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Mid-life challenge
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Menopause is only a different beginning in a woman's life. A cheerful acceptance of this phase, good diet and exercise is the right remedy.
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IT CAN rightly be termed the mid-life crisis for most women. Just when a woman is content with having finished most of her responsibilities as a mother and a wife, in most cases, nature makes another demand on her will power and determination in the form of `menopause'.
For most women over 40 years, the term `menopause' itself would spell fear, due to the harassing symptoms that a woman has to go through during this period. Menopause is a stage when the menstrual cycle stops for over 12 months, followed by symptoms like hot flushes (when one suddenly feels hot and sweaty), depression and weight gain. It is another stage in a woman's life akin to attaining puberty and motherhood. But the difference here is that, the onset of this stage in a woman's life in most cases is when, a woman is not exactly young enough to deal with it.
Thus menopause has become a reality with which middle-aged women must come to terms with.
Spreading awareness on menopause in various districts of Andhra Pradesh is Dr. Meeta Singh, a gynaecologist and President of the Indian Menopausal Society (Hyderabad chapter). In conjunction with Dr. Reddy Laboratories, she conducted a menopausal camp.Dr Meeta said due to the overwhelming response, these camps would soon be a monthly affair.
Dr. Meeta has been instrumental in spreading tremendous awareness about menopause - its causes, effects and medication, amongst doctors and patients. Her camps have been well attended in many of the districts like Khammam, Kurnool, Vijayawada etc. Being a gynaecologist, she has been the driving force behind the formation of the Indian Menopausal Society. In recognition of her efforts in spreading awareness about menopause, she had the unique distinction of being a special invitee to a conference in Cannes, France, a month ago.
Menopause, according to Dr. Meeta is a drop in the levels of the two most important hormones in the body of a woman, oestrogen and progesterone. Oestrogen is produced by the ovaries and when the ovaries stop producing this hormone or are removed during surgery, the onset of menopause could take place. A drop in these hormone levels have two types of effects - short and long term.
The short term effects include hot flushes, irritability, depression etc., and the long term effects could include Alzheimer's disease, low back ache, a stroke or heart attack, loss of height, joint pain, brittle bones etc.
The most dreaded fallout of menopause is `Osteoporosis', wherein the bones become thin leading to backache, fracture or loss of height. Many women even develop a severe hunch due to osteoporosis. Says Sujatha, a patient of osteoporosis, "it was scary to even walk fast many a time, as there was always a fear of falling down and getting a fracture."
The camp also had a section of women who had started menopause at an unbelievably young age of 32 years.
Scary as it may sound, menopause can be handled tactfully, if only one follows the proverb - "prevention is better than cure". The three important solutions for tackling this problematic phase are - balanced nutrition, physical exercise and of course taking the right medication. Research has found that, on an average, Japanese women suffer less from menopause, because of a high soya diet.
A diet with good quantity of soya, fibre and lentils in combination with the right amount of exercise and most certainly a positive attitude could be the solution in most cases.
The medication that a woman is given during menopause is termed as Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which as the name suggests is the replacement of the hormones that cease to be produced by the body.
HRT though being a wonder solution in most cases, suffers from a few side effects, which could be breast tenderness, bleeding, fluid retention and the much publicised breast cancer.
Says Dr. Meeta, "though most people are scared of the possibility of breast cancer, they fail to realise that, these side effects could occur only in those women who have been resorting to HRT for over five years, which is quite rare."
She also adds that it is important for a woman to know that, if detected early, breast cancer could be completely cured depending on the type of cancer.
Breast cancers usually detected during HRT, are of a low malignant nature and are completely amenable to treatment.
Andhra Pradesh stands as the second highest state in terms of cervix cancer, only due to the cancer being detected at a later stage.
Thus it is imperative for middle-aged women to undergo regular check ups by a qualified medical practitioner to detect such a possibility.
A balanced intake of food rich in vitamins, minerals and calcium combined with regular exercise is the best way to keep most of the problems associated with menopause at bay.
Dr. Meeta focused on the aspect that women should first accept this as a part of their life and try and engage themselves in activities which could channelise their energy in a more constructive fashion.
Yoga, light exercises, spending time with grandchildren, gardening or even light reading and a cheerful bent of mind are just the right remedies at this stage of life. The endeavour of the camp was to make the women aware that, this stage in life was not the end, but only a different beginning.
ARCHANA RAGHURAM
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