This is the question I've been asking myself for a few years now. Having started to go through the menopause at 27, with my consultants bringing me out of it to get pregnant finally, I've always struggled with low oestrogen levels.
But in the last 5 years the final menopausal symptoms really stepped up, especially when put through a medically enforced menopause during lockdown, to the point of fearing I had early onset Alzheimer’s among other problems.
I had/have short term memory loss, lapses in memory and long periods of brain fog, finding milk in cupboards, forgetting my Dad's name when introducing him, keys 'lost' most of the time, having to retrace my steps to kickstart my memory to remember what I was just doing and losing track of conversations and what I was in the middle of saying.
This was alien to me as I prided myself on my memory, so all quite surreal and scary.
Worryingly 10% of women leave work between 45-54 years old due to menopausal symptoms and lose confidence in their abilities, often terrified something bad is happening within. When actually, there are often positive ways to deal with these symptoms and support out there.
Hence the workplace is now realising that all women will go through this at some point and can see the benefits of investing in their female colleagues to help them through this period and to allow them to be their best once more.
Menopausal Symptoms
Some people say there are 34 key symptoms of menopause, some say up to 100. But here are the top 34 I'm going to discuss:-
1) Memory Lapse - oestrogen reduces brain function
2) Mood swings often a result from insomnia, anxiety, depression as well as low oestrogen affecting mood levels.
3) Depression - greater risk during the menopause.
4) Insomnia occurs in 50% of perimenopausal and menopausal women. One study showed 1 in 4 women at this stage were affected to the level that the lack of sleep majorly impacted their daily lives.
5) Hot flushes - my skin felt prickly. Note in Asia there is no word for hot flushes as they don't experience them, due to their soya intake, which provides phytoestrogens.
If this is a problem, try 2-3 soya products a day!
6) Night sweats - really pleasant for your partner to lie next to a sweat monster at night and uncomfortable for you as it drenches your pjs and bedding, so disturbs your sleep.
7) Irritation from lack of sleep and low mood.
8) Panic attacks and heart palpitations
9) Brain fog - 60% of menopausal women experience this spaced out, foggy feeling, as low oestrogen is found to negatively impact cognitive function.
10) Fatigue- This isn't like tiredness, its exhaustion. A 2007 study showed 85% menopausal and 46% perimenopausal women felt fatigue and exhaustion, compared to only 20% pre-menopausal women. And it can be debilitating at times!
11) Anxiety increases in many menopausal women, where therapy often benefits these women at this stage of life.
12) Weight gain. Women aged 45-55 years put on 0.5Kg a year, so easily discounted, but over 10 years that weight mounts up.
Muscle mass also reduces by 3-8% over this period, so fat:lean muscle mass drastically increases.
13) Poor memory - I need to write everything down in order to help my memory remember everything and use it as a source of information to refer to.
Luckily this is what I do with my clients anyway, so luckily what I do for work by having 1:1 clients or presenting, luckily has little impact. It’s more everything else that's a struggle.But some women really struggle with this change in themselves.
14) Vaginal Dryness makes sex painful. 1 in 5 women 42-53 years and 1 in 3, 54-65 year olds suffer from this, so relationships maybe impacted, causing additional stress on a woman.
15) Loss of libido - a direct effect and the above point also makes it less enticing and the high levels of exhaustion..
16) Itchy skin – I often catch myself trying to relieve an itch quite often.
17) Irregular periods - note being perimenopausal can still happen even if you are having regular periods. HRT can be taken before you stop having periods. So don’t rule menopause out if you are still having periods.
16) Pins and needles
17) Burning mouth
18) Electric shocks
19) Joint pain. I feel like my thumbs and fingers are really suffering from this particularly.
20) Muscle tension and aches – Regular massages could be a good way to care for yourself now?
21) Breast Tenderness
22) Headaches. This is something I've never suffered from until menopause and now often have a headache.
