Menopause problems

Before menopause

Onset of menopause

Symptoms of menopause problems

Risk factors for menopause problems

The old, conventional approach

Prevention/remedies/treatment of menopause problems

Before menopause

Peri-menopause is the slowing down of a woman's reproductive system in the 6-10 years prior to menopause. It is a normal and natural part of aging, in which the production of most hormones in the body slows down and becomes less predictable. Peri-menopause means that women in their mid-thirties and early forties are less fertile and find it increasingly difficult to conceive.

This lack of regular ovulation can cause low, unstable, unreliable progesterone levels. Low progesterone makes the peri-menopausal years a time of anxiety, inconvenience and confusion for many women, even more distressing than the actual menopause itself.

Peri-menopausal ovaries no longer produce a regular and predictable amount of progesterone. Peri-menopausal symptoms are all indicators of low progesterone and estrogen dominance.

Some women have no, or very mild symptoms during these years. However, for many women the last 3-6 years can be most uncomfortable if they don't take steps to control it.

After menopause the ovaries cease producing estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and other hormones. However, the adrenal glands should be able to step in and produce any hormones required to replace those lost. Cholesterol is the raw material required to produce sex and adrenal hormones, vitamin D, bile salts, and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K.

Onset of menopause

In the western world, the average age of menopause is 51, and peri-menopause six years earlier at 45. Worldwide, the age range for menopause is from the late 30's to the early 60's. Women in the poor third world tend to have menopause significantly younger than women in rich countries.

If you are overweight, have borne more than one child, or had high IQ test results as a child, then your menopause is likely to be later.

Menopause is official when you have not had a menstrual period for 12 consecutive months, provided there are no other complications that would suppress your periods, such as intense exercise, prolonged breastfeeding, starvation or anorexia nervosa. Pregnancy is still possible up until this point.

Symptoms of menopause problems

Up to a quarter of all women suffer symptoms before and during menopause that are severe enough to affect their work and their quality of life. These symptoms typically last for several years, and if left untreated can continue for more than a decade.

• Mood changes and swings, anxiety attacks, crying spells, forgetfulness, irritability and low tolerance, depression, depressive thoughts or feelings of being "old and past it", low motivation and brain fog (poor concentration).
• Menstrual problems. Irregular or shorter intervals between periods, spotting, extended and heavy bleeding. About 10% of women world-wide suffer from severe menstrual bleeding; in Australia the rate is a little over 5%. Investigate other possible causes of the excessive bleeding such as uterine fibroids (benign or non-cancerous tumours), cancer, endometriosis, or a genetic bleeding disorder like Willebrand's disease. However, the most common cause of heavy bleeding is hormonal imbalance.
• Ovulation may be inconsistent or even cease completely.
• Iron deficiency anaemia, caused by excessive bleeding.
• Hot flushes (also known as hot flashes or night sweats if they occur at night).
• Headaches or migraines.
• Weight gain. Body shape changes with weight gain around waist rather than hips. Sagging breasts. Loss of muscle bulk. Slowing metabolism.
• Sub-fertility - difficulty getting pregnant or carrying full term.
• Insomnia or disturbed sleep, not deep and restful.
• Fatigue and low energy, worsened by heavy bleeding.
• Low libido. A dry and less resilient vagina, reduced or no orgasms. Sleep deficiency, low testosterone and iron deficiency (from excessive bleeding) often mean she is too tired to enjoy sex.
• Bladder infections or vaginal yeast infections (candida).
• Osteoporosis (thinning of bones) and consequent joint and backache.
• Incontinence (urine leakage) particularly when coughing, sneezing or laughing.
• Skin - thin, dry, inelastic. Formication (feeling like insects crawling on the skin).
• Risk of heart disease / atherosclerosis.

Risk factors for menopause problems

• The number one risk factor is low cholesterol.
• Low vitamin D. If you get your level of vitamin D tested, your doctor may think that it is sufficient if it is above the standard medical reference minimum. However, your result should be at least 30-49 ng/ml or 75-124 nmol/L but preferably higher. A lower level of vitamin D than this prevents your body from properly making and using its own progesterone.
• Iodine deficiency.
• Smoking - menopause likely to occur two years earlier than otherwise.
• Hysterectomy with ovaries left intact, particularly if the surgeon cut the nerves or blood vessels feeding the ovaries - menopause likely to occur four years earlier.
• Diabetes.
• Not having had any children.
• Having a mother who experienced significant peri-menopausal symptoms.
• Malfunction of ovaries.
• Cancer treatment (radiation, chemotherapy).
• Diseases (some kidney, autoimmune, thyroid diseases).
• History of anorexia.
• Pharmaceuticals (antidepressants and many others) and exposure to toxic chemicals.

