Taking Care of Yourself
Good personal health practices can keep you strong and healthy. Here are things you can do that can help you enjoy a healthier life.
Exercise: Regular, vigorous, weight-bearing exercise (exercise which is done on the feet such as walking, jogging, dancing) in moderation can help slow bone loss, which is one of the most serious consequences of the loss of estrogen that comes with menopause. Aerobic exercise (exercise that increases the heart rate) is necessary for cardiovascular health, while strength and flexibility exercises help maintain muscle tone and keep the body's joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons mobile. Exercise also helps maintain balance and can help provide a sense of well-being.
However, before you begin or make any changes to your exercise routine, consult with your health care professional to determine what exercise regimen is appropriate for you.
Nutrition: Include low-fat, high-fiber foods rich in calcium in your diet. Maintaining an adequate calcium intake can help slow bone loss. After menopause, women may need at least 1,500 milligrams of calcium each day. An 8-ounce glass of milk provides about 300 milligrams of calcium. Eating leafy green vegetables and calcium-fortified foods and juices also increases calcium intake.
Emotional Health: You may experience changes in mood during menopause, but there are a number of options that can help you cope with these emotional changes. Stress management techniques, including such activities as yoga, relaxation, and/or meditation, and regular exercise and paced respiration can be beneficial.
With appropriate support and strategies to help you, menopause can be a positive transitional time, offering opportunities for challenges, rewards, and personal growth.
Monitor your health
Ongoing personal and professional monitoring of your health is essential, but it becomes even more important as you enter menopause—which can be a time of new beginnings. It is important for you to make regularly scheduled visits to your health care professional during these years. Here is a list of medical conditions that may be of increased concern through your postmenopausal years, along with routine health screenings that may be appropriate.
- Osteoporosis: Bone density scanning may be appropriate in early menopause or for women in menopause to determine your risk of osteoporosis. A family history of osteoporosis and related bone fractures may be a risk factor, as well as cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.
- Breast Cancer: Breast self-examination, as well as regular breast examinations by your health care professional, are important basic screenings. The American Cancer Society also recommends annual mammograms for women over 40 years old.
- High Blood Pressure: How often blood pressure should be monitored is based upon your typical measurement and if you have other risk factors relating to heart attack and stroke. Those with normal blood pressure (lower than 120 systolic and 80 diastolic) and no known risk factors should be checked at least every other year.
- Cervical Cancer: Women should have an annual Pap smear to check for cervical cancer as part of the pelvic examination done by their health care professional. Beginning at age 30, most women who have had 3 normal Pap smear results need Pap smears only every 2 to 3 years. After women reach age 70, their health care professionals may stop doing Pap smears if results have been consistently normal. Women who have had a total hysterectomy (including removal of the uterus and cervix) may no longer need cervical cancer screening, unless the surgery was done as treatment for cervical cancer.
- High Cholesterol Levels: Women age 20 and older should have their total cholesterol levels checked every 5 years, and more frequently if medically indicated. A blood cholesterol screening done with a blood sample that can be drawn in your health care professional's office or at an outside lab will give your HDL ("good" cholesterol), LDL ("bad" cholesterol), and triglyceride levels.
Important Safety Information
What is the most important information you should know about PREMARIN (estrogens), PREMPRO (a combination of estrogens and a progestin), or PREMARIN Vaginal Cream (a cream of estrogens)?
Estrogens increase the chance of getting cancer of the uterus.
Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are using these products. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb). Your health care provider should check any unusual vaginal bleeding to find out the cause.
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, or dementia.
Using estrogens, with or without progestins, may increase your chance of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens, with or without progestins, may increase your chance of getting dementia, based on a study of women age 65 years or older. You and your health care provider should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with estrogens.
PREMARIN® (conjugated estrogens tablets, USP) is used after menopause to reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; to treat moderate to severe dryness, itching, and burning, in and around the vagina; and to help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones).
PREMPRO® (conjugated estrogens/medroxyprogesterone acetate tablets) is used after menopause in women who have a uterus to reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; to treat moderate to severe dryness, itching, and burning, in and around the vagina; and to help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones).
PREMARIN® (conjugated estrogens) Vaginal Cream is used after menopause to treat moderate to severe dryness, itching, and burning, in and around the vagina.
PREMARIN and PREMPRO should be used at the lowest effective dose and for the shortest duration consistent with your treatment goals and risks. If you are using or are considering using PREMARIN or PREMPRO only to treat your symptoms of vaginal dryness, consider topical therapies first. If you are using or are considering using PREMARIN and PREMPRO only to prevent osteoporosis due to menopause, talk with your health care professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
PREMARIN, PREMPRO, and PREMARIN Vaginal Cream should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding, have or had cancer of the breast or uterus, had a stroke or heart attack in the past year, have or had blood clots, have or had liver problems, are allergic to any of the ingredients in PREMARIN, PREMPRO, or PREMARIN Vaginal Cream, or think you may be pregnant. In general, the addition of a progestin is recommended for women with a uterus to reduce the chance of getting cancer of the uterus.
In a clinical trial, the most commonly reported (≥5%) side effects that occurred more frequently with PREMARIN than with placebo were vaginitis due to yeast or other causes, vaginal bleeding, painful menstruation, and leg cramps.
In a clinical trial, the most commonly reported (≥5%) side effects that occurred more frequently with PREMPRO 0.45 mg/1.5 mg and PREMPRO 0.625 mg/2.5 mg than with placebo were breast pain/enlargement, vaginitis due to yeast or other causes, leg cramps, vaginal spotting/bleeding, and painful menstruation. In a clinical trial, there was no difference in the commonly reported (≥5%) side effects for women taking PREMPRO 0.3 mg/1.5 mg compared to those taking placebo.
The most commonly reported side effects of PREMARIN Vaginal Cream include vaginal discomfort or pain, breast pain, vaginitis, and itching.
