About Menopause and Menopause Symptoms
A woman’s body changes throughout her lifetime. Many of those changes are due to varying hormone levels that happen at different stages in life. Puberty often starts when a girl is about 12 years old. Her body changes—breasts and pubic hair develop, monthly periods begin.Menopausal transition, commonly called perimenopause, is the time when a woman’s body is closer to menopause. At this time, a woman’s periods may become less regular, and she may start to feel menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Perimenopause usually begins about 2 to 4 years before the last menstrual period. It lasts for about 1 year after your last period. Menopause is marked by a woman’s last menstrual period. You cannot know for sure what is your last period until you have been period free for 1 full year. Postmenopause follows menopause and lasts the rest of your life. Pregnancy is no longer possible. There may be some symptoms, such as vaginal dryness, which may continue long after you have passed through menopause.
Changing hormone levels can cause a variety of symptoms that may last from a few months to a few years or longer. Some women have slight discomfort or worse. Others have little or no trouble. If any of these changes bother you, check with your doctor.
What Increases Your Risk of Menopause
Menopause is likely to occur naturally after age 45. However, menopause will occur at any age following the removal of both ovaries (oophorectomy). Radiation therapy or other treatment that damages the ovaries so that they no longer function will also cause early menopause.Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
Menopause is a natural occurrence in a woman's reproductive life. So why not treat it in a natural way? Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the standard treatment for menopause among healthcare providers; however there remains considerable controversy about the benefits and risks associated with standard HRT drugs.For the past several decades, conventional medicine has treated hot flashes and other menopausal discomforts with estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). But because ERT is contraindicated for women with a history of cancer, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which combines estrogen with a synthetic progesterone, is often used instead. But many women don't want to take the potential increased risk of cancer associated with ERT, or they dislike the cyclical bleeding & significant side effects often caused by HRT.
Natural solution
Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring compounds derived from plants that have estrogenic activity. They have a similar chemical structure to estrogen and bind to the receptors, acting like hormone regulators. As a group of compounds they exhibit many properties and can behave by boosting estrogen effects even though the dose is minuscule. They can also act to minimize the effect of estrogen when there is excess and seem to have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and reduce the effects of viruses.Click here for more information..