Menopause signals a transition in a woman’s reproductive life, marking the end of menstrual cycles and fertility. The hallmark sign is 12 consecutive months without a period. Perimenopause refers to the years leading up to menopause when hormone levels fluctuate irregularly.
On average, women experience menopause around age 51 in the UK, but it can occur from 40-55 years of age due to various factors. As the ovaries stop producing progesterone and estrogen, women may develop troublesome symptoms that can significantly disrupt their quality of life.
Common symptoms include:
If left untreated, menopause can increase a woman's risk for certain health conditions:
Catching and addressing symptoms early makes a big difference. Maintaining optimal hormone balance not only alleviates troublesome symptoms, but promotes overall wellbeing.
As women enter perimenopause, usually in their 40s, they may experience irregular periods and begin ovulating less consistently due to waning progesterone and estrogen levels. Symptoms tend to wax and wane with hormones.
Hot flashes, insomnia, and mood changes often appear during this stage as the body struggles to adjust to the fluctuating levels of reproductive hormones. Vaginal dryness and discomfort may also occur due to declining estrogen.
Perimenopausal symptoms can persist for months or years leading up to the final menstrual period. Getting tested allows doctors to identify patterns and customize treatment plans.
The perimenopausal transition encompasses the full menopausal process:
The duration is different for each woman. Working closely with a doctor helps optimize outcomes during this transition.
Getting baseline hormone levels tested is crucial so doctors can analyze trends. Testing reveals levels of:
Compare your results over time to identify patterns. Testing can confirm menopause when FSH remains elevated and estrogen low for 12 months.
Doctors also review health history and risk factors, check for nutritional deficiencies, screen for medical conditions, and evaluate prescription and supplement use. Tracking symptoms provides insight.
Customized hormone therapy (HT) helps relieve symptoms, prevent bone loss and fractures, improve mood, energy, sleep, and cognition, boost intimacy and relationships, enhance quality of life, and promote healthy aging.
For 80% of women, estrogen therapy alleviates hot flashes and night sweats within three months. Many experience significant relief within weeks. It also relieves associated issues like insomnia, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating.
Estrogen therapy is highly effective at increasing bone mineral density, even in older women. It helps build bone, slowing the rate of loss to prevent osteoporosis and fragility fractures. Those at high risk see the greatest protection.
Adding progestogen to estrogen lowers fracture risk better than estrogen alone. HT remains the gold standard for maintaining bone health after menopause.
Topical estrogen increases blood flow and stimulates maturation of vaginal cells to reverse atrophy. This alleviates dryness, burning, irritation, painful sex, recurrent UTIs, and urge incontinence. Improvement begins in weeks.
The fluctuations and drops in estrogen and progesterone can significantly destabilize moods. Studies confirm HT stabilizes mood, reduces anxiety, boosts well-being, and improves sleep, memory and ability to concentrate.
Weight gain marks menopause due to slowing metabolism from lower estrogen. Midsection fat increases risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Estrogen therapy helps regulate weight and metabolism.
Estrogen helps blood vessels stay flexible and open while increasing good HDL cholesterol and lowering LDL particles. This reduces plaque buildup and enhances heart health.
Estrogen improves skin thickness, elasticity and moisture. Treatment can restore youthful skin changes for a natural glow. It also prevents bruising, stimulates collagen production, and expedites wound healing.
By stabilizing moods and energy levels, boosting self-esteem, improving sleep quality, relieving painful intercourse, enhancing arousal and sensation, estrogen can rejuvenate relationships.
HT options include estrogen, progestogen, testosterone, DHEA and compounded bioidenticals to restore balance. Doses, combinations and delivery methods are customized.
Estradiol is the strongest, most effective form. It identically matches the estrogen women make naturally. Options include oral, transdermal patch, vaginal ring, cream or spray.
Conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) derived from urine of pregnant horses, are less ideal. Oral estrogen breaks down in digestion and taxes the liver. Transdermal avoids this.
For women with a uterus, doctors prescribe progestogen cyclicly or continuously with estrogen to prevent overgrowth of the uterine lining which raises cancer risk.
Progesterone and medroxyprogesterone (MPA) are progestins. Micronized progesterone derived from soy or yams is bioidentical to the progesterone women make. Oral progestins may confer higher risks.
Testosterone therapy can boost libido, energy, muscle tone, motivation, stamina and cognition. Delivered through gels, pellets or patches, doses start low and increase as needed.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a testosterone precursor shown to lift mood, energy, pain threshold, arousal and satisfaction. Effects take 6-8 weeks.
Compounded BHT is custom blended to match a woman’s natural hormone structure and rhythm. Estradiol, progesterone and/or testosterone creams restore balance. Dosing adjusts based on symptoms and testing.
Transdermal gels, sprays and creams allow precise dosing so levels stabilize in optimal ranges with fewer side effects. Pills and oral progestins undergo extensive breakdown and may raise risks.
Fine tune your treatment plan by working closely with your doctor, tracking symptoms and test results, tweaking doses, being consistent, and supporting health through nutrition, fitness and lifestyle changes.
Commit to regular testing and follow-up appointments even when feeling well so your doctor can make timely adjustments to keep hormones balanced. Report all symptoms and side effects. Track daily.
Being fully transparent about medical history, surgeries, prescription medications including supplements and over-the-counter remedies allows doctors to identify risks and interactions.
Use a calendar, journal or app to record symptoms like hot flash frequency and severity, sleep quality, mood and energy levels. Log any new or concerning symptoms.
Over time, trends that emerge reveal your body’s responses. Share this data with your doctor.
Likewise, record lab results to identify patterns needed to refine treatment. Optimizing hormones takes patience as levels stabilize. But most find quick relief from treatment.
Nutrition, fitness, stress reduction, quality sleep and social connection influence hormone health and how you respond to treatment.
Eat whole foods high in phytoestrogens like flax, nuts, berries and cruciferous vegetables to help extend estrogen stores after menopause. These aid metabolism and heart health.
Exercise regularly to reduce hot flashes, regulate weight, strengthen bones, elevate mood, boost energy, lower blood pressure and reduce disease risks.
Lower stress through yoga, meditation, music, art or time in nature to balance hormones like cortisol that disrupt sleep, tire the adrenals and inhibit thyroid function.
Prioritize sleep, aiming for 7-9 hours nightly. Restore hormones, build resilience and reduce inflammation. Melatonin, meditation, and magnesium at bedtime can enhance sleep quality.
Connect socially since women with more friendships and community support transition through menopause with less distress and mood issues.
Studies show that taking phytoestrogen supplements derived from plants like soy and red clover may help relieve hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. These plant-based compounds act like mild estrogens in the body but don't carry the same risks as traditional hormone therapy. More research is still needed on their long-term safety and efficacy.
With extensive experience treating women’s hormone issues, New Beginnings HRT Clinic personalized approach helps women transition through menopause smoothly so they can continue thriving.
In addition to reproductive hormone testing, we check thyroid, cortisol, insulin, glucose, cholesterol and other key biomarkers to assess health risks and customize balanced regimens.
We specialize in bioidentical hormones tailored to your unique needs with exact dosing for optimal safety and results. Conventional doses often prove inadequate.
We incorporate tailored lifestyle plans encompassing nutrition, exercise, and stress reducing mind-body therapies along with targeted supplements to amplify hormone health from every angle.
You’ll meet with your practitioner regularly to evaluate progress through lab testing and symptom review. We remain responsive between visits, promptly adjusting protocols to keep you feeling your best.
Don't struggle through menopause alone. Our personalized care helps you take charge of your health during this transition so you can continue thriving in the prime of life. Contact us today to discuss your options.
