[이데일리 이순용 기자] Women experience various physical and mental changes after menopause. According to the Korea Menopause Society, in fact, 70% of menopausal women do not go to hospital even if the symptoms of changes in their body are distressing and they think they need treatment. There are many cases where it is simply overlooked as a symptom of menopause, but there are also cases where it is caused by a separate disease. A representative example is thyroid disease. The thyroid gland is an organ that secretes thyroid hormones and plays a role in maintaining body temperature and regulating metabolism.
If you feel hot and sweat even in cold weather, you should suspect hyperthyroidism. It is a disease caused by excessive secretion of thyroid hormones more than necessary. According to the statistics of the Health Insurance Review and Evaluation Service on patients with hyperthyroidism in 2022, there were 187,672 women, which is 2.4 times more than men (78,112), and among them, the percentage between 40 and 50 years was the highest.
Kim Yu-mi, director of the Department of Endocrinology at Incheon Himchan General Hospital, said: “Among the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, fatigue is often overlooked or overlooked as a symptom of menopause.” , or trembling hands are left untreated, can cause complications,” he explained.
◇ If you feel hot and sweaty even in winter, you may be suffering from hyperthyroidism.
Although the thyroid gland weighs approximately 15-20 g, it is an important endocrine organ that promotes all metabolic processes in the human body. When thyroid function and hormones increase excessively, excessive heat and energy are released, causing metabolism to increase more than necessary. Even when it’s cold, you feel hot and sweaty, or even when you don’t use your body much, you become more physically exhausted and lose weight. Additionally, increases in metabolism, increases in heart rate, palpitations, hand tremors, and eye protrusion may occur.
Hyperthyroidism is caused by an autoimmune disease, so the incidence is high if you have a family history or experience of suffering from an immune disease. For preventive purposes, if you have a family history, it is recommended to undergo a thyroid function test along with a general blood test during a health checkup. If an abnormality is discovered, most cases can be managed with medication, so it is important to treat it early through regular tests. You should also drink enough water to prevent dehydration, and it’s best to abstain from alcohol and coffee as they can make palpitations worse. In particular, smoking can affect not only hyperthyroidism but also other thyroid diseases and even thyroid cancer, so you need to quit smoking.
◇ Hip fracture, risk of serious complications
As we age, calcium is naturally lost from the body and bone density decreases. As women enter menopause, their estrogen levels decline rapidly and their ability to synthesize vitamin D, which helps with calcium absorption, declines, significantly weakening bone density. A decrease in bone density leads to osteoporosis, and osteoporosis patients can develop fractures from even minor impacts. Furthermore, in winter, the roads are slippery and the ground is frozen, so people fall easily and the impact of a fall is greater, so the risk of fractures is very high. If you have osteoporosis, you may suffer a wrist fracture when you fall.
It has the highest frequency, followed by compression fractures of the vertebrae and fractures of the hip joint. In particular, it is best to avoid hip fractures if possible, but older women are vulnerable to hip fractures as their bones and muscles become weaker after menopause.
If you are a middle-aged woman with osteoporosis, it is important to monitor your condition carefully regardless of the severity of the incident. Once you suffer a hip fracture, you will feel tremendous pain and will not be able to move at all, and your groin and thigh will swell due to bleeding on the inside of the thigh. It is necessary to move quickly to the hospital while remaining immobile to check for fractures and receive treatment, but in almost all cases surgery is unavoidable.
If a fracture does not receive active treatment, the risk of further fractures and mortality also increases. In fact, it is known that patients with hip fractures are three times more likely to suffer a refracture after a primary fracture than the general public, and the probability of death within one year after a fracture is as high as 20%. There is a high possibility of death due to complications such as bedsores, pneumonia, embolism caused by blood clots, or worsening of existing diseases after being bedridden and unable to move due to a hip fracture.
Kim Tae-seop, director of the orthopedic department of Himchan Hospital, said: “In winter, muscles and joints atrophy and flexibility decreases, so women with osteoporosis should be careful not only of falls on icy roads but also to domestic accidents. He added: “About half of safety-related incidents among older adults occur inside the home.” He said: “It’s important to avoid falling easily by making exercise a habit because it wakes you up.”
Exercise is also essential to prevent osteoporosis: it maintains the correct balance of the upper and lower body, maintains the body’s muscle strength and reflexes, and prevents it from breaking easily in the event of a fall. We recommend table tennis or tennis exercises, which are based on constant aerobic exercises such as brisk walking and can be accompanied by movements that improve instant agility.
2024-01-20 02:03:41
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