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Tips To Help Manage Menopause Symptoms Wlth research shows little risk of Preventive dentistry from Coping with menopause symptoms biopsies. Discrimination Bloating eliminator strategies work witg linked to ssymptoms blood pressure. Icy fingers and toes: Poor circulation or Raynaud's phenomenon? You could argue that the physical and mental changes that occur during menopause aren't really "symptoms. Also, it is often hard to say which changes are a direct result of a drop in hormone levels and which are natural consequences of aging.Coping with menopause symptoms -
Review it each week to pinpoint the most common triggers. During the day, dress in layers so that you can take off garments when needed.
If possible, regulate the air conditioning and heat in your environment to accommodate your temperature changes. If you wake up hot at night, sleep in a cool room. Go to bed with a frozen cold pack under your pillow, and turn the pillow over when you wake up.
Keep a change of nightclothes next to your bed so that you can change easily if you wake up soaked. Some women find deep-breathing exercises helpful. Research suggests that a technique called paced respiration can cut in half the frequency of hot flashes.
To perform paced respiration, take slow, deep, full breaths — expanding and contracting the abdomen gently while inhaling and exhaling — at a rate of about six to eight breaths per minute. One of the best ways to learn paced respiration is by taking a yoga class. Practice this technique twice a day for 15 minutes.
You can also use paced respiration whenever you feel a hot flash coming on. Stress-relief techniques and biofeedback may also be of some benefit. Several herbal products and dietary supplements claim to lessen menopausal related symptoms.
That's worth knowing before you spend money on over-the-counter remedies. In addition, most hot flashes wax and wane, although the summer months can be especially difficult.
Short-term hormone therapy is quite effective in treating hot flashes. Doctors try to prescribe the lowest dose of estrogen that effectively relieves symptoms. If you can't or don't want to take hormones, you may find that an antidepressant such as paroxetine Paxil , venlafaxine Effexor or fluoxetine Prozac helps.
The antihypertensive medication clonidine Catapres or the antiseizure medication gabapentin Neurontin relieves hot flashes in some women. Talk with your clinician about which medication may be right for you, and remember that most hot flashes improve over time on their own.
Decreased estrogen causes the vaginal lining to thin and vaginal secretions to diminish. The vagina also becomes shorter and narrower.
The result often is dryness and irritation, which can make sexual intercourse unpleasant. Inflammation of the vaginal wall also may occur, causing a condition called atrophic vaginitis. It isn't an infection, but if it is not treated, further thinning and ulceration of the vagina may occur; this can cause bleeding or make intercourse or pelvic exams painful at best and impossible at worst.
It is important to keep in mind that there are a variety of conditions other than menopause that can cause painful intercourse, so consulting a clinician is wise.
Treating vaginal changes. A simple vaginal lubricant such as Astroglide or Silk-E may help treat vaginal dryness. A vaginal moisturizer such as Replens may also be helpful.
Estrogen treatments applied directly to the vagina in the form of creams, rings, and tablets are quite effective. Also, experts say regular sexual stimulation can help keep the vagina healthy by maintaining its elasticity.
A pear-shaped organ about the size of a fist, your uterus is made mostly of muscle. As you move through perimenopause, your uterus shrinks slightly, and the inner layer of tissue, or endometrium, no longer builds up and sheds on a predictable monthly cycle.
Changes in the menstrual cycle are a hallmark of perimenopause, so determining what's normal and what isn't can be a challenge for women and their clinicians.
One concern for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women is knowing whether irregular uterine bleeding is normal. Most women notice normal changes in their cycle as they approach menopause. Periods are often heavy or more frequent, and they may stop and start.
But abnormal uterine bleeding may be a sign of benign gynecologic problems or even uterine cancer. Consult your physician if any of the following situations occur:. When you report abnormal vaginal bleeding, your clinician will try to determine whether the cause is an anatomic problem or a hormonal issue.
He or she also will investigate other possible causes. In addition to identifying the cause, he or she will help you manage any excess bleeding, which sometimes leads to anemia.
On rare occasions, postmenopausal women experience uterine bleeding from a "rogue ovulation," which is vaginal bleeding after a hiatus that may be preceded by premenstrual symptoms such as breast tenderness. Presumably, the ovaries are producing some hormones and maybe a final egg.
Postmenopausal women who are not taking hormones should not generally have vaginal bleeding and should seek medical care if they do.
But it is normal for women who take hormone therapy in continuous doses to experience bleeding or spotting during the first several months of taking these medications. And women on cyclic hormone regimens sometimes have light monthly bleeding.
