Menopause is a journey that can bring a range of challenges and surprises. From the first signs of perimenopause, your body is changing in ways that may be unexpected and difficult to navigate. With the right tools and approaches, you can embrace this next phase of life and feel like yourself again.
The journey to menopause
Before a woman reaches menopause, she goes through a stage called perimenopause. This typically begins when a woman is in her 40s and can last anywhere from several months to several years. This time is characterized by the infamous hot flashes, irregular periods, uncomfortable vaginal dryness, disruptive night sweats and difficulty sleeping — not to mention the emotional turmoil you may experience at times.
All these symptoms can be attributed to estrogen — the hormone your body slowly stops producing as you enter perimenopause. This results in fewer and fewer menstrual cycles, until you no longer have a period for 12 consecutive months. At this point, you have reached menopause, and your ovaries are no longer releasing eggs.
The best treatment for symptom relief
While many women may dread this journey through menopause, there are treatments and methods that can greatly improve symptoms. “In general, we tend to blame hormones a lot of our lives for being bad, or a reason we don’t feel well. The truth is women often feel better on a certain level of hormones — estrogen in particular,” Rebecca Baudoin, MD, Western OB/GYN, A Division of Ridgeview Clinics, explains.
Hormone Therapy (HT) is the best treatment to relieve menopause symptoms. HT is a medication typically given in the form of a pill or a transdermal patch that contains a safe level of female hormones (estrogen and/ or progesterone) to help reduce and improve symptoms of menopause. Everyone’s health care needs are unique, and your women’s health provider can help you determine if HT is a good treatment option for you.
Progress in women’s health research
In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) made headlines when they published a study which reported that HT increased women’s risk of breast cancer, uterine cancer and heart disease resulting in a dramatic decline in the use of HT. Unfortunately, after the WHI study was reanalyzed, experts determined this was a flawed study from the start and the findings do not completely hold true today.
Fortunately, as research regarding women’s health continues to progress and improve, this notion that HT is dangerous for ALL women has largely been debunked. This has been a huge disservice to women for the last few decades when the WHI study was released. Even the same authors of the study have looked back on their own data and retracted many of their conclusions because this was a flawed study to apply generally to a population of women, particularly to women who are perimenopausal or in the immediate post-menopause timeframe, Dr. Baudoin explained.
Much of this has to do with the age of women who are receiving HT and the types and dosages of hormones used. In today’s world, we know we can’t use estrogen alone in someone with a uterus; we need to pair and balance the estrogen with progesterone. If someone has had a hysterectomy and no longer has a uterus, they do not need the balance of progesterone because they don’t have a risk of uterine cancer.
Dr. Baudoin explains the types of hormones used, saying, “Today, HT involves the use of bioidentical estrogen and bioidentical progesterone, compared to the synthetic hormones that were used previously and contributed to the increased risk of cancers in the original study. These hormones are used together for women who have a uterus and have not had a hysterectomy, and in a significantly smaller dose than was previously used.”
Aging in a healthy and comfortable way
Many women may feel like menopause symptoms are all just part of the aging process and they just have to deal with it — but that could not be further from the truth, and women deserve better. “So many women deal with these symptoms because we are told it is a normal part of life that every woman has to go through.
In recent years, as more and more women are trying to age in a healthy way and maintain their activity, research on menopause and treatment is finally receiving the attention it deserves and we are able to safely help women feel better and get their sense of control back, Dr. Baudoin said.
If you need help managing symptoms of menopause or determining which stage of menopause you are experiencing, take control of your health by scheduling an appointment with the team at Western OB/GYN, A Division of Ridgeview Clinics.