The old, conventional approach

The long-held belief was that these symptoms were caused by estrogen deficiency. However, it is now apparent that low progesterone is a cause of these premature changes. If a woman is still having her periods, then plenty of estrogen is produced by the ovaries. It is low progesterone that causes the breakdown of the uterine lining with irregular and heavy bleeds.

The medical profession has for decades been convinced by the pharmaceutical industry to prescribe the contraceptive pill to women facing this situation. The pill overrides the natural production of hormones and adds estrogen. Unfortunately it fails to address the progesterone deficiency. Most women who take the pill in this situation find their symptoms get worse rather than improve. Their estrogen-dominant symptoms are exacerbated. The pill usually contains progestin, which is a synthetic progesterone look-alike. Unfortunately is does not do what natural progesterone would, balancing the effects of unopposed estrogen. Therefore the pill usually aggravates these symptoms in an already estrogen-dominant woman.

The root cause of the progesterone deficiency is nearly always a deficiency of cholesterol. Cholesterol is the building material for steroidal hormones.

Another mistake often made is to take antidepressants in this situation.

This is a case of masking the symptoms rather than curing the underlying cause.

Prevention/remedies/treatment of menopause problems

• A diet that gets your fats right, especially cholesterol. This will usually correct any imbalance of other hormones like progesterone.
• Eliminate sugar and sweet foods. Adopting a no-sugar diet will also help get the hormones back under control. A healthy diet should be delicious and sustaining, able to sustain you all day without hunger pangs or mood or energy swings. With such a diet it is also easy to lose weight and stay that way for the rest of your life. This is the kind of diet I detail in Grow Youthful. It eliminates sugar and sweet foods, avoids or reduces starches, avoids wheat and everything made from it, and is low in all other grains.
• Vitamin D. Get out in the sunshine. The advice to avoid sun is one of the greatest public health mistakes of the century. Your health care provider should monitor your vitamin D level and ensure that it is at least 70 ng/ml (175 nmol/L). If you can't get sufficient sunlight in the winter take 40,000 IU of vitamin D3 supplement and make sure to also take 500 mg to 1000 mg of magnesium (on the skin) and 150 mcg of vitamin K2 (not K1) per day. They are important cofactors for optimising vitamin D3 supplementation.
• Recovery from exercise stress, adjusting to the loss of hormones that were produced by the ovaries. The weight gain and difficulty losing weight is the result of dominance of the sympathetic nervous system - in other words, fight or flight mode with high cortisol levels. It is difficult to lose weight in this mode. Instead, focus on becoming parasympathetic dominant - in other words, getting into rest and recuperation mode. Of course, you still need to exercise, but take longer breaks between reps and sets to fully recover your heart rate and breathing. Also do fewer days of high intensity exercise each week. In summary, keep exercising but focus on exercise followed by recovery rather than sustained exercise over long periods with little recovery. Also ensure you get sufficient and deep sleep to promote the parasympathetic nervous system.
• Apple cider vinegar.
• Iodine sufficiency.
• Progesterone cream supplementation in the short term while correcting your cholesterol deficiency.
• GABA.
• Many symptoms of menopause problems may be related to sugar addiction. If you are overweight or addicted to sugar you may find that healing this addiction will get your body back to normal.
• Get off the pill. If a woman is still getting a bleed (regular or irregular) then she is producing sufficient estrogen, so the contraceptive pill will simply make things worse. She is deficient in progesterone and prescribing more estrogen (along with a progesterone analog) is the opposite of what she really needs.
• Hysterectomy. Many doctors will offer a hysterectomy to women suffering peri-menopausal symptoms, and may remove the ovaries as well. A hysterectomy will certainly stop the irregular bleeds and heavy blood loss. One in five hysterectomies is performed for just this reason. This drastic and irreversible step is often offered as the first treatment option.
  
  The standard post-hysterectomy treatment promoted by pharmaceutical companies has been to supplement with estrogen. This particularly applies to women who have had bilateral oophorectomy (removal of both ovaries). The natural hormones progesterone and testosterone are ignored with disastrous results.
  
  A hysterectomy does nothing to address the symptoms caused by the progesterone deficiency. Natural progesterone is not even considered as a treatment option. If the estrogen and progesterone imbalances were addressed in the first place, it is likely that these distressing symptoms and the unnecessary surgery could have been avoided.