Many women suffer for nothing – An experienced gynecologist tells what women don’t know – 2024-02-17 03:35:57

Menopause symptoms are still associated with misunderstandings and prejudices. Also, their great variation is not known to everyone.

– At worst, the symptoms can even be disabling. For some, there are almost no symptoms of menopause, says the gynecologist Leena Väisälä.

This variety is one of the reasons why it is not necessary to seek help for menopause symptoms. A woman may not know how to connect something she is experiencing with the approaching menopause.

You don’t always want to ask for or accept help either. Many still consider menopause to be a natural thing that does not need treatment or medication.

In Väisälä’s opinion, this notion would already end up in the scrap heap.

– In the same way, the pains associated with childbirth are also natural, and they can be treated.

Gynecologist Leena Väisälä reminds us that hormone therapy improves the quality of life. ATTE KAJOVA

“Guilt is stupid”

An experienced specialist in gynecology and childbirth firmly believes that no one should feel guilty for seeking relief from hormone replacement therapy.

– Feeling guilty is stupid. I don’t understand it at all.

According to him, pregnancy prevention is also a way of interfering with a natural process – and yet it is used without feelings of guilt. The same attitude should also be taken regarding hormone therapy.

– With it, you can easily improve the quality of life.

Hot flashes are perhaps the most well-known symptom of menopause. However, not everyone experiences them.

– 70-80 percent of women suffer from hot flashes and sweating, says Väisälä.

Mood swings are equally common. Other common menopausal symptoms include weight gain, joint pain and difficulty sleeping.

Joint pains, palpitations and sensitivity to crying are also quite often among menopause symptoms. In addition, memory may deteriorate, and sexual desire may wane.

No need to swim in sweat

The intensity of the symptoms also varies. For example, hot flashes do not mean that a woman wakes up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat.

– It’s already quite extreme. No need to swim in sweat, says Väisälä.

In his opinion, menopause symptoms should not even be allowed to go untreated to this level.

– By then, he’s probably already unwell anyway”.

According to Väisälä, sleep disorders caused by menopause are a problem that affects life in many ways. They predispose to weight gain and mood swings.

It’s hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle when you’re tired anyway. This easily creates a destructive cycle.

– You can’t move when you’re tired, maybe you eat more unhealthily when you don’t feel like cooking and quickly take something high in calories in the hope of pleasure hormones.

This leads to weight gain more than it would otherwise.

However, sleep disorders can be caused by reasons other than a lack of estrogen: therefore, for example, possible sleep apnea should be investigated.

The symptoms can also be caused by a thyroid problem, which is common in middle-aged women.

– That is also easy to investigate. Only one blood test is needed.

Finding the right cause also helps to get the right kind of help, and the symptoms can be treated before they get bad.

A lot of variation

In addition to the symptoms of menopause, there is also a wide spectrum in the time it starts. Menstruation stops on average at the age of 50, but there is great variation.

Menopausal symptoms, on the other hand, start on average a few years before the end of menstruation, i.e. often already around the age of 45. Even in this respect, however, the range is wide, and the symptoms may start earlier or later.

– If you are already a little over 40 years old and start to have these symptoms, you should see a gynecologist.

It is also good to seek the help of a specialist doctor in the sense that the multiplicity of menopausal symptoms makes it difficult to make a diagnosis. If the symptoms are minor or atypical, it is difficult for the doctor to recognize them.

According to Väisälä, even laboratory tests are not always helpful.

– In principle, they only tell the situation when the ovaries have almost completely stopped functioning. Sometimes it’s hard to find the decline phase.

Negative misconceptions

According to Väisälä, negative misunderstandings related to menopause also make it difficult to identify them.

– There is a bit of a perception that old age begins with them and life is over, Väisälä describes.

– When a young, flourishing-looking woman comes to tell us about the symptoms, even a professional can think that she can’t be menopause yet”.

Väisälä thanks Maria Veitolaa and other familiar faces who have talked about their menopause openly. Honesty helps to break taboos and misunderstandings related to the topic.

Menopause is not a disease, and life can be enjoyed even after it.

– People in their fifties today look like people in their thirties used to look like. From Sex and the City stars. Menopausal people are not an old crowd.

Väisälä reminds that not everyone will experience any kind of menopausal symptoms, and they may be surprised by talk about, for example, hot flashes.

On the other hand, even painful symptoms can be treated in such a way that even a reasonable quality of life can be achieved.

The risks of benefits are lower

Väisälä stresses that, according to studies, the benefits of hormone therapy for a symptomatic woman are greater than the risks – He reminds that the risks of estrogen administered through the skin are low. Treatment in tablet form may increase the risk of blood clots, but only slightly.

– I very rarely prescribe an oral preparation anymore.

In addition, the significant benefit of estrogen treatment is that it protects the bones. According to Väisälä, there is also research evidence of its protective effect against heart disease.

The biggest risks of estrogen replacement therapy are related to breast cancer.

In Väisälä’s opinion, however, what is often forgotten in this discussion is that breast cancer is a multifactorial disease. For example, obesity and alcohol use affect it more than hormone therapy.

– Hormone therapy does not cause breast cancer, but it can bring out the latent disease a little faster, says Väisälä.

– Breast cancer mortality does not increase in those using hormone therapy.

Väisälä also reminds that the increased small risk of breast cancer only becomes apparent after the treatment has been used for several years.