Peri/menopause – Gynelogic

Periodical articles

How to Tell If You’re Perimenopausal

Are you experiencing changes in your body that you can’t quite explain? Feeling like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster? It might be perimenopause, the transitional phase leading up to menopause. Understanding the signs and symptoms can help you navigate this natural and inevitable part of your life.

During perimenopause, which typically starts in our 40s but can happen as early as the 30s, the ovaries gradually produce less oestrogen. This hormonal shift can cause a range of physical and emotional changes. Common symptoms include irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, fatigue, and a decreased sex drive. The average duration is three to five years, although it can last just a few months or extend as long as a decade.

Through my clinical work I have defined 4 stages in the menopausal transition, but first let’s go through a quick overview of the menstrual cycle.

The roles of oestrogen and progesterone in our menstrual cycle

During our peak reproductive years, the amount of oestrogen and progesterone in circulation rises and falls fairly predictably throughout the menstrual cycle. Oestrogen thickens the uterine lining – this becomes the blood flow of your period, and it stimulates ovulation. After ovulation (14 days before your period) the empty follicle from which the egg was released forms a structure called the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces progesterone during the luteal phase, the second half of your cycle. Progesterone keeps the lining stable and prepares it for implantation during the second half of your cycle. A drop in progesterone at the end of your cycle signals to your body that it’s time for your period to begin.

4 stages in the menopausal transition

The transition to menopause via perimenopause is a natural phase in our lives, characterised by hormonal fluctuations which can lead to a variety of symptoms that may affect your physical and emotional well-being.

1. Early perimenopause: oestrogen dominance

As our egg supply is slowly decreasing, we start skipping ovulation. This means oestrogen is still produced which thickens the uterine lining, but because ovulation doesn’t happen, we don’t get the progesterone we need to balance oestrogen. This means that

periods come closer together
periods get heavier, some women experience flooding.

Unbalanced oestrogen can also lead to

breast pain,
fibroids,
anxiety,
bloating,
headaches
worsening of endometriosis and PCOS

In the meantime low progesterone can cause

anxiety,
low moods and mood swings.
depressive feelings
insomnia or other sleep problems, because progesterone acts as a sedative

2. Late perimenopause: oestrogen decline

As oestrogen is falling,

periods are coming further apart
bleeds are lighter
common menopausal symptoms start: hot flushes, night sweats, weight gain, brain fog, memory problems, fatigue as well as joint pain, dry eyes (read more about it here and here).

3. Menopause

This last just 1 day, the anniversary of the last period you had 12 months ago.

4. Post-menopause

The time after menopause is post-menopause. Many women ask when menopause ends – officially menopause only lasts one day, but being post-menopausal doesn’t end as that is the stage we are in forever after menopause. What they are really asking is when will this nightmare end? The typical symptoms that started in late perimenopause are getting worse and can continue for another 10 – 15 years or longer. Vaginal dryness is common as are urinary tract infections (read more about it here and here).

How to tell if you’re perimenopausal

Ask yourself these questions,

Am I still having periods?

yes and your last period was within the last 12 months, you are perimenopausal

No and your last period was more than 12 months ago, you are post menopausal

If you’re still having periods, and they are:

heavier? This means you are coming up to early perimenopause
coming closer together and are heavier? This means you are in early perimenopause
coming further apart and are lighter? This means you are in late perimenopause

Of course we all different, and we can respond differently to our hormonal fluctuations, but the answers to these questions can give you a general idea of where you are in the transition.

Functional medicine approaches to smooth the transition and beyond.

The transition to menopause can be a bumpy ride and it can get bumpier still post-menopause. My approach in early perimenopause is to support oestrogen detoxification as efficiently as possible, to reduce oestrogen dominance as much as possible. Many of us have problems with oestrogen detoxification because it is a metabolically complex system involving the liver, blood sugar, cortisol, optimal vitamins and minerals, and the gut microbiome to name just a few players. Do get in touch if you’d like to have a chat about a personalised health plan to support your early transition, especially because this process can last for 5 years or more.

For late perimenopause and post-menopause I have developed a nutritional solution that is tailored to each woman and reverses all the symptoms over 5 weeks. This approach is based on the fact that oestrogen and insulin work together to extract energy from sugar and carbohydrates, so when oestrogen declines insulin becomes dominant, and without it’s partner it converts sugar and carbs to fat, and stops fat burning. When you can’t burn sugar or fat, starvation sets into the body and the brain. This leads to hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, anxiety, low moods, fatigue, weight gain. My Menopause Core Nutrition Solution addresses these metabolic imbalances directly with food alone and also allows for food personalisation so that you know what you should be eating now and in the future to prevent these symptoms from returning. The course is on special offer until November 10th, have a look and see if it’s right for you.

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Periodical articles

Save money, get rid of hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, anxiety, low moods, fatigue and weight gain within 6 weeks and feel like yourself again by Christmas

The International Menopause Society is marking the day by publishing a report encouraging women to “have a health audit – and take action at the time of the menopause to avoid chronic diseases in later life.” Actions taken at the time of the menopause can avoid chronic diseases in later life, according to a report on women’s health marking International Menopause Day.

