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Menopause

We all know about it, we all wait expectantly for it, but we are often surprised and unprepared when the change actually makes its impact felt.

Why? Well, I think unlike puberty, we don't discuss menopause so much, even though it is at least as significant an event in the life cycle of a woman. It signals the end of the monthly periods. It signals the end of the childbearing capability and the move into a mature stage of the human lifecyle.

It is a time of transition.

Like puberty, it is maddeningly non specific in its arrival and the individual experience it will bring.

While it is going on you are technically peri-menopausal; meaning still experiencing your periods but they are becoming irregular.

Another reason the initial signals may be missed is that a woman is often in the middle of a pretty hectic lifestyle at this stage of life.

She will be likely running a household as well as working.

She may be stressed dealing with teenage children or becoming distracted with minor discontentments in her relationships.

She may have a partner going through a midlife crisis or a parent that is failing due to illness.

She may confuse some of what she feels on these things without noticing other changes going on within her.

So it can sometimes sneak up on a woman!

What is actually happening is that your body is triggering the cessation of ovulation which will impact on both your hormone levels and your periods.

Many of the things experienced during menopause are related to the fluctuating levels of hormones and your body's effort to adapt to that.

So the bad news is that you may experience a wide range of physical and emotional issues during menopause; everything from hot flushes, indigestion, headaches, emotional outbursts, urge incontinence and depression. However, virtually all these things can be addressed with medical or herbal remedies if they become too much to manage on your own.

And the very good news is that once through the menopause phase, many women experience a new zest for life and measurably less emotional stress and depression. It is one of the great rites of passage. You move into wise woman status.