menopause
Menopause is a normal part of life. It is the time when periods stop permanently and a woman can no longer get pregnant. A woman has reached menopause when she hasn’t had a period for 12 months in a row. The average age of menopause is 51. After menopause, the ovaries make much less estrogen and progesterone. This drop in hormones can lead to many symptoms. Some of these can start before you are truly menopausal. Not all women experience these symptoms. Some women may have only a few symptoms, while others can be very affected. Typical symptoms include hot flashes and night sweats, vaginal dryness, sleep problems, memory difficulty, urinary problems, mood changes, depression and anxiety, changing feelings about sex, weight gain. There are options to help treat these symptoms (hormonal and non-hormonal).
additional resources
Websites
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada 🍁
The Canadian Menopause Society 🍁
The International Menopause Society
The U.S Office on Women’s Health
The Endocrine Society; Hormone Health
Patient Hand-outs from the North American Menopause Society
Books
Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution, Stephanie Faubion, MD
Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker, Ph D
The Little Book of Menopause, James R Woods MD
The Magic of Menopause, Lorraine Miano
The Menopause Manifesto, Jennifer Gunter MD, FACOG
A Woman’s Guide to Healthy Aging, Vivien Brown, MDCM, NCMP 🍁
Menopause Confidential , Tara Allmen, MD, FACOG, NCMP
Change Your Menopause, Wulf Utian, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG
The Estrogen Window, Mache Seibel, MD
Sleep After Menopause, Maria J. Sunseri, MD
The Menopause Guidebook, 8th Ed., The North American Menopause Society
🍁 Denotes a Canadian resource