S You Can Take To Support Hormone Health
Dr Worsley says women who feel like their hormones are out of balance should look for a GP who has a special interest or extra training in womens health.
If you feel somethings not right your periods arent quite right, or you feel like your hormones are off get some help, there are a lot of GPs with a real interest in this area, Dr Worsley says.
She recommends searching the Australasian Menopause Society website for a local practitioner, even if youre not going through menopause.
Generally, if a doctor has specialist knowledge in menopause, they can apply it to womens hormonal issues, Dr Worsley says.
Get tested
You could also ask for a blood test to show the levels of hormones in your blood, though this wont show the body tissues where the symptoms are actually occurring, for example, your brain for mental and emotional symptoms.
We can diagnose some hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome for example, and see if a woman has gone through menopause using blood tests, Dr Worsley says.
But, in general, they wont reflect all of the hormonal-type PMS or menopausal symptoms women might be feeling.
Adrenal Fatigue Treatment: How To Break The Cycle
Of all the hormonal balance problems that Ive worked with, adrenal fatigue takes the longest to heal and is the toughest to reverse. Thats why it is important to embrace solutions as soon as you can.
When combined, the following strategies can balance hormones naturally and increase your energy and calm, to break the cycle of adrenal fatigue:
When To See Your Doctor
Menopause is a completely natural and normal part of getting older, but that doesnt mean you have to suffer in silence. A doctor can help you manage your symptoms and determine which treatments can make you more comfortable.
If youre experiencing extreme symptoms of menopause that interfere with your daily life, its time to see your doctor. Mood changes and physical changes in your body are expected, but if youre having trouble going into work, interacting with your family, or feel anxious and generally unwell, its a sign that you may need medical treatment.
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Causes Of Menopause Fatigue
As a woman nears menopause, her hormone levels fluctuate dramatically, which causes the brain to wake up at all hours of the night. Also, lower levels of progesterone make some women short-tempered and less able to relax.
Hormones like progesterone and estrogen are also known to help protect women from a condition called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. When women go through menopause, they no longer produce progesterone which means theyre no longer as naturally protected from this sleep disorder, ultimately putting them more at risk.
If you have sleep apnea, oxygen deprivation may cause you to awaken several times during the night.
But hormones arent the only thing that will keep women up at night. Other symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and night sweats are also likely culprits of poor sleep.
Continued
There are changes in the brain that lead to hot flashes, and those changes not just the feeling of heat can also be what triggers the body to wake up while youre trying to sleep. Even women who dont report having sleep disturbances from hot flashes often say that they have more trouble sleeping than they did before menopause.
In short, the more uncomfortable you are, the more likely youll wake up throughout the night, often more than once.
Sexual & Other Health Considerations
The loss of oestrogen at the menopause can lead to problems like vaginal dryness and lack of libido.
Did you know? It is normal to get less wet with sex. This is called vaginal dryness. It is very common. Dr Jane Davis
Vaginal dryness can be incredibly uncomfortable and impact on quality of life. It may include your vagina feeling sore in general or during sex, it may cause itching or an increased need to pee. It could even lead to urinary tract infections . This can lead to general discomfort but also affect your enjoyment of sex.
As well as vaginal dryness affecting interest in sex, you may experience a drop in libido around menopause. This can be caused by changing hormone levels or your general mental wellbeing.
As mentioned above, a lack of oestrogen can also affect the bladder, meaning you need to go to the loo more often or increasing incidence of UTIs.
You may feel embarrassed to discuss these symptoms with your GP, but theres no need to suffer in silence, there are treatments out there which can change your life.
Did you know? You can still get pregnant once your periods have stopped. The simplest approach may be to assume youll need contraception up to your 56th birthday. Dr Jane Davis
Tips for managing
Did you know? Vaginal oestrogen is a brilliant solution and is very safe for most people. It plumps up the vaginal skin allowing it to produce your natural lubrication again. Goodbye sandpaper sex. Dr Jane Davis
Ask your GP about
Headaches
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Hormonal Causes Of Weight Gain
Possible causes of weight loss resistance: hormonal imbalance, adrenal imbalance, neurotransmitter imbalance
The program is easy to follow and the recipes in the book are delicious. I began feeling results by week two of the program and seeing results by week 3.
JKT, customer
If youve gained and lost weight over and over, you may have noticed that it gets more difficult each time to drop excess pounds. You may feel alone, but according to the Mayo Clinic, most women gain weight during adulthood. This is often true even for women who are dieting, restricting calories or engaging in extreme exercise.
Most of us were taught that that weight management is simply a matter of calorie control and discipline. But every woman who has ever been on a diet knows this is not true and is, in fact, misleading. This well-worn myth causes a tremendous amount of unnecessary guilt and suffering.
Instead, there is usually an underlying cause that interferes with weight loss, or that drives weight gain in the first place. If weight loss feels impossible for you, you may be actually resistant to it. Weight loss resistance can arise when you have a metabolic or other physiological imbalance that tells your body to hold onto to weight at all costs.
