all right sorry selfie live healthy this
morning menopause it will affect every
woman in their 40s and in their 50s but
it is not often discussed openly so
Memorial OBGYN Marshall Osho joins us
now with vital information on this
normal part of Aging for women we're
pulling it out the closet and we're
gonna talk about it you know you were
saying women in their 40s it can affect
them but that's typically a little young
isn't it yes yes the average age is
about 52 but it can't affect what some
women in their 40s and hearing that you
know in your forties you're kind like
well am I going through menopause is it
starting what are some of those signs to
kind of let you know that you've started
the process so some of the signs you
need to look for are things like hot
flashes night sweats
but then you can also have some signs
that a lot of women just don't even
associate with menopause like vaginal
dryness irritation and irritation and
pain with sex all things that sound
marvelous just sounds awful how can you
like I guess the extreme and then in the
beginning you start to have those like
just initial night sweats and that's
typically how it starts
yes yes I mean I mean for every women
it's different it's different but some
women have more hot flashes and night
sweats and then some women really don't
have those symptoms and just have the
vaginal dryness the difference between
those things is that the night sweats
and the hot flashes do get better over
time but the vaginal dryness and
irritation only gets worse and you need
some help on the brain talk about in a
minute what's going on in your body
that's causing that those type of
reactions so it's a decrease in a
hormone called estrogen estrogen is
produced by our ovaries and as we get
older ovaries tend to fail and we have
less estrogen in our body which causes
these symptoms so occur so what are some
of the things that you can do to
mitigate it because we know hormone
replacement therapy and a lot of women
don't necessarily want to go that route
but there are some other options right
right so there are hormonal and non
hormonal options available with the
hormonal options you do have things like
pills patches there's a vaginal ring
that you can try
there's pumps and gels that are
available but then there are also some
non hormonal option
available usually in the pill form but
in terms of vaginal dryness you do have
vaginal lubrication and vaginal
moisturizers that you can try but that's
something that you would have to talk to
your healthcare provider in order to
determine which option is best for you
so for women who you know get those
annual exams that's probably why it's so
important to start that conversation
early so you know what to look for and
then you know and can explore your
options before you're right there face
with it exactly exactly so annual exams
are very important in determining not
just things like pap smears and
mammograms but also other things in
terms of you know handling things like
menopause is there a way that your
doctor can tell that you're starting
because what the perimenopause explain
what that is basically it's just the
period of time where you do have you to
do tend to have these symptoms of
menopause but then also your periods
tend to get a little bit of regular
sometimes they become farther and
farther apart until they disappear
altogether and longer or shorter so I
just vary based on the woman is there do
they ever test your estrogen to see if
it's dropping at all or is that just
something that you need watch it's most
of the time we just watch for symptoms
but then sometimes you can text for you
know hormonal levels to see if you are
in the beginnings of menopause
especially if patients are a little bit
younger I tend to you know check hormone
levels to see if you know you are
actually going through menopause or not
is there something that you say works
for every woman and you ask the people
around you to be patient with you
basically working this thing out because
you always get though she's going
through menopause or it's her cycle you
know like this is real guys all right
and women so if you missing it as a
formation it's good stuff I mean
certainly something you may want to
share with your girlfriend or your wife
or someone you love we will post this
interview on web our website news for
Jack's comm just look under the live
healthy section thank you so much thank
you