A Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Dr. Ademola Ayodele, has identified menopause as “universal” among women, saying every woman will eventually go through it at one time or the other.
Ayodele, also the Medical Director of a Lagos-based private medical facility, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that women should see menopause as a way of coming of age, rather than feeling dejected or deprived.
He defined menopause as the absence of menstrual periods for 12 months, which occurs when a woman
stops producing the hormones that cause menstrual period for 12 months in a row.
The consultant said it is the time in a woman’s life when her periods (menstruation) stop, saying it is a natural, normal body change, accompanied by mood and emotional symptoms, irregular periods, sore breasts, dry vagina, among others.
He said that the age at which menopause occurs varies with individuals, noting that the earliest age considered normal is 40 years.
According to him, the actual age that most people enter menopause is after 45 years, but in Nigeria and most part of Africa, majority of women enter menopause between the ages of 49 and 51.
He added that “menopause is universal among women – meaning that every woman will eventually go through it at one time or the other.
“So, if we look at it that way, we will stop looking at it as a disease, the psychological attitude of the individual matters, and that is why some people call it `the golden-age experience’.
“So, even if a woman is having menopause before the age of 50, she should see it as a way of coming of age, rather than feeling dejected or deprived.”
Ayodele said that some factors could make menopause set in earlier than the normal time, identifying smoking and drug use as major risk factors for early menopause.
He explained that “for women who smoke, their menopause comes earlier than average and some hormonal drug use also can affect menopause.”
Ayodele also said that women experience menopausal symptoms at different levels, as some people’s symptoms could either be mild or moderate, while others experience severe symptoms.
According to him, for those whose symptoms are severe – there exist medical preparations and modulations that can help them to feel better.
He identified healthy lifestyles like maintaining healthy weight, exercises, sugar reduction and healthy diet as some of the approaches to effectively cope with menopause.
He noted that “every symptom of menopause can be effectively managed, whether it is heat wave, dryness of the private part or reduction in size of the breast, among others.
healthy lifestyles like maintaining healthy weight, exercise, sugar reduction and healthy diet enable women to effectively cope with menopause
“There are drugs that people can use to minimise the symptoms and feel better.
“In fact, because of the universality of menopause, there are alternative remedies that people have discovered that help. But medically, the drugs are straight forward.
“They are either drugs that work directly on the body or hormonal,’’ he said.
Ayodele, therefore, advised women who feel disturbed to see a gynecologist and the appropriate drug would be prescribed.
He, however, said that most of the menopausal symptoms are self-limiting, saying that they last for few months to years and disappear afterward.
According to him, except for those who want to have babies, there shouldn’t be any reason for an individual trying to withhold/prevent menopause from setting in.
“Most symptoms are pre-menopausal signs that occur at the onset of menopause, which last for few months to years and disappear with time, leaving the woman to feel normal again.
“That’s why old people would have forgotten how they felt during their menopausal stage.
“If a woman is desirous of having babies, then she should get a gynecologist to manage that stage because menopause naturally signifies the end of reproductive age.
“However, with the help of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and other types of assisted reproductive technology (ART), post-menopausal women can be made to get pregnant,” Ayodele added.(NAN)
