Postmenopausal Symptoms Of Low Estrogen Notes

Climacteric And Menopause

Climacteric is the period in old age when the reproductive system undergoes changes due to the decreased secretion of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone It occurs at the age of 45-55. In females, climacteric is accompanied by menopause.

• Menopause is defined as the period characterized by the permanent cessation of menstruation. N occurs at the age of 45-55 years.
• In some women, the menstruation stops s In others, the menstrual flow decreases gradually every cycle and finally, it stops. Sometimes irregularly. menstruation occurs with a lengthening or shortening period with less or more flow.
• Early menopause may occur because of surgical removal of ovaries (ovariectomy) or uterus (hysterectomy) as a part of treatment for abnormal menstruation.
• Usually, females with short menstrual cycles attain menopause earlier than females with longer cycles. Cigarette smoking causes earlier onset of menopause.

Read And Learn More: Medical Physiology Notes

Cause For Menopause

• Due to the advancement of age, atrophy of the ovaries occurs. It leads to the cessation of the menstrual cycle causing menopause. Throughout a woman’s sexual life, about 450 of the primordial follicles grow into Graafian follicles and ovulate, while thousands of the follicles degenerate.
• At the age of 45 years, only a few primordial follicles remain in the ovary to be stimulated by FSH and LH. Now, the production of estrogen by the ovary decreases due to the decrease in the number of primordial follicles.
• When estrogen secretion becomes almost zero, FSH and LH are continuously secreted. When all the primordial follicles are atrophied, estrogen secretion stops completely.

Changes During Menopause Postmenopausal Syndrome

Postmenopausal syndrome is the group of symptoms that appear in women immediately after menopause. It.v.forized by certain physical, physiological, and changes. The symptoms start to appear after the ovaries stop functioning.

Postmenopausal syndrome Cause

The main cause for the symptoms is the lack of estrogen and progesterone The symptoms may persist till the body gets acclimatized to the absence of estrogen and progesterone.

Postmenopausal syndrome Symptoms

The symptoms do not appear in all women. Some women develop mild symptoms and some women develop severe symptoms. The symptoms last for a few months to a few years. The symptoms of postmenopausal syndrome are:

1. Hot flashes are characterized by extreme flushing of the skin: Hot flashes start with discomfort in the abdomen and chill followed by the feeling of heat spreading towards the head. Then the face becomes red followed by sweating and exhaustion
2. Vasomotor instability: Wide fluctuation in blood pressure may be present. The blood pressure increases suddenly and it comes back to normal automatically
3. Fatigue
4. Nervousness
5. Emotional outbursts like crying and anger
6. Mental depression
7. Insomnia
8. Palpitation
9. Vertigo
10. Headache
11. Numbness or tingling sensation
12. Urinary disturbances such as increased frequency of micturition
13. The long-term effects of estrogen lack such as osteoporosis and atherosclerosis: Osteoporosis is a bone disease resulting in a reduction in bone mass. And the bones become susceptible to fracture. Atherosclerosis is a condition characterized by the deposition of cholesterol on the wall of the blood vessels.

Treatment-Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

• Most of the women manage it very well. But, about 15% of the women need treatment. In many cases, psychotherapy works very well. If it fails, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is given. Daily administration of estrogen in small quantities will reverse the symptoms.
• The combination of estrogen and progesterone is considered to be more advantageous because progesterone prevents estrogen-induced cancer and hyperplasia of myometrium. The dose of the hormones should be gradually reduced to prevent the reoccurrence of postmenopausal symptoms.