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Symptoms of Menopause

You may experience different symptoms associated with menopause as your levels of estrogen and progesterone levels change. There are some common symptoms that many women report during this stage in their lives. Not, every woman that is going through menopause has all of the symptoms and others have very severe symptoms. Just like every woman’s menstrual cycle is not the same and every child bearing experience is different, so are the symptoms of menopause.

The most common symptoms are irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, anxiety, palpitations, depression, insomnia, tiredness and fatigue, vaginal dryness, urinary changes, loss of sex drive, changes in your body including weight gain and or hair loss, headaches, memory problems, and aches and pains and the final symptom being absence of menstruation.

One of the very first signs of menopause is irregular periods. Your periods can become very unpredictable. They can be very light or very heavy. Some women have experienced heavy periods lasting many days to periods that are only three weeks apart. Even not having a period for an entire two months or longer can be expected. Then you may have one that lasts only 2 to 3 days. Like I said your periods can be very unpredictable.

Hot flashes and night sweats are another beginning sign of menopause or perimenopause. Hot flashes are a very abrupt feeling of heat to your upper body, chest and face. Some times the face and neck become flushed, while other women only break out in beads of sweat. The heavy sweating is usually followed by a cold shivering. This can be very uncomfortable especially during the night. These flashes can be very short lived lasting no more than 5 minutes.

Yes, because of the hormone changes happening to your body you will notice mood swings. This can come on suddenly and without warning. You may become very sad for no apparent reason and then shortly be back to your happy self. Some of these feelings may be brought with the knowledge that you are growing older and that your child bearing years are behind you. Anxiety and depression are also in this category. You may notice that little things can cause you to be irritable where before they never bothered you at all.

Being more tired, fatigued, or having insomnia have always been complaints of women during menopause. These symptoms can be brought on from the night sweats where you may be experience an interrupted sleep pattern.

Vaginal dryness, urinary changes, and loss of sex drive all go hand in hand. The body tissue in the genital area becomes drier and thinner as estrogen levels change. This will cause vaginal dryness and can cause painful intercourse. These symptoms can make your sex drive lower than before. While the lining of your vagina is changing so are the other organs around the vagina including your bladder and urinary tract. You may need to urinate more frequently and have a tendency for more infections.

Weight gain may be possible. Some women have noticed a slight weight gain in and around their waist. This does not mean that you are going to put on 50 pounds, it just means you will notice a larger waist line. Hair loss in some women has also been reported during menopause.

Headaches, memory problems, and aches and pains all have also been major complaints of women during this stage in their lives. But, some of these symptoms could be associated with age more than menopause directly.