“AND a period full of opportunities »: so the experts of the Menopause Society American have recently defined menopause, a phase of life that lasts decades in which “women can make an essential contribution to societyto the family, to the whole community ».
For this the Americans have started the initiative Making menopause work/ make menopause workwhich underlines, in what in English it sounds almost like a game of words, which work “work” and post -fertility season can collaborate. From here information aimed at those who offer it and who does it, To deal with this natural transition, guaranteeing optimal quality of life, during the passage phase but also and especially after, when the disorders connected to menopause can be felt even more. In fact, too many, still, surrender to the idea that the discomfort connected to the lack of estrogen are the price to be paid to the years that pass.
Estrogen in menopause
It is not so, he explains Alessandra Graziottindirector of the Center of Gynecology and Medical Sexology of the San Raffaele Resnati hospital in Milan: “In endocrinology it is worth the rule that if a gland stops working or hurts it, as can happen for example to the thyroid, Lost hormones integrate. You should also do it with estrogenwhen the ovaries stop producing them ».
Menopause is the beginning of a new phase of life. (Getty Images)
The menopause, moreover, it was not “expected” by evolution: for millennia very few women survived beyond the end of fertile life, therefore the female body is not equipped to live (well) without estrogen. When these hormones float in the transition phase and then decrease with menopausetrigger a increase in low degree inflammation which promotes many diseasesmetabolic and not, such as diabetes, obesity, tumors; With the drop in estrogen, then, cortisol grows, the stress hormone. Hence the many troubles of menopause, from greater cardiovascular risk to osteoporosis, from mental “fog” to painful musculoskeletal syndromes. “Even the hated bacon and weight gain are a consequence of the changes and inflammation induced by the fall of estrogen,” says Graziottin.
«Like all other symptoms, however, they are not an ineluctable fate. Attention to lifestyle, diet and the fact of “giving” yourself every morning half an hour of outdoor walking is already enough to reduce general inflammation by 30 percent And to help keep blood sugar and weight under control. The obvious symptoms, such as very violent vampires, devour vital energy and are the scream of the body, which thus shouts its malaise due to the lack of estrogen. On the other hand, it should also be sought to intercept the whispers of the body, creating for each woman a tailor -made dress of hormonal additions and well -being measures that accompany her over the years ».
Estrogen, the right time is now
Unfortunately, hormonal therapies are still very feared, although there is no reason: All studies have shown that a well -prescribed hormonal therapy does not hurt. And it was even more than reduced the risk of breast cancer, which emerged from a study of more than twenty years ago, conducted on women very different from age and conditions from those to which it is now prescribed and with drugs that no one uses more. “Overweight and alcohol consumption are more dangerous” Closes Gratzattin.
“Nevertheless, Those data that associated estrogen with a feared disease like cancer have created a difficult resistance to be overcomeAnd. The increase in danger is not significant. In women who no longer have the uterus there is even a clear effect of breast cancer protection. Only for 13 percent the replacement therapy is contraindicated, yet very few follow it ». So how to proceed if you are divided between doubts and the desire to proceed with hormonal care? If you look out this opportunity exceeded 60? Or, again, to start again to give the body what it needs, if the replacement therapy has been interrupted after following it for a while?
The Gynecologist Council is to proceed by degrees, of course after evaluating your case with the doctor. «In the past it was said to start within 60 years or ten years since the last cycle. Now this rigidity has disappeared and it is evaluated on a case -by -case basis. Because the biological age of the woman counts a lot, “explains Graziottin. “Certainly before it starts better is: Because by accompanying the transition you do not have the surge of inflammation connected to the fluctuations of estrogen and the subsequent drop. However, you can also start later, proceeding by degrees, for example with a transdermal patch which, while using low hormonal dosages, ensures a stations of estrogen in the circle. Otherwise, Prasterone and/or testosterone can be administered locallyin the vagina: in this way they deal with the symptoms of parent-urinary syndrome and therefore it affects positive on vaginal dryness, difficulties in sexual intercourse, problems of incontinence.
This is particularly useful in women who have had a cesarean birth Or in those who have never given birth, because over the years the musculature is reduced, the fibers are portrayed and relationships can become painful. It is never too late to start a local hormonal therapy, even at 80 it can be useful to find health and well -being; In addition, this method of treatment can be continued throughout life. The goal should be to find the dose to which the body of each “says” that is fine».
Hormonal therapies, alternative choices
Local therapy can also be prescribed by women with a greater thrombotic risk, which cannot follow the oral one. The only contraindication is for those who have faced breast, uterus or ovarian cancer. But even in these cases it should not be resigned.
«To overcome the annoyances of menopause it helps a lot physiotherapy and rehabilitation of the pelvic floorfor example in case of pain in sexual intercourse or urinary symptoms. Against pain it can then serve a spermidine -based gel, which helps to reduce the atrophy of the mucosa cells. Palmitoiletanolamide or hyaluronic acid also contribute to maintaining genital well -being also, as well as the probiotics in cream or vaginal ovuli; Therapies with regenerative laser or oxygen therapy are also effective.
The important thing is to establish the right sequence of interventions. Because, for example, if the muscles are hyper-contracts, first it is necessary to correct the mechanical component with rehabilitation physiotherapy. Never, however, and especially in those who cannot make a therapy that intact female hormones, you can give up a healthy lifestyle: balanced diet, daily movement and night rest are fundamental for all. Getting to menopause is a success: we have to learn to love this time of our life, wanting to our body well, to “live it” with serenity and grace “.
Testosterone, the hormone you don’t expect
It is testosterone that is most often associated with the “male”. And that women, on the other hand, can do a great good. The “big forgotten” of hormonal menopause therapies is testosteroneperhaps because you think (wrongly) that it is useful only to men. However, explains the gynecologist Alessandra Graziottin: «If estrogen remove the symptoms of menopause, testosterone returns the smile to women. In addition to being a powerful anti -inflammatory, very useful quality in a moment of female life in which the degree of inflammation grows, this hormone contrasts the loss of muscles typical of aging e It improves the desire and life of a couple. Unfortunately, to acquire it, a paper prescription is needed, not repeatable. And the product is a galenic, that is, it must be prepared by the pharmacist in the laboratory, there is no “industrial” version; The hope is that it can be made more accessible, because it is of great help in menopause women“
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