Their advice is to give up cigarettes, move your body more, practice mindful eating, maintain or achieve a healthy weight and develop good sleep habits. This is great advice for general health but it won’t do much for reversing the debilitating symptoms of menopause.

What will reverse them permanently in 6 weeks is my online expert nutrition course, the Menopause Core Nutrition Solution. This course is designed to eliminate 100% of the core menopausal symptoms: hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety, low moods, brain fog, fatigue and weight gain, just by changing what you eat.

Yes, that’s right – in 6 weeks you can:

reverse all your symptoms,
learn how to personalise your nutrition for your menopause, and
feel your absolute very best.

And if you join by 10th November, you’ll be feeling like yourself by Christmas.

To celebrate World Menopause Day I am offering you 20% OFF THE COURSE and the offer is valid til November 10th. I can only have 30 women on the course, so JOIN NOW and use this code: WMD23-20%OFF

I came into this program optimistic but, to be honest, skeptical that it would make a huge difference to me. I can’t take HRT and wanted to take control of my menopause naturally.

This has surpassed my greatest hopes – by day 4 I had no more hot flushes or night sweats, my mood has lifted, my anxiety gone. My hair has stopped falling out and I feel brilliant. I feel able to listen to my body and understand the changes to make to bring the best outcomes for myself. I don’t feel I’m going without – it’s incredible.

The program is well structured, supportive and, frankly, life changing. If your journey is anything like mine you won’t regret it.

~ Caron Bradshaw / CEO, Charity Finance Group

Wow. What can I say. I have just completed the Menopause Core Nutrition Solution Course and I am so happy that I found it. I was confident that it would be the kick start my transformation and I certainly wasn’t wrong.

I have dropped 10Kgs, my appetite is stable and I have no crashes in my mood and energy (apart from normal life energy drains).

I have no more sugar cravings and this is for me one of the main positive outcomes, I am able to leave cakes and puddings and sweets where they are!

Its been life changing for me.

~ Danielle Bridge / Interim CEO, Black Minds Matter UK

Get the Solution Now »

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Periodical articles

Bust through 30+ menopausal symptoms with my Menopause Supplement Cheatsheet

Apart from the 7 core symptoms that include hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety, low moods, brain fog, fatigue and weight gain, menopause can come with another 30+ symptoms. It’s really intense right? But I can help you with all of those.

Why are there so many symptoms?

Oestrogen is the ultimate multitasker: apart from managing energy it boosts collagen and omega 3 production, it’s an anti-inflammatory, an antioxidant, and maintains vaginal health, just to name a few of it’s jobs! So as it declines in menopause, it can cause over 30 symptoms including loose skin, joint pain, dry eyes, vaginal dryness.

No need to suffer through your best years

I have spent almost a decade investigating what oestrogen is up to in our bodies and I’ve compiled a cheatsheet that you can use to identify which supplements can take over oestrogen’s jobs. For example you can use an inexpensive antioxidant to relieve joint pain in about a week, or firm up hair, skin and and nails with a protein powder within a month.

The Menopause Supplement Cheatsheet is included as a bonus with the Menopause Core Nutrition Solution, but you can get it as a stand alone.

No need to suffer through your best years – take advantage of the cheatsheet and get the know-how to bust through all your symptoms.

Menopause Supplement Cheatsheet »

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Periodical articles

The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond

Coming across Louann Brizendine’s book about menopause was a moment of sheer joy.

The Upgrade – which is exactly how I see menopause – links the physical metabolic changes that declining oestrogen brings, to the emotional changes that we can experience, and explains why the mature brain is so much better than what came before.

I highly recommend this uplifting and illuminating perspective on menopause.

READ »

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Periodical articles

50 years of Ms Magazine

Ms Magazine – helping women to seize the power we have and to use it, to act collectively, to realise that together we can make change happen -is 50 this year, menopausal and still empowering. It helped — and continues to help — ignite a revolution for women’s rights.

Last month the founders and leaders of Ms. for all these years — Gloria Steinem, Katherine Spillar, Eleanor Smeal, were celebrating the anniversary and the publication of a new book, “50 Years of Ms”, an anthology of our revolution. And rather than bemoaning the fact that we are fighting the old fights — again — the spirit of determination and commitment was palpable.

Here Gloria Steinem reflects on the origin and impact of Ms Magazine and a reader is quoted – “My husband says I used to be a bitch once a month, but sinceI subscribed to Ms Magazine I’m a bitch twice a month!” Just twice??

Happy birthday Ms Magazine, welcome to the club 🙂

READ »

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Periodical articles

Fuck you Fifties (and beyond) – No More Rules

On my 40th birthday my best friend ordered a birthday cake for my party, from a du jour artisan London bakery. It turned up on the morning of the party day looking very plain, so she took it to a local Polish bakery, and asked them if they could decorate it with some fancy icing, saying “Naughty Forty”. Dressed up and ready for the party, she picked the cake up on the way to mine, only to find it had been fully white iced over, in hard royal icing, making it look more like a funeral wake fruitcake. And in bright turquoise icing on the flattened top, it said “1940”. It was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen.

