ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S QUALITY OF LIFE IN MENOPAUSE AND MEDICATIONS USED

Abstract

Women's search for a better quality of life, socially, psychologically and physically during menopause, currently increases adherence to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). However, the body, in a way, does not get used to its use very well, causing several negative effects on the female body. Therefore, many women look for alternative therapies, such as dietary supplements (SA) and herbal medicines, with the same objective. All of these treatments in question are sometimes not prescribed by qualified professionals and do not have due monitoring of the risks they may entail, in addition, they are often recommended by a marketing professional, family member or friend. Therefore, the study aimed to highlight and analyze the quality of life of women in menopause, the medications used and whether or not they were prescribed by a qualified professional, showing the risks that such a choice can pose to women's health. It is a transversal and descriptive work carried out through an online questionnaire survey using the Google Forms® platform and published on social networks, with 61 questions. When preparing the questions, it was determined whether the patient had symptoms of menopause, whether she was taking any dietary supplements, herbal medicine or hormone replacement therapy. As a result, evaluating 78 women aged approximately 53 years, poor quality of life was found in 27 women by the QSM. There was little adherence to treatments, and among the most used SA is vitamin D, among herbal medicines is Amora, such as HRT, tibolone and estrogens such as Estradiol in association with progesterone (oral). All of these interventions were always prescribed by a qualified professional. It can be concluded from this study that few menopausal women seek treatments, and all the changes present in the female body during this period, such as psychosocial and physiological symptoms, vasomotor symptoms, somatic symptoms, cognitive difficulties interfere with their daily routines, however, the Women interviewed tend to have a poor quality of life and almost no adherence to treatments.