menopause

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The menopause (a term originating in the first half of the 19th century with the original meaning “cessation of menstrual bleeding” from ancient Greek μήν mēn , German “month” , and παῦσις paūsis , German “end” ) describes the gradual cessation of menstruation in life a woman the time of the last menstrual period, after which there is no more ovarian bleeding from the uterus for twelve months and the woman's fertility (ability to reproduce) has ended. The cause is a change in the hormonal balance due to a declining endocrine function of the ovaries , a so-called ovarian insufficiency .

In the American-speaking area, the term menopause is also used for the time after the menopause; in the German-speaking area, this time is called postmenopause .

The term was introduced by the Parisian doctor Charles Pierre Louis de Gardanne in 1816 in his book Avis aux femmes qui entrent dans l'âge critique, initially as Ménespausie , which he changed to Ménopause in the second version in 1821 .

Explanatory approaches

The evolutionary background of menopause is not known, especially since there is no comparable developmental phase in most animals. Among mammals, menopause has so far only been proven in humans and the pilot and killer whales . A controversial explanation for this is the so-called grandmother hypothesis . Another theory looks at the role of men. According to this, men should have preferred younger women as sexual partners, so that conversely “older” women were neglected. Since the latter could not benefit from their fertility, this is said to have favored mutations that led to today's menopause.

Onset of natural menopause

The transition phase of the hormonal change that takes place in the years before and after is called climacteric (menopause). Natural menopause, which is often heralded by irregularities in the menstrual periods, usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 60, with an average of 51 years. It can occur earlier in thin women, malnutrition and smokers. Regular alcohol consumption delays the onset of menopause by increasing the level of estrogen . Premature or premature menopause (Climacterium praecox) is a menopause caused by malfunctioning of the ovaries before the age of 40. Early menopause is anyone between the ages of 40 and 50. Menopause can be artificially induced (induced) by removing the ovaries, radiation or treatment with antiestrogens .

treatment

In the case of pronounced menopausal symptoms, hormone replacement therapy can be used to alleviate symptoms that can arise from the hormonal changes in the menopause as a result of increasing hormone deficiency, such as vaginal dryness and inflammation , dyspareunia , osteoporosis , hot flashes , night sweats , hair loss and mood swings . There is evidence that the preparations used for therapy increase the risk of breast cancer , heart attack and stroke .

Recently it has been pointed out that the type of gestagens or the type of application of the estrogens have an influence on this. No increase in breast cancer and thrombosis rates was observed when transdermal estrogens were used with micronized progesterone .

See also

literature

  • Lois Jovanovic, Genell J. Subak-Sharpe: Hormones. The medical manual for women . Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0100-X , p. 184 ff., 191 ff., 197 ff., 269 ff. and 381 (American English: Hormones. The Woman's Answerbook . New York 1987. Translated by Margaret Auer).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Stolberg : From the "gradual years" to "menopause". The climacteric in the course of time . In: Würzburg medical history reports . tape 24 , 2005, ISSN  0177-5227 , p. 41–50 , here: pp. 46–48 ( From the cessatio mensium to menopause ) , PMID 17153291 .
  2. ↑ German Menopause Society: What is menopause? ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.menopause-gesellschaft.de
  3. ^ Charles Pierre Louis de Gardanne: Avis aux femmes qui entrent dans l'âge critique . Gabon, Paris 1816 (French, online in Google Book Search).
  4. ^ Charles Pierre Louis de Gardanne: De la ménopause ou de l'âge critique des femmes . Méquignon-Marvis, Paris 1821 (French, online in Google book search).
  5. ^ Daniel Delanoë: Sexe, Croyances et Menopause . Hachette Littératures, 2007, ISBN 978-2-01-237764-6 (French, limited preview in Google book search).
  6. ↑ GEO KNOWLEDGE. No. 50, p. 44, Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg 2012.
  7. ^ GC Williams: Pleiotropy, natural selection, and the evolution of senescence . In: evolution . tape 11 , 1957, pp. 398-411 (English).
  8. ^ Richard A. Morton, Jonathan R. Stone, Rama S. Singh: Mate Choice and the Origin of Menopause . In: PLoS Computational Biolology . tape 9 , no. 6 , 2013, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pcbi.1003092 , PMID 23785268 (English).
  9. ↑ Günther Kern: Gynecology. 4th edition. Edited by Jörg Baltzer and Harald Mickan, Thieme, Stuttgart / New York 1985, pp. 256 and 266.
  10. ↑ Menopause is Ovarian Failure
  11. ↑ Menopause ( Memento of September 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) cdc.gov, July 1, 2009
  12. ↑ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000894.htm
  13. ^ Menopause on MedicineNet.com
  14. ↑ Menopause ( Memento of August 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) bbc.co.uk in August 2010
  15. ↑ http://www.safemenopausesolutions.com/average-age-of-menopause.html
  16. ↑ http://www.wechseljahre-frau.de/menopause/
  17. ^ Therapy of menopausal symptoms Deutsches Ärzteblatt 17/2012; Olaf Ortmann , Claus Lattrich: The treatment of climacteric symptoms . In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt international . tape 109 , no. April 17 , 2012, p. 316–323 , doi : 10.3238 / arztebl.2012.0316 , PMID 22611453 , PMC 3355503 (free full text) - (English).
  18. Jump up ↑ Emilie Cordina-Duverger, Thérèse Truong, Antoinette Anger, Marie Sanchez, Patrick Arveux, Pierre Kerbrat, Pascal Guénel: Risk of Breast Cancer by Type of Menopausal Hormone Therapy. A Case-Control Study among Post-Menopausal Women in France . In: PLOS ONE . tape 8 , no. 11 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0078016 (English).