PMS Guide |

Menopause, which comes from the Greek mens, meaning monthly, and pausa, meaning stop, is the time when a woman’s monthly menstrual period comes to a halt. When we speak about menopause, we are talking about the changes that occur in a woman after she stops menstruating.

Menopause can last anywhere from one year to several years, varying from one woman to another. It is the time when a woman may experience the well-known change-of-life symptoms such as hot flashes, hot flushes, dry skin, backaches, and other problems associated with declining estrogen levels. Some women, particularly women who have no obvious symptoms of menopause, might never know when menopause begins and ends because they are able to pass through this phase with little or only minimal discomfort.

During natural menopause, a woman should maintain a balance of calcium and phosphorus in her body. Certain foods such as cottage cheese, spinach, lobster, milk, and spaghetti contain varying quantities of these two minerals. In addition, approximately 2,600 milligrams of calcium carbonate tablets should be taken daily. Vitamin D, at least 400 units daily, will also aid in building calcium in the bones. Fluoride tablets help strengthen teeth and bones, and vitamin E-800 to 1,000 units daily—might also improve the bones. (If a woman chooses to take vitamin E, she should also add extra vitamin C to her regime since the body’s supply of vitamin C is somewhat depleted by vitamin E.) Since most refined foods have been robbed of vitamin B, a vitamin B-complex containing vitamin B, would complete this supplementary regimen. Thus, a proper diet, accompanied by a regimen of supplementary calcium, fluoride, and vitamins D, B, and possibly E and C, might help to lessen the severity of menopausal symptoms. After that, exercise to strengthen the bones is essential. Bicycling and walking are good, but swimming, an activity that never strains the bones, is especially advised.

However, subtle hormonal changes occur continuously in the course of a lifetime and a woman’s seeming transformations may have nothing to do with menopause. When a woman is in her forties, she may notice physical and psychological symptoms she did not experience in earlier years, but her hormonal levels may simply have changed to the point where symptoms have become apparent. It is well-known that PMS intensifies with age. Premenstrual syndrome is hardly ever seen among teenagers; the condition becomes more recognizable among women in their twenties, and it can be common as well as severe when women enter their late thirties and early forties.

Many women who experience menstrual irregularity, depression, and weight gain in their forties immediately assume that because they feel different they are in menopause. Usually these women are not premenopausal (or perimenopausal) but are suffering varying degrees of premenstrual syndrome.