Menopause

Menopause is a natural stage in a woman’s life. This is the time when a woman’s menstruation ceases to occur. Inability to produce a child is a major consequence of menopause. A woman usually experiences a gradual decline in her monthly period and eventually menstruation completely stops. Accompanying the termination of menstruation is the cessation of the physiologic mechanism that produces menstruation. A combined syndrome of physiologic and psychosocial changes frequently comes with menopause. A declining ovarian function causes much of these changes in a woman’s physiologic and psychosocial state.

Have you ever wondered what causes menopause? This phenomenon comes in three different forms. A woman may experience physiologic, pathologic, or artificial form of menopause. A woman between the ages 40 and 50 is said to experience the physiologic form when she begins to experience a normal decline in her ovarian function. This condition is due to the normal aging process that every woman undergoes in her life. The declining ovarian function causes infrequent ovulation and a lowered menstrual function. All these occurrences terminate into menstrual cessation. Termination of menstruation usually occurs between ages 45 and 55. The pathologic form on the other hand is referred to as premature menopause. This form occurs as a gradual or abrupt ending of menstruation occurring before a woman reaches the age of 40. It is estimated that about 5% of all women in the United States suffer idiopathically from menopause. However, some diseases may also cause pathologic menopause. Diseases like severe infection and tumors in the reproductive tract are the most common causative factors. These types of diseases often cause severe damage to the ovarian function resulting to the early termination of menstruation. Moreover, there are other conditions, which can predispose a woman to pathologic menopause. These conditions include extreme emotional stress, exposure to excessive radiation, and malnutrition. Women who undergo any surgical procedure that impairs the ovarian blood supply are also likely candidates to the pathological type of menopause. Women who experience debilitation are also predisposed to early cessation of menstruation. Artificial menopause, which is the last form, occurs when there is termination of functions of the ovary after a woman undergoes radiation therapy or certain surgical procedures like oophorectomy. Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of an ovary.

Finally, a menopausal woman may or may not experience noticeable changes in her body aside from the termination of menstruation. This stage brings varying reactions to each individual. Some women embrace this stage as a new freedom in life. Others find it depressing and feel that they are stripped of their femininity. Moreover, they feel that their incapacity to bear a child leaves them no purpose in life. In whatever way a woman receives this change, menopause is still a reality every woman without any exception will experience in her life. A good advice is to embrace this and be happy with this change. This may have some good surprises for you.