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Menopause:
A Time of Changes and Choices
Menopause 101
Learn about the journey and what to expect along the way.
Menopause can be both a physical and emotional journey for a woman. The good news is it can also be a time for new beginnings—a sort of passageway to a new part of life. Freedom from worries about pregnancy and birth control. Possibly a new starting point to refocus on your overall health and well-being. An important step in your journey is understanding what menopause is and what you can expect from the transition.
Menopause is a normal, natural part of life. Like puberty, all women go through it. The average age of a woman entering menopause is 51. Menopause is a stage of a woman's reproductive cycle that occurs when the ovaries stop producing estrogen. Menopause is typically confirmed when a woman has missed her periods for 12 consecutive months.
Menopause can occur at any age when both ovaries are surgically removed. This is called surgical menopause. Since the ovaries are removed, which are the body's main source of estrogen, surgical menopause often results in a sudden onset of symptoms associated with menopause. Learn more about surgical menopause in the Hysterectomy Center.
Indication
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
Important Safety Information
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
Click here for the Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
The information contained within this Web site is appropriate for U.S. residents only. A visit to this site should not replace a visit to your doctor.
Available by prescription only.
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