Professor Ayoubi, head of the gynecology department at Foch hospital, and Virginie Florin, author of the book “50 years and life is beautiful”, met on the occasion of the Foch Meetings to address the issue of health of women around menopause.
- Menopause is a biological period, an obligatory passage, which concerns all women after the age of 50.
- Incontinence, insomnia, night sweats, hot flashes… it is often punctuated by restrictive symptoms.
- The discomforts of menopause are due to the drop in sex hormones.
It is as we approach fifty that the (dreaded) menopause occurs. You should know that the word menopause comes from the contraction of two terms: meno which means menstruation in Greek and pause, in the sense “stop”. This clearly indicates that at this time, the woman’s ovaries cease their reproductive function due to the normal depletion of the oocytes. The ovarian reserve of menopausal women is therefore at its lowest or even non-existent, and the levels of sexual hormones, estrogens, also fall to give way to hormonal nothingness… Ultimately: no more periods!
Menopause symptoms are multifactorial
“ Each menopause is different and there are a lot of symptoms such as vaginal dryness, night sweats, dry skin, sagging tissues… From what I hear, the most annoying for women are hot flashes. », Declares Professor Ayoubi on the microphone before continuing: “ Hot flashes wake you up at night, making it difficult to sleep. » The risk is also to end up with a certain “ gloom ” and eventually ” in the extreme, to depression ». Depression in particular because ofu lack of sleep at night, in your fifties… “.
Alongside this, there is hormonal secretion which tends to decrease causing increasingly severe symptoms. But it also impacts women. in terms of cardiovascular diseases. Hence the importance of natural hormonal treatments without necessarily taking the whole dose, only the dose that will reduce the symptoms.”
Another element not to forget: osteoporosis, the loss of bone density which is one of the symptoms around menopause: “ during this period, sport, sporting activity and healthy lifestyle are as important as hormonal treatment. Even ifthere is nothing better than hormonal treatments to reconsolidate bone and bone density, you must be aware of possible side effects, the risks are proportional to the dose and duration. »
“To say that we were menopausal was almost a bad word”
Regarding the unsaid things surrounding menopause, the gynecologist confesses: “ We really need to listen to these women, who around the age of fifty have symptoms. Take for example a 50-year-old woman who has had three children with menopause coming: hormonal lack, tissues that will be looser, urinary incontinence. » Faced with this type of concrete case, Professor Ayoubi must insist to his patients: “Ihe asks ‘do you have urinary leakage?’ My patient told me no and then finally I ended up discovering that she was suffering from it! »
The author agrees: “ Saying we were menopausal was almost a dirty word. We didn’t talk about it at all. I think we are the first generation of 50-year-old women to talk about it, to say what’s going on. »
“This represents only one pillar of everything that can be done to improve the quality of life of women”
“ I gave myself the role of informing about what will happen to us, about the solutions we can have, but I am not an expert. It’s important to have a global approach to everything we can do to improve menopause. The aging couple, mood peaks, urinary leakage… as part of this Instagram account I was able to interview experts and do lives on these subjects. Prevention is better and this is only one pillar of everything we can do to improve the quality of life of women.. » And for good reason, Virginie Florin (@a_ton_age_quand_meme on Instagram) is followed by more than 43,000 subscribers on Instagram and has 325 publications relating to women in their fifties and women in general. Jean-Marc Ayoubi still wants to add that it is a “ essential work combined with medical work. Information on the internet helps us because our patients are better informed. But it must remain parallel to the medical path “.
Beware of misinformation!