PREMENOPAUSE
Pre menopause refers to the period around thirty to fifty where you are not necessarily peri menopause which is the medical term for ‘right around menopause’ meaning the year or two before your periods actually stop.
Symptoms tend to include all those of estrogen dominance, as your progesterone levels start to decline as we age.
Cold/hands and feet, sudden weight gain, very heavy or light periods, foggy thinking, memory loss, lack of libido(sex drive) bleeding between periods, fatigue, PMS, anxiety, depression, PND, difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a baby to full term, endometriosis, fibroids and lumpy/droopy breasts to name a few.
Correct doseage of progesterone cream has been shown to dramatically reduce these symptoms, 20mg progesterone twice a day from day 12-28 will ease your journey through to menopause.
In Dr John’s Lees book ‘What the Doctor may not tell you are pre menopause’ he states that checking saliva levels either through this method or blood testing can show irregular amounts of hormones.
During your pre menopausal phase your hormones are in a constant state of change.
A hormone could read very low one day then very high the next.
A saliva test should act as a guide only, it is best for YOU to gauge your hormonal changes and keep yourself in balance through the monitoring of your symptoms and when they tend to occur.
It is during this period that you need to make some lifestyle changes, such as increase the amount of excersise you do, lessen any stress, watch what you are eating, keeping your hormones balanced is a lifetime challenge, but one you will not regret.
At this stage of your life not only would you expect your progesterone levels to be low but it is likely that you will be lacking in estrogen, testosterone and DHEA.
Besides regular use of progesterone cream it may be beneficial to add some DHEA/ estrogen or testosterone.
DHEA is the feel good hormone produced by your adrenal glands and works well in woman around the pre/peri/post menopausal phase when used with the progesterone/estrogen creams.
PERIMENOPAUSE
Peri menopause is the term used for the transition time between pre menopause and menopause.
In medical terms in means ‘around the time of menopause.’
A time of the dreaded and embarrassing hot flushes, night sweats, fluctuating libido and emotions, heavy or irregular bleeding, anxiety, insomnia, depression.
The use of progesterone cream will not stop menopause from happening but will ease the ghastly symptoms, as woman age progesterone levels decline significantly.
Woman who have had a full or partial hysterectomy will benefit from progesterone cream as even if the ovaries are left they tend to stop functioning one to three years after the hysterectomy.
Low dose estrogen may be included if the woman has had full hysterectomy (ovaries removed) in conjunction with progesterone.
INFERTILITY / MISCARRIAGE
Suffering from infertility and or multiple miscarriages is heart breaking not to mention soul destroying and common.
One in six couples will experience infertility and one in four pregnancies will end in miscarriage.
Infertility can put enourmous pressure/strain on relationships, it creates an environment of guilt/ blame and also isolation.
At the time of your life when all your friends are going off to kids birthday parties, talking about breast feeding and birthing and attending coffee groups or PND classess you are left feeling more isolated and desperate than ever to share in that experience.
It must be one of the most horrific things to go through if both you are your partner really want that experience, it is what life is about after all.
There are many reasons why a woman may not fall pregnant or suffer from multiple miscarriages.
Your doctor will run tests to find out if there is any underlying medical condition’s in you and your partner to find a probable cause.
In many circumstances infertility can be what is termed as unexplained, this means that there is no underlying medical reason why a woman cannot fall pregnant
Factors can include stress, endometriosis, immune problems, pelvic inflammatory disease, irregular ovulation, hormonal problems, poor state of health/ nutrition to name a few.
Dr John Lee MD on bioidentical hormones believes estrogen dominance is reaching near epidemic proportions around woman in their mid thirties.
Excess estrogens seems to stimulate the ovaries to over produce follicles which combined with delayed child bearing results in early burn out of the follicles.
Dr Lee recommends that these woman use the progesterone cream from day five-26 of their cycle(stopping only to bring on menstruation) and use it only after ovulation.
He recommends not to stop the cream until the third month of pregnancy to prevent the endometrial lining from shedding, causing miscarriage.
Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Omega and Zinc should be used as essential minerals prior to and during pregnancy.
Along with progesterone cream, new research which is having fantastic results but still in its early stages of testing is a procedure called (Lipiodol uterine bathing)
Lipiodol is a poppy seed oil injected into the uterus to help make the egg stick to the endometrial lining, similar to a glue or a venous fly trap to prevent the egg from slipping away.
It will not work on woman who have blocked fallopian tubes or any underlying medical conditions that will prevent the oil from working.
Dr Shelley Reilly on 021 915771 or www.nurture.org.nz will give you more information.
Pregnancy by use of natural methods such as progesterone cream or lipiodol oil can prevent a woman from going through the expense and stress of invasive IVF.
