First Symptoms of Menopause

Menopause has been the butt of many jokes not only from comedians but also from women themselves who are either going through it or negatively are anticipating it. The bottom line is that it all boils down to the fact that different bodies will exhibit different first symptoms of menopause. Some women will experience every known symptom attributed to “the change” while other women will experience few if any symptoms other than a lack of menstruation.

There are certain early menopause symptoms that you will notice and these could occur in a greater or even lesser degree depending on your individual case, and if you are lucky, you could escape with just the barest symptoms, though in other instances the symptoms could be pretty severe causing a lot of distress and anxiety to the affected person.

If you normally experience pre-menstrual symptoms like cramps and mood swings, chances are that these symptoms will worsen as time gets closer to menopause. Other early signs of menopause include irregular periods, tenderness of the breasts, sleeping problems and fatigue. In terms of sex, your libido may decrease and there may be some pain during sex due to vaginal dryness.

Urinary problems may also be early signs of menopause but should always be checked out by a doctor to re-affirm the cause. Frequent need to urinate, development of a urinary tract infection and even leakage of urine when sneezing, coughing or exercising can also be attributed to perimenopause.

Countless problems with your bladder and vagina are also among your first signs of menopause as your hormone levels fluctuate. The vaginal dryness may be an issue and sex could become painful as the skin thins out and surrounding areas becoming more sensitized. In addition, urinary problems count as some of the first signs of menopause due to that same thinning of the skin, in this case, the bladder. Some muscle tone in the bladder may be lost as well due to hormonal changes attributed to menopause.

The first signs of menopause are quite a bit to handle but many of them gradually present themselves as a way to ease into the transition.  These signs can also include mood swings, fatigue, sleeping problems and even changes in your body like not being able to lose weight as easily as you once could.

The actual event itself will likely come with little fanfare as you have been experiencing the early signs of menopause for years. You are in true menopause when you have not had a period for at least one year. Of course, those symptoms will likely continue for a while longer past the perimenopausal stage. The real kick in the pants comes with the fact that you can still get pregnant while still exhibiting the early signs of menopause. As long as you are still having periods, that means you are still ovulating and thereby there is always a small chance of pregnancy.

To get more info on menopause go to Menopause and Weight Gain