Menopause Symptoms
Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling
Bouts of rapid heart beat
Irritability
Mood swings, sudden tears
Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats)
Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods, shorter cycles, longer cycles
Loss of libido (see note)
Dry vagina (see note)
Crashing fatigue
Anxiety, feeling ill at ease
Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom (see note)
Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
Disturbing memory lapses
Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence (see note)
Itchy, crawly skin (see note)
Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons (see note)
Increased tension in muscles
Breast tenderness
Headache change: increase or decrease
Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea
Sudden bouts of bloat
Depression (see note)
Exacerbation of existing conditions
Increase in allergies
Weight gain (see note)
Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair
Dizziness, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance
Changes in body odor
Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head (see note)
Tingling in the extremities, (see note)
Gum problems, increased bleeding
Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor
Osteoporosis (after several years)
Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier
Tinnitus: ringing in ears, bells, 'whooshing' buzzing etc.
Note:
Symptom 1 (flashes) Hot flashes are due to the hypothalamic response to declining
ovarian estrogen production. The declining estrogen state induces hypophysiotropic
neurons in the acute nucleus of the hypothalamus to release gonadotropin-releasing
hormone (GnRH) in a pulsatile fashion, which in turn stimulates release of luteinizing
hormone (LH). Extremely high pulses of LH occur during the period of declining estrogen
production. The LH has vasodilatory effects, which leads to flushing.
Symptom 7 (loss of libido) For some women the loss is so great that they actually
find sex repulsive, in much the same way as they felt before puberty. What hormones
give, loss of hormones can take away.
Symptom 8 (dry vagina) results in painful intercourse
Symptom 11 (doom thoughts) includes thoughts of death, picturing one's own death
Symptom 14 (incontinence) reflects a general loss of smooth muscle tone
Symptom 15 (itchy, crawly skin) feeling of ants crawling under the skin, not just dry itchy skin
Symptom 16 (aching sore joints) may include such problems as carpal tunnel syndrome
Symptom 22 (depression) different from other depression, the inability to cope is
overwhelming. There is a feeling of loss of self. Hormone therapy ameliorates the depression dramatically.
Symptom 25 (weight gain) often around the waist and thighs, resulting in 'the disappearing waistline
Symptom 29 (shock sensation) "the feeling of a rubber band snapping in the layer of tissue
between skin and muscle. It is a precursor to a hot flash"
Symptom 30 (tingling in extremities) can also be a symptom of B-12 deficiency, diabetes, alterations
in the flexibility of blood vessels, or a depletion of potassium or calcium
Some of the 34 signs may also be symptoms of one of the following:
diabetes
depression with another etiology
Multiple Sclerosis
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