How Progesteril Prevent Menopause Symptoms?

Today am going to base my post on a study that gives some not so good news. According to a study led by Nancy Avis, a professor in health policy and social sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, US, women experiencing menopause may have the uncomfortable symptoms for as long as 14 years!

The research that was conducted on what is described as a "large sample size" suggest that half of the women in the study experience the distressing symptoms - the hot flushes and sleep problems - for more than 7 years on average.

This is very disheartening and I feel that a lot needs to be done to find new ways to help women at the menopause stage of life. Most of the ways available today are either ineffective or very expensive. We, women, are not well educated on the vasomotor symptoms - night sweats and hot flushes. We are not aware that these symptoms may last longer than we normally anticipate. Doctor Nancy says, "The 7 years duration spotlights the limitations of the usual guidance advocating short-term hormonal therapy and stresses the need to identify a safer long-term therapy for vasomotor symptoms."

Crunching the numbers
The study involved a sample size of 1,499 women (described by stakeholders as the largest study of its kind) who said they have frequent night sweating and hot flushes. The sample size was taken from four different ethnic groups - we are not going to stereotype today. According to Nancy, the average time women endured was 7 years and 3 months. Although have of the women experienced the undesirable symptoms for less than the 7 years, the other half had the symptoms for double this time.

Time to stereotype… on average, African-American and Hispanic women experienced the vasomotor symptoms for a longer period than whites and Asian. Is genetics in play here? Let's wait for the scientists to decide.

Another interesting find is that the hot flushes that started earlier lasted longer… I know pity women who experience early menopause (typically, having menopause before the age of 40). Those who got their menopause later, experienced shorter symptoms.

Again, women who started having the symptoms before their periods stopped were more likely to have the hot flushes years after the menopause as compared to women who started getting hot flushes after the periods stopped. In the study, an eight of the women began having the vasomotor symptoms while still having their regular periods. On the other hand, majority of the women began experiencing the hot flushes in perimenopause stage (this is the time period when the periods become scant but menopause has not fully set in).

I am not willing to continue discussing the study. So far, I have learnt something: a lot of women out there are suffering from undesirable symptoms of menopause. What is more sickening is that we have not empowered women well enough for them to deal with menopause. I can't imagine the quality of life someone who has had hot flushes for 7 years or more has.

Today I will review a product known as Progesteril menopause cream. You are wondering what makes it a menopause cream? What does Progesteril do? If you are going through menopause, I am sure you have established that menopause goes deeper than just missing your monthly periods. Menopause is characterized by hormonal imbalances that affect the quality of life of most women due to the undesirable side effects. Starting from low libido to psychological side effects that affect both physical and mental well-being.

But is this the end? Is there hope? For starters, menopause is permanent. Once your body stops producing the female hormones (or there's a significant decrease in the hormonal levels) you cannot reverse the change; but you can mitigate the harmful effects of the change. It is widely thought that you should learn to live with menopause. Well, that not true! Progesteril is an easy-to-use all-natural topical cream created using plant-based progesterone and oestrogen that ensures your hormonal levels are back to an optimum level and thus mitigates the troublesome menopause symptoms!

This doesn't mean that you get your periods or fertility back. No. it means that you will not be affected with most of the side effects of menopause; like night sweating, hot flushes, loss of mood, tiredness, reduced libido etc. the topical cream (by the way it is real kind on your clothes. It will not smear or stick on them) will ensure that you get your stress free life back (painless sex, uninterrupted sleep etc.). Progesteril costs as low as $39.99 from the official website (check shipping costs).

Many women don't realize painful sex is common, treatable condition

Many women suffer from dyspareunia, or painful intercourse, but they may not realize the condition has a name and more importantly treatments.

Women "often feel like it's their fault," Dr. Lynne T. Schuster, a physician at Mayo Clinic's Women's Health Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said to CBSNews.com. "There could be so much less suffering."

