Menopause For Dummies

Marcia L. Jones, Theresa Eichenwald, Nancy W. Hall

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470053430
• eBook ISBN: 9781118068113
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: General Health

A comprehensive and practical guide for women of all ages to gain a clear view of the physical, mental, and emotional changes related to menopause

Although menopause is a natural and inevitable stage in every woman's life, its physical, mental, and emotional manifestations can vary greatly from one person to the next. Add the conflicting "expert" information about the benefits, risks, and side effects to which women are exposed on a daily basis, and it's easy to see many women find it difficult to make informed choices about how to deal with their menopausal symptoms.

Authored by a team of acknowledged experts in treating menopausal symptoms, ? Menopause For Dummies ?provides you with all the information you need to stay in control every step of the way. In plain English, it explains the role menopause plays in a variety of common health problems, such as osteoporosis, stroke, and heart disease. It walks you through proven measures for minimizing your risk of developing complications, including diet and exercise, stress management, hormone replacement, and other techniques. And this no-nonsense guide gives you authoritative, up-to-the-minute coverage of:

• How to identify pre-menopause (perimenopause) and what it means
• The stages of menopause
• How menopause can affect your body, emotions, and libido
• The latest facts about hormone replacement therapy
• The pros and cons of various alternative treatments
• The best ways of handling hot flashes
• Easing symptoms with diet and exercise
• Preventing bone loss
• Helpful lifestyle changes

This book has four top ten lists to provide even more ways of navigating the changes you'll experience throughout menopause—exposing common myths about menopause, giving you the scoop on medical tests you might need, kicking around ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate your exercise routine, and tempting you with fabulous healthy foods (because eating healthy doesn't have to be boring).

Additionally, the book has a glossary and a list of resources to find more information about menopause, hormones, and related conditions. With Menopause For Dummies in your corner, you'll have a kinder, gentler "change of life."

Part I

The Main Facts about Menopause

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

T he first act of Dance of the Hormones probably occurred three decades or so ago for you. Remember the bittersweet tale of teenage angst and joy that we call puberty? And now, intermission (the menstrual years) may be coming to a close as the hormones once again take the stage for the second act — menopause. Take your seat and get ready to peruse your program . . . uh, Part I of this book.

In Part I, we provide you with an outline to your menopausal years. We define menopause, review the biology, introduce you to the actors —your hormones — and briefly review the related symptoms and health conditions (physical, mental, and emotional). There’s even a special scene with a little extra drama for those of you for whom the menopause curtain rose early. Get to it before the usher dims the lights.

Chapter 1

Mapping Out Menopause

In This Chapter

Getting your feet wet with the basics on menopause

Figuring out where you are on the menopausal roadmap

Understanding the symptoms

Outlining healthcare options

Living a long and healthy life

“You’ve come a long way, baby” seems like a recurring slogan for baby boomers. The phrase certainly says a lot about the women of this generation as they approach the rite of passage called menopause. As an individual, you no doubt feel like you’ve come a long way in your life by the time you begin to think about menopause. Society in general, and women in particular, have also come a long way in opening up the discussion about the mysteries of menopause.

The phrase “you’ve come a long way, baby” closes with “but you’ve got such a long way to go.” Women today may well live 40 or 50 years after menopause. We all want to enjoy these years by visiting friends, taking care of our loved ones and ourselves, and pursuing favorite interests (old and new). In this chapter, we introduce you to menopause so you know what to expect when the time comes or what has been happening to you if you’re already in transition.

Defining Menopause

Puberty and menopause bracket the reproductive season of your life, and they share many characteristics. They’re both transitions (meaning that they don’t last forever); they’re both triggered by hormones; they both cause physical and emotional changes (that sometimes drive you crazy); and they both close some doors and enrich your life by opening new ones.

Puberty was the time when your hormones first swung into action. It marked the beginning of your reproductive years. Remember the ride? Your hormone levels shifted wildly when you got your first menstrual period. Your emotions probably went a little haywire for a while, too. Over the course of a few years, your hormones found a comfortable level. Your unpredictable periods finally settled into a predictable pattern, and your emotional balance was more or less restored.

At the end of your reproductive years, your hormone levels go through a similar dance (this time causing the midlife mood swings), but your hormones eventually find a new, lower level of production. Your periods are erratic for a while, but they eventually wind down and stop. So do those emotional roller coaster rides. Unfortunately, this time can be just as confusing as when you experienced puberty — fortunately, we use this section to unravel the basic mystery for you.

