Amenorrhea what is it? The causes, symptoms and treatment of amenorrhea

Amenorrhea is a syndrome of the conditionwomen aged 16 to 45 years, at which there is a complete absence of menstruation for a period of six months or more. Most often this phenomenon indicates the presence in the body of certain physiological processes or pathologies.

Some women are confused,having heard the diagnosis of "amenorrhea". Few people know what this disease is. Doctors classify amenorrhea into two main types: true and false. The following types of this symptom are also distinguished:

Pharmacological and false amenorrhea.
Pathological and physiological amenorrhea.
Primary or secondary amenorrhea.

False amenorrhea

With this type of syndrome, a normaldevelopment of female sex hormones, but there is some obstacle of anatomical nature for the normal allocation of bloody formations from the genital tract. False amenorrhea, the symptoms of which begin with the absence of menstruation, can cause significant physical discomfort. This is caused by a defect in the structure of the vagina, cervix or hymen of the congenital form. With this form of amenorrhea, menstrual excrement, not finding an outlet, remain in the fallopian tubes, accumulating in large quantities. This leads to the formation of an inflammatory process in this area. The diagnosis of "false amenorrhea", the causes and treatment of this disease - all this in the competence of a medical specialist.

True amenorrhea

This type of amenorrhea is associated with a violation of cyclicprocesses associated with the normal maturation of the egg in the body of a woman. In this syndrome, menstrual flow is not formed at all. The egg cell either does not ripen, or does not enter the uterine tube, or the hormonal regulation of the process is disturbed. This amenorrhea, the symptoms of which are absolutely painless, is the cause of infertility.

True amenorrhea is divided into several types:

Physiological variety.
Pathological form.

Physiological true amenorrhea

Doctors do not classify it as pathological. As a rule, the physiological absence of menstruation is associated with pregnancy, lactation, menopause or childhood.

Lactational amenorrhea is caused by the processbreastfeeding and occurs after childbirth. The duration of this phenomenon is strictly individual and can range from several months to several years. The hormone prolactin, which is excreted in the body of a woman during breastfeeding, does not allow the formation of estrogen, which in turn controls ovulation. As a result, ovulation does not occur, and there is no menstruation.

Lactational amenorrhea is a kind ofnatural contraceptive. But it is worth considering that the effectiveness of this method reaches 98%, provided that the child has not reached the age of 6 months, he is exclusively breastfed, and the frequency of feeding is up to six times a day. If these conditions are not respected, then the probability of becoming pregnant with a woman is very high. To prevent this, you need to take care of contraception, after consulting with a gynecologist. This amenorrhea, whose causes are physiological, does not require treatment. If a woman is concerned about abdominal pain, abnormal discharge and itching, examination and treatment is necessary.

Pathological true amenorrhea

This phenomenon takes place if the girlover 16 years of age, or a woman in fertile age does not have regular menstruation. If this occurs from the adolescent period, then the phenomenon is called primary amenorrhea. What is this type of disease, you can find out at a reception with a specialist.

If the absence of menstruation happened after that,as a woman had a regular cycle, this phenomenon is called secondary amenorrhea. It can be a consequence of hormonal imbalance in the body or carrying out operations of the genital area. Secondary amenorrhea, the causes and treatment of which are described below, is quite amenable to correction.

Causes of true amenorrhea

Specialists identify several reasons why true amenorrhea may occur:

Congenital disorders of a hereditary nature. These are the so-called chromosomal abnormalities. If there are women with late (over 18 years) onset of menstruation in the genus, then there is a genetic predisposition to amenorrhea.
Underdevelopment of the genitals - anatomicalanomaly. Often accompanied by general physical exhaustion, inferior formation or lack of internal and external genital organs (dystrophy, "infantile womb" and others).
Stresses also have a direct effect onphysiology of women. Increased psychological, emotional and physical exertion can cause both primary amenorrhea in adolescence and secondary.

Causes of secondary amenorrhea

As it was said earlier, the absence of menstruation in women over 18 years old is called "secondary amenorrhea". The reasons for it may be as follows:

Polycystic ovary syndrome causes amenorrhea and infertility. Often accompanied by the following signs: acne, a high rate of male hormones in the blood, earworm hairiness.
Anorexia is an induced weight lossup to the exhaustion of the body as a result of a strict diet and exorbitant physical exertion. In pursuit of ideal weight, some women severely limit themselves in eating or completely refuse it, take laxatives and diuretics, provoke vomiting after eating. All these manipulations lead to anorexia and the development of secondary infertility.
Hyperprolactemia is one of the mostcommon causes of secondary amenorrhea. In a state of stress, prolactin is released, blocking ovulation and the onset of menstruation. This is the so-called hormonal amenorrhea. But mainly hyperprolactenia is a consequence of endocrine disruption in the body of a woman or the development of changes in the pituitary gland.

Diagnosis of amenorrhea

Before prescribing treatment, the doctor needsknow the causes of the disease. Before the doctor there is a question: "The patient has amenorrhea." What happened in the woman's body? " For this purpose the following diagnostic measures are assigned:

Interrogation of the patient with clarification of the features of her physiological state and hereditary factors.
Physical examination of the external organs of the reproductive system of a woman.
Conducting ultrasound to identify defectsdevelopment, abnormal location or complete absence of internal organs of the reproductive system. Also, ultrasound can determine the size of the uterus, the condition of the follicular apparatus and the endometrium.