Dyspareunia -- which can occur just before, during or after intercourse -- can be caused by many physical and psychological conditions. Schuster estimates that the condition is so pervasive that at least 40 percent of all women will experience it in their lifetime.

For many women of all ages, vulvodynia may the culprit for their condition. Women with vulvodynia experience chronic burning or irritation at the opening or inside of the vagina. This could be caused by involuntary contractions of the vaginal muscles. Yeast infections or pelvic inflammatory disease can lead to painful sex as well.

Women who have just given birth may also experience dyspareunia, and may need more time to heal.

Another cause could be menopause. Older women going through menopause often experience painful sex because of lower levels of estrogen. Lower amounts of the hormone lead to vaginal and genital tissue getting thinner.

Actress Virginia Madsen ("Sideways," "The Number 23") became interested in speaking out about dyspareunia after she realized there not a lot of information out there about menopause and its related conditions. She has partnered with the pharmaceutical company Shionogi Inc's Finding the Words campaign to help educate women about dyspareunia and other conditions. Shionogi Inc. manufactures Osphena, a treatment for post-menopausal dyspareunia.

"I think what surprised me mostly, honestly, is that so many women were silent about it," she said." I just found that in this day and age that was really surprising. When you look at the way we relate to our doctors as women, a lot of women just don't -- they just go in and out. Some women don't even get their annual (check-up)."

"Sometimes women will say they don't want to seem like they are complaining," she added. "They'll downplay symptoms so they can just get on with things and concentrate on everybody else except them."

Dr. Jennifer Wu, an OB/GYN at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, pointed out that many women will go see their doctor if they start experiencing pain during sex that they didn't feel before.  But many other women who are going through menopause may think it's just a normal side effect and not seek help.

"They might be more reluctant to talk to it from a generational perspective," Wu said. "Older women are just shy about talking about painful sex."

One concern Wu has is that many post-menopausal women may stop having sex for a few months, or entirely, once they start feeling pain. This will only exacerbate the condition, she said. Wu pointed out doctors can recommend non-invasive treatments like lubricants, moisturizers and hormonal creams that can help these women if they just bring up the issue.

For some women, it may be as simple as teaching them how to relax their pelvic floor muscles, said Dr. Schuster of the Mayo Clinic. She encourages women to go see a specialist if they feel they might have the condition.

Madsen understands that it might be uncomfortable for some women to talk about their condition. She suggested looking up information on dyspareunia and taking notes, help women can feel more comfortable asking their doctors questions. If going to a doctor is too daunting, she suggested talking to a female friend or partner.

There's no shame in telling your partner about your condition, said Madsen.

"There's a lot of women who had symptoms of this for years, and they haven't talked to their partner," she explained. "And they don't know what's going on either, and you can imagine what effect that would have on a relationship."

For more information on dyspareunia, visit the Mayo Clinic's website.
Source: cbsnews.com

Hysterectomy and Menopause By Dr. Jacqueline Gerhart

Madison, Wisconsin - UW Health Family Medicine physician Jacqueline Gerhart writes a column that appears weekly on madison.com and in the Wisconsin State Journal. Columns are re-published here with permission.

UW Health Family Medicine physician Dr. Jacqueline GerhartDear Dr. Gerhart: I think I'm going through menopause because I have hot flashes. But I'm not sure because I've had a hysterectomy. How do I know?

Dear Reader: Menopause is defined as the loss of your period (or absence of menstruation) for 12 months. Since you have had your uterus removed, you no longer have periods. So you can't use that as a guide to when you are going through menopause. Because of this, you need to look for other signs and symptoms associated with menopause, and sometimes may need further testing to rule out other disorders.

Almost on a daily basis I have patients come in to ask me about testing for menopause. Usually, they ask me to test their hormone levels in hopes of determining if they are menopausal, and "how far into menopause" they are. Unfortunately, hormone testing won't be able to tell you that.

Menopause is a clinical diagnosis, meaning we define it based on your age, your symptoms and the absence of other disorders. Lab tests for "female hormones" such as estrogen and progesterone vary throughout the month.

