Menopausal symptoms

As the name suggests, hot flashes are sudden, warm sensations on your face, neck, or chest. They can vary in duration from less than 1 minute to more than 6 minutes. They may come every hour or only occasionally. Often—but not always—they cause you to sweat. Some women may also feel irritated, annoyed, or frustrated during a hot flash.

Hot flashes can begin early in menopause and are most common during the first few years after menopause begins. Up to half of all women will experience moderate to severe hot flashes in the first few years of menopause.

For most women, it's easiest to describe the severity of your hot flashes in levels:

• Mild (sensation of heat without sweating)
• Moderate (sensation of heat with sweating, able to continue activity)
• Severe (sensation of heat with sweating, causing cessation of activity)

Night sweats are hot flashes that occur at night and may leave you wet with perspiration. They can interrupt your sleep, which, in turn, may leave you tired or irritable. Up to 42% of women experience moderate to severe night sweats during the first few years of menopause.

Prior to menopause, estrogen helps maintain the thickness of the vaginal lining and stimulates vaginal moisture. The decrease in estrogen levels during menopause results in:

• Thinning vaginal walls
• A decrease in vaginal lubrication

This is called vaginal atrophy.

Vaginal symptoms you may experience include:

• Dryness
• Burning
• Itching in and around the vagina
• Painful intercourse

If these are the only menopausal symptoms you are having, ask your doctor about vaginal estrogen cream.

The change in your body's estrogen levels may also have implications for your bone health. For example, during the first few years after menopause, some women experience an increased rate of bone loss.

Bone loss due to menopause can lead to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition in which the amount of bone is decreased and the structural integrity of the bone is impaired.

Up to 20% of a woman's lifetime bone loss may occur in the years immediately following menopause. Postmenopausal women are especially susceptible to fractures of the hip, wrist, and spine.

If you are using or are considering using PREMARIN only to prevent osteoporosis due to menopause, talk with your healthcare provider about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.