What I Love About Menopause – Understanding What Menopause Is
These women — and the list gets longer everyday — are defying the stereotype and shifting the public’s attitude. They are sensual and accomplished and no one really cares when or whether they’ve stopped menstruating. Think of the women you most admire — chances are they are not twenty, or even thirty-something. Baby-boomer women have changed the world already, and in menopause they will do it again.
Yet even with these living, breathing, dynamic beacons, the stigma of menopause has staying power. Why? Partially, it’s our youth-obsessed culture, and partially we’re hard-wired as all species are to place a greater value on the attributes that make us mate-able. Outward signs of abundant sex hormones are on the top of that list.
But aside from biology, something else is happening
Symptoms of menopause begin to bother many women (but not all) at a particularly stressful juncture in their lives. Often they are dealing with aging parents. If you have children, it’s likely that they are almost grown but still requiring a great deal of attention. If you are working, you may be feeling pressure from younger workers angling for your job. Increasingly, bittersweet reminders show you that time is passing — all of which can weigh you down and make you feel stuck.
And that’s just when menopause comes to the rescue.
The journey to menopause: midlife transitions
When we talk about menopause, we usually think of it as a transition or change. In reality, menopause is a destination — the date on which it has been a year since you’ve had a menstrual period. The journey we take to get there is more accurately referred to as perimenopause and can begin many years — even decades — earlier and be marked by all the stresses I mentioned above. This often leads to symptoms of hormonal imbalance as a woman’s body struggles to cope.
These physical changes can be unsettling (and for the unlucky few, a living hell). The road to menopause has an unmasking effect on your biology. Physical conditions that were hidden by higher estrogen levels reveal themselves. Emotional issues — often left over from childhood — resurface unexpectedly. You may find yourself awash in unfamiliar, unwanted sensations. Many women in perimenopause feel out of control, miserable, and powerless.
Understand that these symptoms are actually urgent requests from your body for attention — big red flags signaling to you to slow down the train. If you take the time to pay attention, they’ll stop.
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If I know one thing from all my years of practice it is this: no woman has to suffer during this time in her life. But you do have to tune in and act — the more severe the symptoms, the more diligent you’ll need to be.
This can take time and a lot of women can’t do it alone — a reality that Hormone Replacement therapy (HRT) can postpone but not avoid. Eventually, you will have to discover the missing pieces of your individual puzzle — and it may not be easy (that’s why I call it work).
Often the most uncomfortable symptoms stem from adrenal exhaustion or a poorly functioning digestive tract. It takes a good partnership between you and your practitioner to identify and address those issues before you can even begin to talk about hormones.
But that’s why menopause is so great — it forces you to finally come home to yourself, to really understand what makes you who you are, whether you want to or not.
The Women to Women approach to menopause
At Women to Women, we think of menopause as a critical time in a woman’s lifecycle – one in which we help our patients interpret what their bodies are saying. We call it identifying their emotional and physical roadmap. Every woman has one and each one is different.
For some women this roadmap takes them on a relatively straightforward journey, others need a lot of help to untangle years of physical and emotional knots. What works for one woman may not work for another and you may need a professional (or several) to support you in the process.
Helping women to begin this transformative and empowering journey, we wanted to share what we know to be true with as many women as we can, but keep in mind it’s only the foundation. I encourage you to find some trusted health professionals and learn as much as you can. Like I said, the water may get choppy at times but the rewards are phenomenal if you keep your head up and swim.