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The woman’s menopause, her climacteric, is due purely to dramatic, internal change (although such a change invariably carries emotional side effects with it too). Medically, this menopause is defined as the cessation of menstruation brought on by the physiological failure of ovarian function due to hormonal changes caused by aging.

Throughout adolescence and the years of development, a woman’s hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, affect her sexuality, appearance and temperament. After puberty their main role is to cause the thickening of the womb’s lining each month in preparation for pregnancy which, if conception does not occur, leads to menstruation. However as she enters her fifties the production of oestrogen slows down and eventually ceases altogether. When it does she loses her reproductive powers and can no longer bear children. Menstruation ceases permanently. This menopause can take place over as long as five years.

Not all women experience the change the same way with exactly the same symptoms but for most this is an uncomfortable and traumatic time. Emotionally they can become irritable, depressed, weepy, forgetful, apprehensive and nervous or sexually demanding (similar symptoms can affect men during M-M). Physically they may suffer hot flushes and excessive perspiration. Breasts can shrink, hair become thinner, bones weaken and occasionally intercourse becomes uncomfortable due to loss of secretion. Sometimes there is a decrease in sexual responsiveness.

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