Dealing With Symptoms Of Menopause
There is quite a lot of confusion about some of the terms used to describe the time around menopause. The word ‘menopause’ is popularly used to describe the whole time span in which women experience symptoms from changing hormone levels. In fact, the word simply describes the last menstrual period, just as ‘menarche’ describes the first.
The period of regular menstruation cycle and before the decline of hormone levels is called by some as premenopause. The time before the last period is called by some as perimenopause.
The weeks before and after the final menstrual period are referred to as “perimenopause”, sometimes called the “climacteric”. Hormone levels will have begun to change. When the fluctuations settle, symptoms will cease. It has become common for for women to refer to this period of time as their menopause.
Postmenopause actually starts the day after the last menstrual bleed and describes any time after that. It includes some of the perimenopause, and a woman after her last period is described as postmenopausal, although the term will not be used until a year after the last period because no one will be sure which the last one was until a year has passed. Ninety percent of women in the perimenopause who have not had a period for six months do not have another one.
Menopause, Estrogen and Other Female Hormones
The levels of progesterone and estrogen diminish it called menopause. During the menopause the supply and quality of eggs declines in midlife, hormone production from the ovaries becomes erratic. Approximately 28-day cycle estrogen and progesterone are produced and released until the menopause stage
Premenopausal. During the first half of the menstrual cycle is when estrogen levels reach their peak. After ovulation these levels then decline gain and progesterone levels start to increase. If the egg does not get fertilized these hormones both decline which triggers menstruation.
Perimenopausal. Estrogen is still being produced by the ovaries, but ovulation is sporadic, so progesterone is not produced every cycle and there may not be a monthly bleed.
Postmenopausal. The small amount of estrogen now present is mainly produced by fat cells breaking down and converting the male hormone androstenedione.
How Estrogen Affects Bone Health and Osteoporosis
Lower estrogen levels in blood can lead to osteoporosis and brittle bones amongst women. This is corroborated by the facts that in the Western world about quarter of women develop brittle bones around the age 60, which is just 10 years after menopause and about half the women have high degree of osteoporosis by the age of 70. There are many different treatment for menopause options that can help protect you against osteoporosis, so take time to discuss your options with your doctor or health professional.
The metabolism of calcium, the mineral mainly involved in bone building, is in part dependent on estrogen and there are estrogen receptors in the osteoclasts and osteoblasts. The levels of available calcium circulating in the bloodstream are partly controlled by the hormones calcitonin and parathyroid hormone.
Our bones store most of the calcium, and if at all blood calcium levels come down the parathyroid hormone will cause the bone and release calcium into the blood. After menopause, low estrogen levels make bone more sensitive to parathyroid hormone, making it more fragile.
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