In other words, if you are still having a period or if you are still ovulating (releasing an egg each month), every single day will result in a different hormone level, depending on where you are in your cycle. So the range for your hormone tests varies widely to include all parts of your cycle.

The "precursor" hormones to estrogen and progesterone are LH and FSH. These are other hormones that patients often ask to be tested. Unfortunately, these also vary depending on the time of your cycle. They only reach a more "steady state" once you have gone through menopause. So we can't accurately tell where you are in the process of menopause using simple blood tests.

Women usually go through menopause in their 40s and 50s. The average age of menopause (or the cessation of periods) is 51. Usually, women will start having irregular periods (like one every two to four months) about one or two years before "official menopause." Other "pre-menopause" or "peri-menopause" symptoms are vaginal dryness, mood changes, weight gain, slowed metabolism, night sweats and hot flashes.

A hysterectomy that removes your uterus but not your ovaries doesn't cause menopause at the time of surgery. This is because your ovaries still release eggs and produce estrogen and progesterone. But a surgery that removes your ovaries will cause menopause right after surgery. Your periods will stop immediately and you likely will have hot flashes and possibly severe menopause symptoms, since these changes occur abruptly rather than over time.

Also, about 1 percent of women will experience "premature menopause" before age 40 due to "primary ovarian insufficiency," which is when the ovaries stop producing the normal levels of reproductive hormones. For these women, we may recommend hormone treatment until the natural age of menopause to help protect them from heart or bone disease.

For information on non-hormonal ways to manage menopause, check out this UW Integrative Medicine patient handout: Supplements for Hot Flashes during Menopause (pdf)

Source: healthcanal.com

How Men's Choice Of Mates May Have Led To Menopause?

A dapper older gentleman spurns his mate of a certain age to take a fresh-faced young lover. You've seen that movie before, right?

Well, this choice of youth may turn out to be more than a Hollywood trope. Researchers say decisions like that one may have been the evolutionary source of menopause.

While conventional wisdom says that men prefer younger women because they're fertile, a recent report in PLOS Computational Biology suggests that it's precisely this preference for younger mates that caused older women to become infertile in the first place.

Men Are To Blame For Menopause

A team of evolutionary geneticists have determined what really caused menopause in women: men. It was previously thought that women evolved to become infertile after a certain age so that they could care for their grandchildren and coddle the next of kin. But evolutionarily speaking, that turned out to be a load of crap because, according to the laws of natural selection, our fertility should continue for as long as possible to keep the species going.

The new working theory is that men and their preference for young mates is what caused us to evolve to become infertile after a certain age. Researchers think that over time, men’s competition for young women made older women’s reproductive organs feel unappreciated therefore causing them to crawl under the bed and die, so to speak.

“If women were reproducing all along, and there were no preference against older women, women would be reproducing like men are for their whole lives,” said Rama Singh, the biologist leading the study.

55% women have hot flashes or night sweats before menopause

Washington: A new study has revealed that more than half of middle-aged women who still have regular cycles have hot flashes.

According to a survey of some 1,500 women, Asian and Hispanic women are less likely to have them than white women, but compared with previous studies, the figures are surprisingly high.

The survey, conducted by researchers at Group Health (a large healthcare system in the Pacific Northwest) and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, consisted of a diverse group of women, including whites, blacks, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, women of mixed ethnicity, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Japanese, East Indians, Chinese, and other Asians.

The women were 45 to 56 years old, had regular cycles, had not skipped periods, and were not taking hormones.

A surprising 55 percent of them reported having hot flashes or night sweats. (Previous studies pegged the highest rates at below 50 percent.)

The groups with the highest proportions reporting hot flashes or night sweats were Native Americans (67 percent) and black (61 percent) women, but the differences between these groups and white women weren`t statistically significant.

58 percent of white women, the largest ethnic group, reported having hot flashes or night sweats.

