Menopause is not a disease

The menopause denotes the cessation of menstruation, which usually occurs within a few years of the fiftieth birthday of most women. Six to twelve months without a period is the commonly accepted rule for diagnosing the menopause. The common symptoms include:

• Hot flashes
• Headaches
• Vaginal dryness
• Cold hands and feet
• Forgetfulness and poor concentration
• Frequent urinary tract infections

Cause of the menopause

Conventional western medicine views the menopause as a disease rather than a normal physiological process. However, in many other cultures, the menopause is considered a natural part of the life process and a positive event in a woman's life. In societies. with this world-view, women do not experience the symptoms usually associated with the menopause. While there is undeniable physiological factors involved, the menopause is more than biological event. Social and cultural factors contribute greatly to how women react to the menopause.

The importance of attitude

Detailed investigations of postmenopausal rural Mayan Indians, for example, revealed no hot flashes or any other symptom of the menopause including osteoporosis. Mayan women viewed the menopause as an event that would provide them with acceptance as respected elders and relief from child bearing. The researchers felt that it was the attitude of these women that was responsible for their symptomless passage. Perhaps, if our society adopted a different cultural view of older women the symptoms of the menopause may well cease to exist.

Cause of the menopause

The menopause is believed to occur when all the eggs in the ovaries have been depleted. At birth a woman has about one million eggs (ova). By puberty the number is down to 300,000 - 400,000. Only about 400 of these ova will actually mature during the woman's reproductive years. At the menopause the lack of functioning ova results in a reduction in oestrogen and progesterone. Interestingly, the fat cells in the body continue to produce some oestrogen. Surgery, drugs, radiation and some diseases may also bring on the menopause.

There is an area in the brain called the hypothalamus, which controls many body functions, including body temperature, metabolism, mood, stress reactions and the release of hormones. Many of the symptoms to altered function of the hypothalamus. Several natural measures can induce the body to produce substances called endorphins. These endorphins can balance the functioning of the hypothalamus and influence the symptoms of the menopause.