Have you ever gone to your doctor to get relief from your perimenopause symptoms, only to have him say something like the following:
“Hormones are complicated. There’s not much we can do.”
“Just tough it out. It’ll be over soon.”
Or my favorite:
“Try to embrace it.”
Or maybe your doctor failed to recognize the signs of perimenopause entirely…
The most infuriating thing about this kind of advice, besides providing the patient no relief what so ever, is that it can actually exacerbate perimenopause symptoms even more.
How so?
Because if you suffer from any of the 66 signs of perimenopause including fibroids, ovarian cysts, flooding, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, hot flashes, infertility, depression or low libido then you may suffer from more than just perimenopause. You are likely estrogen dominant as well.
Caused by elevated estrogen levels and depleted progesterone, estrogen dominance affects women in their thirties, forties and fifties. Some women experience symptoms as early as their twenties.
And while estrogen naturally declines in women as they approach menopause, certain factors can make progesterone levels decrease even faster, creating an imbalance between the two hormones. And that imbalance makes perimenopause a living nightmare. The normal symptoms any woman might experience as she approaches menopause becomes 10 times worse.
What causes estrogen dominance?
Many factors, really. Diet is huge, as is exposure to toxins in our environment. But one of the worst contributors is stress. When you are under stress, your body pumps out a lot of cortisol in response. That excess cortisol causes estrogen levels to rise.
But it doesn’t stop there. Elevated estrogen in the body pushes down progesterone. And those depleted progesterone levels can make you feel very, very sick.
As you can see, managing your stress is imperative to balancing all of your hormones.
And stress can result from a number of different circumstances. Of course, a high-pressure job will do a number on your cortisol levels, as will the responsibility of juggling work, kids and chores.
But you can also be in stress if you feel that you’re not being heard or taken care of when you are really ill.
So imagine going to your doctor, seeking relief from your severe perimenopause symptoms only to have him not give you the emotional support you need. That visit alone can create an enormous amount of stress and negative emotion.
And that really is the last thing you need, because as we just learned, stress is just one of the major fires that fuels severe perimenopause symptoms.
So finding a doctor, well-versed in perimenopause and estrogen dominance is crucial if you want to find lasting relief from the worst of your symptoms.
Fortunately, you don’t wait until you find the right medical practitioner. There are a number of common sense things you can do all on your own, today, to help alleviate your symptoms and ease your transition into menopause.
Eating right, exercising and reducing stress will go a long way to helping you feel better.
