The Journal Standard Online : Menopause: Is it hot in here or is it me?

Just found this on the Journal Standard Online:

"Currently there are more than 40 million women who are 51 years or older in the United States and 3 million women who are between the ages of 40 to 50. The average age that women experience spontaneous menopause is 51 and 80 percent of these women will have undesirable symptoms.

During the menopausal years, a woman's ovaries gradually produce less estrogen until production stops entirely. During this time of decreased estrogen is when women may experience changes in their body.

Perimenopause is the transitional time from normal periods to no periods. This transition may start as early as three to nine years before menopause. During this time, a woman may experience a combination of PMS and menopausal symptoms or may have no symptoms at all.

Menopause is a normal part of life for women between the ages of 40 to 58. It is defined as the cessation of menstruation for 12 consecutive months and is the end of a woman's reproductive years."

The whole article is great, in that it's not too much information, and it also doesn't push hormones and artificial therapies. The emphasis is on lifestyle approaches -- exercising 30 minutes a day, three days a week, eating the right foods, and supplementing vitamins. It's not a lot of information, but what I like about it, is the article sends a clear-headed message about an often-confusing time of life.

Symptom Alert

Hot flashes yesterday (12/22) and today. Oh, come to think of it, I had hot flashes two days ago, as well.
They seem to come first thing in the a.m., and then later at night. I think that all the busy-ness of the holidays is sending my body spinning, more than usual. But given that it's so cold outside, I'm not at all opposed to these "power surges" right now. My flashes seem to be coming more frequently. I had a number of symptom-free months, then I started back up again, moderately.

It doesn't help that I'm looking for work, right now, I supposed. That's added stress. But the holidays have been more mellow than usual, so I'm balancing all the demands out pretty well.

Planning everything ahead of time, and getting things out of the way before the deadlines I've imposed, really makes a difference.