Vaginal bleeding outside the usual pattern for hormone therapy in a postmenopausal woman is always a cause for concern. In the early stages, your menstrual cycle may shorten, with periods beginning sooner than you expect.
Maybe your periods used to come every 28 days, exactly at p. Now, they may still come at p. But any pattern is possible. Bleeding also may become lighter or heavier.
These irregular patterns may be exacerbated by other gynecologic problems common in midlife — for example, uterine growths such as polyps or fibroids.
Declining fertility, another sign of perimenopause that accompanies irregular periods, can become a stressful emotional issue for women who still want to become pregnant.
Treating troublesome periods. For women whose periods become very irregular, prolonged, or heavy, doctors often prescribe birth control pills, which can make periods lighter and more regular.
Alternatively, intermittent doses of progestogen a version of progesterone, the hormone that causes the uterine lining to slough may be helpful for women who are having intermittent bleeding and who are not ovulating.
Some women find it helpful to take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers such as ibuprofen Advil, Motrin and naproxen Aleve. An intrauterine device IUD called Mirena, which secretes a low dose of the progestogen levonorgestrel, can help control excess or unpredictable bleeding caused by irregular ovulation or hormonal problems.
In addition, a variety of procedures can stop excess bleeding by destroying the endometrial lining of the uterus; these include thermal heat and cryo cold therapies. Talk with your doctor about your symptoms to determine the best approach. Some common midlife changes that are often attributed to menopause are not necessarily related to the fluctuating or decreasing hormone levels of menopause.
The four most commonly reported changes include mood changes and depression; insomnia or other sleep problems; cognitive or memory problems; and decline in sexual desire, function, or both. Other physical changes that crop up in the middle years include weight gain, urinary incontinence, heart palpitations, dry skin and hair, and headaches.
For these, a hormonal link is possible, but has not been proved. Consider the fact that men, who don't experience a dramatic drop in hormone levels in their early 50s, often notice many of these same symptoms! Studies indicate that mood swings are more common during perimenopause, when hormonal fluctuations are most erratic, than during the postmenopausal years, when ovarian hormones stabilize at a low level.
No direct link between mood and diminished estrogen has been proved, but it is possible that mood changes result when hormonal shifts disrupt the established patterns of a woman's life. These changes can be stressful and may bring on "the blues. These changes are transient, however, and do not usually meet the criteria for a diagnosis of clinical depression, a more profound dysfunctional emotional state.
Over their lifespan, women have more depression than men. But there is no evidence that decreased estrogen alone causes clinical depression.
Although women who have had previous episodes of depression may be vulnerable to a recurrence during perimenopause, menopause in and of itself does not cause clinical depression. The incidence of depression in postmenopausal women is not any higher than at any other time in life.
Disrupted sleep from night sweats can cause a woman to feel fatigued and irritable. Also, remember that perimenopause coincides with many of life's stresses — children who are teenagers or leaving home, peaking professional responsibilities, illness or death of elderly parents, and aging itself.
These events, combined with unpredictable hormonal changes, can leave a woman feeling fatigued, overwhelmed, and out of control. Treating mood swings. Many women choose to make lifestyle changes before turning to medications. Taking care of yourself by getting more sleep, exercising regularly, and using stress-control methods can all help even out your mood.
For an herbal approach, St. John's wort may have some mood-elevating effects, although studies have been conflicting. Prescription antidepressants, particularly the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs , effectively moderate moods. During perimenopause, women often complain of short-term memory problems and difficulty with concentration.
Study results looking at the relationship between falling hormone levels and cognitive function have been inconsistent. Some women do believe that low dose estrogen after menopause helps them think.
But the research has not supported this. Stress likely plays a more important role in memory and thinking compared to hormonal fluctuations. Treating memory and concentration problems. Just as it isn't clear what causes memory and concentration problems, there is no obvious remedy.
Staying physically active and scheduling at least minutes per week of dedicated exercise may be the best way to maintain brain health. Brain and memory experts also recommend that people work to keep their brain functioning at its peak by taking on new and interesting challenges.
Use your mind in many different ways. Do crossword puzzles. Learn a new musical instrument or sport. Play chess. Read more books. Learn a new language or how to use the computer.
The idea is to challenge your brain in new ways. Disrupted sleep is a common complaint during perimenopause. Whether hot flashes during sleep cause sleep disruption is not completely clear. Some women report that they perspire so profusely that they soak the bed linens and wake up.
