Menstruation
Menstruation or a period by other popular names is the periodic shedding of blood and mucosal lining of the uterine lining via the vagina. The menstrual cycle consists of the increase and decrease in hormones. Menstruation is caused by decreasing progesterone and signals that pregnancy did not happen.
The initial stage, a phase in life referred to as menarche typically starts between the ages of 11 and 13. Menstruation at as early an age as 8 years would still be normal. The age of onset for the first period tends to be later in the underdeveloped world and earlier in the developed world.
average duration of time between the first day of one period and the first day of the subsequent one is 21 to 45 days among young women. In adults, it is between 21 to 35 days with an average of 28 days. Bleeding typically persists for 2 to 7 days. Bleeding ceases during pregnancy and usually does not return during the first few months of lactation. Lochia follows childbirth. Menstruation and with it pregnancy potential end following menopause at about 45 to 55 years of age.
As many as 80% of women have no difficulty enough to impair daily activity either during menstruation or in the premenstrual days preceding menstruation. Symptoms prior to menstruation which do interfere with usual life are premenstrual syndrome.
Approximately 20 to 30% of women have PMS and 3 to 8% have severe symptoms. Acne tender breasts, bloating, feeling exhausted, irritability, and changes in mood are some of them. Painful periods estimates between 50% and 90% and excessive bleeding during periods and irregular bleeding at any time during the cycle are other symptoms some women feel. Loss of periods, which is called amenorrhea, is when one does not have periods by 15 years old or has failed to re-experience them after 90 days.
One to 3 days of menstrual pain is associated with rapid gray matter alterations in the brain.
Basic of menstrual cycle
Our previous brain morphometry work revealed that dysmenorrhea is linked to trait-related pathological gray matter alteration even when menstrual pain was absent, and suggested that the adolescent brain is susceptible to menstrual pain. Here we describe accelerated state-dependent brain morphological alteration, ie, between pain and pain-free states, in dysmenorrhea. We employed T1-weighted anatomic magnetic resonance imaging to examine regional GM volume differences between menstruation and periovulatory periods in 32 dysmenorrhea women and 32 asymptomatic controls matched for age and menstrual cycle.
An optimized voxel-based morphometry analysis was performed to reveal the potential state-related regional GM volume changes during various menstrual phases. A correlation analysis was also performed between GM differences and the present menstrual pain experience in the dysmenorrhea group.
In comparison with the periovulatory stage, the dysmenorrhea subjects showed more hypertrophic GM changes than controls in the menstruation phase within areas implicated in pain modulation, affective experience generation and endocrine function regulation, but atrophic GM changes in areas implicated in pain transmission. Volume changes in areas implicated in endocrine function regulation and pain transmission were related to menstrual pain experience scores. Our research established that brief duration cyclic menstrual pain is connected with not only trait-related but also fast state-related structural changes in the brain. Given the very high prevalence rate of menstrual pain, these findings create an enormous demand to re-examine dysmenorrhea regarding its effects on the brain and other clinical pain disorders.
Effects of menstruation
Millions of women in the United States suffer from menstrual disorders and bear a significant health burden. The most frequent menstrual disorders are headache and dysmenorrhea. they are the most common causes of school or work absenteeism and significantly affect quality of life. Migrainous headache is the most common headache with menses and is sometimes called menstrual migraine.
Triptans is a group of highly selective serotonin receptor agonists are the gold standard for the acute treatment of migraine. Furthermore hormone therapy has efficacy in most cases to treat dysmenorrhea and could be useful in managing menstrual migraine. Accordingly overlapping treatment plans could prove to be beneficial in treating the coexistent menstrual pain disorders of dysmenorrhea and migraine. Side
Although a normal and natural process some women experience premenstrual syndrome with symptoms that may include acne tender breasts and tiredness.
Prostrating period
Prostrating period pain is abnormal and may be a symptom of something serious like endometriosis. These problems can have a great impact on the health and well being of a woman and early interventions can enhance the lives of such women.
There are common culturally communicated misbeliefs that the menstrual cycle affects womens moods causes depression or irritability or that menstruation is a painful shameful or unclean experience. Often a woman’s normal mood variation is falsely attributed to the menstrual cycle. Much of the research is weak but there appears to be a very small increase in mood fluctuations during the luteal and menstrual phases and a corresponding decrease during the rest of the cycle. Changing levels of estrogen and progesterone across the menstrual cycle exert systemic effects on aspects of physiology including the brain metabolism and musculoskeletal system. The result can be subtle physiological and observable changes to womens athletic performance including strength aerobic and anaerobic performance.
Moods syndrome
The range of symptoms is wide and are most commonly breast tenderness bloating headache mood changes depression anxiety anger and irritation. To be considered PMS rather than normal discomfort of the menstrual cycle, these symptoms must interfere with daily functioning, on two menstrual cycles of future recording. Symptoms of PMS are typically for around six days. A persons pattern of symptoms can change over time. PMS does not produce symptoms during pregnancy or after menopause.
Diagnosis demands a regular pattern of emotional and physical symptoms following ovulation and preceding menstruation to an extent that disrupts normal life. Emotional symptoms should not be present in the early part of the menstrual cycle. A symptom diary kept daily for several months may assist in diagnosis. Other conditions that produce similar symptoms must be ruled out before a diagnosis is established.
The etiology of PMS is not known but the underlying mechanism is thought to be alterations in hormone levels throughout the entire menstrual cycle. Reducing salt alcohol caffeine and stress and adding exercise is usually all that is needed for control of mild symptoms. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation can be helpful in some. Anti inflammatory medications like ibuprofen or naproxen may be helpful with physical symptoms. In persons with more severe symptoms, birth control pills or diuretic spironolactone can be helpful. More than 90 percent womens experience some premenstrual symptoms like bloating headaches and moodiness.