At Sweetwater OB/GYN Associates, we offer a variety of medical treatments and health solutions to help alleviate most menopausal symptoms.
Common symptoms range from hot flashes, vaginal dryness, pain during sex, hormone imbalance, incontinence, and osteoporosis. We offer one of the most popular medications on the market, Estrovera® (a non-hormonal product for menopause symptom relief).
Menopause & Sweetwater OB/GYN
At Sweetwater OB/GYN Associates, we will treat your symptoms with care and dedication because we do understand the importance of a healthy balance. Menopause can be managed effectively so you can continue to feel well and maintain your daily routine with minimal interruptions.
Here is information on some subjects related to menopause (courtesy of WebMD).
Frequently Asked Questions
HRT Info Video
Other Related Topics
Menopause: Menopause is a normal condition that all women experience as they age. The term “menopause” can describe any of the changes a woman goes through either just before or after she stops menstruating, marking the end of her reproductive period.
Hot Flashes: Most women experience hot flashes at some point before or after menopause, when their estrogen levels are declining. While some women have few to no hot flashes, others have them numerous times each day. If hot flashes are disrupting your sleep or daily life, you are no doubt looking for relief. Fortunately, you have several self-care and medical treatment options to help you manage your symptoms.
Pain during sex: Dwindling estrogen due to menopause is the No. 1 reason for sex pain at midlife and beyond. Hormonal shifts cause the tissues in the vagina to become thin and dry. Dryness can add friction during sex. The vagina also stretches less, making you feel tight.
Vaginal dryness: This is another common symptom of menopause, and close to one out of every three women experiences it while going through “the change.” And it becomes even more common after menopause. Vaginal dryness can also occur at any age due to several different causes. It may seem like a minor irritation. But the lack of vaginal moisture can have a huge impact on your sex life. Fortunately, several treatments are available to relieve vaginal dryness.
Normally, the walls of the vagina stay lubricated with a thin layer of clear fluid. The hormone estrogen helps maintain that fluid and keeps the lining of the vagina healthy, thick, and elastic. During menopause, the drop in estrogen levels reduces the amount of moisture available. It also makes the vagina thinner and less elastic. This is called vaginal atrophy.
Hormones: HRT (also known as hormone therapy, menopausal hormone therapy, and estrogen replacement therapy) uses female hormones — estrogen and progesterone — to treat common symptoms of menopause and aging. Doctors can prescribe it during or after menopause.
After your period stops, your hormone levels fall, causing uncomfortable symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness, and sometimes conditions like osteoporosis. HRT replaces hormones your body no longer makes. It’s the most effective treatment for menopause symptoms.
Incontinence: During and after the process of menopause, levels of the female hormone estrogen drop significantly. In addition to controlling your monthly periods and body changes during pregnancy, estrogen helps keep the bladder and the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body, healthy.
Lack of estrogen may also cause the pelvic muscles responsible for bladder control to weaken, resulting in urinary incontinence.
Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones, increasing the risk of sudden, unexpected fractures. Literally meaning “porous bone,” osteoporosis results in an increased loss of bone mass and strength. The disease often progresses without any symptoms or pain.
Often, osteoporosis is not diagnosed until weakened bones cause painful fractures, usually in the back or hips. Unfortunately, once you have a broken bone due to osteoporosis, you are at high risk of having another. And these fractures can be debilitating. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent osteoporosis from ever occurring. And treatments can slow bone loss if you already have osteoporosis.
Though we do not know the exact cause of osteoporosis, we do know how the disease develops. Your bones are made of living, growing tissue. An outer shell of cortical or dense bone encases trabecular bone, a sponge-like bone. When a bone is weakened by osteoporosis, the “holes” in the “sponge” grow larger and more numerous, weakening the internal structure of the bone.
Until about age 30, a person normally builds more bone than they lose. During the aging process, bone breakdown begins to outpace bone buildup, resulting in a gradual loss of bone mass. Once bone loss reaches a certain point, a person has osteoporosis.