Are These Symptoms Menopause? What is the Formal Definition of Menopause?

Everyone knows about hot flashes and sleeplessness, sweating and night sweats, as well as the host of vaginal symptoms that do occur at the time of menopause. But there are many symptoms not officially designated in 'the menopause' that do occur with great frequency. So the formal definition of symptoms attributable to menopause becomes a bit blurry when you talk to women and then get the take on menopause definition from their physicians. Lets take the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and moodiness. Is it formally due to menopause? A consequence of untreated menopausal symptoms or just due to what else goes on at that time of life? A consequence of the empty nest some women find themselves in when it is, coincidentally, their menopausal time. How about headaches? Is that due to the lack of sleep, the lack of the birth control pills you used to be on, the attempts to diet, the blood pressure or blood sugar problems that you may be having, or just simply menopause? It's not universally agreed by all the experts. On such expert by the name of Kupperman had a score for 12 of the symptoms of menopause: hot flashes, paresthesia (numbness or tingling), insomnia, myalgia (or muscle aching or pains), palpitations (irregular heart rate), formication (it's the sensation of prickling that feels like an insect is crawling), insomnia (no sleep), vertigo (dizzy or wooziness), or weakness. Others have used the menopause rating scale, and other physicians use quality of life scales. My patients tell me they get overall warm, or actually turn red, or get cold sweats, or drenching sweat. And technically Kupperman's score doesn't really ask about the degree of sweating unless you call your sweating a hot flash. Various physician organizations have scales for associated problems like the vaginal dryness or urinary incontinence symptoms! Ultimately it's important to define menopause if you are in a research study, but most important is for you and your physician to get together and decide what symptoms you are having, if these symptoms are hormonal, and if these symptoms need treatment, regardless of what you attribute these symptoms to.

Passing Your Uterine Lining, Menstrual Period Norms

Decidual Cast Periods can be fairly easy, passing some tissue at a time, or off can come the whole lining in one piece called a decidual cast. Generally the lining of the uterus is only 6-8 mm thick at the time of the menstrual period, and it is shed gradually, a few cells at a time. The decidual cast is when the entire lining passes spontaneously. It's not uncommon, but it usually both uncomfortable, and alarming to some. But us women are designed to have some sort of periods Or Not? We have to pass tissue each month. Or Not? Are they good for us? Or Not? Do we want them? Or Not? Is this something that is individual? Or Not? It's a complex topic that I will be discussing a lot over my time in this blog. So lets start with basics: How much do we bleed and what are we loosing, and just what was this that the patient passed? And another basic: track your periods, and the Women's Health Practice site http://www.womenshealthpractice.com/media/pdf/menstrual_chart.pdf you

Endocervial polyps

2 cm Endometrial Polyp After Removal Polyps in the cervix are almost never cancerous, but can bleed or get infected and should be removed. The are not directly related to an endometrial or uterine polyp (which is a precancerous condition), but your gyno may want to make sure these two conditions do not co-exist.

Irregular Periods can Be the Sign of Other Medical Conditions

Heavy menstrual Bleeding Menstrual Period Norms The menstrual period's normal physiologic function to shed the lining and then prepare the lining for a pregnancy. Thus a sample of the lining under the microsope looks like it has glands within tissue. It’s hard to know if this is a heavy period, or one that is really so heavy that you need treatment without really checking completely with your gyno! Experts have used a number of definitions to determine if the period you are having is too heavy. Your perception is important. The actual amount of blood lost is important, but that can be determined by collecting each pad and weighing them before and after blood collection. So gynos have struggled with how to determine the formal definition of heavy bleeding. A basic check up, and a basic blood count, is not going to really make your version of heavy periods fit the typical “FDA” approved definition because that is defined by the exact amount of blood lost, which is los

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