"Pra onde vai todo esse sangue na menopausa?" : uma análise antropológica dos aspectos culturais e simbólicos da menopausa

Abstract

This work aims to understand the symbolic and cultural representations that permeate menopause among women. Besides that, it sought to understand how primary care health services in Rio Tinto / PB deal with women outside the reproductive age. Menopause from a biomedical point of view is a phase of change, transformation and adaptation, just like adolescence. It does not happen without question and coincides with other changes in a woman's life. The climacteric is the transition phase between the reproductive and non-reproductive periods of a woman's life, extending to 65 years old. Menopause is the milestone of this phase, corresponding to the last menstrual period, only recognized after 12 months. In this perspective, menopause is considered a kind of pathology and not a natural process of the body. Some women have very intense and transient symptoms and others go through this time without complaint and do not need the use of medication or Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Based on the ethnographic method, field trips were conducted with the development of participant observation and informal conversations with professionals from the Family Health Unit (in Portuguese, USF) and users of primary care services in the municipality.