These core imbalances can involve hormone levels or adrenal function, or even the brains neurotransmitter function. Unusual weight accumulation can also be related to a thyroid imbalance.
Conventional Treatment Approaches To Addressing These Thyroid Gland Disorders
Pharmaceutical treatment options are available to assist with the treatment of both Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism. The particular treatment option administered to a patient depends on the particular Thyroid disorder they are suffering from, as well as the severity of their condition. Additional factors may also be taken into account, such as gender, age and weight.
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Ruling Out Other Fatigue
While menopausal fatigue is a common issue many women face, its also important to keep in mind other health issues that can contribute to chronic fatigue. An underactive thyroid gland can lead to tiredness, constant fatigue, weight gain, and an overall low feeling. Adrenal fatigue and anemia are two other conditions that can lead to relentless fatigue. An appointment with your women’s health specialist can help determine if menopause or other causes are leading to your fatigue.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is another cause of fatigue that can look similar to menopausal fatigue. Chronic fatigue syndrome has common symptoms that align with some of the aforementioned conditions, like extreme exhaustion, forgetfulness, lack of concentration. However, chronic fatigue syndrome has a side effect that differs from menopausal fatigue – joint pain. While you may experience joint pain during the menopause transition, joint pain is often due to entering the midlife years.
If you’re experiencing mood changes alongside the fatigue, keep in mind that is yet another side effect of the evolution. However, if you’re noticing it is difficult to get out of bed, you’re experiencing a depressed mood, or even wavering between depression and anxiety, it never hurts to see a mental health professional. Many can provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy , which can be extremely effective in managing menopause mood changes. If you still need more support, theres no shame in exploring antidepressants.
Honesty Hour: Can Menopause Cause Extreme Fatigue
Exhaustion during menopause is an overlooked menopause symptom. Yet, crashing fatigue is a symptom of peri/post/menopause that can be deeply frustrating and greatly impact your lifestyle. Crashing fatigue is understood as a type of exhaustion with a quick onset that significantly impacts your quality of life. This type of fatigue is debilitating and can be frustrating to try to solve on your own. In this article, we will dig into the reasons why menopause fatigue occurs, how it interacts with other menopausal symptoms, and what you can do to fight the exhaustion.
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Oestrogen And Fat Distribution At Menopause
A change in hormone levels, mainly oestrogen, may influence body fat distribution.
Many women in perimenopause and early post menopause years gain fat mass as their oestrogen levels drop. Women of childbearing age tend to store fat in the lower body , while men and postmenopausal women store fat around the abdomen .
Animal studies have shown that a lack of oestrogen leads to unwanted abdominal fat, although the exact mechanisms are not yet understood.
The Complexity And Durability Of Menopause
Though a frequent complaint for middle-aged women in general, fatigue is especially common in those who are postmenopausal. Menopause, the point at which a womans menstrual cycles have been absent for twelve consecutive months, brings a range of common symptoms that includes hot flashes, mood swings, low sex drive, vaginal atrophy, and sleep disturbances. Though fatigue may be a primary symptom related to changing hormone levels, it is also influenced secondarily by other common symptoms such as night sweats, poor sleep quality, and changes in body composition.
While menopause symptoms are short-lived in some women, for others they are enduring, causing discomfort and distress that lasts for years. The Study of Womens Health Across the Nation found that among the 44% of women who reported frequent menopausal symptoms, more than half of these lasted 7 years or more. The average duration of symptoms ranged from 10.1 years for African-American women to 4.8 years for Japanese women, with other ethnicities falling somewhere in between. These numbers indicate that the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause may disrupt womens lives for a significant period of time and should be addressed as soon as possible to preserve long-term health and quality of life.
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Hair Regrowth Treatment Options For Menopausal Hair Loss
Hair loss due to menopause can be frustrating, embarrassing and temporary. Treatment options are available, and the right treatment option may help reverse your hair loss. Prescription: Two medication, spironolactone and finasteride are antiandrogen medications used to treat postmenopausal women Platelet-rich plasma injections: A new and minimally invasive option used as a natural approach for treating follicle damage, hair loss and thinning hair. Low level laser therapy: Options include combs, in-office domes, and portable home units that can be worn like a hat, offer women the convenience of using treatment products in the privacy of their home or at their doctor’s office. Nutritional supplements: Certain vitamins and minerals have been known to support healthy hair growth and could be incorporated into your daily diet. It is important to remember treating hair loss takes time. Initial changes in hair regrowth often go unnoticed. Keep this in mind, it might take several months before you start to notice real improvement. If you are experiencing hair loss or thinning hair due to menopause and are interested in learning more about hair loss, regrowth treatment and product options, or to consult with a Capillus specialist in your area or call Capillus for more information at 888 6249 or Toll-Free at 1 272-9599.