Improved Sex for Couples after Menopause: Here's the Secret

According to a recent study published in the journal Menopause, many women and their sex partners suffer needlessly from a lack of sex following menopause. The chief reason behind this lack of sex is due to a condition called “vulvovaginal atrophy” (VVA)--the drying and thinning of vaginal tissue resulting from hormonal changes initiated by menopause. However, before menopause, hormonal changes do just the opposite and make women more sexually receptive.

Vulvovaginal atrophy is a well-studied medical condition that is typically remedied in some cases with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but more often with vaginal lubricants and moisturizers. In some cases women also use a female Viagra pill to increase blood flow to their vaginal tissue. Loss of feelings of intimacy and loss of libido are typically associated with discomfort or pain during sex due to the vulvovaginal atrophy.

However, what is less studied is the emotional and physical impact of vaginal atrophy on postmenopausal women and their male sex partners—a quality of life issue that may adversely affect many marriages as well as feelings of esteem and self-worth.

Treatment helps sex stage a comeback after menopause

A satisfying sex life is an important contributor to older adults' quality of life, but the sexual pain that can come after menopause can rob women and their partners of that satisfaction. Treatment can help restore it, shows a global survey including some 1,000 middle-aged North American men and women, published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).



Sexual pain at this stage in a woman's life is usually the result of the typical drying and thinning of tissues in and around the vagina after menopause, called vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), coupled with a decrease in sexual activity. Vaginal lubricants and moisturizers, vaginal estrogen, and ospemifene, a recently approved oral drug that is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), can all be used to treat it.

Known as Clarifying Vaginal Atrophy's Impact on Sex and Relationships (CLOSER), the survey was commissioned by Novo Nordisk, the maker of a vaginal estrogen treatment. It included postmenopausal women volunteers age 55 to 65 who had VVA and their male partners. This part of CLOSER looked at how treatment with vaginal estrogen affected their sex lives.

Before treatment, a majority of these women (58%) said they had been avoiding intimacy because of the pain, and 68% said they had lost their desire because of it. An even higher percentage of the men (78%) thought their partner's vaginal discomfort caused them to avoid intimacy. About a third of the men and women had stopped having sex altogether.

After treatment, a majority of women and men reported sex was less painful for them and their partner, and more than 40% of the women and men said sex was more satisfying. Twenty-nine percent of the women and 34% of the men said their sex life had improved. Treatment also had a positive impact on the women's self esteem. About a third felt more optimistic about the future of their sex life, and a similar number felt more connected to their partners.

"There is no need for a woman's quality of life to decline because of VVA," said NAMS Executive Director Margery L.S. Gass, MD.

Many women get relief with vaginal lubricants and moisturizers and regular sexual activity or the use of vaginal dilators. Vaginal estrogen, in the form of creams, tablets, or rings, is a common therapy and is appealing for women who cannot or choose not to take oral hormones, since absorption into the bloodstream is minimal. Women who have had breast or uterine cancer are encouraged to discuss the pros and cons of different treatments with their oncologist. The SERM offers an alternative for women who choose not to use any oral or vaginal hormone therapy.

More information: The article, "Clarifying Vaginal Atrophy's Impact on Sex and Relationships (CLOSER) survey: emotional and physical impact of vaginal discomfort on North American postmenopausal women and their partners," will be published in the February 2014 print edition of Menopause.

Journal reference: Menopause 

Provided by The North American Menopause Society

Menopause foggy brain study: Emotions affect foggy brain, hot flashes, sleep

The menopause foggy brain study conducted by researchers found that a menopause foggy brain, hot flashes, and mood swings are connected. To deal with the symptoms of the menopause foggy brain and other menopause symptoms, researchers suggest quality sleep, to address emotional problems such as anxiety or depression, and to use little tricks to support a menopause foggy brain such as writing down lists or things to do, reported Yahoo! News on May 27, 2013.

"Memory problems are a common complaint of women going through menopause, and now a new study provides more evidence linking mood and hot flashes to loss of memory abilities during menopause."

