Menopause should not be a ‘PAUSE’

Having plentiful energy, motivation and positivity should not be dwindling after 50.

With an average age of 52 for the onset of menopause, women live 30+ years under the suppression of this hormonal drought. Don’t let this rule you! Don’t believe that constant fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, ballooning belly fat, and aching joints must be your reality. Inform yourself and choose the youthful, positive, energetic, lighter you with the “spring in the step and the spark in the eye”.

To be officially diagnosed as menopausal, a woman must go 12 months without a period, uninterruptedly. By then you’ll have NO estradiol or E2 (the main productive/efficient female estrogen) and NO progesterone P4, the support hormone (or “happy hormone” that helps us sleep and keeps us calm, amongst many other important roles in the body). The only estrogen you’re left with is estrone E1, an ineffective, weak estrogen produced mainly by the fat cells. The body has estrogen receptors on almost every organ, from the bone, heart, blood vessels, and brain to the joints and thyroid. It is craving increased estrogen flow so it will start building abdominal (quick) fat to produce more of this hormone. This is the reason why that suddenly expanding tummy fat is so hard to lose. It is resistant because it’s trying to save your life! Fun, right?

Menopause is not a tunnel, it is a cave!

Some “lucky” women have severe hot flushes/flashes and night sweats, which will force them to go to the doctor seeking help. GPs and gynaecologists will help them in the best way they know (which is not unified yet), and while doing this also protect these ladies from menopause-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, nervous and mental issues which are insidiously coming on with an increasing speed after 52.

Meanwhile, those  “unlucky” women who “just sailed through menopause” will find themselves at the doctor’s office with increased osteoarthritic joint pains of their knees, shoulders hands and toes, get given the “rheumatic treatment” and quickly placed on painkillers, anti-inflammatories and steroid medications. If they are suffering from insomnia (can’t fall asleep or stay asleep) end up being kindly advised to take sleeping pills or antidepressants as their mood is also declining and crying bouts, sadness or irritability becoming the uninvited companion, threatening their job and relationship security.

And let’s not even mention osteopenia, the younger version of osteoporosis, which is often only found at 65 when the system first thinks you need a bone scan. Here is a not too much of a fun fact for you,  women lose most of their bone tissue in the first 5 years after entering menopause, other words before 60. The best natural antidote to weakening bones, you’ve guessed it right, is estradiol or E2. Having drugs at 65 is a late and sad approach. Oh and the characteristics that make people more vulnerable to osteopenia are being female, having fair skin, lack of weight-bearing exercises and slim. It is not a rare species.

A Short History of Menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

…and why we are scared

Back in the late 20th century, HRT was released, was widely prescribed and happily used by women all over the Westernized world. It was dubbed the “fountain of youth”. Little was it published that it was obtained from pregnant mares (female horses) urine, aka. Premarin contains many types of non-human estrogens along with a few useful ones. Well, we all know the outcome. The large study, conducted over many years on thousands of women, has concluded that this mix of animal hormones and synthesized non-body-identical (or chemically different of the human) progestin (Provera), may just have some risks after all. The media twisted and sensationalized the results, and everyone—doctors included—ran for the hills, fearing litigation. Lucky, because when I last checked women only had two legs.

Compounded alternatives for HRT or BHRT (Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy)

Since this infamous “Women Health Initiative” trial scare in 2002, the menopausal hormone movement went “underground”. A greatly reduced number of brave women and doctors, who still remembered the benefits of hormone support treatments, started prescribing and using compounded troches, capsules and creams tailored to suit individual needs. These “bio-identical” (or chemically body identical) potions consisted of differing proportions of E2 (estradiol), E3 (estriol, a support estrogen beneficial for skin and mucous membranes),  also bio-identical progesterone P4, testosterone T, if it is indicated and DHEAs. This combination of hormones was aimed to support the complexity of the ageing female body in its strive to maintain youthfulness and well-being. Compounded hormones are prescribed by specialised “compounding doctors” and custom-made by “compounding pharmacies” only. It cannot be standardized, thus large trials cannot be conducted on its efficiency consequently the regulatory bodies cannot properly oversee it. However, it has been used by thousands of women over the last two decades, if it wouldn’t work, or cause all kinds of problems, we would probably know about it by now.

What is DHEA, you ask? Good question!

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and DHEAs (a secondary “sulphated product of the previous one) are fat soluble or steroid hormones produced by our adrenal glands, sex organs and some nervous tissue. They are super interesting because researchers have just come to discover in recent years that these endogenous biological compounds, levels of which, BTW, decline with age (what doesn’t, right?), are super-weapons in fighting type two diabetes and insulin resistance, spread of cancer, disease of the blood vessels and the heart, immune deficiency and obesity. Thus including DHEA in hormone therapy will slow age-related physiological deterioration of the body and the mind and be our best body on our hopeful journey of a long and youthful old age (Prough, Clark, & Klinge, 2016; Zdrojewicz & Kesik,2001).

 

The latest and “SAFEST” Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT)

After 14 years of telling women to “suck it up”, in 2016 the pharmaceuticals have finally caught up and released a couple of “body-identical” or human-like “standardized” hormone drugs along with some other forms (patches, vaginal rings, creams, etc.) for the masses, to save women from menopausal hot flushes and night sweats.

