| "Baby Boomers
are entering menopause at a rate of 4,000 per day." |
It's exhausting navigating this confusing area of women's health.
Women are often half way down the slippery slope of menopause before we even realize
that's where we are heading. The
difficulties we're having don't register in our minds as hormonal and we fear we may
be facing serious medical concerns. The head trip is frightening, the frustration
exhausting, and the solution is often right where we are least likely to look. We make available: Home
Test Kits to determine where you are hormonally; progesterone
creams, herbal supplements, and vitamin/mineral supplements to help you through your
transition; a personal story of support; lots of reference materials; and even some timely humor.
You'll find helpful perimenopause information below and on
the next page.
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ProGest natural
progesterone cream
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 "Women must accept the inevitability of menopause with
only an approximate sense of its timing." |
| Menopause is simply the end of a woman's menstrual cycle and fertility. The
result of a gradual and natural transition in a woman's body that usually begins years
before the final menstrual period, menopause is confirmed when a woman has had no periods
for 12 months and when there are no other physical or psychological factors to account for
their absence. On average this occurs by the age of 51, but this can vary widely.
Doctors can perform a simple blood test that measures the levels of the hormone
that stimulates estrogen secretion, the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), but often
times this isn't enough to confirm a diagnosis of menopause.
Post-Menopause once menopause has occurred, a woman is post menopausal.
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Too few doctors order hormone tests for
their female patients ~
it may have something to do with managed care and
keeping costs down |
Be resourceful
~
Unless you're very fortunate indeed, you'll need to rely on your own resourcefulness to
find your way. Too many doctors are ill equipped to handle what women are asking of
them and too time-strapped to be woman's ultimate resource.
Browse selected books to learn of conditions
now believed to be hormone related and easily managed. Help is on the way!
 Menopause cont. |
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It helps dilate
blood vessels to carry more oxygen and help maintain a healthy cholesterol balance. |
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It helps maintain
the structure of the vagina and prevent atrophy. |
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In the urinary
tract it helps maintain the blood supply and prevent atrophy. |
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In the skeleton,
it slows the rate of bone loss in the maturing body. |
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In the brain, it
helps regulate the menstrual cycle and the body's thermostat. |
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It may even help
the synapses in our brains to re-grow.
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The HRT Solution: Optimizing Your Hormone Potential
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| How estrogen
travels throughout the body ~
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Estrogen is a hormone made primarily by the ovaries and used throughout the female
body, including: the brain, blood vessels, reproductive organs, urinary tract and
skeleton. When the ovaries begin the slow down of estrogen production, women
experience many seemingly unrelated symptoms of peri-menopause.
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Cells in the
hypothalamus (an area of the brain) periodically release a hormone called gonadotropin
releasing hormone (GnRH), which travels to the pituitary gland where it causes two other
hormones to be released: luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone
(FSH). LH and FSH travel through the bloodstream to the ovaries where they induce
estrogen and progesterone production. Estrogen and progesterone then act on the
pituitary gland to decrease the release of LH and FSH except for a surge at mid-cycle. |
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Estrogen also
works in the hypothalamus to help regulate body temperature.
When estrogen levels fall during menopause, other hormone levels rise. The change
often causes sensations that we refer to as hot flashes. |
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Estrogen very may
well act in the brain to positively affect a woman's memory and mood, but the
scientific evidence for this is still being debated. |
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In blood vessels, estrogen helps arteries and veins to dilate, which allows more blood and
oxygen to flow to the skin. Fluctuations in estrogen production can destabilize this blood
flow, also affecting hot flashes and often disrupting
deep sleep. |
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Estrogen also acts
to prevent fatty deposits from building up on the walls of blood vessels. Many researchers believe
that this action is mainly responsible for estrogen's protection against heart disease. Estrogen appears to help maintain a healthy cholesterol balance and help to protect against heart disease. Low estrogen levels in
postmenopausal women may cause an increase in LDL ("bad") cholesterol, while
decreasing HDL ("good") cholesterol. |
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Estrogen plays a
vital role in the reproductive organs. With decreased estrogen, tissue in the
bladder, uterus, and vagina becomes less elastic, thinner and drier. A dry and thin
vaginal lining can cause: itching and discomfort and uncomfortable or painful sexual intercourse. A thinner & less elastic bladder
can cause occasional urinary loss. |
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In the skeleton,
estrogen prevents bone loss and decay. Bones continuously add new bone tissue to
themselves while absorbing the old. Estrogen acts on bones to slow
absorption. Some evidence suggests that estrogen might also be responsible for
converting vitamin D into its usable form, which helps
the body absorb calcium. Declining
estrogen levels, more than a woman's chronological age, lead to an increased risk of
osteoporosis. |
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It's not unusual for
women's libido to decline somewhat noticeably at menopause. Although hormone
replacement therapy (estrogen or estrogen with progesterone) helps some women, others seem
to respond only when testosterone is added. The potential unpleasant side effects
of long term testosterone use, however, preclude many women from going this route.
Good news
from the Netherlands! A study corroborated the hypothesis of researchers, that
testosterone treatment can increase sexual responsiveness in a time-dependent
fashion. They demonstrated that women need not take testosterone every day, but
rather may be able to take a pill just hours before needed. The formulation of
testosterone used in this research isn't yet available in the U.S., but stay tuned! |
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The Hormone of Desire : The Truth About Testosterone, Sexuality, and Menopause
by Susan Rako, M.D. |
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| If sneezing, laughing,
coughing or exercise cause you to "spritz" a little urine, you're certainly not
alone. It's such a prevalent
problem for women that it is
likely to be taken for granted. Doctors term this stress incontinence and believe it likely develops from any of the following: the weakening
of the muscles in the pelvic area due to childbearing (which causes the bladder to drop
from its normal position), abdominal surgery, urinary or kidney infections, use of certain
drugs, or changes associated with lack of estrogen as a result of menopause. The PC Muscle is the biggest culprit & .....cont.
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• measures levels of Estradiol, Progesterone, and
Testosterone
