There is a period around the late 40’s as women come up to the change of life where the ovaries stop ovulating (releasing eggs) called the “peri” menopause. “Peri” means “around” so it is the time when the ovaries are perhaps ovulating less or producing less hormones or there are hormonal changes.

Women rely on oestrogen to prepare the uterus for the egg and once the egg is released progesterone is produced to help the egg survive if pregnancy occurs.
As our bodies change and we enter the late 40’s early 50’s there can be hormonal changes and a decline in hormonal function.

This can be made worse if we are stressed out, not eating well, drinking heaps of coffee and/or regular alcohol, not exercising and generally having a hard time!

Adrenal exhaustion, or fatigue is where – for whatever reason – the adrenal glands are not functioning as well as they should and this can aggravate the menopause symptoms. So putting in a good routine for your body health is important around this time:

• regular walks, or exercise.
• keeping off too much caffeine try having no more than 1-3 cups per day or swap to low caffeine drinks
• reduce alcohol
• eating plenty of vegetables for minerals to help the hormone producing glands like your ovaries and adrenals.

These are all practical things you can do.

Lack of progesterone can lead to a wired, anxious feeling in the body especially coming up to the period. Headaches before the period can be caused or worsened with a lack of progesterone. Irritability can become more pronounced. Progesterone is that hormone that turns you from a pre-menstrual, irritable, anxious, non-sleeping, aching freaked out person back into a calmer better looking and feeling self!

Lack of progesterone and too much oestrogen can lead to fibroid growth, heavy periods and sore breasts that get congested each month.

Hormonal changes can lead to hot flushes, dry skin, dry vaginal tissues, sagging body parts, aching joints and tendons, low mood, excess griefy weepy emotions and generally having a hard time!

So what can you do?

You can come see me as a holistic medical practitioner for some hormone tests and work out some bio-identical hormone prescription options to help the symptoms of menopause. I do a lot of work with prescription bio-identical hormones to help women in the menopause.

Simply book a time online using my website booking system on the Bookings page.

The key natural things are:

• Keep a regular healthy schedule with plenty of vegetables and some fruit for minerals and vitamins. Fresh vegetable juices can be good. Sea vegetables rich in iodine are important for hormonal health.
• Keep a really healthy gut with plenty of good healthy bacteria – probiotics or cultured foods (like Kefir, sauerkraut) so you can make plenty of B vitamins. Or take regular B vitamins while going through the menopause change as they are great for mood.
• Eat plenty of oily fish whether salmon, sardines or similar so you get Omega 3 oils or supplement them if having a hard time with lack of hormones.
• Eating scallops rich in Cobalt can help retain estrogen getting otherwise lost through the bladder.
• Consider taking some natural Vitamin E if you have hot flushes as 400-500 units a day with a meal can really help.
• Look into various female herbal mixes and tonics or teas (like sage tea) if you are getting hot flushes, or premenstrual and don’t want to try natural hormones just yet or alongside these.
• See a holistic doctor to go over blood and/or saliva tests and natural progesterone or other hormonal options if wanting to review all options - I do all this in my clinic.
• Libido can drop during the change and the hormones: progesterone, estrogen and testosterone all make an impact so it is a good idea to review these and get help if having a hard time.
• Regular exercise is a great idea to help keep you keep feeling uplifted and doing better at processing hormones that you do still have via the adrenals.
• Magnesium and calcium are important along with Vitamin D for a good night’s sleep. If sleep is really off and you are really anxious and wired I can go over natural progesterone options with you. These are on prescription and made the same as what your body makes.

I hope that helps you with some tips on how to survive the menopause.

Some women seem to go through with extra warmth in the body, some hot flushes when emotional and some changes in sleep or mood. It varies from person to person so just know there are things to help you no matter what the symptoms and keeping a generally good healthy routine with your food, sleep and nutrients can mean a better time when the hormonal changes do come.