|
June 17, 2004 |
|
Perimenopause What Happens During Perimenopause This regular, predictable pattern of hormonal ebb and flow begins to change dramatically during perimenopause. During this time, your ovaries, and in fact your entire reproductive system, begin to go through the normal aging process leading up to menopause. Four things happen simultaneously. Your ovaries age and shrink, they are less responsive to the hypothalmic-pituitary signals, you have fewer eggs to mature, and the ones you have left are older and less healthy. If a follicle doesn’t mature enough to allow an egg to be expelled from the ovary, the second half of the cycle never clicks in and progesterone production doesn’t occur, causing estrogen production to be high or low or even fluctuate from month to month. To bring the hormonal cycle back into balance, the brain’s triggering signals increase as much as ten-fold, trying to stimulate ovulation. During the later stages of perimenopause, this becomes more and more difficult to achieve. In fact, by the end of perimenopause, you may be ovulating only three or four times a year. You can also suffer from periods of heavy, irregular bleeding when the uterus sloughs off a lining that has been thickened by too much estrogen. Fibroid tumors may grow larger and bleed more heavily. Endometriosis pain may worsen, and ovarian and breast cysts may appear, all due to the shift toward estrogen dominance. Some lucky womenabout 10 percentmake this transition easily. They simply have fewer and fewer periods, mild to no symptoms, a couple of hot flashes and their periods stop. In my own practice, I often see this pattern in women who are already on a strong preventive nutritional program. But frankly, doctors don’t usually see this healthy transition. Most of the time, we see women who are suffering from health problems due to estrogen/progesterone imbalances.
Read More on Perimenopause: Getting Started Quiz: Is it Menopause or Perimenopause Estrogen and Progesterone Are Normally Balanced Checklist for Estrogen Dominance Keep it SIMPLE Tip Acupressure for Insomnia Nutritional Therapies Diet for Combating Estrogen Dominance Nutritional Supplements for Estrogen Dominance Nutritional Supplements to Promote Progesterone Production Other Power Supplements for Perimenopause Complementary Therapies
|
|
home | contact
us | disclaimer| privacy policy | terms and conditions | press room
|
