3 Women's Health Concerns After Menopause

Despite the fact that menopause is often referred to as “the Change,” many women don’t understand the enormous impact that this transition can have on their health, and their lives.

At The Center for Women’s Health, Dr. Cheri Coyle specializes in hormonal health and has made it her mission to help women better navigate menopause. While no two women experience the exact same symptoms after this hormonal transition, there are some general rules of thumb when it comes to women’s health.

To give you an idea, we’re going to look at three health concerns that are linked to menopause, and some ways in which we can address them.

1. Let’s talk sex

We’re going to start with a side effect of menopause that, traditionally, women didn’t discuss all that much. With the loss of hormones after menopause, your vaginal health can decline quite a bit, leaving you with side effects that can wreak havoc on your sex life, including vaginal dryness and painful sex.

During your reproductive years, estrogen hormones ensure that your vaginal tissues are supple and well lubricated to encourage intercourse and to help with delivery. Once your ovaries stop producing estrogen, your vaginal tissues thin out and become dry, making intercourse uncomfortable. In fact, more than half of postmenopausal women experience vaginal dryness.

2. Bone loss

Another side effect of menopause is bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis, which affects eight million women in the United States. When your hard tissues become more porous and brittle, you’re far more prone to fractures; in fact, one in two women over the age of 50 break a bone due to bone loss.

The reason behind this bone loss is that your estrogen hormones helped keep your bones strong by slowing the natural breakdown processes. With the sudden drop in estrogen hormones during and after menopause, your bones can quickly lose structural strength.

3. Mental health issues

While the loss of reproductive hormones can lead to obvious physical side effects, this loss can also show up in your mental health. Researchers aren’t exactly sure about the direct cause-and-effect mechanism behind menopause and mental health issues, but we do know that up to 38% of women experience symptoms of depression during the transition. 

In addition to depression, menopause is linked to anxiety.

Reclaiming your health

The health concerns we outline above are by no means the end of the menopause story. From hot flashes to urinary incontinence, menopause can cast a very wide net over your health and wellness.

Whatever your concerns, we urge you to come in and sit down with us so that we can help ease this transition and improve your health. From hormone replacement therapies to lifestyle changes, there are several roads to reclaiming your health after menopause — and we’re here to customize one that’s best for your circumstances and goals.

To explore your treatment options and get on the road to optimal health after menopause, contact our office in Newport News, Virginia to set up an appointment. We also offer telehealth appointments for your convenience.