Many women know that hot flashes are a symptom of menopause. Did you know that irregular periods, changes to amount of bleeding, night sweats, palpitations, anxiety, depression, vaginal dryness, painful intercourse and difficulty sleeping can also be signs of menopause. If you are a women over the age of forty and have any of these symptoms you should consider that it may be due to the fluctuations hormones that happen as a women nears their last menstrual period.
Menopause is defined as the absence of your menstrual cycle for twelve consecutive months. During peri-menopause or the years leading up to menopause you could have very irregular menstrual periods including changes to amount of flow, either heavier or lighter, duration, shorter or longer and frequency, more than once a month or an absence of period for months. The only predictable thing about your cycle as you near menopause is to expect the unexpected. Symptoms look different for every woman. Some women have intense and frequent symptoms of hot flashes, pain, depression and feel like a completely different person. While others barely notice at all.
Although we cannot predict what symptoms you will have we do know how to treat them so you do not have to suffer. The symptoms of peri menopause are largely due to an imbalance of the hormones progesterone and estrogen. You may have heard the term estrogen dominance but this name is misleading. You can have symptoms of estrogen dominance like heavy, painful bleeding, decreased sex drive, anxiety, depression and weight gain. However, your actual estrogen level may actually be low or normal. That is because it is not estrogen alone but an imbalanced ratio of estrogen to progesterone that is causing the problem. For women who are in peri menopause will need progesterone supplementation which restores the balance and greatly reduces symptoms. Women who are post menopausal will benefit from both estrogen and progesterone supplementation. But that is only the beginning. If you are a women over the age of 40 and have any of the symptoms listed above schedule an initial consultation today to find out how you are start feeing better today!