The menopause foggy brain study which was published online in the journal Menopause included 68 women, ages 44 to 62, who experienced moderate to severe hot flashes.

During the menopause foggy brain study, the women were given eight tests of attention and memory and women completed questionnaires about their menopause symptoms, mood, and memory.

By conducting the menopause foggy brain study, researchers were able to show from the series of psychological tests of attention and memory that women experienced lower memory abilities when feeling more negative and that the memory abilities, hot flashes, and mood swings were linked by a woman's emotions.

"Women who reported more negative emotions did worse on the tests than women who had felt less negative. Similarly, women who experienced severe hot flashes did worse on the tests, compared to women who had fewer hot flashes."

While many women might feel helpless when they experience a foggy brain, memory problems, hot flashes, or mood swings, the new research study highlights the importance of negative or positive feelings about oneself during menopause and how they affect a foggy brain and other menopause symptoms.

Each foggy brain occurrence, each sleep problem, each hot flash, or each emotional outburst is sending a clear message to a woman – it is time to treat yourself royally.

While much of a woman's life is dedicated to everyone else and making everyone else feel good, menopause is an excellent time to learn to dedicate one's energy on oneself.

As such, menopause is a time of empowerment for women.

Source: examiner.com

Menopause can cause memory loss during hot flashes

Don't doubt it when a woman harried by hot flashes says she's having a hard time remembering things. A new study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), helps confirm with objective tests that what these women say about their memory is true.

In the past, some studies showed that hot flashes were related to memory problems, and some didn't. Other studies showed that, even though there was a relationship between hot flashes and what women said about memory problems, objective tests didn't confirm it.

That's why researchers from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University in Chicago gave a battery of eight tests of attention and recall to 68 women age 44 to 62 who had at least 35 hot flashes a week. The women also completed questionnaires about their menopause symptoms, mood, and memory. Women who said they had trouble with memory really did. Also, those who had more trouble with hot flashes did worse on the tests, and women with more hot flashes struggled longer with memory problems than women who had fewer hot flashes. In addition, women who reported more negative emotions did worse on the tests than women who had fewer.

Source: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

Doctor: Menopause memory loss "is real'

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Do insomnia and disrupted sleep during menopause increase a woman's risk of heart disease?

New Rochelle, NY, May 9, 2013—Insomnia and other sleep disturbances are common among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women and may increase their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Evidence that a combination of altered sleep duration and insomnia among women ages 50-79 doubled their risk of both CHD and CVD over a period of more than 10 years is presented in an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh.

In "Sleep Duration, Insomnia, and Coronary Heart Disease among Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative," Megan Sands-Lincoln, PhD, MPH and a team of researchers from leading medical institutions across the U.S. gathered self-reported data on sleep duration and insomnia in 86,329 women 50-79 years of age. Shorter (<5 hours) and longer (>10 hours) sleep duration and insomnia were associated with higher incidence of CHD and CVD over 10.3 years, and when considered together, the interaction risk of insomnia and sleep duration was significant.

 

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women.

(Photo Credit: ©2013 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers)

"This is the first study to investigate interactions of sleep duration with insomnia in relation to increased risk of CHD and CVD in postmenopausal women," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

Source: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

Menopause is Natural Phenomenon for Women

Menopause is the period of mental and physical changes a woman goes through due to the decrease in ovarian function. The effects can be felt over quite a range of time, including both before (perimenopause) and after the permanent end of menstruation.

According to western medicine, menopause is caused by a decline in endocrine function which then affects the autonomic nervous system. This is usually due to the decrease of ovarian function, but can also be caused by functional disorders of the anterior pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and/or adrenal glands.

Menopausal symptoms may include hot flashes, sweating, heart palpitations, edema, headaches, a heavy–headed feeling, insomnia, ringing in the ears, depression, irritability, a decline in memory, feeling tired or listless, gaining or losing weight, itchiness of the vulva, vaginal dryness, frequent urination, and more.

