Posted On: 2024-10-05 12:00:57
October is annually observed as a Menopause Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to raising awareness about menopause and its symptoms. In layman’s terms, menopause is when a woman stops menstruating, which usually happens in older women. In India, the average age of menopause is 46.2 years, which is lower than most developed countries. The reasons for this are various like illiteracy, poor socio-economic background and low weight. Menopause can also happen if you have a history of cancer treatment.
However, menopause comes with a wide range of symptoms that many might not be aware of: vaginal dryness, hot flashes (sudden feeling of warmth causing sweats and redness of neck), night sweats, sleep problems, mood changes, and trouble finding words and remembering. It’s really important to visit a healthcare professional during menopause.
However, it is not necessary for menopause to occur at older ages. It has also been recorded in younger women before the age of 40 and is officially known as premature menopause. If you are younger than the age of 45 and haven’t had a period for more than three months, then visit a doctor as quickly as possible. You might be asked to do a pregnancy test, hormone tests (e.g. oestrogen, prolactin, FSH) or a vaginal or internal ultrasound.
Premature menopause can be caused by various factors such as having menstruation before the age of 11, family history of early menopause, smoking, epilepsy, surgery on ovaries, genetic abnormalities, metabolic disorders and infection.
During menopause, a doctor might prescribe some therapies like menopausal hormone therapy; which is available as tablets, patches, gels or vaginal treatments. It greatly reduces your symptoms and improves your skin and hair health, headaches, aches and pains, irritability, sleeplessness, sex drive, dizziness and vertigo. There are non-hormonal options available as well which come in the form of antidepressants, gabapentin and clonidine.
You can also make personal changes to manage your symptoms like avoiding triggers, reducing stress, staying in cooler environments, maintaining a healthy weight and adopting healthy lifestyle habits like exercising, avoiding caffeine and nicotine etc.
Menopause can have an effect on your professional life, this is due to lack of awareness. In such circumstances, it is really important to talk about your health to your employer. If you are a partner of someone experiencing menopause, you need to be supportive, allow your partner to express emotions and symptoms, be patient when it comes to sex and encourage your partner to be open about their difficulties.
Filaantro supports women undergoing menopause and seeking treatment for the same. If you are experiencing menopause and need funds for the same, feel free to reach out to us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Make sure to share it with all your friends and family members.
AUTHOR: Adil Sayyad
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