PRE MENSTRAL SYNDROME (PMS / PMT)
Pre menstral syndrome/tension otherwise know as PMS or PMT, is the one of the most common symptoms affecting at least 60 per cent of woman.
It occurs mostly around thirty but can begin in adolescence and in the pre menopausal years.
Tender breasts, body weight gain, bloating, emotional highs and lows, tearfulness, forgetfulness, anger, depression, insomnia, anxiety, cravings for sugar can all occur in the lead up to your periods.
I’ve heard of marriages collapsing because of it, husbands/partners packing their bags and heading to the hills for a week to avoid a complete personality change in their normally civil partner.
The same estrogen dominant symptoms apply.
Woman who suffer from PMS tend to have lower progesterone than normal around the time of their cycle, when progesterone is supposed to be dominant it is actually the estrogen which is dominant.
There are many other factors to consider when dealing with PMS such as diet, stress, lifestyle, unstable blood sugars, hypothyroidism, lack of vitamin B,C and E, zinc, selenium, iodine and Omega to name a few.
Research has also shown that those woman who suffer from PMS are more likely to get Post Natal Depression (PND) as the symptoms and predisposition for estrogen dominance is already there and has likely gone on for many years without treatment, there is often a link to family, for example if your mother/grandmother/ suffered from PMS/post natal depression/ fibroids, heavy bleeding, hysterectomy, research is now showing that it is likely you may be prone to the same symptoms your mother had.
A simple saliva test will check whether you are estrogen dominant, the use of the progesterone cream 20mg twice a day on days 14-28 of your cycle will increase your progesterone levels and make estrogen the less dominant hormone that appears to be causing the array of symptoms outlined above.
Optimal levels with woman on transdermal progesterone cream should be around 5-10nmol/L although this can vary from woman to woman.
From personal experience and years of dealing with PMS right from when my first period occurred and getting worse with age, at 39 -years old my intolerable symptoms have almost gone completely with the ongoing use of trans dermal progesterone cream.
If only I had been educated about it sooner, it would have prevented not only my years of suffering from PMS and ruining relationships, but also my severe PND.
Woman from all over the world are raving about the cream and how their PMS is greatly improved.
POST NATAL DEPRESSION / ANXIETY
Post natal depression/anxiety is one of the most horrible events that can happen not only for the woman but for their partner /siblings and other family members.
A new baby should be a time of happiness, joy, hope, it is a time that most of us look forward to.
It can be very unexpected and frightening to suddenly feel like your world has come crashing down once your baby is born or even in the months that follow.
Symptoms can occur sometimes during pregnancy but mostly once the baby is born and usually anywhere up to six months later which can last for years if left untreated.
They include feelings of anxiety, depression, sometimes extreme to the point where you may feel you cannot even leave your house, insomnia, anger, tearfulness, guilt, hopelessness, helplessness, loss of control, some woman also experience thoughts of harming themselves and the baby, all of which are quite normal if you feel there is no way out.
It is important to know you are not alone, statistics show around 15 per cent of mothers will experience some form of PND within the first six months, this figure is likely to be far higher as many mothers simply do not seek or ask for help or fall through the cracks of their health care workers, such as their GP or midwife.
There are a lot of overwhelming factors that can contribute to PND/anxiety, such as sleep deprivation, broken sleep, feeling house bound, trapped, loss of job, income, change of usual routine, isolation, (not mixing with other adults), stressful pregnancy, childbirth, self image changes, weight gain, lack of vitamins/minerals, estrogen dominance, premature birth, difficult baby (colic) silent reflux, baby born to down syndrome, loss of baby, poor support, previous or current mental health conditions that can often flare up again following the stress of pregnancy or childbirth.
During pregnancy the hormones estrogen and progesterone rise in volume by 30 to 50 times.
This creates the morning sickness, increase in urination, and tiredness as the hormones reach a peak and then level off, during this time you should feel better than the first three months.
By the third trimester your body will be producing 300 to 400 mg of progesterone per day.
In some pregnancies the placenta does not produce enough progesterone, which can lead to feelings of depression/anxiety even before the baby is born.
However, most post natal symptoms usually occur a few months after the baby is born, but it takes only three days post birth for the hormones to plummet and return to normal.
75 per cent of your hormones are lost through your placenta when the baby is born.
It is not surprising you may be feel anxious and depressed.
Some woman have also experienced an increase in post natal anxiety following IVF.
A study of 27 new mothers carried out in 1976 showed those at greatest risk of depression/anxiety following birth also had the greatest drop of progesterone levels.
Highly regarded American Obstetrician Dr Christiane Northrup recommends woman at risk of post natal should start using progesterone cream the minute the baby is born.
I would always take a saliva test as a first line approach for woman with post natal issues, to check their progesterone levels before looking at anti depressants.
This is not to say that I would not recommend anti depressants/ or hospitalisation if I felt the need based on ten years as an RN with acute mental health experience.
