Common Symptoms of Menopause

Julian Whitaker, MD

Re you familiar with the common signs of menopause? Fluctuating levels of hormones cause a number of symptoms, including:

Hot flashes. Hot flashes are one of the most common and uncomfortable symptoms of menopause. They involve feelings of extreme heat that may last as long as five minutes. They often occur at night, leaving you feeling fatigued and irritable the next day.

Mood swings. Around menopause you may notice that you aren’t handling stress as well as you used to, that you are more irritable and moody. That’s because you have hormone receptors in tissues throughout the body, including the brain.

Vaginal dryness and thinning. As estrogen levels drop, the vaginal walls become thinner and drier and secrete less mucus, which leads to dryness and discomfort during intercourse.

Urinary tract symptoms. The walls of the urethra also become thinner and drier, and as a result, urinarytract infections are much more common after menopause. With the loss of estrogen, the uterus, vagina, and bladder can lose muscle tone, causing pelvic organ prolapse, which may lead to even more problems.

Recommendations

• To read more about menopause, click here.
• For information on the Whitaker Wellness Institute’s safe, natural approach to alleviating menopausal symptoms, call a Patient Services Representative at (866) 944-8253.

Modified from Health & Healing with permission from Healthy Directions, LLC. Copyright 2002. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher. To subscribe to Health & Healing, click here.