Western medicine’s main treatment for menopause is estrogen replacement therapy. This has been shown to be effective in relieving some symptoms, including atrophy of the uro-genital organs, and in preventing and decreasing osteoporosis after menopause.

However, research carried out by the Women’s Health Initiative (established by the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. in 1991) reports that long-term use of hormone replacement therapy increases the incidences of coronary artery disease, stroke, breast cancer and thromboembolism in women. Therefore it is now recommended that standard hormone replacement therapy for women during or after menopause be non-continuous.

Hot flashes are a common symptom of menopause. These don’t merely involve a reddening of the face, but may be accompanied by an intense sensation of heat, an increased heart rate, feeling of compression in the chest or head, and sweating. This sensation of heat occurs across the face and can extend to the neck and chest. If it happens at night it can disturb sleep and then decrease concentration during the day. It can lead to a decrease in memory, hypersensitivity, tiredness, and depression.

Herbal medicine actually improves certain (especially neuropsychiatric) symptoms which western medicine is not able to decrease. This difference underlines the characteristic benefit of Eastern medicine’s focus on regulating the body’s overall condition rather than just treating the specific symptoms.

A research study done on the effects of herbal medicine on menopausal women with hot flashes has demonstrated improvement of many symptoms including: hot flashes (reduced frequency), level of sweating, heart palpitations, insomnia, stability of emotions and moods, daily activities and life in general. Furthermore, the study’s findings showed no side effects from these medications.

Menopause is a natural phenomenon for women, so why not use a more natural approach to treat it?

Article printed from http://www.merrittherald.com/lifestyles/204581961.html

Menopause by the Numbers

Menopause by the Numbers infographic

What Your Partner Needs To Know About Menopause?

Image Credit - EllenDolgen.com

What do men think of perimenopause and menopause?

Does your husband understand menopause? I mean, really understand menopause? Chances are that he just thinks it's that time of YOUR life when you get to say goodbye periods and PMS. Hello, sex all month long!

My husband, David, and most of the men who responded to my recent questionnaire were completely in the dark about what to expect when the loves of their lives hit perimenopause and menopause. Boy, talk about being "blindsided"!

When our relationship was hit with a torrent of hot flashes, tremendous mood swings and sleepless and sexless nights, he was more than flummoxed.

Why was I so moody? Why did everything he do upset me so? Why didn't I want to be intimate with him anymore? These changes can be so confusing to the men in our lives. My husband wasn't sure if my feelings for him had changed or if he had done something to incite my bitchy demeanor. Either way, he feared it would never go away. He wanted our relationship back, but had no idea as to what the cause or cure was.

For him and for most of the men I interviewed, dealing with and trying to understand perimenopause and menopause is more challenging than PMS. "It doesn't come and go every 28 days or so... once you're in, there's no turning back, so you can't rationalize away the symptoms," David says. "You can't just dismiss the symptoms of menopause as 'it's just that time of month' and wait for day eight to roll around."

Finally, though, my husband and I sought out a perimenopause and menopause specialist, and together we both found hormone happiness. We learned that the symptoms our relationship was suffering from were actually symptoms of perimenopause. And with proper medical care, the symptoms faded away. But most importantly, we grew to better understand this chapter of my life -- and our relationship. Together and as co-participants, we educated ourselves on the myriad of more than 30 menopausal symptoms, demystifying this time in our lives. Information is power!

Women aren't the only ones who need to understand menopause. As a woman, you are one-half of your marriage (let's be honest: sometimes even more than that!), and when that half changes, it changes the relationship right along with it. For my husband and me, going together to see a menopause specialist was a game-changer in how we approached this time in our lives together. Now, our relationship is even stronger than it was before.

Open up the conversation with the love of your life with these top three things every woman should tell her partner about menopause:

1. This Is Hard For Me As women, we try to take everything that life throws at us in giant, superhuman strides. But menopause isn't a road best traveled solo. So don't try to do it that way! Be honest about how you feel both physically and emotionally. Even once you conquer hot flashes, mood swings and the various other symptoms of menopause, coping with the loss of fertility can be difficult for many women. You deserve every feeling. Don't discount them.

