Menopause brings with it many unpleasant changes. And yet there is a positive moment at this age - the disappearance of some gynecological diseases, depending on sex hormones. But even here some women can expect an unpleasant surprise - the emergence or a new round of malaise. What happens, for example, endometriosis with menopause, symptoms and treatment have to be learned again.
Why is endometrial overgrowth possible in menopause?
Climax means a decrease in the volume of sex hormones and the restructuring of the body's work in a new way. In it, the metabolic processes are inhibited, the protective forces are weakened, many reactions arise which are similar to the symptoms of diseases.
All this makes the functioning of the body systems unstable, even unpredictable. Instead of reducing the foci of the enlarged mucous uterus, which in theory should be due to the low volume of estrogens and progestins, the opposite happens.
The only exact cause of endometriosis in adulthood has not been identified, but the circumstances predisposing to it have been found:
- Extra body volumes. It's not about muscle mass, but lipids, that is fat. This tissue is capable of producing estrogens, which the body is now sorely lacking. But progesterone, balancing their effect, can not produce fat. The pathology of the endometrium in postmenopause is, in this case, provoked or activated due to a violation of the composition of hormones with a predominance of estrogens. This they contribute to the growth of the tissues of the uterine mucosa;
- Diabetes mellitus. A frequent companion of women of menopausal age disrupts the work of blood vessels, heart, which provokes impairment of the functioning of the sexual glands. The malfunction may be of such a nature that the minimum estrogen that is present in the body is capable of inducing the activation of endometrial cells. In this case, the level of progesterone remains low, exacerbating the situation. Diabetes in most cases provokes a relapse of the disease, less often causes its onset in the age of menopause;
- Infectious diseases, transferred earlier. If they flowed secretly, not thoroughly treated or relapsed, this creates a greater burden on the reproductive system. Endometriosis to chronic infections may be more sensitive than other parts of it. In its structure, there are systemic changes that the climax, like any transition stage, makes explicit. One of them can become endometriosis;
- Surgical operations on reproductive organs. Abortion, made in adolescence, can lead to the fact that a woman will find endometriosis with menopause. This, of course, is not only about such interventions. But after the operation there are stitches, unnoticed immediately minor damage, scar tissue is formed. All this - the preconditions for accelerated division of the cells of the mucous membrane of the uterus.
Manifestations of menopausal endometriosis
Endometriosis with menopause shows symptoms and requires a slightly different treatment than in the reproductive period. Signs of the disease are largely determined by the location of pathological sites, size and quantity. But in general they can be characterized as follows:
- The exhausting headaches, which have some regularity. In the first half of the month they appear more sharply, in another sensation tolerant, comparable to a slight discomfort;
- Minor discharge from the genital tract with blood or simply a swab, followed by abundant masses. The process of detachment of the mucosa is accompanied by pain and intoxication. The woman discovers the body temperature that has risen. Often there is nausea, vomiting. A blood test will show an increased number of white blood cells, as with any inflammation;
- Nervousness and inability to sleep. These signs are characteristic of this period and in full health, but endometriosis after menopause repeatedly aggravates them.
Than the disease at this age is threatened
Many women ignore manifestations of the disease, considering them symptoms of menopause. Even excreta, which should not be, not all are forced to go to the gynecologist. And in vain, because endometriosis at this stage can become the culprit:
- Severe anemia. Bleeding, accompanying the disease, means the loss of hemoglobin. A reduced amount of sex hormones, especially progesterone, tighten them. Restoration of the same volume and quality of blood is slower. A refusal of medical care, or if it is taken too late, leads to death;
- Peritonitis, that is, the inflammatory process in the abdominal cavity. With a certain location of the foci of the disease, the mucosal tissues move to the abdominal space;
- Cancer. Endometriosis after menopause provokes the appearance of tumors not only of the mucosa or the body of the uterus, but also of other reproductive organs, the intestine, and the bladder. It is much more difficult to cure a malignant tumor than from the original cause of its occurrence.
Methods of getting rid of climacteric endometriosis
Treatment of endometriosis with menopause is possible in several ways, the choice of which is the privilege of a specialist. The ambiguity of the origin of the disease and the seriousness of the consequences do not allow independent experiments in this area.
Conservative therapy
This type of treatment involves the use of hormonal drugs, if it is found that a woman has an imbalance of substances that is inappropriate for age. Drugs can be applied:
- Norkolut. The drug contains progesterone, which reduces the effect on the endometrium of estrogens;
- Gestrinone, Danazol. These derivatives of male hormones androgens reduce the production of estrogens that promote the growth of the mucosa;
- Zoladex, Diferelin. They contain analogues of gonadotropin-releasing hormones and inhibit the production of gonads FSH and LH.
If an ailment is found in the premenopausal, it is possible to prescribe oral contraceptives, the introduction of a spiral with hormones.
Surgical treatment of
This method is used as a last resort, if conservative therapy did not help, or the woman asked for help rather late.
Recurrence of the disease, as well as severe bleeding, maintaining the ailment at the same level for several years at the age of menopause, the sheer threat of the degeneration of cells into cancer causes the doctors to resort to a radical method of treatment. It consists in hysteroscopy, that is, removal of the uterus.
We recommend reading the article about the causes of chest pain in menopause. You will learn about the causes of discomfort in the mammary glands, changes in their volume, ways of eliminating pain.
Traditional medicine against endometriosis in adulthood
Treatment of endometriosis with folk remedies during menopause is possible in addition to basic therapy and with the permission of a physician. Seemingly innocuous medicinal herb is capable of harming if it is not needed.
The diagnosis of endometriosis with menopause allows the use of:
Decoction of the harrow of the uterus. For him take 10 grams of raw materials and 200 ml of heated water. Combine, the product is boiled in a water bath for 10 minutes, then 4 hours insist. The resulting composition is drunk 3 times a day before meals. The broth has anti-inflammatory, restorative, soothing properties, supports the work of the gonads;Endometriosis with menopause has such symptoms and requires treatment that is not comparable to what happens with its complications. It is important not only to start the fight against the disease in time, a healthy lifestyle is needed here as never before. This is especially true for food, which should be limited to fats and alcohol.