Life begins after 40

"After 40, life just begins" – said the heroine of Vera Alentova in the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears". At the age of 20, this is very hard to believe. However, years go by, children grow up, get married, grandchildren are born… Everyone wants to be in time, everyone wants to help. And at work, women's careers are usually less rapid than men's. Its peak falls on 40-45 years. Adult children require less attention – live and be happy, pay attention to yourself, your husband, see the world – travel. But it was at this moment that nature prepared a not-too-pleasant surprise for the woman – climacteric syndrome.

Popova Tatyana Alekseevna PhD, gynecologist-endocrinologist, head of the "Women's Health Center" of the clinic "MDclinic"

The average age of menopause in Ukraine is 47 years, and the average age of death for women in our country is 75 years. By simple mathematical calculations, we see that a woman spends 1/3 of her life in menopause. How will these years go? This issue can be resolved in favor of a woman with the current level of development of medicine.

What is the menopause? 

That terrible word "menopause"

If we translate this word, we will find out what it means "step". Thus, this is a certain stage in a woman's life, and the manifestations of menopause are associated with the extinction of ovarian function. If we are not talking about surgical removal of the ovaries (castration), then the process of ovarian function extinction occurs slowly – usually within a few years. First, menstruation begins to go more often – the cycle is shortened, then delays appear, which are sometimes replaced by bleeding.

Menopause – This is the last menstruation in a woman's life. The fact that she was the last, we learn retrospectively – after 1 year. If a woman has not menstruated for 1 year, then menstruation should no longer be, and spotting that appears after 1 year is a reason to see a doctor, because. this can be a manifestation of very serious problems.

All manifestations of the climacteric syndrome can be divided into early, medium-term and late. Early symptoms (hot flashes, sweating, fluctuations in blood pressure, palpitations, irritability, decreased memory and concentration, sleep disturbances) may appear already when the first menstrual irregularities appear, and may continue for some women for quite a long time – sometimes up to 10 years.

After 1.5-2 years after the cessation of menstruation, the early symptoms are joined by medium-term – they are associated with atrophic phenomena in the mucous membranes of both the urogenital tract and other mucous membranes of the body (for example, lining the joints from the inside, as well as the conjunctiva of the eyes, oral mucosa). Problems such as dryness and burning in the vagina begin, sometimes dyspareunia (inability to have sex), urinary incontinence, frequent urge and discomfort when urinating, pain and crunching in the joints (especially small – hands, ankles, elbows, knees), it is during this period that the skin ages very quickly.

5 years after the cessation of menstruation, late metabolic disorders are already beginning to appear – a change in the figure according to the male type (deposition of fat on the abdomen and waist), an increased risk of atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus, bones begin to lose calcium, and osteoporosis develops (bones become brittle like glass), memory impairment progresses, and in many eventually Alzheimer's disease develops (so-called senile dementia).

All these disorders appear in a woman's body precisely because the ovary stops producing the female hormone – estrogen. A woman needs it not only to get pregnant and menstruate. All organs and tissues of the female body are sensitive to it, and the whole body begins to suffer greatly from its absence.

Climax – illness or condition?

Often I have to hear the objection: menopause is not a disease. This is a state to which one must adapt. Personally, I have completely different beliefs. Why suffer and endure if there is an opportunity to solve these problems. If we treat age-related changes in this way and do not help people experience them, then what is the function of a modern doctor? Why, for example, wear glasses? After all, according to age, a person is already supposed to be old and blind! It seems to me that with age, the concept of not only life expectancy, but also the quality of this life becomes very relevant. And if we talk about the quality of life of a woman in menopause, then modern medicine has a full range of opportunities to give this very quality.

Remove causes

So, the treatment of any pathology can be pathogenetic (eliminating the causes of the problem) and symptomatic (eliminating certain manifestations of the disease). If we talk about menopause, then the cause of this condition is a deficiency of estrogen. Therefore, they came up with special hormone replacement therapy preparations that contain very low doses of natural estrogen. Previously, they wrote and talked a lot about the elixir of eternal youth, but now for some reason they are silent about the fact that it was invented.

Remember how the patient asked Professor Preobrazhensky to transplant her with the ovaries of a young monkey? She didn't want to grow old. So, hormone replacement therapy pills can be considered just not a medicine at all, but a small piece of an ovary that works. Taking just one tablet a day helps the female body to be "in good shape" and not crumble into parts.

There are different drugs and different dosage regimens. Some of them are for women who have had their uterus and ovaries removed, some for those who are still menstruating but already have problems with menopausal complaints, some – for those whose menstruation has already ended and their resumption is no longer desirable. Of course, which drug to choose in this or that case and whether a woman can take this drug, based on her state of health, – the doctor decides. But the first decision, of course, is up to the woman: she must decide for herself whether she wants to change her life for the better, and whether it is so important for her to live a quality life. If the decision is made, then this question can be addressed to a gynecologist or gynecologist-endocrinologist.

Reduce symptoms of menopause

If some aspects of the patient's health status or the patient's prejudice against hormonal treatment do not allow the appointment of HRT (hormone replacement therapy), there are other drugs – symptomatic. These drugs, of course, do not solve the problem as a whole, but, nevertheless, help relieve some of the symptoms of menopause. This group includes homeopathic medicines, antihypertensives, antidepressants, hypnotics, sedatives, calcium preparations. Physical education, swimming pool, massage, contrast showers can also help.

Special attention should be paid to nutrition. Very often, with the onset of menopause, women gain weight. Remember this phrase – I am recovering not from cutlets, but from years. In principle, it is quite true – with the cessation of menstrual function and the disappearance of estrogen from the body, he himself tries to compensate for this situation, and the only tissue in the body that produces an estrogen-like substance, – it's fat. And now the body begins to accumulate it rapidly. The woman herself also helps the body in this: "I eat the same as before, but I gain weight," – she says. In this phrase itself, the answer to the question of why there is an increase in weight is already heard. The fact is that with age, the need for energy and its consumption in the body fall, but eating habits remain the same, and the calorie intake of food begins to greatly exceed the needs of the body, so it begins to store reserves in the form of adipose tissue. You can't eat like you used to. It is necessary to reconsider the quality and quantity of food, start a double boiler in the house, give up fatty and fried – then shape changes will stop upsetting you.

With age, you also need to carefully monitor your health and go to the doctor not only when something hurts, but also pay attention to preventive research. After 40 years, women should at least once a year take a general blood test with a formula, blood for sugar, measure blood pressure, undergo an ultrasound scan of the abdominal organs, come for an examination to a gynecologist, where the doctor will do a colposcopy, take cytology, the need – prescribe an ultrasound of the pelvic organs, examine the mammary glands and recommend, depending on the situation, an ultrasound of the mammary glands mammography.

Feel free to go to the doctor, he knows how to help you solve problems. And it is up to you to decide for yourself how to live on – to remain a young, energetic woman with a sparkle in her eyes, constantly answering the question "how do you manage to look so wonderful?" or endure all the troubles of menopause and complain about your problems to your neighbors with the words "The Lord endured and ordered us."

The main thing is to know – the solution to the problem exists. It is important to want to solve it.

Source estet-portal.com