2. It's Not You, It's My Hormones Let's face it, when riding the hormonal highs and lows of menopause, we can say and do some pretty hurtful things. Sometimes they shock even us. So imagine how the men in our life feel when they become the target of our fury! Before my husband and I realized menopause's full effects, he felt like he had done something wrong. That couldn't have been further from the truth!

3. I'm Still Attracted To You It is important that your lover understands that when your estrogen levels begin to plummet, your vagina might go from frolicking on a tropical island to being spiteful and stranded in the Mojave Desert. When this happens, sex can hurt! This can be quite disturbing to a couple that is normally very sexually active and satisfied. But do not fret, lovers, there is help for this! With a little lube and/or hormone replacement therapy, you can be back frolicking on the beach in no time.

It's no secret that communication is the key to happy, healthy relationships. But when it comes to dealing with perimenopause and menopause, communication might as well be smack dab in the middle of your vows. So start talking! Trust me -- you'll both be so glad you did!

This Post was originally published at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-sarver-dolgen/menopause-symptoms-partner_b_3082155.html - By Ellen Dolgen

Ellen Dolgen is an outspoken women's health and wellness advocate, menopause awareness expert, author, and speaker.
For more by Ellen Dolgen, click here.

Menopausal Hot Flashes Reduced By Chinese Herbal Mix

A Chinese herbal formula halved the number of hot flashes menopausal women experienced, a Hong Kong study showed.

The frequency of daily hot flashes dropped by 62 percent for women taking a herbal mix called Er-xian decoction, or EXD, compared to a 52 percent drop among women taking placebo. Investigators reported the findings this week in the Journal of the North American Menopause Society.

"It's a modest effect but not a zero effect," said Katherine Newton, a researcher at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, who has studied herbal menopause remedies. Newton told Reuters she would recommend the treatment to women only after seeing more, long-term studies demonstrating safety but said the current study - which she was not involved in - looked promising as an alternative menopause treatment.

Presently, physicians consider hormone replacement therapy most effective for relieving discomfiture associated with menopause, though side effects include greater risk of breast cancer and heart disease - in addition to brain shrinkage, which increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Previous study of EXD, comprised of compounds extracted from the roots, stems or leaves of six Chinese herbs, found promise in the treatment, said Yao Tong, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who co-authored the study. In an effort to conduct higher quality experimentation of the herb, ingested as a tea tincture, Tong and colleagues followed 101 menopausal women in their 40s and 50s as they drank the formula twice daily for 12 weeks.

Half of the women drank a 15 gram dose while the others drank a mix of tea, caramel and a compound called gardenin. During the two weeks prior to treatment, the women recorded their hot flashes, with the study group reporting an average of 5.8 compared to the control group's five per day. Following treatment, the number of incidences dropped to 2.2 among those receiving EXD and 2.5 among those receiving placebo.

Yet, the more dramatic difference came three months after cessation of treatment, with rate of hot flashes staying at 2.2 per day for the study group and rising slightly for the control group to 2.9 per day.

"Menopausal flushing is notoriously responsive to fluctuations and placebo responses in clinical trials, yet they have rigorously demonstrated an improvement in favor of active treatment" with Er-xian decoction, said Dr. Alan Bensoussan, the director of the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney, told Reuters.

The severity of the menopausal symptoms also declined to a greater degree among women taking the treatment, from a three out of four rating at the beginning of the study to a 1.6. By comparison, the control group experienced a decline in symptom severity from three to 2.3 on the four-point subjective scale.

"It's a small effect, but a measurable effect," said Newton, adding that the findings put the treatment on par with other alternative medicines on the market.

The researchers reported in their study that Chinese traditional medicine sees menopause symptoms as related to deficiencies in kidney "yin and yang," noting that EXD contains herbs known for enhancing such kidney functions.

