOPAUSE
Many female patients in their late 30s and 40s with symptoms of insomnia are actually experiencing the beginning of their menopause transition, which is called perimenopause.
Menopause can bring with it significant challenges to sleep. Menopause is notorious for interfering with sleep due to bothersome hot flashes and night sweats. Insomnia and sleep disruptions from hot flashes are common in women going through menopause. At least three out of every four menopausal women will experience hot flashes, and about 60% of women will report menopausal sleep disorders due to hot flashes causing some serious sleep problems. Many menopause – or perimenopausal women – have sleep difficulties; and the same goes for postmenopausal women, who have gone without a menstrual cycle for more than one year or who are in menopause after surgical removal of their reproductive organs.
Poor sleep quality and sleep disturbance are lesser-known menopausal symptoms during this phase of life, but they’re very common.
You might think that a good night’s sleep is nothing but a dream once you reach a certain age. Many women experience sleep problems during perimenopause, the period of time before menopause when hormone levels and menstrual periods become irregular. Often, poor sleep sticks around throughout the menopausal transition and after menopause.
What’s “good” sleep?
Women should aim for between seven and eight hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep per night. The rule isn’t hard and fast, though; some people need less sleep, and others need more. In general, if you’re waking up regularly during the night and feel that your sleep isn’t restful, those are signs that maybe you’re not getting good sleep.
Both these sweats and tiredness resulting from insomnia can have a large negative effect on their subjective quality of life.
How to Get a Better Night’s Rest
The good news is that you don’t have to kiss a good night’s rest goodbye once you hit menopause. There are steps you can take to get better sleep.
- Set a Routine
Go to bed and get up at a regular time. Routine is very important for establishing a good sleep pattern. Establishing and sticking to set times may take a few weeks, so bear that in mind. Keep a regular bedtime schedule to train yourself to sleep at the same time every night, and avoid napping during the day. - Exercise
Regular exercise can help menopausal women fall and stay asleep. Athletes, for example, tend to be highly efficient sleepers. But even for those of us who aren’t professional athletes, exercise may help with sleep quality. Exercise daily, but avoid exercise before bed.
UNWANTED FACIAL
HAIR AND MENOPAUSE
UNWANTED
FACIAL HAIR
AND MENOPAUSE
Your hormone levels shift periodically and throughout your life because of aging, weight gain, and other factors, including pregnancy and menopause.
Many post-menopausal women find that their hair just won’t grow like it used to. The hair on their scalp thins, while the chin or upper lip sprouts patches of “peach fuzz.” These changes are very normal. In fact, one study found that almost 40% of women age 45 and older have an excess of facial hair growth, especially on the chin. According to another study, it is very likely you will experience unwanted facial hair after menopause.
What Can I Do About Unwanted Facial Hair?
There’s nothing wrong or unhealthy about growing sparse facial hair. There’s nothing dangerous about a few extra chin hairs, after all. But if it bothers you, there are things you can do to remove the hair or minimize its appearance. It is understandable that some women won’t welcome this change in appearance. Waxing, shaving, and tweezing are perfectly acceptable ways to deal with unwanted hairs. Based on the degree of growth, plucking, tweezing, threading, or waxing may do the trick.
Your doctor can also prescribe a topical cream to slow the growth or refer you to a clinic that can perform electrolysis or laser treatment for hair removal. Electrolysis eliminates hairs by killing hair follicles with a targeted electric current. If you can afford it, electrolysis or laser hair removal may be options. These result in the permanent destruction of the hair follicle so it can’t grow back.
But this technique works best on dark hairs and is less effective for blonde or peach-fuzz type hair growth.
URINARY PROBLEMS
AND MENOPAUSE
The hormone estrogen is partly responsible for maintaining elasticity in the vaginal and urethral tissues. Unfortunately, during menopause, what happens is the body begins to slow the circulation of estrogen. The result of which is a thinning out of the urogenital tissue. This then weakens the muscles that control the bladder and urinary functions.
This is what causes bladder control and urinary problems during menopause that some women report. Low estrogen at menopause, combined with normal aging, may result in annoying symptoms of vaginal dryness, incontinence, and urinary tract infections.
Unlike other symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, urogenital atrophy symptoms can become worse as the woman ages.
Symptoms of Urinary Incontinence During Menopause
Urinary incontinence, bladder control problems are common for women going through menopause.
After the end of your menstrual cycles, your body stops making the female hormone estrogen. In addition to controlling your monthly periods and the changes during pregnancy, estrogen also helps keep the lining of the bladder and the urethra healthy.
As we age, many factors can weaken the pelvic floor muscles responsible for bladder control resulting in urinary incontinence. This includes damage during pregnancy, childbirth, and weight gain.
Women with urinary incontinence can experience symptoms beyond leakage. It’s important to note which symptoms are affecting you so that you can relay the information to your gynecologist. Some symptoms include:
- Frequency – Urinating more often than normal
- Urgency – The urge to urinate, even if the bladder is empty
- Feelings of pressure or discomfort in the lower abdomen
- Dysuria – Painful urination or burning while urinating
- Nocturia – The need to get out of bed to urinate several times a night
- Enuresis – Urinating the bed while asleep
URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS IN MENOPAUSE
URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS
IN MENOPAUSE
Recurrent UTIs are common among both young healthy women and healthy women at midlife. Here’s why. There are many types of bacteria that normally live in the vagina and happily coexist. And they keep each other in check, like a mini-ecosystem. The hormone estrogen allows the “good” bacteria called Lactobacillus to thrive. These bacteria produce acid, which lowers the pH in the vagina, which helps keep the “bad” bacteria in check.
