1 in 5 women quit their job during menopause.
Let’s move away from “suffering in silence” with menopause and support one another. I’m going to do my best to guide you in the office and offer you education.
There have been some amazing books put out on the market last year championing women in this time of their life. I read one of the books so you don’t have to. The book I’ll cover in this blog is called, “The New Menopause”, by Dr. Mary Claire Haver.
What is menopause, perimenopause, and postmenopause
Menopause comes from the Greek word pausis meaning “pause” and men meaning “month”. It is the permanent cessation of menstruation. It is a moment in time because it’s diagnosed by an absence of menstrual periods for at least 12 consecutive months. As soon as you hit that 12 month mark. Boom. That’s menopause. The average age of menopause is about 51-52 years of age but the normal range is 45-55.
Perimenopause, the years before menopause, is 7-10 years beforehand. Peri comes from the Greek word peri meaning “around” or “near”. There is no real way to diagnose this outside of conversation with your doctor. Blood tests are unreliable. The most reliable predictor is actually family history. Talk to your mother or your aunts about when they went into menopause. It can help you prepare accordingly.
Postmenopause - after the moment of menopause is hit. The healthier you are going into menopause the easier it’ll be on the other side.
When people think of perimenopause and menopause, they think of hot flashes. IT’S SO MUCH MORE. Estrogen has a receptor in almost every organ system. That’s why the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are so vast and hard for doctors to treat.
Here are some of the symptoms indicating perimenopause or menopause to be on the look out for:
Acid reflux
Acne
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma
Bloating
Belly fat
Body odor
Brain fog
Brittle nails
Crawling skin sensation
Chronic fatigue
Dental issues
Depression
Dizzy spells
Dry eyes
Eczema
Frozen shoulder
Fibromyalgia
Heart palpitations
Headaches
High cholesterol
Hot flashes
Incontinence
Insulin resistance
IBS
Kidney stones
Low libido
Migraines
Menstrual changes
Mood swings
Night sweats
Osteoporosis
Sleep disturbances
Thinning hair
TMJ
UTIs
Vertigo
Wrinkles
And more
5 best practices for perimenopausal/menopausal women
- Exercise - Exercise is going to help you stay strong and mobile through your aging years. It helps maintain bone density. It helps with weight and blood sugar management. It keeps your heart healthy. Therefore, in a perfect world you would stretch and work on balance everyday, complete resistance training 3 times a week, and work on cardio once a week.
- Diet - The general guide is to keep your added sugars below 25g a day, aim for 25g of fiber a day, and aim for 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of your ideal bodyweight. Lastly, of course, get calcium through your diet of 1,000-1,200 mg/day. If you can manage all of that in an 8 hour window, to try implementing intermittent fasting.
- Stress reduction - This one is self explanatory. A reduction of stress is beneficial in all aspects of your life.
- Hormone therapy - Previously, hormone therapy was attacked by the media. We now have new research showing the protective benefits of starting hormone therapy early in perimenopause.
- Supplements – If you want to supplement for menopause specifically the list would be as follows:
- Vit D3 with K2
- Creatine
- There are natural hormone balancing supplements to try that I can offer in the office if you are a practice member
How I can support you
One of the things you can control through menopause is how well you take care of yourself. This includes stress reduction from a nervous system standpoint. Let’s get you out of the constant fight or flight and keep you in a state of peace and ease with nervous system based adjustments. Taking care of YOU is important in this stage of your life.
I also have trusted referral partners if you need someone to help you navigate your eating, if you think you need a personal trainer to help you begin with weight lifting, or a hormone specialist in the area to begin hormone therapy.
Lastly, I have some recommendations for where to get supplements and some to try if you are nervous about hormone replacement therapy options. Feel free to reach out!
We had a deeper daily discussion in the facebook community page through the month of February.
Join the community here if you want more details.