Symptoms Of Menopause: Hot Flashes Night Sweats And Fatigue
Perimenopause, the first phase of menopause, is the era when estrogen production begins to drop. This is the time when you’ll start to notice irregular periods. As estrogen levels fluctuate, the body has a variety of responses. One of the most prominent responses to estrogen fluctuation are hot flashes. Lower estrogen levels trigger the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is what regulates the body’s temperature. When it is triggered, it often goes into overdrive to attempt to cool the body down even after a minor fluctuation of a degree or two of body heat. Thus, a hot flash occurs as the body tries to release excess heat. The nocturnal counterpart to hot flashes is night sweats. Night sweats are hot flashes that occur when asleep. Night sweats can make it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, thus contributing to menopause insomnia.
Peri/post/menopause insomnia is the next piece in the puzzle of extreme fatigue during menopause. When estrogen production levels drop, the production of serotonin can also be affected. When serotonin is affected, mood swings can occur. These mood swings can include depression, which also can be characterized by feelings of fatigue. For some, they may begin experiencing anxiety that prohibits them from falling asleep at night, thus compounding the effects of menopause fatigue.
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Headaches And Hot Flashes
Depending on their intensity, hot flashes can be accompanied by headaches, weakness, dizziness, and nausea. Both hot flashes and their additional symptoms can come on fast and unexpectedly.
One of the most common side effects of menopause are hot flashes and headaches. Headaches can disrupt daily life, and if they become persistent, they can also affect one’s overall health.
Read more below to find out about headaches and hot flashes.
My Face Legs Feet And Hands Are Often Puffy And I Get Lightheaded
Blame it on: Aldosterone
Some women complain that they can swell up with fluid within minutes of feeling stressed. This is not their imagination.
Or, their fluid retention may creep up after repeated stressful triggers over the course of the day. Heres why:
When your body flicks on the fight or flight reaction, it pumps out a chemical called aldosterone. This hormone has the important job of regulating levels water and electrolytes in your blood and your blood pressure.
But when youre under duress, aldosterone sends a message to your kidneys to retain salt, so your body retains as much fluid as possible.
This sodium retention is a survival strategy, just in case you need that fluid on board to face any emergency. This not only leads to puffy face, ankles and tummy, it can also lead to the appearance of cellulite in areas like the thighs, because the high levels of sodium there is pulling more water to those areas.
Frustratingly, this water retention can make you feel like youve gained weight, even though it is all fluid. Yet you may also find that you need to get up go to the toilet at night. This can happen because its the first time in the day when youre not rushing so your body feels safe enough to not have to retain as much fluid and starts to release some of it.
Since aldestrone also regulates your blood pressure, exhausted adrenals can also translate to getting light headed when getting up from a bed or chair.
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Phase : Tired But Wired
Once constant pressures or a taxing situation puts you under chronic stress, the repeated triggering of your adrenal glands can cause high cortisol release one moment and low another. You cant get going so you start to rely more and more on coffee and tea to try to boost your flagging energy levels. But this article explains why the caffeine only causes further hormonal imbalance.
How Stress Steals Your Other Hormones
Normally pregnenolone works as a precursor hormone to help produce testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and DHEA . When your body is struggling to keep up with stress, it diverts an important hormone called pregnenolone to making more cortisol instead of progesterone. This reaction is known as the pregnenolone steal see the chart below:
The classic example is a woman stressed about getting pregnant who then adopts a child as her stress levels go down with the new baby, she gets pregnant with her own child. Im sure you have heard of stories like that. As her pregnenolone is not longer directed to over-produce cortisol, she can now also produce sufficient progesterone and get pregnant.
Why Hair Loss Happen During Menopause
Hormones play an important part in regulating a womans menstruating cycle, they also help hair grow. When hormone levels decline following childbirth and during menopause women will also experience hair loss. In fact about 40% of women experience some hair loss by the time they reach menopause. In addition to low hormone levels, there are other factors that can contribute to hair loss during menopause including your genetics, high levels of stress, thyroid levels, and nutritional deficiencies. If youre experiencing an increase in hair loss, its a good idea to talk to your medical provider, dermatologist or a hair loss specialist about your concerns.
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Hot Flashes: Is Your Thyroid Causing This Symptom
Hot flashes are symptoms often associated with menopause1.
It is often one of the very first symptoms that a woman experience when she is starting to go through menopause.
Hot flashes tend to become uncomfortable and inconvenient, not only causing embarrassing moments for a woman in public, but also leading to interruptions in her sleeping schedule.
Even though usually associated with menopause, often thought to be brought on by the fluctuations in estrogen levels among women who are going through this phase in life, it should be noted that there are other health concerns that may also lead to similar physiological effects that cause hot flashes as a symptom.
Additionally, it is important to note that some men have also reported experiencing hot flashes, which can obviously not be brought on as a menopausal symptom. For this reason, investigating additional causes for hot flashes may yield appropriate methods for implementing more effective treatment measures among patients suffering these symptoms.
The main purpose of this post is to examine how the thyroid is connected to hot flashes as a symptom.
Hot flashes are considered an official symptom of certain problems that may develop with the thyroid, and may occur in both men and women.
We will also consider additional factors that may influence the risk of the development of hot flashes.
