clipped from www.cemcor.ubc.ca

What's Normal?

Women who are menopausal are often more clear about their purpose in life and are less willing to please others ahead of themselves. The first two letters of the word menopause spell “ME.” However menopausal women often have heavy, self-chosen or economic responsibilities.

The official graduation from the reproductive years is achieved with a year free of flow. Although about five percent of women will have further spotting or bleeding, no disease reason is likely nor investigation is necessary if a woman feels breast tenderness, bloating, mood swings or weight gain/appetite changes before it. It does, however, redefine her age at menopause and a one-year clock again begins ticking. Women’s quality of life in menopause has improved to the best since before adolescence. She can finally count on physiological stability. Some women (perhaps 10-25%) continue to have hot flushes and night sweats.