“the change”
Since the beginning of time our Grandmothers, Nona’s, GiGi’s, Mimi’s, and Aunties have whispered amongst themselves about the “Change.” It hasn’t been a secret that women go through declines in their hormones, causing chaos within the body and mind. Women have known about hormone changes around puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause. They understand there is a surge at times and then the ultimate decline culminating in the end of menstruating and the worry-free exploration of sexual activity and living life with grown children, no more children to come, and less care and concern about what the world thinks about them.
Since the beginning of time, women have had to traverse this journey without medical information, intervention, understanding, or even interest in what they were going through. Perimenopause has become a buzz-word because of the large group of women reaching the age of declining estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone that wants answers and interventions. This group of women is not satisfied to simply whisper amongst itself. They are loud, proud, and not taking it anymore.
The majority of healthcare research, education, and treatment has been done on and with men. This goes for everything from heart disease, brain health, GI issues, bone health, etc. Stands to reason that a purely female issue would have very little study done in the past, let alone, any sort of interventions or alternative medicine, or treatments for symptom alleviation.
With the availability of the plethora of information on the internet, women are no longer sitting back and just letting the changes in their hormones wreck havoc on their bodies. At the bare minimum, women want information as to what is happening. Even if they don’t want to interfere in the natural processes they do want to know what is happening.
Perimenopause is that period in a woman’s life when hormones begin their fluctuation and decline. The major players are estrogen (she is the biggy), progesterone, and testosterone. The major signs and symptoms that a woman is in perimenopause are: changes in sleep; mood changes; energy dipping; nervous system changes- anxiety, paranoia, over-stimulation, overwhelm, hypervigilance; aches and pains; sexual dysfunction, low libido; cortisol spikes; weight gain and body shape changes (regardless of not changing diet or exercise). A lot of women notice hair loss, hair growth, and a disappearing upper lip. Eye lids droop, and suddenly there is crepey skin and deep wrinkles. AND one of the most notable is thermal dysregulation: HOT FLASHES.
Some women get all of the above symptoms, plus some; and other women just have a few. This is also when periods begin to fluctuate. Some women bleed constantly, others skip around. The blessed day of Menopause is not declared until a woman has been one full year without a period. (hard to tell when exactly if their uterus has been removed)
Women can still get pregnant during perimenopause. So whatever birth control she has been using, should still be used, if pregnancy is to be avoided.
So where does healthcare fit into this now that women want answers and helpful interventions. Unfortunately it is still a small number of western medicine doctors that are knowledgable about women’s health and are willing to listen and help find workable options for their female patients. Functional medicine, alternative medicine, and such, seems to be where women are finding the most support these days. The internet may be a good place to start as far as a woman educating herself, but to seek actual treatment or help she needs bloodwork, natural and/or pharmaceutical interventions, and someone who will listen and believe her.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is period free, stable hormones, return of energy, brain-fog lifting, body acceptance, fewer hot flashes, more carefree days of menopause ahead. Finding a better way through the tunnel is what today’s women are literally fighting for. We deserve it; but so do our daughters, nieces, friends, and all women coming behind us. Our Nona’s deserved it too, by the way, they just didn’t have the Gen Xer’s and older Millenial’s fighting for them.