Often there is a need for additional research methods. These include:

Hysterosalpingoscopy - a method for determining the patency of uterine tubes.
Hysteroscopy - examination of the uterine cavity.
MRI of the brain to identify the pituitary.
Laparoscopic diagnostic examination of the ovaries.

The assignment of laboratory tests is mandatory:

UAC is a general blood test.
OAM is a general urine test.
A test with gestogens to determine estrogen deficiency.
Hormonal colpositology study.

After the doctor has a fulla set of conclusions about the studies, he can adequately identify the cause of the disease and its type. At the consultation, the specialist will tell in detail about the diagnosis of "amenorrhea", what is happening in the body, what caused this disease, how to proceed further. Then the specialist will appoint the appropriate treatment with a follow-up examination.

Methods of treating amenorrhea

As a rule, after a thorough and comprehensiveexamination and diagnosis, the doctor will advise the patient how to treat amenorrhea. In most cases, treatment is effective. Menstrual cycle of a woman is restored, her fertility is improving, physiology comes back to normal. There are conservative methods of correction of this syndrome. The treatment of amenorrhea with folk remedies is also common. However, one should remember that one should resort to alternative medicine only after consulting a specialist. The initiative in this matter can be not only inefficient, but also dangerous.

Treatment of primary amenorrhea

Conservative treatment of this type of amenorrheais reduced to eliminating or correcting the causes of the syndrome. If the phenomenon is caused by hereditary factors, then hormone replacement therapy is prescribed in the form of preparations containing estrogens, progestogens.

Adolescents with a delay in the formation of femalesexual sphere, as a rule, are prescribed correction of nutrition and exercise. A balanced diet and sports activities contribute to muscle building, normalization of the general condition and are able to correct the situation. If the amenorrhea is not eliminated after this, the doctor can prescribe hormonal medication.

Treatment of secondary amenorrhea

Secondary amenorrhea, the syndrome of which is causedanorexic condition, are eliminated by correcting the diet and the level of physical exertion. Quite often in this situation, the doctor recommends taking oral sparing contraceptives, which stabilize the hormonal background.

In the syndrome of polycystic ovaries resort tolaparoscopic surgery to remove the pathological part of the ovaries in conjunction with the intake of hormonal drugs that normalize the reproductive function of the female body.

With giperprolaktenemii prescribe drugs containing dopamine agonists, which block the increased secretion of prolactin.

After the above methods, any secondary amenorrhea is eliminated. Reviews of patients who underwent complex examination and treatment, speak about the effectiveness of professional procedures.

Folk methods of amenorrhea treatment

In non-traditional medicine there is a massrecipes that have helped women for centuries to cope with such a disease as amenorrhea. Folk treatment, however, should be taken with caution. Obligatory examination and consultation with a doctor is mandatory. First, you should make sure that amenorrhea is not a consequence of pregnancy. Also very important is the presence of an allergic reaction to plant components, which is also a contraindication to many recipes of traditional medicine. If your doctor is not against it and there is no allergy, then you can use one of the following recipes:

Roots of rhodiola rosea in the amount of 50 gchop and pour 500 ml of vodka (40%). Insist in a dark place in a sealed state for 15 days. Take tincture you need 10-20 drops per spoonful of water three times a day before meals for three months.
Crush a glass of fruit of viburnum in half a liter of olive oil and infuse for 10 days. After this, strain and drink on an empty stomach and before going to bed, two tablespoons for three months.

To lower 100 g of the crushed parsley in 1,5 lwater, boil for 20 minutes and infuse for 2 hours. The resulting broth should be drunk for the whole day, and so for two months. After that, the volume of the taken solution can be reduced to half a liter and continue to drink for another six months.
Almond - 20 pieces, leaves of geranium - 20 pieces,lemons and zest - 2 pieces, hawthorn flowers - 2 tablespoons, camphor powder - 1 g, valerian infusion - 1 tablespoon, peppermint oil - 20 drops. All ingredients must be mixed and taken three times daily before meals.
Prepare a mixture of herbs: velvet Amur, nettle, shepherd's bag, licorice root, taken in 1 part, and four parts of the mountaineer bird. All ingredients should be in a crushed and dried form. Two tablespoons of the mixture pour a liter of boiling water and boil over low heat until boiling for a third. Then you need to remove from the heat and insist under the lid for about an hour. Next, you need to strain and drink on a tablespoon for two weeks three times a day.
Prepare a decoction of 500 g pine needles in twoliters of water. Boil for half an hour and insist 2 hours. Then boil 100 g of crushed ginger root in 1 liter of water for half an hour and leave for 40 minutes. Prepare a bath with a temperature of 38 ˚C, pour into it two broths, adding 1 teaspoon of thuja oil. Take this bath must be daily for half an hour period of 10 days.

Prevention of Amenorrhea

A woman should always remember to keep herhealth in good condition. Unbearable physical, psychological and emotional stress should be avoided, which, of course, have a destructive effect on the body. It is important to keep your weight at the level of the physiological norm, avoiding exhaustion or obesity. Pregnancy needs to be planned, if necessary, to take contraceptives. Under stress, gentle herbal soothing fees, baths, tinctures are recommended. Work out in the gym with a professional trainer and avoid overloading. You undergo a professional examination at a medical institution for the timely detection and treatment of diseases.