The Healthy Way to Survive Menopause
By: M. T. Irvin RN

Table of Contents
Disclaimer
Introduction
Chapter 1 What’s the Real Scoop on Menopause?
Chapter 2 Are My Hormones Really Raging?
Chapter 3 New Ways to Look at Menopause
Chapter 4 Taking Control of the Symptoms
Chapter 5 Exercise Your Way Through Menopause
Chapter 6 Fuel Your Body for Optimum Health
Conclusion

Disclaimer
Nothing in this book should be construed to be medical advice or even the advice of a nutritionist or dietician. All of the comments herein are from personal experience. The author is absolved from any responsibility regarding any results from those who carry out the suggestions related in this book. Each reader is responsible for his or her own actions.
This and all health related books written by Michael Irvin, RN complement, but do not replace, traditional medical care. This is not to be taken or interpreted as Medical advice. Treatment is your choice. The information here highlights another way to view health and wellness, but it does not diagnose, treat or prescribe; and, it is not intended for primary medical intervention. If you have symptoms, contact your health professional of choice before proceeding with any suggestion book.

Introduction When a woman gets engaged to be married, you can rest assured she will receive an onslaught of advice – both welcome and unwelcome – from other women who have been there; done that. The same is true during pregnancy. There is absolutely no end to the waves upon waves of advice that will come your way when you are expecting a child. Every other woman seems to know what you should do and how you should do it. This example can be taken on into parenting and even within the marriage relationship, advice abounds. But as a woman approaches what our grandmothers called the “change of life,” she is met with a sort of dead silence. Not a lot of advice going around about how to deal with all the strange and mysterious manifestations of menopause. Why this is so is not all that clear. Perhaps it’s because the millions and millions of baby boomer women, who are now shocked to realize that this is actually happening to them, are still struggling to figure it all out. The most that is ever heard about this amazing life transformation – and it truly is amazing – is that you will gain a lot of weight, you’ll be crabby and irritable, you’ll have hot flashes that wake you in the night, your hair will thin out, you’ll struggle with mood swings, and the sordid list goes on from there. Are we having fun yet? The truth is – and this will be repeated throughout this informational book – is that menopause is not a disease that needs to be cured. It’s not a torture that needs to be endured. It’s a natural life process. Actually, the more in tune you are with your body, the more you will understand exactly what’s going on. Instead of dreading the process you can embrace it. Your golden years can be exactly that – a time of fun, joy, peace, and good health. Such an experience will never happen on accident or by chance. It will happen when women make the decision to take responsibility for their own health and well being. This book will help you to know how to take those steps. Let’s find out how that can actually happen.

