Menopause: Heart Attack, Joint Pain, Skin Problems
Perimenopausal women often report other changes to their healthcare providers that may or may not be attributed to approaching menopause. These include not only weight gain, but also heart palpitations, joint pain, and changes in the skin, eyes, hair, teeth, and mouth.
Heart Palpitations
Some scientific evidence links periodic heart palpitations (rapid, irregular heart beat) with diminished estrogen levels at menopause. Also, an increase in heart rate of 7 to 15 beats a minute can occur during a hot flash. Palpitations may also be the result of thyroid disease, anxiety, or more serious psychological upset. It is unlikely that palpitations experienced during perimenopause are related to serious heart disease.
Nevertheless, women should report heart palpitations to their healthcare provider to rule out the possibility of serious illness.
Joint Pain
Another change often noticed at midlife is painful joints. Sometimes the joints are just achy or stiff from overuse, but a woman’s healthcare provider should be consulted to rule out arthritis, a more serious joint disease. Osteoarthritis, the most common form of joint disease, increases in frequency with aging and particularly affects women after menopause. Considerable research is ongoing to clarify the relationship between hormones and arthritis.
Although there is no cure for arthritis, suffering from joint pain and stiffness is not expected. Here are some guidances to manage it:
Exercise. Exercise can maintain range of movement.-
Balance Your Weight. Maintaining a healthy weight will help with achy knees.
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Medical Drugs (If Necessary). Mild pain can often be managed with acetaminophen (Tylenol), while more severe pain may require an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), although long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs may lead to ulcers. Try Supplement. In addition, long-term use of the supplement glucosamine has been shown to relieve joint pain in some studies with no serious side effects (although women with seafood allergy should avoid it).
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Make it Mutual. A wide variety of prescription therapies are also available. A woman’s healthcare provider can recommend the best type of exercises to help alleviate pain and, if needed, various therapy options.
Skin Changes:
Dry, spot, wrinkle, etc…
Aging skin undergoes normal loss of collagen and elasticity, which creates slight sags and wrinkles. It also becomes more dry and flaky. However, not only aging can harm your skin, but also some of your activities make important roles. Here are guidances for help resist aging:
- Quit Smoking. In smokers, the effects of aging on the skin are more pronounced. Long-time smokers have greater skin damage, particularly wrinkles around the lips and dark circles under the eyes. Maintaining skin health is another good reason not to smoke.
Protect From UV. Exposure to sunlight causes skin to age and is also responsible for variations in pigmentation (skin color). Because aging skin is more prone to sun damage (including skin cancer), use of a good sunscreen is essential. For optimal ultraviolet protection, women should use a sunscreen (minimum SPF of 15) throughout the year. However, sunscreen blocks vitamin D absorption, so women may need to take a vitamin D supplement to obtain the recommended amount.
Avoid tanning to ensure healthier, more attractive skin. There’s no such thing as a “healthy tan”—tanned skin means that skin is damaged.
- Do Healthy Habits. In addition to avoiding smoking and overexposure to sunlight, other skin-healthy habits include avoiding stress and getting adequate exercise and sleep.
- Drink Enough Water. Drinking plenty of water helps keep skin hydrated. Most individuals consume far too little water, and the diuretic action of liquids such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, and alcoholic drinks decreases hydration.
- Avoid Harmful Baht. Dry skin is best prevented by avoiding hot, soapy showers and baths. The use of bath oil or heavy lotion applied to wet skin immediately after bathing will help skin stay lubricated and more resistant to damage.
Can Estrogen Therapy Help?
Hormones play an important role in skin health. Diminished levels of estrogen at menopause contribute to a decline in skin collagen and thickness, which is more rapid in the year’s right after menopause than in later ones. Estrogen therapy may have beneficial effects on skin, but it cannot reverse genetic aging or sun damage, or change any risk of skin cancer. Due to potential risks, estrogen therapy should never be used solely for its beneficial effect on skin. Some women using higher doses of estrogen develop increased facial skin color that persists even after therapy is stopped.
Some women will experience acne around menopause, usually due to the shift in the balance between the hormones androgen and estrogen (estrogen levels decline more than androgen). Women who had acne during their teen years will almost always have acne in midlife. The effects of androgen, even at normal levels, can increase acne more in adult women than in adolescents. The adult variety is mostly on the lower face, particularly along the chin and neck. While adult acne rarely responds to teenage acne therapies (lotions, soaps, antibiotics), treatment with oral contraceptives may help.
“I feel like ants crawling on my skin!”
A small percentage of perimenopausal women report irritating sensations of the skin, ranging from severe itching to phantom symptoms of “ants crawling on their skin.” This condition, called Formication (from the Greek word for ant), is difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat. There are no scientific studies to guide clinicians. Hormone therapy or antihistamines may help.
A dermatologist (physician specializing in the skin) is recommended for skin conditions that are bothersome and have not responded to treatment. Any mole that changes should be investigated.
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