Duration of Menopause.-- By the menopause or climacteric is understood the whole period from the beginning irregularities in the time of appearance of the menstrual flow until its actual cessation. The average duration of the menopause is from two and a half to three years.
The Menopause.-- The menopause is a physiologic and conservative process. It occurs at a time of life when all the tissues are most stable and the nutrition of the body is at its best. Other physiologic changes which occur at the same time are decrease in the size of the spleen and lymphatic glands, the muscular coats of the intestine atrophy, and lessened peristalsis ensues; hence the increased tendency to constipation. These are not the degenerations of age, but the blood-supplying, blood-making, and blood-elaborating organs of the body have completed the growth of the organism, done their work, and are striking a balance with the needs of the economy.
The object of each metamorphic or developmental epoch is a critical readjustment of the organism, in order to insure the greatest possible amount of health for each subsequent period of life. In the vast majority of cases this object is quietly effected, but sometimes the constitution only rallies after having been severely shaken for a varying period.
General Phenomena of the Menopause.-- Borner states that while many women pass this period without noting any change in their former condition, and are conscious of the occurrence of the change of life only by reason of the absence of the menstrual flow, others suffer for years with a host of troubles.
One of the most essential changes is that of the woman s psychic condition-- from slight vagaries, loss of interest in the daily affairs of life, to melancholia and insanity.
"Two factors are generally taken into account: first, the sudden cessation of the menses; second, the reflections of the patient caused by her condition, meditations on the loss of youth and sexual power, and anxiety in view of the dangers of the climacteric. It cannot be denied that there is some truth in the supposed sad thoughts about the beginning of old age, and the depression caused by them can scarcely be considered abnormal" (Borner).