What happens in the female reproductive tract when estrogen and progesterone decrease quizlet?

Aging changes in the female reproductive system result mainly from changing hormone levels. One clear sign of aging occurs when your menstrual periods stop permanently. This is known as menopause.

The time before menopause is called perimenopause. It may begin several years before your last menstrual period. Signs of perimenopause include:

• More frequent periods at first, and then occasional missed periods
• Periods that are longer or shorter
• Changes in the amount of menstrual flow

Eventually your periods will become much less frequent, until they stop completely.

Along with changes in your periods, physical changes in your reproductive tract occur as well.

AGING CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECTS

Menopause is a normal part of a woman's aging process. Most women experience menopause around age 50, though it can occur before that age. The usual age range is 45 to 55.

With menopause:

• The ovaries stop making the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
• The ovaries also stop releasing eggs (ova, oocytes). After menopause, you can no longer become pregnant.
• Your menstrual periods stop. You know you have gone through menopause after you have had no periods for 1 year. You should continue to use a birth control method until you have gone a whole year without a period. Any bleeding that occurs more than 1 year after your last period is not normal and should be checked by your health care provider.

As hormone levels fall, other changes occur in the reproductive system, including:

• Vaginal walls become thinner, dryer, less elastic, and possibly irritated. Sometimes sex becomes painful due to these vaginal changes.
• Your risk for vaginal yeast infections increases.
• The external genital tissue decreases and thins, and can become irritated.

Other common changes include:

• Menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, moodiness, headaches, and trouble sleeping
• Problems with short-term memory
• Decrease in breast tissue
• Lower sex drive (libido) and sexual response
• Increased risk for bone loss (osteoporosis)
• Urinary system changes, such as frequency and urgency of urination and increased risk for urinary tract infection
• Loss of tone in the pubic muscles, resulting in the vagina, uterus, or urinary bladder falling out of position (prolapse)

MANAGING CHANGES

Hormone therapy with estrogen or progesterone, alone or in combination, may help menopause symptoms such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness and pain with intercourse. Hormone therapy has risks, so it is not for every woman. Discuss the risks and benefits of hormone therapy with your provider.

To help manage problems such as painful sexual intercourse, use a lubricant during sexual intercourse. Vaginal moisturizers are available without a prescription. These can help with vaginal and vulvar discomfort due to the drying and thinning of tissues. Applying topical estrogen inside the vagina may help thicken the vaginal tissues and increase moisture and sensitivity. Your provider can tell you if any of these measures is right for you.

Getting regular exercise, eating healthy foods, and staying involved in activities with friends and loved ones can help the aging process go more smoothly.

OTHER CHANGES

Other aging changes to expect:

• Hormone production
• Organs, tissues, and cells
• Breasts
• Kidneys

Lobo RA. Menopause and care of the mature woman: endocrinology, consequences of estrogen deficiency, effects of hormone therapy, and other treatment options. In: Lobo RA, Gershenson DM, Lentz GM, Valea FA, eds. Comprehensive Gynecology. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017:chap 14.

Santoro N, Neal-Perry G. Menopause. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 227.

van den Beld AW, Lamberts SWJ. Endocrinology and aging. In: Melmed S, Auchus RJ, Goldfine AB, Koenig RJ, Rosen CJ, eds. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 14th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 28.

White BA, Harrison JR, Mehlmann LM. Life cycle of the male and female reproductive systems. In: White BA, Harrison JR, Mehlmann LM, eds. Endocrine and Reproductive Physiology. 5th ed. St Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2019:chap 8.

Updated by: LaQuita Martinez, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Alpharetta, GA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Both the male and female reproductive systems develop from similar embryonic tissue. In fact, during the first few weeks of development, male embryos are indistinguishable from female embryos. As development proceeds, however, two distinct and special organ systems form. The male reproductive system contains a pair of testes, accessory ducts and glands, and external genitalia, which include the scrotum and penis. The female reproductive system contains a pair of ovaries and uterine tubes, a uterus, vagina, and external genitalia, which include the labia majora, labia minora, vestibule, and clitoris.To complete this Review Sheet, please complete the questions and activities below.

You are a columnist for a popular website that deals with women's health issues. Visitors to the site can submit their stories and questions through an "Ask the Expert" link on the site. In this scenario, a 26-year-old woman has posted her story and some questions regarding reproductive health.My name is Angela. I am a 26-year-old married woman with no children. My husband, Doug, and I have been trying to get pregnant for over two years now and my doctor has suggested that I consider fertility drug treatments. The irony of our situation is that I have been taking a birth control pill for five years to prevent getting pregnant, and now my doctor suggests that I take another drug to help me get pregnant. When I went off birth control about a year ago, my menstrual cycle became very irregular. I had been taking a birth control drug called Ortho Tri-Cyclen. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand how it works because my periods were more regular when I was on the pill than when I went off of it. My doctor told me that the pill works because it tricks your body into thinking that it is pregnant. That just confused me even more. When I looked back on my decision to take birth control pills, I realized that I did not really understand how they work. I just do not want to make that mistake again. Before I consider taking any more drugs, I want to understand more about how they work. The drug we're looking into is called Clomid. I asked my doctor a bunch of questions, but I still feel confused. I looked up some stuff online when I got home. Here is some information that I learned from a website about how Ortho Tri-Cyclen works: Estrogen and progestin work in combination to suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. This suppression leads to a decrease in the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus and luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from the anterior pituitary. Maturation of the dominant follicle is inhibited under the decreasing levels of FSH and LH. Hormonal contraceptive use also leads to an an increase in the viscosity of the cervical mucus, which inhibits sperm penetration and movement through the cervical canal. I am hoping that you would be able to help me understand how these drugs actually work.

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