Menopause symptoms vary greatly; in fact, there are no two women that will have the same menopause symptoms in the same order. There are some women who don’t have any symptoms as all, but not many. Symptoms last different lengths of time for different women and are caused by the hormonal transition and imbalance in a woman’s body.
One of the menopause symptoms in women is mood swings. Approximately 10% of women suffer from mood swings during menopause. Mood swings, basically, are drastic changes in mood over a short period of time. For example, laughing one minute, yelling and being angry, then crying, and then feeling depressed very shortly after. Many women get on medication for mood swings, while others prefer a more natural solution.
One of the main menopause symptoms in women is change in the menstrual cycle. In fact, less than 10% of women go through menopause without any irregularity. Periods will more than likely shorten and begin sooner than usual. The heaviness of blood flow may change as well and your periods may become either lighter or heavier. Birth control is often prescribed to help make periods more regular.
Women can begin having hot flashes, also called vasommotor symptoms, either in the pre-menopausal stages of peri-menopause or after their last menstrual period. They last longer for some than they do for others, but usually last somewhere between three and five years. Sometimes women will feel anxious, tense, agitated, or unsettled as a hot flash is coming on, and many times the heart rate will increase. They are often worse the first year following the last period. The only outward physical sign of a hot flash is the skin turning a pink or reddish color and sweating. Hot flashes can be mild or severe and some women may experience chills. As with any other menopause symptom, it is different for every woman.
Insomnia is a common menopause symptom. Some women have hot flashes mainly at night and cannot sleep due to that; while others have difficulty falling asleep even without hot flashes. A common pattern in many women is falling asleep for a few hours, waking up, and then not being able to go back to sleep.
Women sometimes complain of having short-term memory loss and difficulty concentrating as a menopause symptom. While many experts say that lower estrogen levels probably do play a role in memory loss and a lack of concentration, some think this is due to aging. The stress of going through menopause also may have an effect on memory and concentration.
Lower levels of estrogen cause some sort of menopause symptoms in all women, but they are different in every case. Some women will have very distinct and obvious menopause symptoms, while others only go through mild changes.