Naughty 40s lived up their name, but what I wasn’t expecting was the Fuck You 50s, where I realised that a major part of transitioning to post menopause was shedding my old self by figuring out how to speak my truth, look my truth and live my truth. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but oh so worth it.

Bring on the Sex Bomb 60s and 70s – it’s incredible to see the glorious Helen Mirren and silver fox Andie MacDowell killing it on the runway at this years Paris fashion week, along with a make up free Pamela Anderson. Change is afoot, at last.

And check out my heroine Iris Apfel, here celebrating her 100th birthday in 2021. Legend.

Fuck you fifties (and beyond) – no more rules!

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Newsletter-Oct-15-23, Peri/menopause

Conditions

Menopause syndrome

Underlying causes:

» carbohydrate overload
» low metabolic flexibility

First things first – what is menopause?

Most women become aware of the menopause from the stories told about the debilitating symptoms that it brings – hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia, depression – the list goes on and on and at least 30 different symptoms have been recorded. It seems that future health becomes uncertain, with little understanding or explanation of what is to come.

There is also a confusion with the wording, with various terms used interchangeably so that no-one really knows how to talk about it. There’s peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause, to the point that “The word “menopause” tends to be used as shorthand for “all the crap that goes on while your ovaries gradually crinkle into useless raisins.”

The medical definition of the menopause is when a woman stops having her monthly period for 1 year. It typically occurs in a woman’s late 40s to early 50s as a normal part of ageing and marks the end of reproductive years. The process is gradual and is usually described in 3 stages:

Peri-menopause or the menopausal transition:

Peri-menopause can begin 8 to 10 years before menopause, when the ovaries gradually produce less oestrogen. It usually starts in a woman’s 40s, but can start in the 30s as well. Peri-menopause lasts up until menopause, the point when the ovaries stop releasing eggs. In the last 1-2 years of peri-menopause, the drop in oestrogen accelerates. At this stage, many women can experience menopause symptoms. Women are still having menstrual cycles during this time, and can get pregnant.

Menopause:

Menopause is the point when a woman no longer has menstrual periods. At this stage, the ovaries have stopped releasing eggs and producing most of their oestrogen. Menopause is diagnosed when a woman has gone without a period for 12 consecutive months.

Post-menopause:

These are the years after menopause. During this stage, menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, can ease for many women. But, as a result of a lower level of oestrogen, postmenopausal women are at increased risk for a number of health conditions, such as osteoporosis and heart disease.

This sounds like it should be an orderly transition from the hormonal storms of periods to the calm seas of… but many women are suffering with symptoms of sexual dysfunction, insomnia, hot flashes, night sweats, a lack of overall well-being, anxiety and brain fog to name just a few.

In some women these symptoms are mild; others have symptoms that are mild but go on for a long time; other women go through a couple years of difficulty; and then there are women who have symptoms well into post-menopause; and some who just sail through the whole thing.

I can’t think of any other health condition where the range of symptoms is so vast and the response is so varied. Oestrogen affects every part of the body and so when it starts declining, all hell breaks loose. The effects of oestrogen withdrawal have been studied in virtually every body system, including the heart, bones and skin, but none of these investigations have explained the origin of the symptoms that women suffer with the most – the hot flushes, the night sweats, the anxiety – what is it about oestrogen declining that causes those symptoms?

It’s not an oestrogen problem – it’s an energy problem

It’s a little known fact that oestrogen is a sugar-burning hormone – it allows us to use carbohydrates as sugar energy. By the time we are post-menopausal, the low level of oestrogen allows us to only derive about 20% of energy from sugar and carbohydrates, compared to 100% pre-menopause.

As oestrogen levels start to decline in peri-menopause, the use of carbohydrate for energy becomes more and more impossible. This means that your brain and the body are starving, while excess sugar is quickly converted to fat. This means:

You start feeling tired, all the time;
You’re getting fatter – high levels of blood sugar causes weight gain as unused sugar is converted to fat;
Your brain is deprived of energy which leads to brain fog, depression, memory loss and possibly eventually dementia;
Your starving brain activates the fight or flight response causing an adrenaline rush to release high amounts of glucose from the liver into the blood stream – this causes hot flushes in the daytime and night sweats at night, and leads to more weight gain;
Adrenaline rushes at night mean that going to sleep and staying asleep becomes difficult;
Adrenaline rushes create anxiety which can lead to panic attacks;
High adrenaline destabilises potassium balance which means the heart can’t function properly and this leads to heart palpitations.

The menopausal energy switch: sugar burning is switching off and fat burning is ramping up

It is now well established that menopausal symptoms are directly related to sugar metabolism that is mediated by oestrogen. If you continue eating a high carbohydrate diet – e.g. oats, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes – you will end up with high blood sugar, high cholesterol, fatty liver, inflammation, weight gain and experience debilitating fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, heart palpitations and a myriad of other problems.

To get rid of all these symptoms, you need to switch to burning fat for energy. Fat burning does not require oestrogen, and is freely available in your body. When sugar intake is low, your body converts fat to ketones, which are an alternative clean energy source. A low sugar – or low carbohydrate – diet encourages your body to switch from using glucose as a primary fuel source to burning body fat and using ketones for fuel.