Others sleep right through their hot flashes. At least one study showed that hot flashes disrupt the most restorative form of sleep, even if the woman doesn't wake up. Insomnia also can be a problem for women who don't have hot flashes. Some women may have difficulty falling asleep, but a common pattern is to sleep for a few hours, awaken too early, and not be able to fall back to sleep.
Whether sleep disruptions are due primarily to hormonal changes is currently unknown. Sleep cycles change as people age, and insomnia is a common age-related complaint.
The problem is a troublesome one that can leave sleep-deprived women fatigued, tense, irritable, and moody. Insomnia is not a trivial matter, as sleep problems also have been associated with heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
Treating insomnia. Medications are available for temporary treatment of insomnia, but you can also take some practical steps to improve your chances of getting a good night's sleep. If hot flashes are keeping you awake, trying a treatment for hot flashes may also improve your sleep.
Sex drive may decline at midlife for a variety of reasons. Diminished estrogen or age-related changes in circulation may reduce blood flow to the genitals and cause a decrease in sensation.
Vaginal dryness or thinning can make intercourse painful. And women who have sleep problems may feel too fatigued to be interested in sex. Urinary incontinence may cause embarrassment that diminishes the appeal of sex. Concern about changes in physical appearance and body image can also reduce sex drive.
During perimenopause, not only can women's sexual responsiveness decline, but their partners also can have a significant increase in sexual performance problems. As a result, women may not feel quite as warmly toward their partners as they had earlier in the relationship.
As women enter the postmenopausal years, this can lead to further decreases in sex drive, sexual responsiveness, and frequency of intercourse. In some cases, you may also need to take supplements or medications to address symptoms. Talk with your doctor to find out what you need for menopause symptoms.
Natural remedies for menopause symptoms include herbal supplements. Some of these contain plant estrogens called phytoestrogens that help balance low hormone levels during menopause. They may alleviate symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats.
Before you start taking supplements, talk with your doctor to make sure they are safe for you. Foods that cause your blood sugar glucose levels to spike can worsen some symptoms of menopause.
These include refined, processed carbohydrates, such as sugary and starchy foods like:. Stay cool with breathable clothing and bedding to help reduce or stop hot flashes. Stress and certain foods, such as spicy foods, caffeine, and alcohol, can also trigger hot flashes. Keep a journal to find out what may make your hot flashes worse, and work to avoid those triggers whenever possible.
With some trial and error, you will find your rhythm and what works for you. Natural remedies, such as eating a balanced diet with plenty of protein and staying hydrated, can help reduce menopause symptoms — and they are good practices for your overall health.
Adding certain supplements to balance hormones may also help. However, it can take some time to find what works for you. Talk with your doctor about natural remedies to add to your daily regimen for menopause symptoms.
Though its symptoms can be difficult to deal with, eating the right diet and exercising regularly may help alleviate and prevent them. Experiment with the tips above to make your time during menopause and beyond easier and more enjoyable.
Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. VIEW ALL HISTORY.
This article is based on scientific evidence, written by experts and fact checked by experts. Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strive to be objective, unbiased, honest and to present both sides of the argument.
This article contains scientific references. The numbers in the parentheses 1, 2, 3 are clickable links to peer-reviewed scientific papers. These teas for menopause may be a natural way to ease your symptoms. Menopause symptoms can start any time between ages 40 and Here's a look at menopause through the ages, and what symptoms to expect.
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Medically reviewed by Stacy A. Henigsman, DO — By Mary Jane Brown, PhD, RD UK — Updated on April 21, Eat foods rich in calcium and vitamin D. Maintain a moderate weight. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Avoid trigger foods. Exercise regularly. Eat more foods that are high in phytoestrogens.
Drink enough water. Reduce refined sugar and processed foods. Eat protein-rich foods. Take natural supplements. Frequently asked questions about natural remedies for menopause symptoms. How can I naturally balance my hormones during menopause?
What are natural remedies for menopause symptoms? What foods make menopause worse? These include refined, processed carbohydrates, such as sugary and starchy foods like: cookies chips crackers baked goods made with white flour Also limit fried foods in your day to day.
How can you stop hot flashes quickly? Do natural remedies help reduce menopause symptoms? The takeaway. How we reviewed this article: History.
Apr 21, Written By Mary Jane Brown. Mar 29, Medically Reviewed By Stacy A. Henigsman, DO. Share this article. Evidence Based This article is based on scientific evidence, written by experts and fact checked by experts.
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Menopause: 11 Things Every Woman Should Know.
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