A United Kingdom-based Advanced Aesthetic Nurse Practitioner and Founder of Shujo Aesthetics, Esther Emenike-Okorie, has lamented that there is little or no education about menopause in Nigeria.
Emenike-Okorie, who spoke to Tribune Online on Friday, said that lack of education makes women not recognize the symptoms of menopause early enough.
She stated that education needs to be done the same as when a young girl is growing up, especially when she starts seeing her menstrual period.
The Shujo Aesthetics Founder, who described menopause as a stage in women’s life where they start experiencing symptoms relating to Progesterone and estrogen hormones, explained that a woman starts losing the hormones as she clocks 45, 50 and 55 years.
Esther further explained that the hormones help with the looks, women’s below area, sexuality of a woman and many more.
According to her, the symptoms of menopause are weight gain, hot flushes, patches on the skin, hair loss, fatigue, aches and pains, emotional side of irritability, depression, mood swings, sleeplessness, urinary problems, vagina dryness, and so many others.
Meanwhile, The Aesthetic Nurse urged the government to embark upon aggressive awareness of Menopause amongst women in the country as this could lead to marriage breakdown.
Esther explained that the woman does not want to have sex with her husband at this time because she is dry, absolving her of the blame because she does not have the sensitivity.
She suggested that they could run a blood test with their General Practitioners, stating that they can be replaced through Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy if the hormones are low.
“There is little or no education about Menopause in Nigeria. If you are not educated, you won’t know that those things are signs of menopause.
“The fact is that a lot of us don’t know those symptoms are related to menopause because there is not a lot of education about it.
“A lot of the times when we were younger we get support. When a woman is growing up, the first thing is that obviously she starts seeing her menstrual period. It is a primary school education that is normal- She starts seeing acne on her face, mood swings because that is the level at which those hormones start increasing in a young girl.
“She goes through puberty, breast enlargement and many other changes. You are prepared for it because you were obviously taught about it.
“When she gets married and pregnancy set in, all the symptoms of pregnancy are related to that hormones as well. Those two hormones really increase during pregnancy.
“Menopause is a stage in a woman’s life she starts experiencing certain kinds of symptoms and those symptoms might be related to the two main hormones- Progesterone and Estrogen, and that comes with sort of age.
“So, the older you are, the more of these hormones that you start losing. These hormones help us with so many things in our body. It helps us with the way we look, the way our skin looks, it helps women’s below area and the sexuality of a woman. And so, all those things play a part.
“We have various symptoms of menopause which could be physical such as weight gain, hot flushes, patches on the skin, hair loss, fatigue, aches and pains, emotional side of irritability, depression, mood swings, sleeplessness, urinary problems, vagina dryness, Skin dryness and so many others.
“It is imperative for the government to sensitize women because this is when the marriage starts breaking down.
“At this time, the woman does not want to have sex with her husband because she is dry. It is not her fault. She is not having that sensitivity. She does not know what is wrong with her. Women are going through that because no one seems to see that as a problem.
“We need to talk about women sex for this group of women of that age- 45, 50, 55. They need to know that the symptoms they could be experiencing at that time are related to something. So, what do they do?
“They could run simple blood test with their General Practitioner or their doctor, which will tell them the levels of these hormones.
“If they see that the levels of these hormones are low, it can be replaced through what we called Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy,” She said.
. TheWitness
