Menopause Confessions: 6 annoying contradictions.
Photograph: Copyright: nanihta/ Envato Elements
21 April, 2024.
Mia, hello
I agree there is multiple contradictions out there about peri menopause and menopause.
Whether its media, providers, the internet - contraditions do abound.
And if primary care practitioners don't have time or don’t listen, it's no surprise women start researching for themselves during peri menopause and menopause!
Yet our own search and research can be time consuming, frustrating and incomplete.
So I thought I would try to short cut the biggest time wasters for you and give some guidance on where to focus your research:
Hormone Replacement Therapy and Cancer Risk:
Contradiction: On the one hand, there's the fear that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT or now, more commonly referred to as just HT) might increase the risk of cancer, while on the other, it's touted as generally safe for most women.
➡️BTW - The fear is mainly attributable to a widely publicised Women’s Health Initiative study that is now being somewhat rolled back – although the original findings are still very much available on the WHI website to this day!
There is no denying, certainly for me, I do hear (what seems pretty regularly) of women who develop cancer after a few years (maybe anywhere up to a decade) and then they have to jump off only to go onto another prescription drug with perhaps having had a hystorectomy in between.
Solution: Sorting through this requires a personalized approach. Here is where finding a trusted healthcare professional who can serve as an unbiased advisor.
➡️The challenge however, in my experience, is professional bias. Or maybe blindness?
In my experience, of those health care professionals who want to prescribe HRT, it is because that’s where their comfort zone lies - where they have been trained and what they know the most about.
A large percentage of medically trained practitioners don’t know much about alternative therapies, compound pharmacists (made to order therapies), the importance of diet, movement, sleep, stress management or the value of taking good quality supplements for instance.
It is because most primary health practitioners are not trained in any of this at medical school.
Rather anything outside the medical school curriculum, like alternative therapies is like a taking a different degree and likely to be in addition to their thousands of hours of medical school training!
➡️So, as well as having a primary health care advisor, if you are serious about taking control of your menopause journey, find a professional – not necessarily a medically trained one – in some respects better not - who can serve as your "professional, unbiased guide and coach’.
Create a team you can consult. Team You! One beyond prescription, referral and scalpel that also includes health practitioners who focus on whole body well being as a pathway through and into menopause.
Educate yourself - of course, whichever way you go, do your own research, reflect on what you're comfortable with, and once decided, move forward with confidence on who you choose as your team of advisors.
This road is one best travelled with worthy, unbiased experts. It will be easier, quicker and get you where you want to go with you in the lead.
The most important point about HRT is that you need to decide for yourself. Weight up the pros and cons. Seek advise, but know, no one lives in your body except you. So you need to, ultimately decide for yourself whether HRT is for you or not.
Always seek advise, but the decision ultimately remains yours.
Weight Gain and Dieting:
Contradiction: Menopause often brings unwanted weight gain, yet the usual dieting techniques that served you well and you have trusted, do not seem to get you the same results now as they did in the past.
Have you found this as well?
Solution: Instead of fixating on old dieting norms, focus on nutrition and get used to the idea of ‘good fats’.
Counting calories is no longer the driver. Percentages are.
I have spent my whole life keeping away from saturated fats. They were always a treat. I focussed on fibre, high protein and low carbs. Fats did not figure!
Imagine my surprise when I learnt that hormones are produced in, among other places, from fat in women. This becomes even more important in menopause.
The trick is to keep the balance and how often you eat.
I dropped belly fat and feel healthier since I focussed on:
Daily Intermittent fasting (anywhere between 15 hours to (once a week) 24 hours daily). You can fast. Trust me! I used to be a hangry person with anything more than 3 hours between meals. Fasting is possible. The trick is to S L O W L Y build up the hours.
40 grams (not weight but content) of good fats. Note - if you want to drop weight, rely on fat from your proteins - for instance eggs are (in my view) natures super food and provide both protein and good fats so no need to always reach out for avocado or olive oil or nuts if you eat enough eggs, for example.
20 grams (ditto) carbs - avoiding processed, refined sugars and foods
50 grams (ditto) protein
I used to eat protein and veges. Little or no carbs apart from whatever there was in the fibre in veges. Never ever went near good fats except as a treat.
Yet now, I have found that I have had to increase good saturated fats and introduce intermittent fasting to drop the belly fat. Carbs remain low and I work on my gut bacteria to help with healthy food processing as fibre has never worked for me.
➡️Its important to understand the role that hormones, other than estrogen and progesterone play in your menopause journey and the impact these other hormones have on your body.
