Review of Menopause and Symptoms
Throughout this series so far, we have learned that menopause is a period of time that begins once a woman’s body is done having menstrual cycles. As a woman experiences fluctuating levels of estrogen and other reproductive hormones, she will walk through four distinct stages of menopause:- Premenopause Stage: A woman is still considered fertile but may be experiencing some irregularity in her menstrual cycles as the body begins its hormonal shifts.
- Perimenopause Stage: A more distinctive phase as a woman transitions into menopause. She will typically experience more significant symptoms throughout this phase such as more irregular menstrual cycles, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, weight gain, etc.
- Menopause Stage: This stage is diagnosed officially when a woman’s body stops producing estrogen and is not releasing eggs for at least 12 consecutive months.
- Postmenopause Stage: The final stage of menopause is one that every woman will be in for the rest of her life as her reproductive years come to a finish. Symptoms will typically begin to slowly diminish over time.
Understanding Menopausal Hormone Cascades
When most individuals think of reproductive hormones, testosterone and estrogen are the first (and often only) ones that come to mind. Of course, testosterone and estrogen are vitally important hormones for the body to function properly, but several other hormones are affected by menopausal changes as well. Because of this, supplementing with estrogen is not always the best answer for most women.Estrogen supplementation can help to alleviate menopausal symptoms but estrogen may not be the hormone a woman’s body needs as it goes through menopause. Supplementing with hormone therapy like the estrogen-progestin pill significantly increases a woman’s risk of conditions such as stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, and blood clots, as well as increasing inflammatory markers.