Chapter 1
What’s the Real Scoop on Menopause?
Fear and Dread
Generations ago, no one talked much about the “change of life.” First of all, it just wasn’t polite conversation. But secondly so many women died at a young age from disease, or childbirth complications, very few lived long enough to experience the change.
Medicine, improved sanitary conditions, and advances in safe childbirth all point the fact that today women live longer than at any time previous. Now that lives are extending well past fifty and sixty, the numbers of women experiencing menopause are growing.
Baby boomers – those women born between 1946 and 1964 are entering into the phase of life. In fact, over 50 million women in the United States have now reached the menopause stage. Again, due to the longer life span of women today, many of these will spend at least one-third of their lives in or beyond menopause.
These are women who grew up watching television and movies which promoted external beauty, youthful looks, and a slender figure. Due to the fact that these images are indelibly etched into their minds and emotions, the thought of growing old (elderly) is abhorrent to many of them. Because of these ingrained attitudes, and because of a lack of good information, many women look at menopause with fear and dread. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Before getting any deeper into the attitudes about menopause, let’s first find out exactly what it is and why it occurs at all.
What is Menopause?
We tend to refer to menopause as a long span of time; but technically the term refers to one single day in the life of a woman. It is the 365th day from the date of that woman’s last period. Once an entire year has elapsed it means the body no longer produces enough estrogen (the hormone that regulates the menstrual cycle) for the cycles to continue. The word menopause comes from two Greek words: Pausis which means cessation and the root word men which simply means month. The monthly cycles that have occurred since the teen years are now over.
Terms to Know
Becoming familiar with a few terms will better equip you to understand exactly how your body works. Here are the main players in the menstruation cycle:
• Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) (also known as Luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone or LHRH).
• GnRH is a hormone that is responsible for the release of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).
• FSH works closely with luteinizing hormone (LH) produced in the anterior pituitary.
These are the hormones that prompt egg-containing follicles in the ovaries to mature. These follicles contain estrogen. This is a very simplified illustration, but these hormones are the ones that cause ovulation and readies the lining of the uterus for the arrival of a fertilized egg. If no fertilized egg arrives the lining is shed and the menstrual period begins.
Eventually there comes a time when things begin to change. The body produces ever fewer follicles and eggs. It takes a bigger burst of FSH and LH to cause the egg to mature. This sometimes results in painful ovulation.
Even when follicles do mature, the amount of progesterone and estrogen produced fluctuates. The cycles are no longer regular. Some are longer; some shorter, until no more follicles are produced and there are no more eggs. At this point the periods cease altogether.
No two women are alike. Some reach the menopause earlier – in their thirties and forties. Others not until they are sixty or older. It’s not a good idea to compare yourself with others whose bodies, and lifestyles, are different from yours. What is important is that you know your own body and its needs.
Symptoms
Medical professionals vary on their listing of the various symptoms that can occur during this life-transition. Below are some of the more common ones:
• Irregular periods
• Vaginal dryness
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Sleep problems
• Mood changes
• Weight gain and slowed metabolism
• Thinning hair and dry skin
• Loss of breast fullness
This in no way means that every menopausal woman will experience all of the symptoms – nor all of the others that the medical world may list. Even the symptoms that are experienced can be diminished to some degree by the strategies that you will learn in this book.
Perimenopause
Perimenopause is a newer term that is now being used which means around or near the menopause. This could be eight to ten years prior to the actual menopause. During perimenopause fairly subtle hormonal changes are in the works. Some women begin to experience the infamous hot flashes (or night sweats) during this period of time. You may feel more weary than usual. Sleeping may become problematic and irritability becomes the rule of the day. It’s important to remember that estrogen affects all parts of the body – even the brain – when the usual monthly boost is not forthcoming. But more about hormones later in the book.
Hysterectomy and Menopause
Every year, approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States making it the second most frequently performed major surgical procedure for women of reproductive age – second only to cesarean section. This means that an estimated 20 million U.S. women have had a hysterectomy. That adds up to a lot of women who will not experience menopause in the natural way.
Not every hysterectomy is the same. Some procedures remove only the uterus leaving the ovaries (partial hysterectomy), but in other cases both uterus and ovaries are removed (total hysterectomy).
Even when experienced in the normal way menopause is not the smoothest ride in life – the symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats, unpredictable menstrual irregularities, changes in sexual desire, and uncontrollable mood swings do come on gradually. But when surgical menopause comes into play it throws the body into all the symptoms at once. One woman who underwent a total hysterectomy said it was like going to sleep in the operating room as a normal woman and waking up in a sea of physical and psychological distress.
A partial hysterectomy that leaves the ovaries is somewhat less distressing. However, since there are no more periods, it is difficult to know exactly when actual menopause takes place, so the process is still upset to some degree.
Three Types of Menopause Basically there are three types of menopause:
1. Natural Menopause
2. Premature Menopause
3. Artificial Menopause
Natural Menopause
We’ve mentioned the natural pathway which is when the body takes its own course and everything evolves naturally. The process begins usually between ages forty-five and fifty-five. As has been said, no two women are alike which means the duration of menopause can range anywhere from five years to as long as thirteen years. The length of time depends a great deal on the physical condition of the woman’s body as well as the mental and emotional attitude.
Premature Menopause
Premature Menopause refers to those who complete the menopausal transition by age forty or younger. This may be due to an illness or some type of chronic stress. It may also be due to excessive athletic conditioning that adversely affects hormone-related reproductive functions.
Because the transition is of a shorter duration it may be necessary to take supplemental hormones to alleviate the uncomfortable symptoms.
Artificial Menopause While it was mentioned that a surgical hysterectomy can upset the natural menopause process (in some cases shorten it drastically), others factors can lead to what is known as artificial menopause. Any disruption of the blood supply to the ovaries can initiate an artificial menopause, such as radiation, chemotherapy, or administration of certain drugs that induce menopause for medical purposes such as shrinking uterine fibroids. In this case the woman has no opportunity for a gradual adjustment and the symptoms can be severe and at times debilitating. In this case, almost invariably, supplemental hormone therapy will be needed. As you have probably noticed the term hormones has been used quite often so far in The Healthy Way to Survive Menopause. We’ll discover why that is in the next chapter.