This metabolic switch is the process that underpins the whole menopausal transition. This is what prevents the brain and body from starving as your oestrogen level is declining. The metabolic switch is a mechanism that compensates for energy that oestrogen has stopped providing. This is what you need to harness to reach optimum health in middle age and beyond.

Get your life back: at least 75% menopausal symptoms can be reversed in 6 weeks just by making different food choices

Once you become a fat burner, the results are stunning. In my clinic, I have reversed at least 75 of symptoms in just 6 weeks through a specialised nutrition plan, resulting in:

zero hot flushes
zero night sweats
clear, pin sharp, sustained focus and memory
easy solid sleep
solid weight loss til you achieve your target weight
feeling calm and relaxed
feeling energised from the moment you wake up
pain-free joints
normal heart beat

Do we need HRT?

Women are suffering in menopause and the treatment for that suffering, HRT, is stuck in the 1960s. Feminine Forever, a book promoting HRT published in 1966 by Robert A Wilson, proclaims that it is “a fully documented discussion of one of medicine’s most revolutionary breakthroughs – the discovery that the menopause is a hormone deficiency disease, curable and totally preventable and that every woman, no matter what her age, can safely live a fully sexed life for her entire life”. He went on to say that because the oestrogen level in a woman’s body dropped after menopause, postmenopausal women who didn’t receive treatment were no longer truly female. Or feminine. Panicked women took up HRT in their thousands.

But just consider the fact that oestrogen dropping is normal. That is our natural programming. And our natural programming does not include suffering, as evidenced by millions of women worldwide who are sailing through menopause without a single problem, or HRT.

HRT may be useful for women who have gone through premature ovarian insufficiency early on in life, but if you are making the transition in your late 30s or early 40s, you only need to change what you are eating.

Change what you eat and flip the energy switch!

You can flip the menopausal energy switch, but doing it on your own is hard. Choosing the right foods can be a difficult process of trial and error. Yes low carbohydrate is the way to go, but which carbohydrates, and how low? Supplements can help but which ones are right for you?

I have spent the last 6 years developing and refining this approach to menopause. It is based on scientific evidence and the experiences of hundreds of women. It is always available in clinic, and periodically available as an 6 week group course named Menopause Rehab.

My approach provides the right combination of alkaline foods, appropriate carbohydrates, protein and fats to make the menopausal metabolic switch easy and fast, which means that symptoms reverse quickly and you can get on with your life. Additionally you will be given solutions to take care of heart health, bone health and vaginal issues.

By making a few simple modifications to your diet, you can completely change your experience of menopause and transition through this life phase healthier than ever. This new way of eating burns fat instead of storing it, reduces inflammation and nourishes your body to restore energy, vitality and health for years to come

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Peri/menopause

Case studies

Brain fog in menopause completely cleared in 8 weeks

Reversal of severe brain fog in a 59 year old woman who’s ambition was to climb a mountain.

Overview

The most well known symptoms in menopause are hot flushes and night sweats, but the most common are fatigue, anxiety, brain fog and weight gain.

In women following an inappropriate diet, oestrogen declining leads to a severe energy deficiency in the brain and body, leading to ALL these symptoms.

I have developed a protocol that can reverse this energy deficit – and reduce symptoms by 75% – with nutrition alone in 8 weeks.

Introduction

LM was 59 years old when she came to see me asking for help with severe menopausal symptoms. Her most significant concerns were severe brain fog, low energy and wanting to get fit to do a trek.

She said:

“I have always had a busy, active life and enjoyed walking and cycling holidays. Now when I have an active day at work I get home exhausted and sleep most of the evening. I find I have a ‘fog’ in my brain which makes it difficult to work especially as I have several ongoing responsibilities at any one time. This year I am transitioning to retirement and I want my energy back in order to enjoy it.”

LM had gone up a dress size in the last year and although she had cut down on eating biscuits and cakes, this didn’t make any difference to her weight. She was still having some hot flushes and night sweats. She regularly fell asleep straight after dinner and was tired in the daytime. She wanted to do regular exercise to prepare for the trek that she planning, but she just didn’t have the energy to do it.

Health history

LM had been on the pill for 20 years
Peri-menopause started when she was about 50 and she had her last period at 53
She started noticing menopausal symptoms around 4 years previously

Nutrition history

LM’s diet was high in sugar and carbohydrates: typically cereal with fruit, or porridge with sugar for breakfast, bread and soup for lunch, and frequent rice or pasta dishes for dinner.
She always had a desert such as cake or ice cream or biscuits after lunch and dinner.
She frequently snacked on fruit, dried fruit or biscuits.
She drank little water and 5-7 cups of tea with milk every day

Menopause type analysis

64% of symptoms were associated with oestrogen metabolism
Progesterone was fine
Testosterone was possibly low

Significant test results

MARKER	LEVEL	INTERPRETATION
Vitamin D	Severe deficiency	Low immune function, skeletal concerns
Cholesterol	High	Inflammation
Liver enzymes	High	Impaired liver function

Root cause analysis

During the menopausal transition and post-menopause, a woman’s body is switching from using sugar as an energy source, to using fat. Hence menopausal symptoms are not really an oestrogen deficiency problem, they are an energy deficiency problem.

