What is it and why are healthcare providers not prepared to help women when they seek out assistance? Why is half of the population still suffering, most of them in silence? We can ask endless questions to most health care providers but most of them will not answer. Women’s health has been deemed as unimportant. Medical schools do not educate on hormones. Therefore, gynecologists are not prepared to offer menopausal women guidance on this subject.
Be prepared when you do want to talk about your strange symptoms that you will be brushed off and a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication will be given to you. Before you get that filled make sure that you look at the side effects. You do not want to trade one symptom for another one.
Ladies, you are your own health advocate. You need to rely on your inner knowledge of your body to know that something is not right. Heavy periods, hot flushes, night sweats, irritability, painful sex, sleeplessness. These are only a portion of the different symptoms that you may encounter. Everyone is different. You may have no symptoms, and then again you may have multiple symptoms. Knowing what to look out for and to be able to place the pieces together can be reassuring.
The chaotic phase of perimenopause normally starts in your late 40s and lasts about 4 years. This is when your reproductive organs start adjusting to your estrogen and progesterone levels become erratic. Your periods become unpredictable and when they do show up, they tend to be heavier than what you have normally experienced. You will also find that you will start skipping periods, and sometimes they will be lighter. Pro-tip always carry a tampon in your bag, and an extra pair of panties close by.
During this time bone loss accelerates, and your weight will shift to the middle. Your body will try to hold onto the estrogen and that happens in the abdomen where your fat cells are produced. You will find that what has worked for you in the past to control your weight fluctuations no longer serves you. Lifting (light) weights will help you more than any other exercise that you can do. We start losing bone mass after the age of 35. Osteoporosis is a big concern.
As a woman in her 50s, I can tell you that when my hot flashes exceeded 50 by lunchtime in one given day I had finally had enough. A phone call to my gynecologist to be seen as quickly as possible was made. The suffering that I had for years had finally pushed me to the edge. For years I had symptoms and was told you are not there yet, but maybe next year. I would leave after my short conversation bewildered that my suffering would continue for yet another year. I had enough and something had to be done to reduce these flashes. Given a low level of hormone replacement (HRT) in a pill form proved to be just what was needed. Some doctors are now calling it MHT (Menopause Hormone Therapy). You will be shocked to know that the estrogen used in birth control is 100 times more potent than estradiol which is found in HRT.
Not everyone feels comfortable taking medication (me included). When you begin to suffer to the extent that you are not feeling like you are living something must be done.
Be an investigator and look at the information when you are deciding for yourself. There are new products including bioidentical hormone treatment (BHRT). Make sure that your provider listens to your history and gives you an evidence-based approach to the treatment that is suited for you.
If you are wondering if I am still on HRT the answer is no. After two years on the medication Covid hit. The medication could not be found in America and therefore without any warning, I stopped. FYI-you are not supposed to stop taking a medication like this without weaning off.
Being forced to manage my symptoms naturally was difficult at the beginning of that journey. Now I feel grateful for the experience. Figuring out lifestyle changes to mitigate my symptoms turned out to be one of the biggest blessings in my life. Out of this turmoil that I went thru a mission was born. I would help women who were struggling with perimenopause/menopause navigate thru all the information out there. I produced a 4-step framework that I named “SNAP”. This should be a time of celebration for us. No more PMS, cramping, or surprises when Aunt Flo shows up. Our life is not over it has just begun.
Theresa Russell https://www.facebook.com/groups/237600635034194/?ref=share&mibextid=q5o4bk