Symptoms of menopause
Symptoms of menopause=
Symptoms of menopause generally include hot flushes, vaginal changes and mood swings. There are other physical and emotional symptoms of menopause, but no two women will experience menopause in the same way. Culture, general level of health and well being, previous experience of mood problems, lifestyle and whether you have had a natural, surgical or chemotherapy-induced menopause will affect your menopausal symptoms.
What are the symptoms of menopause?
Not all women experience the same menopausal symptoms:- 20% of women have no symptoms
- 60% experience mild to moderate symptoms
- 20% have symptoms so severe that they significantly interfere with daily life.
As hormones change with the approach of menopause, you may begin to experience some of the following physical and emotional symptoms:
| Physical symptoms | Emotional symptoms |
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Menopausal symptoms & culture=
There is research to suggest that women from different cultures can experience menopausal symptoms differently from one another. For example, hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness and aches and pains are the most common symptoms reported by women from Western cultures, whereas studies show that women from Asian cultures report fewer hot flushes, but more aches and pains, insomnia and mood changes. [1]
It is unclear if these differences are physiological differences in symptoms, or the result of women not feeling comfortable or confident to talk about menopausal symptoms because of cultural taboos. However, there clearly are vast differences in how women from different cultures view menopause. For example, African and Aboriginal women might view menopause more positively as the end of their reproductive life, but the beginning of their role as cultural leaders while, in contrast, women from some Western cultures might view menopause more negatively, as the end of their reproductive years as well as their sexual desirability,leaving them with a sense of grief and loss.
Menopause & mood=
Women can feel depressed and/or experience changes in their mood around perimenopause (the months/years before menopause) when their hormone levels fluctuate. Menopause does not cause depression, but women who have had depression before menopause, or who have a history of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), may be more sensitive to the hormonal changes that menopause brings.
Bladder, vaginal & vulval problems=
Low oestrogen causes changes to the vulval, vaginal and bladder tissues. This can result in the following symptoms:
- genital: dryness, burning and irritation
- sexual: lack of lubrication, discomfort or pain, impaired function, or loss of elasticity
- urinary: urgency, pain (dysuria) and recurrent urinary tract infections.
A woman may present with some or all of the signs and symptoms.
Lower oestrogen levels can also influence the perception of touch, making you extra sensitive to touch, or even numb to touch at times.
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