Menopause, also known as perimenopause, as a woman, as long as you live long enough, everyone must go into menopause, is a transitional period in which women’s ovarian function gradually decreases to disappear, can show a series of symptoms of maladjustment, generally between the ages of appearing 45-55, about 85% of menopausal women can develop the disorder, 25% of symptoms are more severe, some people have very mild symptoms and short duration, through psychological Some of them are mild and short-lived, and can be reduced or disappeared through psychological adaptation and heart activity adjustment, but others have more severe symptoms and require pharmacological intervention to manage them. The average life expectancy is increasing, and women spend 1/3 of their lives (or more) in menopause and postmenopause. Improving the quality of life of menopausal and postmenopausal women is a problem for everyone and an important issue for the medical community to face.
The most common clinical manifestations of menopause
1. Menstrual disorders: mostly irregular menstrual cycles, varying duration and menstrual volume, gradually lengthening menstrual cycles and gradually decreasing menstrual volume until complete cessation.
2. Mental and neurological symptoms.
(1) Hot flashes and sweating, which are typical symptoms of vegetative nerve dysfunction.
(2) Mental allergy, unstable sleeping mood, agitation and irritability, or depression, or anxiety and suspicion, often unable to self-control.
(3) Sleep disorders, insomnia, difficulty in falling asleep, early awakening, and excessive dreaming.
(3) Changes in the urinary and genital tracts: dry and wrinkled vulvar skin, thinning of subcutaneous fat; dry vagina, shrinking uterus; often recurrent urinary tract infections, or intermittent urinary incontinence.
4.Osteoporosis, easy to have limb and body aches and pains, easy fatigue.
5. Menopausal women may also experience anxiety, pessimism, hypochondria, suspicion and other undesirable psychological states.
Some diseases of menopause
1, a variety of geriatric diseases: such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, obesity, etc.
2, a variety of gynecological tumors: uterine fibroids, vulvar tumors, ovarian tumors, breast tumors.
3, other gynecological diseases: vaginitis, menopausal blood, menopausal depression, etc.
Concern about early menopause
In recent years, early menopause has become more and more common due to various factors. According to some data, among women aged 35 to 45, more than 30% of them have different degrees of early menopause, which is what we call “early menopause”. The causes of early menopause may be related to the stressful work life of modern women, overwork, sexual disharmony, unreasonable use of contraceptives, excessive weight loss, multiple abortions and other factors.
Women should be aware of early detection, early attention, early diagnosis and treatment, and early management of early menopause.
Chinese medicine’s understanding of menopause
According to the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, “A woman’s …… seventy-seventh year, the Ren pulse is weak, the Taichong pulse is weak, the Heavenly sap is extinct, and the Earthly channel is impassable, so her form is bad and she is childless. ” We believe that menopause is a time when the liver and kidneys are deficient and the function of the Chong Ren pulse is gradually declining.
The treatment of menopause in Chinese medicine is based on the adjustment of qi, blood, yin and yang, nourishment of kidney yin, draining of liver and qi, and the application of Chinese medicine to treat the symptoms of menopause with the combination of dietary regulation, appropriate exercise and psychological adjustment to reduce the symptoms, delay aging, enhance physical fitness and improve the quality of life. There are many kinds of traditional Chinese medicine commonly used, for example, Prosperity Pill, Dihuang Pill series, Guixin Pill, Kuntai Capsules, Gynecology Yangrong Capsules, etc. If you can go to the hospital and ask the doctor to take your pulse, according to your situation, the treatment will be more effective.
About estrogen replacement therapy
In Western countries, about 40% of menopausal women are treated with estrogen replacement therapy, but a survey in China showed that the proportion of post-menopausal women using hormones is less than 2%, probably due to the many contraindications of this therapy and the concern of causing endometrial hyperplasia, which makes many people unable or unwilling to use this method. In 2002, the Chinese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology conducted a symposium on estrogen issues and concluded that estrogen replacement therapy can relieve the symptoms associated with menopause.
There are three principles to follow when supplementing estrogen
1. Whether estrogen supplementation is needed. Always go to the hospital for a physical examination before using estrogen to see if estrogen supplementation is needed. Doctors advocate the safe and individualized use of estrogen.
2. Can estrogen be supplemented. Estrogen replacement therapy has many contraindications, such as those with unexplained vaginal bleeding; severe liver and kidney dysfunction; lupus erythematosus and other symptoms. Cautionary symptoms such as migraine, epilepsy, asthma, hypertension, gallbladder disease, etc.
3. How to supplement estrogen. Treatment must be carried out under the guidance of a doctor.
Of course, we have to advocate the correct face of menopause, menopause is a turning point from maturity to aging, this is a natural law, every woman has to experience, this period of dysfunction of the body is not always a disease, but in the process of transformation of the body endocrine regulation imbalance, each woman should be open to face, from knowledge, thought, spiritual preparedness, to meet the arrival of this natural physiological changes We should be prepared for this natural physiological change. The best choice is to age gracefully and healthily!