The woman just wonders, why has it taken so long, when we’ve already had wonderful body-identical thyroid and adrenal hormones, why are those possible and sex hormones cannot be done?

The new “Estrogel Pro” consists of Estrogel (Estrodial E2 gel) and micronized progesterone capsule called Prometrium. It is the safest pharmaceutical with scientifically standardised MHT.

These affordable pharmaceuticals are being prescribed now as first-line therapy by most JPs. They are now optimised to minimise cancer risks, by making sure that the estradiol is in the right form “body identical” and is taken the right route, which is through the skin (transdermal), to avoid being prematurely metabolised by the liver. The micronized progesterone is also highly effective, thanks to always-evolving medical technologies. It comes in a capsule, is taken orally and protects women from uterine cancer while helping with sleep, and reducing anxiety along with many more benefits.

However all these new MHT is ONLY prescribed for HOT FLASHES & NIGHT SWEATS, and maybe, just maybe for aching joints, mood swings and insomnia as an off-label, support treatment if you ask for it. BTW it is an effective treatment for all of those ailments too, despite it not even containing the other three useful but not imperative hormones such as estriol E3, testosterone and DHEAs like their compounded counterpart. Feeling well is already a big step up from feeling super yucky, feeling fantastic will just have to be the next level.

What Can You Do About All This? That’s Where We Can Help.

At Dolce Vita Renewed Vicky will support you in finding the best way for you in this labyrinth of confusing information available on the net. This topic is Vicky’s passion not only because she was looking for the best lifestyle during her menopausal transition but as a beauty therapist she was keen to find a more natural alternative to plastic surgery and injections to preserve skin tone and vibrancy as well.

She has returned to university studies, where she was immersed in the intricacies of scientific research, navigating PubMed and other databases, and understanding how to evaluate the latest quality evidence-based peer-reviewed studies for finding the best natural way to manage the many decades of menopause. Studying for six years part-time with her family and business life she has obtained a Bachelor of Health and Science in Nutritional Medicine qualifying her as a Clinical Nutritionist. Vicky will guide you toward the precise vitamins and supplements targeting your individual needs.

Furthermore, this natural and holistic approach to menopause looks at the GUT (everyone looks at the gut! It is such a central cause for all, right?!). If constipation is present due to any reason, hormones like our own estrone or those of MHT get reabsorbed and metabolized (and remetabolized) by the liver. This is important, because in some individuals these hepatic by-products may increase the risk of reproductive malignancy, such as breast and ovarian cancers, which makes it so imperative to look at diet and lifestyle independently if hormone therapy is supplemented or not. Unfortunately, there is a still not yet bridged gap between medical science and complimentary lifestyle therapy (or more like symptom treatment and prevention), when it comes to female hormones and digestive metabolism, but this relationship is crucial to understand the effects of the microbiome or “estrabolome” on the female hormone balance.

Estrabolome
Estrabolome? …and what that is?

Sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland, right?

Estrabolome are/is specifically combined colonies within our huge range of intestinal and colonic bacterial communities, which are specialized in maintaining the dynamic equilibrium of the female estrogenic household. It influences our mood, sex drive (energy levels) and weight. If it gets out of balance “disequilibrium”  the risk of cancer especially estrogen-positive breast cancers increases. This estrabolome must work for, not against us.

In summary, only a finely tuned and well-maintained body can stay in balance and youthful well-being over 52, choosing the “natural way” only. Must know all the fine details and be armed with all the right weapons to fight the ghosts and the monsters that may jump out of the bushes of ageing and hormone insufficiency. Seeking expert nutritionist help is the best way to go for these Amazons. It can be done!

Should I still get Hormones? Who Should I Turn to? Which One Should I Choose?

If the natural is not enough, Vicky has also become a member of the Australasian Menopause Society which is the official body helping doctors keep up with the latest on Menopausal Hormone Therapy. She has attended medical-level hormone conventions to find out about the “ins and outs” of hormone therapy to help herself and her clients. The medical profession is still divided on what exactly is the “right way”. Pharmaceutical standardised or compounded and individually tailored? Both offer benefits and have weaknesses. Body-identical or Bio-identical?… that is the question. Every doctor is biased in their own choice of the “right” solution. Vicky will give you the “bird’s eye view” so you can make your own enlightened and educated choice.

Yours renewedly,

Vicky McGavin

Clinical Nutritionist

BHSce Nutritional Medicine

 

 

Some References

Kwa, M., Plottel, C. S., Blaser, M. J., & Adams, S. (2016). The Intestinal Microbiome and Estrogen Receptor-Positive Female Breast Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute108(8), djw029. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djw029

Prough, R. A., Clark, B. J., & Klinge, C. M. (2016). Novel mechanisms for DHEA action. Journal of molecular endocrinology56(3), R139–R155. https://doi.org/10.1530/JME-16-0013

Zdrojewicz, Z., & Kesik, S. (2001). Dehydroepiandrosteron (DHEA)–hormon młodości? [Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)–youth hormone?]. Wiadomosci lekarskie (Warsaw, Poland : 1960)54(11-12), 693–704. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11928558/

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