LM’s diet was too high in sugar for this phase in her life. Her body was converting her dietary carbohydrates to fat, and at the same time it she was not able to burn fat for energy. This meant that her brain and body were starving for energy, leading to severe brain fog, weight gain, hot flushes, night sweats and feelings of severe exhaustion.

Her high sugar intake was affecting her liver, possibly leading to a fatty liver, and at the same time her vitamin D deficiency was lowering her brain function and preventing restful sleep.

Protocol

NUTRITION

I recommended MenoKeto, a nutrition formula that I have developed through my clinical practice that is ideal for women in peri-menopause and menopause;
LM was provided with a range of suitable recipes and meal plan suggestions.
LM was asked to follow my 7 food rules as closely as possible.

SUPPLEMENTS

Vitamin D: calibrated dose of emulsified vitamin D drops

SYMPTOM TRACKING

Scale:

0 – none
1 – mild
2 – moderate
3 – severe

Symptoms	Week 1
Hot flushes	2
Night sweats	2
Vaginal dryness	2
Pain with intercourse	2
Bloating	2
Poor memory	2
Foggy thinking	3
Mood swings	1
Fatigue	3
Sleep disturbance	2
Anxiety	1
Irritability	2
Headaches	1
Hair loss	1
Weight gain	2
Decreased sexual desire	2
Decreased sexual arousal	2
Decreased sexual response	2

Total score	34

Results: follow-up 2 (+8 weeks)

LM reported that she was feeling much better and the brain fog had completely lifted. She was able to multi-task with ease, and she happily started and finished writing work proposals on time and with pleasure.
Her energy was back and she had started going to pilates classes, as well aiming to go swimming 2-3 times a week, and starting Tai Chi.
She found the nutrition recommendations easy to follow and had upgraded her meals.
She was now only eating 2-3 meals a day without any cravings or energy dips in the daytime.
LM’s nutrition and supplements were further adjusted for the next 3 months to ensure complete remission of symptoms.

SYMPTOM TRACKING

Scale:

0 – none
1 – mild
2 – moderate
3 – severe

Symptoms	Week 1	Week 8
Hot flushes	2	0
Night sweats	2	0
Vaginal dryness	2	1
Pain with intercourse	2	0
Bloating	2	0
Poor memory	2	0
Foggy thinking	3	0
Mood swings	1	0
Fatigue	3	0
Sleep disturbance	2	0
Anxiety	1	1
Irritability	2	1
Headaches	1	0
Hair loss	1	0
Weight gain	2	0
Decreased sexual desire	2	1
Decreased sexual arousal	2	1
Decreased sexual response	2	1

Total score	34	6
Symptoms reduced by 82%

My specialist menopause plan concentrated on my nutrition and had supplements personalised to me to support me – it has seen my whole health and mindset change.
LM

My review

I was delighted for LM, she cognitive function was excellent and she had more than enough energy in day, enough to start training for her mountain trek.

No woman should be suffering through menopause and the main change that needs to made is nutrition.

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Brain fog, Hot flushes, Peri/menopause

News, views and reviews, Peri/menopause

66 Peri/Menopause Symptoms

Patient

These are very real physical changes and conditions. Some symptoms alarm a woman that she may be suffering from a serious disease. Perhaps you know the more common ones related to menopausal symptoms in this list. But many of these may surprise you, as they have not been typically associated with this normal physiological transformation.

