Menopause

Thursday Halaqa Notes

Menopause (Ayaas) 

12/14/12

Dr. Kinda Jasim
MCA Santa Clara, CA

From birth to 20 years of age, our bodies are growing. Then from Age 20 - 30, your body is in peak physical condition. But after age 30, everything in your body begins to age. Menopause is basically the aging of the ovaries. At around 40 years old, you may start having symptoms of menopause - this stage is called peri-menopause. The ovaries begin to age so most eggs no longer leave the fallopian tubes. At around age 51, you stop menstruating and menopause begins. At this point you cannot get pregnant. However, menopause is not classified until you have not menstruated for a year, because the symptoms could be due to some other condition. So it is important to see a doctor for any menopause symptoms.

Menopause symptoms:

1. Hot flashes. This affects two thirds of women. 

• You feel hot, your face gets red, and you may sweat, some more than others. 
• This is how your body deals with the sudden temperature increase inside your body because of the changing hormones. 
• What  you can do: Avoid spicy foods, caffeine, and hot soup. 
• It happens more often in the night, so try to be in a cool place in the evenings and avoid those foods in the evening. 
• If you are in a hot place and you get a hot flash, get out of that place and take 5 - 10 slow deep breaths. 
• Try to wear cotton hijabs and clothes so the skin can breathe. 
• Wear layers so that if you get hot you can take some layers off. 
• You can also try hormone therapy from your doctor. 
• Hot flashes tend to worsen in the evening and at night which will disturb sleep. It may or may not be associated with heart palpitations.

2. Dryness of the body, including vaginal dryness. Most women will have this. 

• It is the aging of the vaginal skin.
•  What you can do: Use an estrogen cream, use KY jelly, continue sexual relations because if it stops or lessens then it gets more dry. 

3. Mood swings.

• This is due to the hormones in the brain going up and down. 
• This also happens sometimes before your monthly period. 

4. Hair shedding.

5. Increased heartbeat. 

• If this happens at night, then you will have trouble sleeping, which will lead to you being tired and moody the next day.

6. Urinary incontinence. 

• This is when your bladder leaks if you laugh or sneeze. 
• What you can do: do the kegel exercises where you squeeze the vaginal muscles. This will help with vaginal dryness too.

The important thing is that if you get any of these symptoms you need to go to the doctor and have a checkup. Because they are not necessarily due to menopause. It could be from something else. 

Also it is very important to communicate with your husband about any symptoms you are going through. Be open and honest about your discomforts.

The third important point is not to confuse menopause symptoms with depression. 

Depression checklist:

- Feel depressed everyday for more than 3 months. After any stressful situation it is normal to feel depressed but after 3 months you should be feeling normal. After that it becomes depression.

- Weight gain or loss.

- Sleep a lot or sleep only a little.

- Can't sit, need to keep moving but not getting anything done.

- Slow in getting things done.

- Cry without a reason.

The last important issue is osteoporosis. Osteoperosis is a serious condition that some women suffer from after menopause. After age 20 the bones start aging too. So it is important to consume enough calcium in early life to have a strong skeleton. Bones are alive and have cells: one kind that builds and another kind that destroys. After age 30 the cells that build start decreasing. What you can do: take vitamin D & calcium, especially after age 35.