Coping With Menopause

Coping with menopause can be tough, so a little bit of menopause relief can go a long way towards making this problematic phase of a woman's life a little more manageable. There are a number of symptoms of this discomfort that women seek relief from, including hot flashes and headaches. With the right outlook and a little bit of medical assistance, most women find that they can experience a great deal of relief.

Learn how to cope with hot flashes. Hot flashes are the body's response to lowered estrogen levels. It's a temporary dysfunction in the temperature regulating portion of the brain until the body gets used to the missed estrogen. A typical hot flash lasts about 2 - 3 minutes. During a hot flash, your face and upper body feel extremely hot. Your face reddens and you sweat heavily as your skin temperature suddenly rises 7-8 degrees. It usually returns to normal within 30 minutes. Dress lightly and in layers. Wear natural fibres. Synthetic fibres trap heat and perspiration during a hot flash, making this symptom even more uncomfortable. Natural fibres such as cotton or wool will give your body more ventilation, and keep it cooler by wicking moisture away from your body and cooling you naturally. Another option is to wear one layer of a thick sweater that permits air flow yet keeps heat after the body temperature has gone back down. Try standing up, fluffing the bottom of the shirt discretely, or going for a slow gentle walk to circulate air around the body. Perhaps consider V- or scoop-neck tops which can be conducive to a chimney effect if you hold out the bottom of the shirt. Heat rises, bringing cool air up.

Become informed. If you don't know what to expect from menopause, you'll be more vulnerable to the horror stories, the pressure to undergo treatments that you might not necessarily want to have, and the worry that your changes are out of your control. Information is power; power to make informed choices, to understand what is truly involved in menopause and to realize that many women have undergone this passage of life and grown in strength and wisdom as a result.

Keep in mind that you're still a woman. In a youth-prone society, it is very easy to fall into the trap of feeling that post-reproductive age, your womanhood is somehow reduced. The reality is that you're no less a woman than prior to menopause! You're simply a woman who has undergone reproductive changes, not changes to the essence of what makes you a woman.

Provided they're not health or life-threatening, consider doing nothing about the changes beyond talking with others, and just letting them happen. Radical, but it's what most women have done throughout history. The problem is often in our perception that menopause needs treatment. On the whole, for the majority of women, it simply doesn't. More likely it's the emotional symptoms that accompany it that are in need of treatment: the anxiety, the sense of purposelessness, the worry about self-esteem, etc. Reflect on this carefully and seek support through counseling if needed.

Love the clarity of vision that can arrive with menopause. Menopause is a crossroads, a time to rebirth yourself, change your focus, and start exploring your own needs more. It becomes a time when you stop stifling your own needs in favor of others and start making changes needed to forge on with a positive future. With children grown sufficiently, or already having left the nest, time comes back to you and becomes yours again. Think back to the disparities you felt in household responsibilities 10 years before. You don't need to make those sacrifices now because the time and space become your own again.

For more information on menopause symptoms, check out Mindset for Menopause. I'm sure you'll like it!

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/coping-with-menopause-324030

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