11 things you may not know about perimenopause (and 10 things you can do about those symptoms).

I know what you’re thinking. She’s too young to be writing about perimenopause, right?! Actually, no. I might feel 24 years old, but it only takes being around younger age groups to remember I’m not! Despite the ‘M’ word being almost a taboo, unwanted phase of life that some women fear (and men too!) it is a natural part of our lifecycle. What isn’t natural are the symptoms associated with menopause. Like premenstrual symptoms, the discomfort experienced through perimenopause may be common, but it’s not normal. This was reaffirmed in my mind when I listened to a fabulous interview with Lara Briden (naturopath who works with women with hormone imbalances, based in Sydney and Christchurch). A wealth of information who had some great information around why we can experience symptoms and (importantly) what we can do about them.

1. Defined as 10 years before going through menopause, practitioners often view this as highly variable, with women from 35 years to 55 years in this perimenopausal state. The average time spent here is around 4 years. Though, as with any ‘average’ this might not reflect your experience!
2. All hormone levels change during perimenopause. There is first a decrease in progesterone, which changes the balance of progesterone to oestrogen (some describe this as ‘oestrogen dominance’, though not all practitioners like using this term). Testosterone also declines, and this is an important hormone for sex drive. Finally oestrogen drops – and while we will continue to produce oestrogen (as this occurs not only by the ovaries but by the liver, breasts, adrenal glands and by fat tissue, it is at amounts of around 30-60% lower.
3. Oestrogen is a major regulator of a number of processes in the body, and the sex hormones and our glucocorticoid hormones (the most ‘known’ one, cortisol) are controlled by the hypothalamus -the part of our brain who is also the controller of our sex hormone regulation – therefore it makes sense that a change in one will result in a change in all of them.
4. Some of the main symptoms of perimenopause are
   1. Heavy periods
   2. Hot flashes
   3. Breast tenderness
   4. Worsening of premenstrual symptoms
   5. Lower sex drive
   6. Headaches or migraines (due to sudden removal/reduction of oestrogen)
   7. Fatigue
   8. Decreased sense of wellbeing (research shows that extended periods of low oestrogen, fluctuating levels of oestrogen and sudden withdrawal of oestrogen – via surgery or stopping oral contraceptive pill – is affected with lower mood)
   9. Irregular periods
   10. Brain fog and memory – oestrogen helps consolidate both episodic and spatial memory in the brain, and protects against cognitive decline as we age.
   11. Vaginal dryness; discomfort during sex
   12. Urine leakagewhen coughing or sneezing and an urgent need to urinate more frequently – due to oestrogen’s role in maintaining the vascular mucosa folds in the vagina, acting as a watertight seal.
   13. Mood swings (via fluctuating levels of hormones)
   14. Trouble sleeping
5. Some women are ABSOLUTELY FINE and sail through perimenopause. Generally, though, those that have been on the oral contraceptive pill are more likely to experience symptoms than those that haven’t. This may be due to the difference in the hormonal balance once the pill is removed. The pill provides large amounts of synthetic hormones, and it is a huge adjustment to go back to the normal (lower) levels of hormones. Approximately 147,000 women in New Zealand take the oral contraceptive pill, of which 80% of them are on a combined pill, delivering oestrogen and progesterone.
6. The types of hormones in the pill are synthetic and are not ‘bioidentical’ – meaning that the amounts are higher than what the body would produce AND they are in a form that the body can’t use. The pill doesn’t regulate hormones, it shuts them off.
7. During perimenopause, women can have fluctuating oestrogen levels due to variable concentrations of FSH (released by our pituitary gland in response to a low oestrogen environment – it isn’t necessarily all low oestrogen. This could also be a result of an inability to detoxify and clear out oestrogen metabolites.
8. A well-functioning liver is required to remove oestrogen from our body and prevent build up and associated symptoms. Our liver packages up oestrogen metabolites and removes it through our detoxification pathways. We need our inbuilt antioxidants to be firing, along with certain nutrients (selenium, B vitamins and glycine (not present in large amounts in the standard diet) to do this.
9. Many women going into perimenopause are insulin resistant (oestrogen has an insulin-sensitising role in the body and influences glucose uptake) – this partially explains the increase in body fat (particularly around the middle) that many women experience as they progress through. This makes it harder for their body to metabolise and use carbohydrate effectively
10. Many women going into perimenopause have a low thyroid function due to age-related changes in thyroid physiology. These include a reduction of thyroid iodine uptake, synthesis of free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) and the conversion of FT4 to reverse triiodothyronine (rT3). TSH levels may be slightly elevated. Luteal-phase spotting, or lumpy breasts may indicate this.
11. Your gut? SUPER IMPORTANT!!! The oestrogen might get detoxified (packaged up ready for removal) via pathways in your liver only to be unpackaged (deconjugated) again by nasty gut bacteria which pushes it back out into the blood stream as more toxic forms of oestrogen.

