Menopause is a normal, natural event in a woman’s life. The term menopause designates the date of the last menstruation of the woman and is due to the fact that the ovaries diminish the production of sexual hormones, especially estrogen, which is the main female hormone.

A woman reaches menopause when she does not have a menstrual period for a year. Changes and symptoms may begin several years earlier. These include:

• Change in menses: More or less lasting, more or less profuse, with more or less time between periods
• Heat and / or night sweats
• Difficulty to sleep
• Vaginal dryness
• Humor changes
• Difficult to focus
• Less hair and more facial hair

Some symptoms require treatment and improve considerably with proper treatment. Talk to your doctor about what to do during menopause. Make sure your doctor knows your family’s medical history. This includes your risk of heart disease, osteoporosis or breast cancer.

The most characteristic symptoms are the appearance of hot flushes, typically referred to as a sensation of heat that arises in the chest and radiates to the neck and face and that can be accompanied by intense sweating. They usually come to last a few minutes, although they can be longer and repeated several times a day.

Other symptoms that may be associated in the short term are vaginal dryness, burning in the genitals, frequency and urgency in urination, and a higher frequency of urinary tract infections. Also characteristic is the loss of skin elasticity and changes in texture, size and consistency of the breasts. Many women report episodes of anxiety, depression, irritability, memory loss and sleep disturbances.

A decrease in libido is also characteristic, that is, in sexual appetite, which can be aggravated by the discomfort produced in sexual intercourse, due to the dryness of the vaginal mucosa.

It is a stage in a woman’s life that is related to the symptoms or changes that the woman experiences before, during and after menopause. Menopause occurs in all women, however each will experience its climacteric in a different way. This will depend on many factors, including personality, the meaning that this new stage has for each one, the social role that women have in this stage in different cultures. It is a time of great changes, both from the physical and emotional and sociocultural points of view.