Menopause & perimenopause

Menopause: trusted guidance for women, by women

by Dixie Mills, MD

Information about menopause isn’t hard to come by these days. But many women are looking for trusted help to sift through fact and fiction. They want honest answers about their options, especially if they aren’t sure hormone replacement therapy or other prescription medications are right for their bodies. And we’ve been helping women with questions about menopause and menopause symptoms for over 25 years.

Menopause is the stopping of periods or menses — you are post-menopausal when you've been one year without a period. The average age for menopause is 52, but it can occur at any point from your 30’s to your 60’s. Hormonal shifts generally develop two to five years beforehand, although some women experience early signs of menopause as many as 10–15 years before their periods stop. This transitional time is referred to as perimenopause.

Why some women have menopause symptoms

You’ve probably heard of the common menopausal symptoms — hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, and vaginal dryness — but menopause affects every woman differently, and some in surprising ways. Dry eyes, joint pain, “fuzzy thinking” and hair loss are some lesser known symptoms in perimenopause. Women’s menstrual cycles may also change dramatically. Some women spot for a few months, others bleed heavily for years.

The physical and emotional symptoms of menopause are caused by imbalances among a woman’s sex hormones — not just estrogen but progesterone and testosterone, too. Other hormones, including cortisol, insulin and thyroid hormones, also come into play because the sex hormones are interdependent with them. And all of these imbalances are related to diet, lifestyle and genetic factors.

Many women enter perimenopause at a time when their lives are on overdrive — whether it’s a career, caring for children or parents, juggling household finances, or all of the above (and more!), they have few reserves for this natural transition in life. So it’s not uncommon for their bodies to get a little “out of whack” during perimenopause.

What are the options for treating menopausal hormone imbalance?

Menopause is not a women’s disease or dysfunction. Despite this fact, the default choice for many healthcare practitioners is to “treat” menopause symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs — usually hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and often antidepressants — instead of addressing root causes. HRT has been shown by studies such as the Women’s Health Initiative to have serious side effects for women’s health, including increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer. But for women with severe symptoms, it may seem as though risking the side effects of HRT is the lesser of two evils — and many conventional practitioners still prescribe HRT despite its known risks. Others offer antidepressants that “mask” symptoms without getting at their underlying causes — and, just as with HRT, these often have unpleasant side effects.

Whether or not you take a prescription drug for menopause symptoms is a personal choice, but we're concerned that too many women are taking HRT or off-label antidepressants only because they don't know where else to turn. For women who are confused, frustrated, or simply too busy to find alternatives, the easier choice is filling that prescription. But this isn’t necessarily better for your body or your health. Menopause is a natural stage in a woman’s life, and there are natural ways to ease your symptoms, safely and effectively.

How can women balance their hormones naturally?

The good news is that like puberty, perimenopause eventually ends, and the hormonal changes even out. And the better news is that in the meantime, you can ease menopausal symptoms without resorting to HRT or other prescription medications. The key is to address the underlying imbalances that cause the problem, rather than just masking the symptoms. Below are some of the natural methods we recommend to improve hormonal balance.

• Adjusting diet, exercise, and sleep patterns is one key to supporting your body during this stressful time.
• A simple detox program can help flush out years of toxins, often a factor in hormonal imbalance.
• A pharmaceutical-grade multivitamin will support your body’s nutritional needs, allowing it to heal the effects of stress.
• Bioidentical hormones, phytotherapy, and other forms of natural support can be recommended by a functional medicine practitioner to address symptoms gently and naturally, depending on your particular needs.
• Examining your emotional history and relationships can be very helpful in allowing you to redirect your energy toward more positive avenues.

We at Women to Women feel that women often benefit from communicating with each other, especially when it comes to the information needed to make decisions about menopause. There is a lot of information out there for women, and we’re here to help you put it together and figure out what’s best for you and your body. We encourage you to read stories from real women who have found relief without HRT and to browse our many articles about women’s health, which have all the information you need to manage your symptoms.

In addition to the information and insight we offer on our website, Women to Women offers direct help in two forms. Our Personal Program is an at-home version of the natural approach to hormonal balance and menopause treatment we practice at our clinic. And our Healthcare Center offers telephone consultations and always welcomes new patients to visit us in Yarmouth, Maine.

 

Last Modified: 08/16/2010
Principal Author: Dixie Mills, MD