Menopause
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Menstraution and Self Checks
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Perimenopause and Menopause
        Perimenopause is the phase before Menopause. With the ovaries producing less and less estrogen and progesterone, there is a decline in fertility. Over a few years time (usually starting sometime in their 40's) women's menstrual periods become irregular as they ovulate less. Menopause is the time in a woman's life when her period stops completely. Which means her period must stop for 12 months. As women get closer to menopause their bodies start to change and do different things which can confuse some women, because they do not know how to treat them. This is why it is important to know about menopause. Menopause usually comes at the age of 45 to 55, or around the age that their mother started menopause. These changes can start as early as age 30 or as late as age 60.

Different Types of Symptoms
        There are many different types of symptoms and some women will have all of them and some woman may have none, it just depends on the women's body. The most popular symptom is hot flashes; researchers still do not know what causes them. Hot flashes vary with how long they will last. Women may also experience weight gain, vaginal bleeding and or vaginal dryness. Hot flashes can cause a woman to get irritable and moody as well. Menopause can lead to osteoporosis and heart disease.

Managing Symptoms
        There is a treatment called hormone therapy (HT). This type of therapy has helped to control the symptoms of menopause related to the decline of estrogen which can cause the hot flashes and vaginal dryness. Researchers and doctors stopped therapy with estrogen and progesterone when they found that these women are more likely to experience heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer. There are risks with doing hormone therapy with that said the women thinking about doing HT should talk to their doctor about risks. Other types of hormone therapy are oral contraceptive pills. This will help with irregular vaginal bleeding. There are other methods that do not require hormones. Some women take vitamin E to help with mild hot flashes. Women who have vaginal dryness can also use over the counter creams; they may not be as effective if a woman were to use vaginal estrogen.

Premature menopause
        When people say premature menopause this means that menopause started before the age of 40. It is also called Premature Ovarian Failure. This could be due to medical reasons or it just happens naturally. If it is because of a medical reason it is usually induced. There are some reasons why it might happened naturally, a big reason would be because of family genes, medical treatment of the ovaries, and or cancer treatments. Women who do have premature menopause are more likely to have osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis
        Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by the loss of the normal density of bone, resulting in fragile bone. The bones are very dense and spongy like. This will cause an increase of braking bone. Since the bones are so weak it causes the bones to brake easier then they would with out osteoporosis. The most common bones that brake with osteoporosis are the hip, spine, and the wrists

Symptoms
        There are not a lot of symptoms unless there is a bone fracture. Lower back pain can be symptoms of fractures in spine. This will cause people to walk hunched over because they are curving their back, which will cause a hump on the upper back.

Risk of Developing
        Most of the time when an older person falls they have a very good chance they will fracture a hip. If they do fracture a hip they might have to stay in a nursing home for the rest of their life. A hip fracture is very hard to heal because the bones have poor bone quality. Almost 20% of women with hip fractures will die within the next year because of having to bed on bed rest. The bed rest can cause blood clots in the legs which could go into the lungs.

·        One in two white women will experiences a bone fracture in their lifetime.
·        55% of the population that has osteoporosis is 50 years old or older.

There are risks of getting osteoporosis as there is any thing else. It is more common in women then men, also Caucasian or Asian race. Also a person with a small and thin body and someone who has smoked or does smoke can get osteoporosis. If osteoporosis runs in the family be aware of fractures, a good diet and exercising will help with preventing osteoporosis.

Detection
        Osteoporosis can be detected through an x-ray, this shows what the bone looks like. If the bone is very small and dense then a person will have osteoporosis. The other way of testing if a person has osteoporosis is by doing a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scan (DXA). This measures the bone density in the hip and spine. Women who are menopausal and or at the age of 65 should get tested for osteoporosis also women with different medical problems need to get tested.