Change in Menstrual Cycle, Cycles may get closer together or farther apart, lighter and shorter in duration or much heavier, lasting longer than one has been accustomed to. Menses may seem to take forever to begin with dark spotting for days until you actually flow, or you might feel like you have your menses every two weeks.
Menstrual Flooding can come on with sudden onset and feel like you may hemorrhage to death. Or it can be a gradual build-up just when you think your menses will end and you start gushing for days. Flooding commonly accompanies the woman with uterine fibroids as she transits into menopause.
Headaches, Migraines, especially before, during or at the end of your menses debilitate and radically interferes with normal functioning.
Decreased Motor Coordination, Clumsiness, almost begins to make the woman who experiences this feel like she is a bit spastic, certainly less than graceful during perhaps an already awkward period in her life.
Lethargy, a persistent feeling sluggishness physically and mentally, that seems to negate ones ability to do much.
Physical Exhaustion , and Crushing Crashing Fatigue that can come on so suddenly and grip you into feeling like you will collapse unless you stop this instant.
Exacerbation of any Chronic Illness or Existing Condition transpires as hormones decline or deviate from their normal balance.
Insomnia, this includes a new or unusual pattern of either difficulty falling asleep, or dropping off to sleep for a few hours and then awakening with the inability to return to sleep.
Sleep Disturbances sometimes are from nightmares, night sweats, or just a vague sense of restlessness keeping you up or disrupting your precious revitalizing retreat from this realm of responsibilities.
Night Sweats often begin between a woman?s breasts, initially a night or two before her menses, waking her from sleep, later more profoundly disturbing with up to total body saturation, followed by damp or sweat-drenched chills.
11. Interference With Dream Recall interrupts the sense of normal sleep, if you are someone accustomed to vivid or at least some detailed memory of your dream time.
Muscle Cramps can occur anywhere in the body from legs to back to neck, and sometimes reflects the need for more calcium, or simply that your progesterone levels are too low.
Low Backache often worsens before or during menses, but if your hormones remain at low levels, you can experience it on a regular basis.
Gall Bladder Symptoms of pain, spasms and discomfort felt in the right upper abdominal quadrant under the ribs, which may be accompanied by belching, bloating, and intolerance to certain foods reflect the increased liver load with declining hormones.
Frequent Urination, or sensations that mimic urinary infections is a disturbing symptom often unrelieved by actual urination. It is often experienced as the sensation of needing to urinate all the time, even immediately afterwards.
Urinary Incontinence, the uncontrollable and spontaneous loss of urine, or the Urge for Incontinence, can occur suddenly or feel continuous, and not only in response to coughing, sneezing, jumping or running.
Hypoglycemic Reactions happen when suddenly your blood sugar crashes and you must have food now.
Food Cravings, often for sweets or salty foods, but can include sour or pungent foods.
Increased Appetite, especially at night and after dinner contributes to that unusual and unwanted weight gain.
Dark Circles Under Eyes can also be caused by adrenal exhaustion and thyroid dysfunctions, but no amount of sleep seems to eliminate it.
Joint and Muscle Pain, Achy, Sore Joints, Muscles and Tendons, which sometimes develop into actual carpal tunnel syndrome, or give rise to the questioning of other disease possibilities.
Increased Tension in Muscles demonstrates itself in those hunched up shoulders as you work or talk about anything uncomfortable, along with promoting lower back pain and a stiff neck.
Increased Hair Loss or Thinning anywhere on body, including your head, armpits, pubic area.
Increase in Facial Hair especially under your chin, or along your jaw line. It may be defined by generalized hair growth, or a specific and coarse single strand of hair that pokes out, even curls.
Unusual Hair Growth, around Nipples, between Breasts, down your back, places where your hair was finer, less coarse.
Acne, quite disturbing to any woman who dealt with this in adolescence and never thought it would recur.
Infertility causes grief in the woman who postponed pregnancy in her earlier years and now wishes to conceive, carry to term a healthy baby, and discovers she is unable to do so.
Loss of Breast Tissue begins with a decrease in progesterone production. Women often feel as though their breast have become empty sacs devoid of their normal fullness, with or without sagging.
Breast Soreness/Tenderness/Pain/ Engorgement and swelling occurs particularly a few days to one week before bleeding actually begins, which usually potentiates complete relief of any pain or swelling.
Painful, or tender nipples have been described as this exquisite localized pain only in the nipples and suggest estrogen excess.
Cold Extremities feels quite strange especially in the presence of a hot flash, the combination of which is not impossible.
Being Accident Prone, bumping into things, not even realizing it until the bruise reveals itself later and then lacking the ability to recall the causative incident feels perplexing and a little scary at the prospect of something more damaging.
Hot flashes initially may be described as mild to severe flushes of heat waves, and for some women these evolve into intense outbreaks of sudden heat with sweating and turning bright red all over.
Loss of Sexual Energy, our Libido, can be marked by a gradual or sudden disinterest in sex, to the development of an actual aversion.
Painful Sex often described as if one?s vagina would tear open at the point of penetration along with feelings of abrasion during intercourse.
Vaginal Dryness, Irritation, sometimes accompanied by a consistent unusual discharge – typically odor free, negates a woman?s ability to be sexually active, or able to enjoy or be comfortable in her body.
Dizziness, feeling lightheaded and the loss of physical balance, and even a bit wobbling at times, requires pause in movement to prevent falling over or deepening into vertigo or feeling faint.
Ringing in the Ears, Tinnitus, can be experienced as a pulsing sensation, a whooshing sound, an almost musical or buzzing sound with a fuzzy sensation.
Abdominal Bloating comes on suddenly often after eating, or seems to be all the time, and can be visibly evident making you feel that you look like you are pregnant.
Weight Gain disturbs most women, particularly when it seems to happen over a couple of days, settles in the waist, buttocks and thighs, promoting a visceral thickening from the waist down, the classic middle-aged figure.
Fluid Retention, Edema, commonly with swelling in the legs and ankles, though not limited to this area and it is unrelieved by urination.
Palpitations or Heart Racing usually comes on suddenly, without warning or provocation, and dissipates spontaneously. The experience can be so wild and intense that a woman may become alarmed and wonder if she is having a heart attack.
Irregularities in your Heart Rate may feel more like your heart has just done a flip-flop or skipped a beat.
Constipation/Diarrhea, intermittent or alternating, results from declining hormone levels, which increase the demands on liver function and alters intestinal motility.
Tendency towards Candidiasis can increase, even if you have no prior known history ? and if you do, it may worsen.
Gastrointestinal Distress, Increased Flatulence, Unrelieved Gas pains, Indigestion, Nausea all can reflect intestinal changes due to hormonal imbalances.
Slow Digestion often goes along with the bloat ? what previously took four to five hours to digest, now seems to take all night. It seems worse in the evenings.
Lack of Appetite may be experienced as more of a lack of interest in food, going to the frig and standing there with the door open and staring blankly. Feeling completely uninspired, you busy yourself with something else and forget that you need to eat.
Changes in Body Odor especially disturbing when it seems to focus in the groin area, but can be anywhere on the body.
Puffy Eyes, not only from sleep disturbances, but also can accompany low progesterone.
Facial Pallor alternating with Facial Flushes is often intermittent with hot flashes.
Flare-up of Arthritis worsens with low progesterone levels and increase sugar intake.
Loss of Bone Density, Osteoporosis, is not only an elderly woman?s disease, though it seems to develop over an extended period and is triggered by the decline of hormone production.
Dry Hair, Change in Skin Tone, Integrity, and Texture, becomes more wrinkled, and may begin the thinning process.
Changes in your Fingernails characterized by easy breakage, bending, cracking and getting softer.
Itchy, Crawly Skin with a strange sensation like insects crawling around under the skin ? quite different than the dry skin feeling.
Muscle tone seems to slack and sag, and lose its previous response to normal exercise.
Pelvic Pain can be random and independent of cycles and may feel continuous for some women.
Dry, Itchy Eyes felt in the deep posterior aspect of the eye socket, as well as superficially.
Teeth Aching or the experience of a strange sensation in one?s teeth or gums, often accompanied by an increase in bleeding gums.
Change in the normal Tongue sensation, which can be accompanied by a feeling of burning in your tongue and roof of mouth, malodorous breath or change in breath odor, and/or a bad taste in your mouth.
Memory Loss or Lapses in time, makes one feel disoriented and less focused, especially when you go into another room to get something specific and seconds later cannot remember what you went to retrieve.
Feeling Faint for no known reason (this does not include standing up too quickly)
Tingling in Extremities not only feels weird and like your hands or feet are falling asleep, but if persistent can be a symptom of diabetes, B12, potassium or calcium deficiency, or a compromise in blood vessel flexibility.
Sensation of Electrical Stimulation, or Shock occurring in the tissue under the skin, and may signal you that a hot flash will begin.
Increase and worsening of Allergies occurs as hormones become imbalanced, so can our immune system.