23) Food cravings. But be careful because the more sugar you crave and eat, the lower your oestrogen levels get, causing more craving, increased weight gain and lower mood.
24) IBS/ gut issues. A good probiotic can be of help. Symprove is the one many Gastro professors recommend, which I take.
25) Bloating - I can go from normal to looking like 6-7 months pregnant.
26) Change in taste. Can find sweetness from sugar diminishes.
27) Brittle nails
28) Thinning hair
29) Brittle bones. Osteoporosis can be a problem, as oestrogen normally holds calcium in the bones, so as oestrogen reduces, calcium leaks out, causing menopausal women to lose 10% of their bone mass. Remember high impact exercise helps maintain bone mass, even a walk in the day can help.
30) Dizzy Spells
31) Bladder Incontinence. Over 50% of post-menopausal women suffer from this. So brace yourselves ladies as walking and laughing or coughing is a mission in itself! Please be kind to all us cross legged coughers or gigglers you meet out!!
32) Allergies. Low oestrogen levels causes increased histamine production, which causes allergies.
33) Food sensitivities
34) Irregular heartbeat. This is something I've struggled for a few years... my heart would feel like it had stopped and would only seen to start again by coughing.
It's thought this isn't dangerous, and thankfully mine has improved of late, which is great news. But note some colleagues maybe really worried about their heart health if this is happening to them.
So what can you do to help navigate this?
· For me, having now had a full hysterectomy, and really struggled with these symptoms, I have chosen HRT, which has also been found to prevent dementia, CVD and osteoporosis
Note, the old fears of increased risk of breast cancer was based on a poor study and interpretation of the results, so for me, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
· Maybe you may feel psychotherapy and hypnotherapy would benefit you? These have been found to help with combating anxiety, depression, insomnia and several other symptoms, as well as maintaining confidence and self worth. If you or your
company are interested in this support to improve wellbeing of your female colleagues, and your male counterparts, please feel free to give me a call.
Nutrition Tips
1) B Vitamins help in the production of Oestrogen
2) Low GI diets help increase oestrogen in the body and its absorption if on HRT. Absorption of oestrogen is something I struggle with.
3) 2-3 portions of soya products are really helpful to overcome hot flushes and do not increase risk of breast cancer as they are infinitely weaker than normal oestrogen.
4) Vitamin D - I use the spray. Many of us are deficient and this helps increase our mood and our bone, nail and dental health
5) Fish/Omega 3 fish supplements help reduce inflammation linked to joint and muscle pain.
6) Probiotic – Symprove is my preferred choice, as evidence so positive in so many ways.
Exercise
· Due to muscle mass loss, its essential for menopausal women to do more strength and weights to keep that level of muscle up.
· HIIT training is a great way to build up your strength
· High impact strength work also good for maintaining optimum bone mass
· Recovery sessions are also important when menopausal
Lasting Summary
So my parting message is:-
1. There is help and support out there. Please seek it. Happy to chat to you or your business leaders about how I can help.
2. Remember, you are not alone and certainly not going mad... or any madder than any of us going through it.
3. We all react differently.
4. Take positive actions to feel like you are gaining some control over it, such as diet, exercise and psychotherapy/hypnotherapy if necessary.
5. Be Kind to yourself - Before you react, ask yourself will this be Kind, productive and appropriate for me long term and how can I communicate my needs in a kind, productive and appropriate way to others also?
6. Seriously consider HRT and make the right decision for you.
7. Find ways to relax – yoga, meditation, walks in nature, mindfulness, breathing, reading positive stories etc.
8. Look into good lubrication… nothing sticky like KY jelly. So many options out there now, to make sex comfortable
9. Check out good sleep hygiene (Check out my blog….)
10. Write everything down to help deal with memory problems. Accept the change.
11. Trust that menopause will pass!
So take care and I’m here if you'd like a chat about how I can help you at your stage of the rollercoaster ride and/or supporting your female colleagues to feel and be their best at any stage in their lives.
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