However, other researchers criticized the study, saying Tong and colleagues had failed to accurately report chemical profiling of key ingredients and selected chemical markers in the herbal remedy, making the study hard to reproduce.

Ref Source:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/14465/20130330/menopause-menopausal-hormone-therapy-alternative-medicine-exd-chinese-herbs.htm
http://frenchtribune.com/teneur/1317080-chinese-herb-helps-menopausal-hot-flashes-study

Hot Flashes: How Hypnosis Can Help You in Reducing Menopause Symptoms?

Hot flashes: those instant experiences of hotness that sweep by means of a woman's body system, normally accompanied with a expeled experience and even excessive sweating. They really are the most common signs and symptoms of menopausal also perimenopause together with -- quite truthfully -- hard drive a great deal of mature females insane. Hypnosis will be helpful get rid of hot flashes in postmenopausal women of all ages and, minimizing their occurrence as high as 74%, professionals say. Hot flashes have an effect on about 80% of women as they simply go through menopausal. The unexpected hasten of heat function could be pursued by anxiety allowing it to eliminate good quality of lifestyle. 

However right now the latest research states that that medicinal hypnosis can aid in eliminating hot flashes in addition to their associated signs or symptoms. Hypnotic relaxation therapy diminished hot flashes by just as much as 80%, as reported by analysis from Baylor University's Mind-Body Medication Researching Laboratory. The conclusions also suggested that attendees encountered a more suitable excellence of living because of sensation much less anxiousness and depression symptoms. 

A healthy diet is best part for a number of women: Above two-thirds of North American most women experience hot flashes in the course of perimenopause, together with nearly every individual who suffers through triggered or premature the symptoms of menopause, according to WebMD. The more than likely disadvantage of employing hypnosis for hot flashes, is the time and effort demanded. Preliminary instruction should be issued by a medical professional well-versed in hypnosis, after which you will need to rehearse at your home. 

Professionals don’t are fully aware of exactly how hypnosis might work to comfortable the hot flashes. It most likely impacts on the body’s thermostat control in the human brain. To be clinically essential, the reduction will have to be 55% or even more, he stated. Furthermore reducing in number of occurrence, the hot flashes as well started to be milder. 

Although hypnosis might end up being a whole new alternative for hot flash affected people, a previous all natural treatment was just lately debunked. In contrast to past researches looking into the association between soy as well as these particular menopausal signs and symptoms, the present review incorporated an incredibly major human population over an extensive period of time of their time: much more than 1,600 women of all ages over a decade.

Early Menopause Symptoms and Remedies

In the event if you women that will be 40 yrs old, then you definitely should prepare for early menopause symptoms. This is due to if you don't realize it well, after that you may have to repent it.

Menopause is actually unavoidable thing that will arrived at every woman on the earth. Nevertheless, enough time with the menopause just isn't foreseeable. Frequently it's sooner and even afterwards. Upon over a condition of any woman. In fact, there isn't any females know about the time of menopause, however , if there are a few symptoms take place or exist in the body, after that probably you get early on menopause symptoms.

Organizing Before You Get The Menopause Symptoms

Really, early menopause can surprise most women. It will likely to be more painful, if they are unaware and do not comprehend it. Unless you need to get negative shock, after that it'll be better for you to learn more concerning earlier menopause symptoms. This is due to if you're able to understand it sooner, you'll be able to put together one thing for your menopause.

The common early on menopause symptoms in which probably you'll get tend to be dry skin around the pudendum.

The Second Typical Earlier Menopause Symptoms

From then on, the second frequent early on menopause symptoms are usually bladder becoming irritated. It is related to the genital organ dryness. Nonetheless, should you permit kidney becoming easily irritated for a long time, then it's going to hurt you. Dried-out skin, eyes, or even oral cavity can be symptoms of early menopause. Ingesting normal mineral waters, veggies, and also fruits frequently and each day time can easily get over it. Apart from that, irregular/missed durations regarding monthly period generally is one of earlier menopausal symptoms. If now you feel it, then you must prepare in dealing with earlier menopause.