SolveYourProblem Article Series: Menopause
Menopause Symptoms and Relief

Menopause and Your Digestive System
   

The consequences of progesterone during this stage of life, which is now the new dominant hormone in the body since no estrogen is being produced, can lead to a variety of problems. The digestive system slows down to a bare minimum, which can so many other illnesses and side effects. This is usually the cause of the nasty side affects that progesterone can give a woman such as indigestion, heartburn, bloating, gas, constipation, and more seriously gallstones. Menopause does not just affect your modalities, it also causes many disturbances in your physical well being, intimate reactivity, and bone density. It can also affect your stomach to boot, which can cause and array of issues. This change in dominance of hormones can have an overall gut reaction that can be quite severe and painful. During this time it is now best to find a new way of eating that helps to lower your distress level. Try 5 or 6 small meals instead of the traditional three larger ones, to avoid bloating, gas, and constipation. It is recommended to choose high-fiber items such as fruits, grains, and vegetables.

Imagine memory consequences and/or forgetfulness, the crotchetiness and/or mood swings, the bringing down of energy and concupiscence that are supposed to come with menopause, but truly may or may not. This is the thought process that most people think about. This needs to be aroused the gallbladder to release its capacities. To help prevent any formation of gallstones many ladies will eat a small amount of dietary fiber to stimulate the gallbladder into releasing. However, keep total fat intake to about 40 g a day. They forget or do not know about the tummy consequences and digestive disturbances that are prone to happen as well. Exercise will also help in almost every aspect of digestive functioning, and it will also help you avert midlife weight gain. However, midlife hormonal wavering influence the way women condense and metabolize foodstuff. Digestive alterations may be elusive and go unnoticed in some women while others will undergo these differences almost immediately. The stomach takes longer to empty, as a woman's hormone quantitative relation changes in menopause. A progesterone and estrogen imbalance crusades the delay in gastric emptying, when estrogen levels drop and progesterone seems to raise it gives an counter effect on gastric nerves.

When food stays in the upper division of the stomach longer than it should, the release of a hormone called cholecystokinin is detained. This hormone is expelled by the pancreas, and signals the gallbladder to squeeze. When this synchronicity is upset, women begin to show a delay in gallbladder emptying that can lead them to problems down the road. When the gallbladder does not empty on time, a person does not feel full after eating. Not having the feeling of fullness can lead to eating more food and taking in more calories. It is also very common to get heartburn during menopause because of the effects of progesterone. Many women have been educated from painful experience that it is prudent to eat only a few bites at a time verses over doing it. Progesterone loosens the lower esophageal sphincter, the muscle that would normally keep the stomach juices from coursing back out of the stomach into the throat. Women who once would eat whatever they so desired, no matter how spicy, or anything else in the evening with no problem may find they no longer can do that as menopause approaches. At night, lying flat allows the acid to flow from the stomach and irritate the esophagus, bringing forth heartburn.

Women may turn more prone as they enter the midlife period to gallstones. The gallbladder works less expeditiously and does not discharge completely after eating. Inflammation of the stomach can also occur from detained emptying of the tummy's contents and cause ulcers. A diet high in saturated fat advances this risk for gallstones. Gallstones and pyloric ulcers are also exceedingly common. Gallstones are deposits of mineral in the gallbladder or bile ducts that cause a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort and eventually require surgery. They can subsist for years with no symptoms what so ever and without requiring treatment, but eventually will cause many other issues. Gallstones can become exceedingly painful and can eventually lead to the removal of the gallbladder all together.

Digestive changes may also leave you more susceptible to the highly irritating Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which cause ulcers. This can cause an immune response that allows the bacteria to take a stronger footing. The hormone alterations may slow the process of evacuating the stomach and gallbladder. Estrogen decline can also make your body take longer to get rid of waste products. The longer it takes for food to move through the intestines, more the intestinal tissue be out in the open to irritants and chemicals in food.

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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2006

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