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Peri/menopause

Peri/menopause

Peri/Menopausal Symptoms – Not Actually a Mystery

An article from the Guardian on 27th August 2019, and the headlines are:

“The menopause: why so little research on the middle-aged ovary?”

“Even the way a woman’s decline in oestrogen relates to her symptoms is a mystery, scientists say”

It’s not a mystery to me! Honestly, who are these scientists??

It’s taken me 3 years to find the answers but the research is there. Although they’re looking in the wrong place for a start. The issue is not with the ovary – the issue is with what oestrogen has stopped doing!

Here is a sample of what I’ve written for the PeriMenoFix course:

One of the many functions of oestrogen is to deliver blood sugar to the cells of the body. This sugar is the energy that powers the whole body and the brain.

As oestrogen levels start to decline in peri/menopause, the delivery of blood sugar also starts to decline, which means that the cells are getting less and less energy and:

You start feeling tired, all the time.
Your brain is deprived of energy which leads to brain fog, depression, memory loss and possibly eventually dementia.
The energy crisis in your brain initiates a huge adrenaline rush to release high amounts of glucose from the liver into the blood stream – this causes hot flushes in the daytime and night sweats at night.
Adrenaline rushes at night mean that going to sleep and staying asleep becomes difficult;
Adrenaline rushes create anxiety which can lead to panic attacks.
High adrenaline destabilises potassium balance which means the heart can’t function properly and this leads to heart palpitations.
High levels of blood sugar causes weight gain as unused blood sugar is converted to fat.

To sum up: peri/menopausal symptoms are not an oestrogen problem, they are an energy problem.

The less oestrogen you have, the less blood sugar your body can use. If you eat too much sugar or carbohydrates, it gets converted to fat and you are left with a dwindling energy resource – you put on more and more weight while your body and your brain are starving.

This is why women in peri/menopause end up with sugar cravings, high blood sugar and gain weight while their bodies are starving for energy. This leads to debilitating fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, hot flushes, night sweats and the long list of other problems. Women with these symptoms are eating the wrong food and their bodies and brain are starving.

The PeriMenoFix fixes all these problems 🙂

The article goes on to say:

“We don’t fully understand that aspect of it,” said Waljit Dhillo, a professor in endocrinology and metabolism at Imperial College London. …Even within a single individual, the way a woman’s decline in oestrogen relates to her symptoms is a mystery. In basic terms, hot flushes are known to be caused by the decline in oestrogen experienced when the fertility cycle comes to an end and more sudden drops in oestrogen tend to cause more extreme symptoms, but beyond that our knowledge seems to taper off.”

Professor Dhillo might not get it, but it makes perfect sense to me: the more drastically oestrogen drops, the more drastic the drop in blood sugar delivery to the body, and the brain, which means more drastic low energy symptoms.