For instance, inflammation is going to be a bigger challenge when entering menopause as will potentially the dance between the hormones insulin (drives up belly fat deposits as this hormone reduces during menopause) and cortisol – which can be the reason for unwanted belly fat and increased inflammation (as well as other hormones).
Exercise Intensity:
Contradiction: High-intensity workouts are praised for their effectiveness, but be careful which type of high intensity workouts you choose!
➡️This is because your body is now more vulnerable to inflammation. So running for example – which I still love – is not really the go to exercise to keep fit and slim for most of us in menopause. High Intensity Training and Weight Bearing exercises are promoted. I find HITT can still drive inflammation whereas weight training at the gym does not.
Solution: Tailor your exercise routine to what feels right for your body. Engage in a mix of activities, including weight bearing (muscle will deplete faster now that we are in menopause), walking, and if you love running, occassionally – as I do...I still do some intermittent training on the treadmill to improve lung capacity.
Alternatively, you walk up a brisk hill to get the heart pacing or HITT which I have never really warmed to.
➡️And find a coach who understands menopause – I love working out routines that work in menopause. Its much, much more fun than most of the sessions I had at the gym with a trainer for decades and I’m in better shape too!
Does this make sense so far?
Sleep Troubles and Medication:
Contradiction: Sleep disturbances during menopause are common, I found HRT to be the single best thing to nearly totally stop my 24/7 hot flashes that were keeping me awake. Yet relying solely on medication was not the best long-term solution. I eventually rolled off HRT as I didnt feel comfortable staying on the therapy.
This confidence to roll off HRT came from the way I felt after less than 3 months on intermittent fasting, a new nutritional plan, movement that suited my body and working on stress management more often!
Solution: Explore a combination of lifestyle changes and, if necessary, a sleep specialist who can guide you to identify the key issues and strategies to address the problems.
➡️What I have found is that the body does adjust over time in menopause – so symptoms that were intense and frequent years ago, do subside as you progress through menopause – especially if you focus on nutrition, movement, sleep and stress management..
There is a wonderful virtuous cycle that appears with each step (say nutrition changes) complementing the another (say starting intermitten fasting) which together have a wonderful knock on effect including to sleep quality, stress management - sometimes to a big degree.
It may take some time - for instance a month or two before you see any changes but it’s worth it…right?!
Contradiction - HRT is forever!
Actually it may not be!
I successfully rolled of HRT and when I went to a general doctor to check out how this was possible she simply shrugged and said it was what happened for ‘some women’.
I was shocked because it was never every mentioned by any of my previous medical and alternate healer advisors as an option. That simply you can ‘grow out of hormone therapy!”.
Yet when I put my mind to it and looked into it - if you change your what you eat, when you eat, the style of exercise, and focus on stress management, sleep and supplementing if you have too, its possible.
You can create approaches to minimise the chances of diseases science tells us are are possible in menopause, once estrogen, especially, starts to drop.
But remember, your body doesnt throw you away during menopause. Not if you are willing to put yourself first. To ask questions. To explore.
Short term relief is important. It provides a type of ledge as you (re) gather your strength, if like me, menopause symptoms hit hard. But long term, if you want to lead your own journey, you need courage and you need to remain curious!
Mother nature does not throw us away after our reproductive yeards are done.
Remember our adrenals. Beautiful little organs sitting ontop of our kidneys - if they are in a good state - these two tiny (golden) organs do quite a bit of the heavy lifting for us in menopause. Taking over where the ovaries left off.
Adrenals don’t take over completely but they do kick in when our ovaries retire - but adrenals need to be fit for service.
Please keep this in mind as you face down your peri menopause symptoms.
➡️So it is possible.
HRT Reality
If you are thinking about going onto HRT know that it may not be for ever if one day HRT no longer feels right.
So, dear Mia, the key lies in embracing your own power lying within. Empowering yourself (I know an overused word - empowerment - but it’s orginal meaning is still one of the best!)
I gathered the confidence, physical and mental strength to roll off HRT with a combination of nutrition, movement, sleep change and stress management. I began this journey slowly and became more curious about things like journalling, supplements and adaptogenic herbs as results started to appear.
Remember, menopause can be a truly all encompassing journey, and by navigating contradictions you may encounter thoughtfully, with experts you trust, you can tailor your approach to suit your individual needs.
Find professionals who support your journey, conduct your own research, reflect on your own comfort level, and take confident steps forward.
It’s your body. Its your life.
I’m here to help if you need me.
Hugs, Gra
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