Most women are initially drawn to hormone replacement to help maintain their youthful beauty and to relieve the common symptoms of menopause, nature’s physical signposts that mark the road to ovarian retirement. As you may be all too well aware, these include:
• symptoms of menopause 1: Increased skin wrinkling
Because normal estrogen and progesterone levels promote the look and feel of youthful, healthy skin.
• symptoms of menopause 2: Hot flushes
Also commonly called hot flashes. They are related to changes in the dilation of blood vessels, which is partially under the control of estrogen, and which brings an abundance of warm blood to the skin – at unpredictable moments – leading to a transient warm, often uncomfortable feeling.
• symptoms of menopause 3: Night sweats
Which are basically hot flushes that occur while you’re sleeping.
• symptoms of menopause 4: Vaginal dryness
Atrophy, and infection, which are also due to a lack of estrogen in the genital area; it can cause discomfort and pain, especially during sexual activity.
• symptoms of menopause 5: Poor libido (sex drive)
unsatisfactory sex, well known to be associated with low levels of sex steroid hormones, especially testosterone.
• symptoms of menopause 6: Sleeping difficulties
which affect at least half of all women during the menopausal transition.
• symptoms of menopause 7: Memory loss, dementia, and mood swings
No, you’re not going crazy! Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all help shape mental and cognitive functions, too.
• symptoms of menopause 8: Urinary incontinence (“leaking”)
A less well-appreciated, but often very disturbing effect of estrogen decline that becomes more common with age.
• symptoms of menopause 9: Urinary tract infection (UTI, bladder infection, “cystitis”)
Like incontinence, and for basically the same reason, this risk also increases as estrogen levels decline.
These are the most common symptoms of menopause.