It’s been two years and you’re still night sweatin’. what! When are the roller coaster emotions, hot flashes, night sweats, irregular periods, no or low libido and dryness gonna go? They should have been over long ago. It turns out that according to studies menopausal symptoms can last over five years. Some women even suffer for a decade or more.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/703259
Hot flashes affect about 75 to 85% of American women. They are like a sudden flash of heat that spread over your entire body particularly reddening your face and upper body and curling your fringy follicles. So Shirley T., but not necessarily as cute on you as it was for the lollipop sweetie. Uncomfortable and unsightly they are the body’s reaction to a decreased supply of hormone estrogen, which occurs naturally in the midst of menopause.
When the hot flashes occur at night they are aptly called night sweats but more intensely heated then the day player version, Great! It is not a sleep disorder but it is a common side affect of this precious time period.
Your monthly pal that averages a visit every 28 days can amp up visitation to every 24 days or skip several months in a row than show up and stick around for 30 days in a row. Again this is a common condition for women in there 40’s and 50’s. It is a lack of hormonal balance or a decrease in estrogen production that causes the irregularity.
Loss of libido and vaginal dryness are hand in hand issues. When your estrogen levels drop the walls of your vagina, which is normally very supple, thin and lose their elasticity. Your vagina becomes dryer and takes longer to become lubricated. This of course makes intercourse uncomfortable and certainly not topping your list of must do’s.
My favorite symptom, mood swings and sudden tears. Oh joy, I get to be even more weepy than just once a month. It’s like being on your very own personal rollercoaster. The feelings can be intense, sudden and very very real.
http://www.breastcancer.org/tips/menopausal/facing/hot_flashes.jsp
Want to take control of this all-encompassing and inevitable life process? Well then, you better get your body moving. That’s right, my lifelong mantra is the answer to your soaking PJ’s and unexplainable sobbing. Four to six hours a week of working out will get you back on an even keel.
Women who committed to exercising daily spent significantly less time suffering menopausal symptoms, says Nananda Col, MD, director of Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, at Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Portland. Gotta keep up the pace for at least four times a week and optimally six. It’s never too late to start and the positive results will take hold within the first eight weeks of beginning an exercise program.
And as an extra bonus keep the inevitable menopausal weight gain at bay exercising at a moderate pace for one hour everyday.
