After Perimenopause: Menopause
If you’re between 46 and 53 years old, it’s
likely that your monthly periods occur less frequently and that
bleeding is becoming scantier and lighter (late perimenopause) or
has stopped altogether (menopause). Simply put, menopause is a change
in your hormone production.
By the time your periods have stopped, you
will have experienced a 75 to 90 percent drop in your estrogen production.
Estrogen is one of the two critical female hormones essential for
conception and pregnancy. But estrogen has many other functions,
as well, such as being a natural mood elevator, great skin conditioner,
and super protector against heart disease and osteoporosis.
Meanwhile, your progesterone production has
ceased almost entirely at menopause. Progesterone also has some
very critical tasks. It helps your body burn fat for energy, it’s
a natural diuretic, and it acts as a sedative, helping you sleep.
Knowing this, you can see why many women gain weight at menopause
even if they go on stringent diets and serious exercise regimens.
The huge decrease in progesterone is also one of the causes for
sleep disturbances at menopause.
There’s also a 50 percent decrease in androgen
production, the male hormones that stimulate your sex drive. They
used to be produced during the middle of your monthly menstrual
cycle, but when you stop ovulating, the amount of those important
hormones circulating in your body is also substantially diminished.
This normal drop in hormone production at
mid-life is because your ovaries and the follicles containing your
eggs are aging. It’s the end of your biological reproductive period,
but it does not signal the end of your creativity. For many women,
it’s just the beginning of a whole new adventure.
Although your ovaries and adrenal glands
continue to produce a lower potency estrogen (estrone) and some
estriol (an estrogen metabolite) is produced by your liver, the
amounts don’t support bone, breast, brain, heart, and vaginal tissues
the way your pre-menopause hormone production does.
The symptoms that come with this hormone
reductionhot flashes, insomnia, painful intercourse, loss
of libido, vaginal infections, loss of muscle and skin tone, achy
joints and brittle bones, fatigue and mental confusionare
unpleasant and distressing. Yet with the proper nutritionincluding
herbs and nutrientsyou can prevent or even reverse some of
the negative effects of the drop in hormone levels.
And while many doctors push supplemental estrogen
in the form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), I feel that you
can get the same benefits of HRT without running the risk of its
side effects, including increased risk of breast cancer. It can
be difficult to decide what to do.
No matter which way you decide, you’ll still need good
nutritional basics.
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