Quality of Life among Menopausal Women

Abstract

enopause is a period in the life of women who have experienced cessation of menstruation for one year or more. It is also a new phase in women life cycle, characterized by several symptoms brought about by decreased hormonal activity in the body system. Hence, women at this Stage need to make suitable adjustments that will enable them cope with the new challenges successfully. The period is similar to retirement from active service, whereby the retiree feels a sense of loss because job has been taken out of her hands. Thus, it represents limitation in terms of the woman transiting into another phase of life where her pride has been taken away, (Southin, 2012). During this period women can experience many symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, aching in muscles and joints, sleeping problems, short breath, weight gain, increased facial hair, depression, irritability, anxiety, sexual problems, vaginal dryness, and urinary symptoms such as urine leakage while laughing and coughing. These symptoms decrease women’s health and affect their biological, psychological, and social health, (Guldal, 2014). The prevalence of menopausal symptoms among Egyptian women is 84%. So increase life expectancy from 54 to 71 years lead to women experiencing menopausal health complains for a long time. Healthcare of women during this period requires special care to assess menopausal women health needs in order to provide competent care. Promoting good physical and psychological health during menopausal age is important for individuals in later life. Thus increasing women’s awareness and dealing with their health complains are important to decrease severity of menopausal symptoms, (McKinney et al., 2012).