These 11 points may or may not have been news to you – certainly probably not to those experiencing some of the symptoms, or who have dug a bit deeper to determine the cause of the symptoms. This wasn’t a post for you to sigh in resignation and decide there is nothing you can do. Yes these symptoms and health outcomes are common – but (as stated earlier) they are not normal. Like many things, we normalise a lot of health issues because so many people experience them. We just think they are an inevitable process in ageing and moving into a different phase of life. Certainly (I gotta say), some health professionals don’t suggest otherwise so it’s no surprise many are led to believe this.

Some awesome tips from Lara as to how to start the process of mitigating symptoms – some are great DIY ones that you can put into action immediately; others will likely require the help of a practitioner who has a solid understanding of how our hormones interact – this may be your open-minded doctor, which is excellent – or naturopath, nutritionist or dietitian.

1. Limit alcohol consumption – it impairs oestrogen clearance rates from the liver and may be one of the influencing factors in the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer risk
2. Limit or omit dairy –dairy can increase oestrogen in the body, increase insulin release and the A1 caesin in dairy is pro-inflammatory and increases gastrointestinal inflammation (which could then push inflammation out to rest of your body).
3. Ensure adequate vitamin D status – optimal is around 100-150nmol/L which is required for the production of all hormones, and related to other hormonal issues such as endometriosis
4. Reduce intake of carbohydrate if following a higher carbohydrate approach, and get rid of processed, refined foods and sugar.
5. Eat your brassicas: broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage – all provide di-indolylmethane (DIM) which targets certain proteins in our body that help reduce inflammation and balance hormones (particularly detoxifying oestrogen). Supplementing with this is also really helpful, but only once you establish that oestrogen clearance is an issue for you – super unhelpful otherwise (a practitioner can help you find this out – and there is a test I’ve started using with clients called the D.U.T.C.H test which is able to measure each hormone and it’s metabolites in much more comprehensive detail than a blood test alone.
6. Ensure a healthy gut: bloating, excessive gas, cramps and diarrhoea or constipation are not the normal consequence of eating (though they are extremely common). Keep a food diary to establish what might be causing your digestive upset by connecting your symptoms to your food intake. Work with a health practitioner experienced in the ‘real food’ digestive health to help not only heal your gut, but seal it too.
7. Turmeric in therapeutic doses (more than you can get from food) helps reduce oestrogen related oxidative stress, reduce prostaglandins (inflammatory biomarkers) – opt for one that is also combined with bioperine (to make it more bioavailable) such as this Good Health 15800 Turmeric complex. The alternative is one that says it is formulated to have smaller, more bioavailable particles, and the Meriva formulated varieties have this.
8. Iodine: low dose supplementation can be extremely helpful in supporting the pathways associated with thyroid hormone production which in turn affects the sex hormone production pathways. Again, talking to a practitioner is a good idea to establish your own requirement. However, 150 micrograms per day (and having 2-3 brazil nuts to balance this with selenium) is a safe amount.
9. SLEEP. Hands down, the most often overlooked yet important restorative, nourishing thing you can do to support your hormone health.
10. Meditation. Journalling. Yoga. Diaphragmatic and full belly breathing. Slowing down. Yep – stress reduction.

Regardless of if you are pre, peri or post menopausal, I think there is some excellent information here that will be helpful for hormones in general actually, and if you are experiencing some of the unwanted (and unnecessary in most cases) symptoms of hormone balance, this may give you some pointers as to how to combat them. Definitely check out Lara’s site for accessible and informative hormone related content.

Let this not be you. Or your mum. Or your wife. PC http://www.gazetteinterviews.com.

 

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