Since I'm post-menopausal I take an interest in finding out more about all the things that change in your body due to a decrease in female hormones but also dip in testosterone.
The latter we also need a bit to not lose muscle mass.

What I've learnt so far is that there are an unbelievably amount of problems that are all related to this and most people don't even know about the depth of this!

Most know the hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes and weight gain.
That's where most people's knowledge ends concerning menopause.

Thing is, I haven't got night sweats, nor mood changes, no real hot flashes either. I've put on a bit of weight over the years, but that is not all due to menopause.
What I'm trying to say is, not every woman has these well-known symptoms!
My version of a hot flash is a mild warm wave, as I call it. And I don't always have them either as I use supplement to balance my hormones.

What else is all related to menopause, and ladies, these issues do NOT STOP once you are post-menopausal!!
That's another thing, many women seem to thing that once they're post-menopause the problems stop. THEY DON"T STOP!!! Maybe you won't notice it so much, but it'll continue until you make your transition, UNLESS you do something about it!

Remember this if you think you have none of the following: you may not have severe issues, but certain things you may be unaware of, like your insulin resistance, cholesterol levels, bone density and so on. So don't disregard it too soon! Maybe have these things checked out so you know for sure!

Let's start with the well-known things, I will continue with the rest:
- hot flashes
- night sweats
- mood changes
- weight gain (belly fat you cannot shift which is dangerous!)
- recurring Urinary Tract Infections
- incontinence
- having to get up to urinate several times a night
- Inner ear changes causing
------Vertigo
------Tinnitus
------ possibly ear infection that won't go (I had that in mid August and it still hasn't fully subsided in spite of antibiotics, both eardrops and oral)
- High cholesterol
- High insulin resistance (leading to diabetics)
- Increased risk of Cardio-vascular disease
- blood sugar dips and insatiable hunger
- low or no sexdrive
- aches & pains (joints, muscles, ligaments)
- vaginal dryness
- rather fast and incredibly loss of muscle mass, even if you still work out the same way you did before
- changes in gut (microbiome)

This list is not complete, I cannot find my notes, grmble...

In any case, much of these issues have to do with lowering of oestrogen. You need this as it's very anti-inflammatory.
The dip in this hormone causes the tissues of the pelvic floor to get thinner which causes problems like UTIs, bladder control issues, vaginal dryness etc.
This can be resolved by using intravaginal oestrogen!!

The dip in oestrogen is also the cause of many of the other issues described above, incl. the joint issues and pain and inner ear issues as low oestrogen affects cartilage! Joints and inner ear have a lot of cartilage so they (can) get affected.
Even if you have no serious complaints, these will be affected but then in a milder way. It does happen regardless unless you make sure your oestrogen goes up again!!

The loss of muscle mass is due to a dip in progesterone and testosterone. Women can produce testosterone out of progesterone so if these levels are low you cannot make much testosterone either. But also, if you don't produce testosterone in other ways, the production of this out of your progesterone will deplete this and you do need this!!
How to create testosterone?
Do resistance (power) training!
That builds muscles AND testosterone! There are more reason why you should do this, why muscles are important btw but I'm trying to keep it reasonably short, hihi.
So NO aerobics as that does NOT produce testosterone nor muscles. You can still do it a bit, but the emphasis should be resistance/power training!
You can do this at home with an aerobics band (which is a resistance band). There are tons of vids on YouTube for resistance training with such a band for menopausal women!

As for the rest... HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is a very good one! NOT ORALLY THOUGH!!
Orally goes via the liver which can again lead to issues there.
Use patches, creams and so on.
And no, it does NOT cause cancer to have HRT! That is a myth and proven to be NOT TRUE whatsoever!

One thing to remember with HRT is that when you have a uterus you need progesterone, not just oestrogen.
In essence you need more progesterone than oestrogen. The bummer is that we get a lot of unnatural oestrogen in our bodies from the environment which makes the body believe it has oestrogen.
So in a way it would be best to not experiment on your own but to see a naturopath or an other therapist who is experienced in this area.

The best way to get a huge increase in oestrogen is... a romantic partner, a man! When a man has healthy testosterone levels and treats you right because of that you get a huge increase in oestrogen.
Unfortunately most everyone here is single...
But there are other ways if you really don't want HRT. But remember, whatever it is you will have to continue to do it for the rest of your life.

Last thing: even post menopausal we still are cyclic. Not as much anymore as when we were fertile, but our adrenal glands still produce some hormones. This is why some say to not go for HRT.
Bummer is that many these days already have rather depleted adrenal glands as our Western society and life-style creates a lot of non-stop stress.

A lot of info here, do with it what you will. Bear in mind you do not have to suffer through peri or post menopause, remember that the process of rapid decline will continue, EVEN post-menopausal!! Unless you do something about it.

A few good things that esp peri-post menopausal women need:
resistance training
Vit D3
Fibre (approx 25gr a day)
HRT could be very helpful
Magnesium (Have levels checked though and find a good version as many cannot be easily absorbed in the body!!!)
Calcium (have levels checked!!!)
Intermittent Fasting 16:8hr can apparently be very helpful (NOT when diabetic!!! NOT if you have any eating disorder!)

This list is also not complete, but at least it's something.
Do your own research or see someone who's well educated on this matter which is typically NOT a doctor!!!

Doctors in their years of study have only 2 pages on menopause so they know Jack chit about it.
Gynaecologists who are supposed to be the experts on this only have ONE lecture of some 6 hours on the topic!!
This is why they don't know what to do with you and tell you to suck it up and bear and grin with it. Maybe give you a tranquiliser or painkiller.
They have a code word for menopausal women: WW, meaning a "Whinging Woman"!! That's how they talk about you among themselves... So they are not the ones to help you unless you got a better educated more well-rounded one and these will be very rare, almost non-existent.