Getting the terminology right

Have you ever noticed how you don’t really pay close attention to directions or where you’re going when you’re the passenger in a car? You only start to worry about every exit number and stop light when you’re the one behind the wheel. Well, menopause is like that. You hear about menopause and menopausal symptoms, but you rarely pay much attention to the particulars until it’s your turn.

When you do slide into the driver’s seat and start paying attention, you may become frustrated by the confusing terminology associated with the whole menopause thing. Aside from the pamphlets you get from the doctor’s office, most books, magazines, and articles treat menopause like a stage that starts with hot flashes and goes on for the rest of your life. But we know better. The following list gives you the lowdown on the terms associated with menopause:

Menopause: Menopause actually means the end of menstruation. During the years leading up to menopause (called perimenopause), your periods may be so erratic that you’re never sure which period will be the last one, but you aren’t officially menopausal until you haven’t had a period for a year.

Perimenopause: The term perimenopause refers to the time leading up to the cessation of menstruation, when estrogen production is slowing down. A lot of the symptoms that folks usually label as menopausal (hot flashes, mood swings, sleeplessness, and so on) actually take place during the perimenopausal years. We’re sticklers in this book about using the term perimenopause rather than menopause to describe this early phase because you’re still having periods. We also use perimenopause because we want to note the physiological and emotional changes you experience prior to the end of your periods and distinguish them from the changes that happen after your body has adjusted to lower levels of estrogen.

Postmenopause: Technically, the time after your last period is called postmenopause, but this word has never really caught on. So, in keeping with common usage, we most often use the term menopause to refer to the actual event and the years after menopause and use postmenopause only when it helps clarify things. When we talk about menopausal women in this book, we’re talking about women who have stopped having periods — whether they’re 55 or 75.

The years leading up to and following menopause mark a pretty major transformation in a woman’s life. As you make your way through this period of your life, you’ll want to know where you’re at within the whole grand scope of the change and what’s going on inside you. Here’s a brief description of the phases associated with menopause. (Don’t worry: We give you a lot more detail about the various stages in Chapters 2 and 4.)

Approaching the change: Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the stage during which your hormones start to shift gears. Some months, your hormones operate at the levels they’ve worked at for the past 30 years or so; other months, your aging ovaries don’t produce estrogen when they should. Your brain responds to this lack of estrogen production by sending a signal to try to get those ovaries jumpstarted. When they receive the signal, your aging ovaries overcompensate but don’t produce estrogen in the same quantities that they used to.

Your period is late because your ovaries produced less estrogen during the first part of your normal cycle, or because you may never have ovulated, making the entire cycle weird and unusual — sometimes heavy, sometimes light.

So, during perimenopause, you still have your period, but you experience symptoms that folks associate with menopause. If you go to the doctor at this stage and ask, “What’s happening to me? Could this be menopause?” the doctor will often go straight to the “Could this be menopause?” part of your question. Of course you’re not menopausal if you’re still having periods. But the problem is that many doctors miss the first part of the question — t...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : The Main Facts about Menopause
• Chapter 1: Mapping Out Menopause
• Chapter 2: Talking Biology and Psychology: Your Mind and Body on Menopause
• Chapter 3: Fooling Mother Nature: Early Menopause
• Chapter 4: Getting In Sync with the Symptoms
• Part II : The Effects of Menopause on Your Body and Mind
• Chapter 5: The Business of Your Bones
• Chapter 6: Getting a Handle on Heart Health
• Chapter 7: Dealing with Vaginal and Urinary Changes
• Chapter 8: Examining Your Skin and Hair on Menopause
• Chapter 9: Maintaining Your Sex Life Through Menopause
• Chapter 10: Mental and Emotional Issues
• Part III : Treating the Effects
• Chapter 11: The Basics of Hormone Therapy
• Chapter 12: Understanding Hormone Therapy and Your Heart
• Chapter 13: Checking Out Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer
• Chapter 14: Reviewing Reproductive Cancers and Hormone Therapy
• Chapter 15: Considering Hormone Therapy and Other Health Conditions
• Chapter 16: Making the Decision about Hormone Therapy
• Chapter 17: Taking an Alternate Route: Non-Hormone Therapies
• Part IV : Lifestyle Issues for Menopause and Beyond
• Chapter 18: Eating for the Change
• Chapter 19: Focusing on Fitness
• Chapter 20: Enjoying a New Lease on Life
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 21: Ten Menopause Myths Exposed
• Chapter 22: Ten Medical Tests for Menopausal Women
• Chapter 23: Ten Terrific Fitness Programs for Menopausal Women
• Chapter 24: Ten Powerhouse Foods for Menopausal Women
• Part VI : Appendixes
• Appendix A: Glossary
• Appendix B: Resources