For women at midlife, the main culprits behind recurrent UTIs are physical changes, including thinning of vaginal tissue, pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, and trouble completely emptying the bladder. The lower levels of estrogen after menopause are also a factor.
Perhaps you’re no stranger to urinary tract infections (UTIs), or maybe you’re the opposite, and you’ve been spared by the urinary health gods. Whichever the case, UTIs after menopause can happen to anyone. They are the second most common type of bacterial infections seen by healthcare providers.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) occurs when bacteria from the bowel enters and travels up the urethra. Women are fairly prone to urinary tract infections because of the shortness of their urethra and the close proximity of the urethra to the vagina and anus. Bacteria that live in this moist environment can spread to the urinary tract during sex or with the use of certain vaginal birth control methods.
Bacteria that travel up the urinary tract can affect the urinary organs beyond the urethra. The urethra and bladder are known as the lower urinary tract. If the bacteria reach the bladder, the woman may develop a bladder infection, also known as cystitis.
If the infection spreads to the upper urinary tract, it affects the ureters and kidneys as well. A kidney infection is known as pyelonephritis and can be a serious medical condition.
What are UTI Symptoms for Women after Menopause?
UTIs may present themselves differently in postmenopausal women. The typical features of UTI should next be examined: urinary urgency, frequency, dysuria, hesitancy, and low back pain. Because postmenopausal women may not present to the clinician with “typical” UTI symptoms, it is important to investigate for atypical UTI presentations. Symptoms of increasing mental confusion, incontinence, unexplained falls, loss of appetite, and nocturia are atypical clinical manifestations that may occur in the older postmenopausal female:
- Urosepsis or septic shock (severe hypotension, fever, tachycardia, tachypnea).
- Have symptoms only of urinary incontinence or a combination of symptoms.
- Mental changes or confusion, nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain, or cough, and shortness of breath.
- A study of women aged 18 to 87 years revealed that a generalized sense of “feeling out of sorts” was frequent in adult women with acute uncomplicated lower UTI.
VAGINAL DRYNESS IN MENOPAUSE
VAGINAL DRYNESS
IN MENOPAUSE
Vaginal dryness can be a problem for many postmenopausal women. About one-third of women experience it at menopausal onset and that number only grows as women age.
Vaginal dryness is a hallmark sign of the genitourinary syndrome of menopause, also known as atrophic vaginitis or vaginal atrophy. With this condition, vaginal tissues become thinner and more easily irritated — resulting from the natural decline in your body’s estrogen levels during menopause.
Vaginal dryness might not impact your day-to-day activities, but it can lead to itching or stinging. Many women also report that it has negatively affected their sex life leading to decreased sexual activity, causing frustrations for both partners.
Painful intercourse can then have a knock-on effect contributing to a loss of sexual desire causing sexual problems. The relief of symptoms often leads to increased sexual desire and arousal and better sexual health.
Pain during other times – in many cases vaginal dryness does not only cause pain during sex it can make it uncomfortable to sit, stand, exercise, urinate, or even work. Vaginal dryness can affect everyday life, whether women are sexually active or not. This can have a detrimental effect on the quality of life.
There are some minimally-invasive effective treatments for vaginal dryness that can help ease the symptoms and restore vaginal health.
WEIGHT GAIN IN MENOPAUSE
WEIGHT GAIN
IN MENOPAUSE
It seems cruel that just as we begin to relax because we no longer menstruate, we get hit by a host of new challenges instead, like menopausal symptoms. Not only does menopause (and perimenopause) cause hot flashes, incontinence, vaginal dryness, and more in some women, it can also cause us to gain weight!
Most menopausal women can expect to see some weight gain, especially around the waist. The hormonal changes of menopause might make you more likely to gain abdominal fat than gain weight around your hips and thighs.
Not all weight gain is a threat to your health, but gaining too much weight can tax your body and lead to hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. A larger waistline raises these risks even more. There’s a link between estrogen and body fat storage. Post-menopausal women burn less fat than they did in their pre-menopausal years.
During the menopause transition, night sweats, sleep disturbance, and mood problems are common and may affect a woman’s ability to adhere to a healthy diet and exercise.
With your medical professionals’ help and some lifestyle changes on your part, you should be able to manage your weight and stay healthy through menopause.
Exercise During Menopause
Exercise has so many health benefits. The more active you are, the less weight you’re likely to gain. Exercise is one of the most effective ways to:
- Manage your weight
- Retain bone density, lowering risks of osteoporosis
- Relieve mood issues and depression
- Reduce your odds of having a heart attack
- Lower the risks of cardiovascular disease
- Improve insulin resistance
- Lower chances of developing type II diabetes
- Strengthen your muscles and joints
- Increase sexual health
- and the list goes on and on.
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