The fix is so simple: low carbohydrate, high fat nutrition that is adapted to women’s biology.

Working with the body instead of against it, and switching nutrition from burning sugar to burning fat is the foundation of the PeriMenoFix.

ARTICLE

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Peri/menopause

News, views and reviews, Peri/menopause

How Omega-3 can provide relief for menopausal symptoms

Menopause Centre

The therapeutic benefits of omega-3 fatty acids – which are abundant in certain fish oils – have long been known. In the 1950s, upon the discovery that omega-3 improves brain development, cod liver oil was given for free to young children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. In the 80s, scientists reported that eskimos enjoy better coronary health than their mainland counterparts as a result of their fish rich diets. And in 2009, a study published in the Menopause journal suggested that omega-3 helps reduce the frequency of hot flushes in menopausal women.

As you can see, the hype that surround omega-3 is warranted, and not something to be shied away from.

The Truth About Fats

Many women are concerned about fat, and wrongly believe that consuming fat will make them overweight. The truth is, however, that an extremely low-fat diet won’t regulate your weight – and it certainly won’t enhance your health. Fat can be hugely beneficial in the right form, and by consuming fatty acids such as omega-3, you will surely be more healthy.

Research has confirmed that omega-3 fatty acids may have an excellent effect on impacting degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and many more. As for menopause, omega-3 fatty acids contain anti-inflammatory properties shown to have a positive effect on many of the symptoms associated with “the change”.

What can omega-3 help with?

Because of its wonderful properties, omega-3 can greatly help women during menopause. It helps treat a range of menopausal symptoms, such as:

Hypertriglyceridemia– Postmenopausal women may have higher triglyceride concentrations than premenopausal women, exposing them to increased risk of coronary heart disease. As omega-3 offers a triglyceride-lowering effect, many practitioners recommend menopausal women obtain a bare minimum 1g/day as provided by your diet or supplementation.
Joint pain/menopause arthritis– Omega-3 fats can reduce inflammation, which may help relieve joint pain and stiffness related to menopause arthritis. Omega-3s work in a similar way as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Menstrual pain – As part of your ovaries’ frustrating grand finale, perimenopausal women often experience strong menstrual pain and cramping. This pain is often caused by substances called prostaglandins, which come in both “good” and “bad” form. Menopause promotes the bad kind, while omega-3 fatty acids promote the good kind.
Depression– Women are twice as likely to suffer depression compared with men, and the risk is even greater following menopause. Irritability and sadness are common emotional symptoms of menopause, but omega-3 may effectively alleviate these symptoms. Omega-3s work to improve mood and restore structural integrity to brain cells that are critical in performing cognitive functions.
Osteoporosis– An increased intake of omega-3 acids increases bone mineral content and produces healthier, stronger bones. As menopause can increase a woman’s risk of developing osteoporosis due to a drop in oestrogen levels, omega-3 fatty acids should be an essential part of a menopausal diet.
Hot flushes– The frequency of hot flushes in women going through menopause can vary from as little as once a week to every 30 minutes. Some hot flushes last minutes, while others a mere few seconds. Studies have shown that while omega-3 may not affect the intensity of hot flushes, it can halve the frequency of hot flushes with the right dosage.
Vaginal dryness– Fatty acids help to lubricate the body in general, therefore helping with dryness of the vagina – a common symptom of menopause.

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Hot flushes, Nutrition and supplements, Omega 3, Peri/menopause

ACADEMY

What's new in Peri/menopause

The roles of oestrogen and progesterone in our menstrual cycle

4 stages in the menopausal transition

1. Early perimenopause: oestrogen dominance

2. Late perimenopause: oestrogen decline

3. Menopause

4. Post-menopause

How to tell if you’re perimenopausal

Functional medicine approaches to smooth the transition and beyond.

First things first – what is menopause?

Get your life back: at least 75% menopausal symptoms can be reversed in 6 weeks just by making different food choices

Do we need HRT?

Change what you eat and flip the energy switch!

Overview

The most well known symptoms in menopause are hot flushes and night sweats, but the most common are fatigue, anxiety, brain fog and weight gain.

In women following an inappropriate diet, oestrogen declining leads to a severe energy deficiency in the brain and body, leading to ALL these symptoms.

I have developed a protocol that can reverse this energy deficit – and reduce symptoms by 75% – with nutrition alone in 8 weeks.

Introduction

Health history

Nutrition history

Menopause type analysis

Significant test results

Root cause analysis

Protocol

Results: follow-up 2 (+8 weeks)

My review

Here is a sample of what I’ve written for the PeriMenoFix course:

To sum up: peri/menopausal symptoms are not an oestrogen problem, they are an energy problem.

The fix is so simple: low carbohydrate, high fat nutrition that is adapted to women’s biology.

Get better now

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Sandra Ishkanes Functional Medicine Practitioner BSc MA DipION sandra@gynecologic.dream.press Brighton, UK

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Sandra Ishkanes
Functional Medicine Practitioner
BSc MA DipION

sandra@gynecologic.dream.press
Brighton, UK