The Dangers of Ig When it comes to the lives of women, menopause is a watershed moment in their lives, as it marks the official end of the years of menstruation while also signaling the almost complete cessation of the individual’s reproductive capability. It can be distinguished by the absence of menstrual periods for 12 or more consecutive months without the presence of lactation or any other physiological causes of the absence of menstrual periods.
Menopause Medical Complications
In addition to the implications of approaching old age that it carries, many women fear the onset of menopause because of the numerous symptoms it brings with it, including anxiety and depression, loss of libido and vaginal dryness, hot flashes and night sweats, as well as sleep and concentration disturbances. These symptoms may appear years before menopause and may persist for up to seven years after the onset of the menopause.
Other complications, on the other hand, have the potential to be far more serious. It is possible for postmenopausal women to experience cardiovascular problems as well as bone loss and weight gain, as well as bladder incontinence and increased fat mass. Menopausal symptoms, taken as a whole, are a real problem for many women, affecting their quality of life to the point where they cause loss of productivity and health.
Before periods finally come to an end, changes in the pattern of the menstrual cycle can be observed for several years. Some women have irregular menstrual cycles, while others have more frequent periods. Some people have light bleeding, while others have heavy bleeding. Other individuals simply continue to have shorter and lighter cycles until they are no longer effective.
Despite the fact that menopause is a physiological event, it is associated with a higher risk of developing certain diseases, such as osteoporosis and fractures, as well as cardiovascular disease. norance Surrounding Menopause
Diseases of the Cardiovascular System
Menopausal women are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, which can be attributed to the combined effects of vasoconstriction and unfavorable changes in their lipid profile. The risk of stroke and coronary artery disease in post-menopausal women is increased by 2-3 times compared to pre-menopausal women. HRT to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease is most effective when started within 10 years of the last period, when the woman is younger than 60 years old, when she has no history of smoking, and when she has a favorable lipid profile.
Osteoporosis
When a woman reaches menopause, her bone strength suffers significantly as a result of estrogen deficiency, which begins around the age of 40. At this point, 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent of bone is lost each year, with the rate of loss increasing tenfold over the next 5-7 years. However, because of the risks associated with HRT, women should consider alternative, less risky methods of improving bone health instead. Exercise, quitting smoking, and taking calcium supplements are all examples of preventative measures.
Urinary Incontinence (UI) is a condition in which a person’s
Women who are approaching menopause may notice that they have poor bladder control, particularly when sneezing, coughing, laughing, or lifting moderately heavy objects, which is associated with a higher incidence of urinary infections than other women.
Sexual intercourse may be painful as a result of urovaginal dryness, which can lead to a secondary loss of libido, which can exacerbate a reduction in sexual desire as a result of the hormonal changes themselves. The resulting changes in interpersonal relationships may cause this to spiral into a vicious cycle.
EFFECTS AT WORKPLACE
Women experiencing menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes, heavy periods, urinary urgency or incontinence, poor sleep, headaches and migraines, low mood, irritability, anxiety or panic attacks, and memory loss, among other symptoms, may experience difficulties at work. Failure to recognize the reasons for a decline in performance or the need for breaks or days off during this time period could result in discriminatory treatment of women in the workplace.
Risks of Ignoring Medical Conditions
An issue to be cautious of is the possibility that by assuming that all of these changes are caused by menopause or its impending arrival, the presence of organic illness may be overlooked. Amenorrhea, for example, could be caused by pregnancy, endometrial diseases such as Asherman’s syndrome, scarring following curettage, tuberculosis, or endometrial cancer, among other things.
Changes in the pattern of one’s menstrual bleeding may indicate the presence of reproductive tract cancers or tumors, anemia, thyroid conditions, or other endocrine disorders.
It is also possible that the endocrine axis, which regulates the function of the endometrium, is dysfunctional, with some possible causes including obesity, malignancy, anorexia nervosa, and abnormally high prolactin levels, all of which operate at the level of the brain. Ovarian dysfunction, such as polycystic ovarian disease and premature ovarian failure, as well as ovarian tumors, could also be present in the patient.
Separating these causes from one another should be easier with a methodical investigation. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels are important in this regard, particularly when menopausal vasomotor symptoms are present. The presence of FSH levels greater than 25 IU/L typically indicates that menopause is imminent or has already occurred, which is confirmed by levels greater than 40 IU/L for a year or more after the cessation of periods.
3-6 years of amenorrhea results in a plateau in FSH levels, with the ovaries displaying a low number of antral follicles and signs of urogenital atrophy beginning to appear. Vasomotor symptoms gradually fade over a period of 7 years on average.
The Risks of Menopause Treatment
Menopausal hormone replacement therapy is something that many women are familiar with (HRT). This type of treatment is based on the hypothesis that menopausal symptoms are caused by an inadequate supply of estrogen. HRT is intended to reduce the number of disturbances caused by menopausal symptoms while also avoiding the long-term complications listed above.
It is possible to use both estrogen and progesterone at the same time, or just estrogen. It can be administered orally, topically, or through the use of patches applied to the skin. In this case, a single dosage may be used throughout, or the dose may be varied to more accurately reflect earlier cyclic changes in hormone levels.
Oral contraceptives that contain either estrogen or progesterone, progestin alone, or a combination of the two can all be used to treat vasomotor symptoms and vaginal atrophy, as well as to prevent bone loss while maintaining a healthy lipoprotein profile. It should be noted, however, that the use of hormone therapy is associated with a higher risk of developing a number of serious and life-threatening medical conditions.
Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, thromboembolic events, stroke, and cardiovascular disease are examples of such conditions. The risk of breast cancer increases primarily as a result of the increase in breast tissue mass over the first year following the start of therapy and continues to rise after 3-5 years of combined therapy, but only after 7 years of estrogen therapy alone.
Vaginal bleeding, urinary incontinence, dementia over the age of 65, cardiovascular events such as stroke, blood clots, and heart attacks until the cessation of therapy are some of the other health risks associated with the use of HRT. Mammograms are also less effective in the early detection of breast cancers when used with HRT. It is critical to strike a balance between this and the knowledge that overall mortality does not increase with the use of hormone replacement therapy.
