Robin, age 50, is like many women who suffer from classic symptoms of low estrogen and progesterone. So she asked her doctor to check her hormone levels. The problem? Her primary care physician simply “does not believe” in hormone balancing. Her doctor told Robin that menopause is normal at her age, and to feel bad from it is just part of life. Acceptable? Not in my book! Let me share what I’ve come to learn about menopause, and the benefits of natural hormone replacement.
Many women – and doctors – don’t know this about menopause
Here’s what you probably already know about menopause: It’s the natural cessation of the menstrual cycle, and the beginning of rapidly fluctuating and waning sex hormone levels. Moreover, the symptoms are numerous and vary from person to person, sometimes becoming more tolerable a few years after the start of menopause, but not always.
Now, here’s what you probably didn’t know: You don’t have to accept this change sitting down. You can stand up to menopause… and take your life back.
First, you can replace the drastic dip in sex hormone levels by using safe, physiologic replacement doses. The small amount of estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone that your adrenal glands will continue to produce after menopause is simply not enough to feel well for most women.
Secondly, there are long-term health improvements that are now being proven from the use of hormones made from plants (a.k.a. bio-identical hormones), even though the synthetic hormones were previously proven to increase your risk of heart disease and cancer.
I think it would be interesting for you to know all the essential functions of estrogen in a woman’s body. I am not referring to ethinyl estradiol or other synthetic forms. Instead, natural estrogen performs the following functions:
- Enhances energy
- Increases sexual interest
- Improves sleep
- Improves mood by increasing brain serotonin (which decreases depression, anxiety, and irritability)
- Keeps skin thick & soft, maintains skin collagen, decreases wrinkles, and reduces tooth loss
- Regulates body temperature (you may get hot flashes when estrogen is low)
- Helps maintain muscles and prevents muscle damage, as well as helps fine motor skills
- Helps maintain memory, protects from Alzheimer’s disease (by stimulating acetyltransferase), and improves reasoning, concentration, and creative ideas
- Decreases the overall risk of heart attack by 40-50 percent (through various mechanisms)
- Improves insulin sensitivity and lowers metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes)
- Maintains bone density (lowers osteoporosis)
- Decreases the risk of cataract and age-related macular degeneration
- Decreases the risk of colon cancer
Now I ask you, why would anyone (especially a doctor) want you to continue with low estrogen levels, knowing all these benefits of this natural hormone? I’ll tell you why — it’s because they don’t know that natural estrogens, supplied by transdermal routes, have shown very different and better health effects compared to the oral synthetic estrogens.
Also, consider that menopause symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats affect Japanese women far less than their North American counterparts. Only about 10 percent of women in China and 22 percent of women from Japan report hot flashes, compared to an estimated 75 percent of women in the U.S. over age fifty.
Wondering why this is? For years I blamed it on diet: U.S. women eat far more meat, about four times more fat, and less than half the fiber than women from Asian countries. However, what I’ve learned more recently about the prevalence of xenoestrogens (hormone-mimicker molecules found in personal care products, plastics, pesticides, food preservatives, and more), I’m convinced they’re a significant cause of disrupted hormone metabolism.
Menopausal symptoms
Without sufficient estrogen, any woman will likely feel some adverse symptoms. Here are signs of the deficient estrogen state of menopause:
- Weight gain; abdominal fat
- Hot flashes; night sweats
- Vaginal dryness/itching/painful sex
- Mood swings; depression; anxiety, irritability; panic attacks
- Changes in breast shape or size
- Breast soreness
- Eyelid wrinkles; dry eyes
- Insomnia; strange dreams
- Loss of sexual desire
- Facial hair growth; hair loss (head)
- Urinary leakage; urinary tract infections; frequent urination
- Lower back pain
- Bloating, gas, indigestion
- Aching joints (ankles, knees, wrists, shoulders, heels)
- Heart palpitations
- Varicose veins
- Dizzy spells
- Memory lapses
- Migraine headaches
- Vertical lines above the mouth
What about that other female hormone, progesterone?
Progesterone is primarily manufactured in the adrenal glands and ovaries, though some are produced in the brain. Even years before menopause, progesterone levels typically decline.
What does progesterone do for a woman? Progesterone regulates the menstrual cycle and prepares the uterus for pregnancy. High levels of progesterone are required for pregnancy. Moreover, progesterone is calming and provides for restful sleep.
Low progesterone causes symptoms too, starting long before menopause. Symptoms of low progesterone include irregular, heavy, or painful periods; breast tenderness; mood swings or irritability; insomnia; migraine headaches; and bloating (puffy face and extremities).
Therefore, progesterone supplementation becomes very useful for many women long before menopause.
There’s good news coming in my next article. I’ll explain the safety and effectiveness of using natural (bio-identical) estrogen and/or progesterone replacements. To feeling good in health,
Michael Cutler, M.D.