Thank you SparklingCrystal for that informative and very enlightening piece. I have been reading up on this and was aware of the more common symptoms as mentioned. Others like the inner ear changes and body aches and pains were new to me. Appreciate you taking the time to share this.

SparklingCrystal,

I recommend to watch on YouTube Sally Norton and Anthony Chaffee videos about carnivore diet based on randomize controlled trials.
What we eat have a huge impact on our health.

Have a nice weekend!

Michelle, you're very welcome!!

It's such a shame so little is known about this and so little money is allocated to research and help concerning this.
It's as this former gynaecologist said: If men had this, it would be a world crisis! Billions would be spent on research and help.

But... there IS a lot you can do and there are professional people who can help you.

John Gray (author of "Men are from Mars...") knows a lot about this, has written books on it but also on his website. Tons of interviews of him on YouTube and in many he also addresses the issue.

You can also look up Mary Claire Haver's website and/or interviews on YouTube. She's an absolute expert, (former) gynaecologist who researched all the ins and outs to a T when she herself became menopausal and realised she didn't know a thing about it.

Here's one great interview of her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQqcnYcKx68&list=PLgEri0xc8yS9tKTUUS3aWG-3rrvUi7-bs&index=1

Océane thank you!

Great to have more sources. More needs to be known about this as opposed to it being a hush-hush subject.

A few things I forgot:

- sleeping problems
- hair loss

The sleeping problems is also what should be addressed first and foremost as during sleep your body recovers and restores etc.
So with sleep deprivation you cannot really get back to your former glory.

Without any supplements to balance my hormones I have trouble falling asleep. Once asleep I'm fine but not being able to fall asleep for 1,5 - 2 hrs even though I was so tired doesn't help.
This supplement I take (mix of all kinds of herbs and stuff) helps.

Linseed oil is a good one to balance hormones! That's in that supplement I used to take as well. But you can also take 1 Tbl spoon linseed oil a day. It's less than 3 dollars a bottle and last you quite long.

I currently have started HRT myself. I use both oestrogen and progesterone creams. Only a small bit of oestrogen as otherwise I get super hyper! Oestrogen excites the brain, progesterone calms the brain.
So I think -NOT sure- that low progesterone may be a factor in the not sleeping.

Dr Lee who wrote a book about all this ages ago and made this Progesterall cream also claimed that was all you needed: progesterone. (I don't know for women without uterus though).
But since oestrogen is highly anti-inflammatory and does lots of things in the body, I do use a bit of that cream as well.

I do use more progesterone cream though than oestrogen.
I've only recently started with this.

I don’t know if any of you have seen it advertised on TV but I have and it looks like a home pregnancy test but instead it’s one to tell you what stage of menopause you’re in.

Oh that's great, Julie!

I have seen a home test online on a site that also sells hormonal creams. It works with saliva.
I just checked, it costs E62,95 (USD is almost the same as Euros).

Apparently it is very accurate.

I have learned a lot from Cori Lefkowith, owner of Redefining Strength on YT, FB, etc.

She talks of the menopausal myths vs facts and so much more. The importance of strength training and eating more protein to help keep our muscle mass. Of course vegans would have more of a challenge to increase their daily protein intake but it is achievable.

The dietician manager, Michelle, and another dietitian, Brooke, have a lot of great information too for women in all stages of life.



Great topic, SparkingCrystal!

Thanks Stormy, great you're adding sources for info to it!
I'll check them out too!

Don't think I mentioned it yet, another thing that is related to menopause:

- dental issues

I had noticed that one myself when I became peri-menopausal. Suddenly my teeth seemed to be falling apart in my mouth. Teeth breaking, root canals, tooth inflammation without any reason, and so on. All that in spite of me taking calcium & magnesium since I was 38-40ish.

The inflammation cost me my tooth, had to have it pulled.

Cost me a fortune in spite of good dental insurance. But the cost exceeded coverage of the year so I had to pay for any additional cost myself.

I told / asked my dentist that I suspected it had to do with menopause and she basically discarded it.
It seems to have stabilised the last 2 years, thank goodness!

When I heard Marie Claire Haver mention dental issues I finally had the confirmation.

I saw that commercial I mentioned and the test is by ClearBlue who also make home pregnancy tests and as seen on American TV.

Julie I looked it up.
It's this: Clear Blue Menopause Stage Indicator~

It works with urine, is a stick, pretty much like a pregnancy test stick.
It measures FSH.
It tells where you are in menopause: peri, late peri or post menopause.

One kit is around $20 and has 5 FSH test sticks. You measure over 10 days with those to get your indication of where you're likely at.

Great info, especially if you don't know where you are concerning menopause!

It doesn't tell how you're oestrogen, progesterone levels are though. But if you test to be peri or post menopausal you can know what else is going on in your body (all the stuff I posted earlier will be happening in various degrees) so you can choose to take steps.

Sorry to say that even though I see the commercials I rarely check out the product.

Well, you came up with it, which was great!!
I don't watch tv, am not in the US either, so I don't see any commercial (thank goodness!!).

But at least we are getting an idea of what's out there :)
If memory serves the one I came across does tell you the levels of oestrogen and progesterone, which is likely why it's E62,95 (USD about the same).

But... it could be a great option nonetheless!
My GP told me at the time the only thing he could have checked is FSH (which is what the Clear Blue test checks as well).

Obviously that isn't exactly correct if you can test for hormone levels with saliva and even buy a home test for that.
I'm guesstimating insurance won't cover that so you can buy it yourself, or not.