Menopause and Alcoholism

Alcohol Abuse During Menopause

Menopause, especially perimenopause, causes massive hormonal imbalances in a woman's body and drastic changes to her lifestyle. The imbalance of hormone levels in addition to other stressed brought on by everyday life such as empty nest syndrome, changes at work or changes in marital status can bring on alcohol abuse in women who have never had such problems before.

Hormonal Changes and Alcohol Use

In the years prior to menopause, typically when a women is in her 40s and 50s, her body stops producing as much estrogen and the adrenal glands pick up the slack. In this transition period, estrogen levels skyrocket and plummet erratically, inducing a variety of effects such as memory loss or moodiness. The onset of menopausal symptoms can be bewildering and cause and increase in alcohol intake to ease the pain a woman feels.

Menopause normally begins when a women is in between the ages of 45 to 55. Premature menopause can be triggered by lifestyle choices like poor nutrition, heavy smoking, long term physical stress and heavy drinking. Excessive drinking has been known to cause menopause to happen up to 5 years earlier than normal.

What Happen When a Menopausal Woman Drinks Too Much

When a woman enters full on menopause, the estrogen production in her body has dropped almost entirely and menopause's symptoms will be evident. Fatigue, hot flashes, drop in libido and sleeplessness are all signs that menopause has arrived. Alcohol consumption at this point in a woman's life can worsen all these symptoms. Researchers have shown that menopausal women who drive excessively are at a much higher risk for cancer, particularly post menopausal breast cancer. One drink of alcohol per day increases risk by 7%. If three drinks are consumed everyday, the level of risk jumps by 51%. Alcohol also causes and increase in the amount of calcium excreted in urine, which leads to osteoporosis. In addition, alcohol affects the liver, pancreas and stomach lining.

What to do if Drinking becomes a problem.

Every stage of menopause (perimenopause, menopause and post menopause) are high risk years for women how drink too much. If a women finds her alcohol consumption to have risen dramatically during her menopausal years, it is important to think of the effect of hormone balances on her change of alcohol use. There are many programs out their who's aim is to treat alcohol abuse in the long term.