What to expect from perimenopause
What to expect from perimenopause but more importantly, what you DO NOT have to accept about it!
Menopause is a difficult stage for almost all women, things don’t just take a ‘pause’ they change. The way I look at it is, menopause is the ‘change’ but perimenopause is the ‘pause’. ‘Pause’ because in perimenopause female hormones drop drastically, so the body then has to take a pause to try and adjust itself to these lower or declining levels of hormones. This, for instance, is why we get hot flushes. Hot flushes only last as long as it takes for the body to adapt to these changes in hormone levels. Once the body adapts itself, it begins to change, it has to change, as it no longer has sufficient fuel (hormones) needed to stay healthy, strong and vital, and the person you once were. In fact, this is when we begin our descent into ageing and its related illnesses – hormones protect us.
It is not always easy to tell if you are experiencing perimenopause, and in fact, some women believe it to be impossible, convincing themselves they are too young. I understand totally, but the sooner you listen to your body the better. So many women live with and suffer from symptoms of perimenopause for years, some for as long as 15, before they seek the correct treatment. Perimenopause can begin about 10 to 5 years before menopause, so you could start noticing symptoms as early as your late 30’s, which can greatly disrupt your life, both at work and at play.
You wake up one morning with a feeling of despair, but don’t know why. You are moody, irritable, and you definitely do not feel as good as you used to – your energy levels have dropped, your positive thinking is hovering on the negative side, and sex drive, it just faded away without you realising (but perhaps your husband or partner did!). Your beloved family are stepping around you carefully so as not to crush the eggshells. You’re tired all the time but just don’t seem to be able to get enough sleep; in fact, you can’t sleep. You gain weight, something you never had to deal with before. You ate like a horse at one time with no problem. But not now. And it seems like you are living in a constant state of PMS, and that’s not far from the truth. Your hormones are playing tricks, you have an imbalance, just like before a period, but only this time they are not going to get any better. Welcome, benvenute, bienvenida, bienvenue, willkommen to my world, to perimenopause, to menopause. It happens to every woman, and is apparently, something that cannot be avoided.
But the wonderful thing now is, we no longer have to face these life-disrupting events. We don’t have to take the menopause lying down, have no energy, face depression, fade away into the background, or be left with a feeling of hopelessness, of where to go, and how to resolve it. Neither do we have to face all the age-related diseases that go with it. We have restorative medicine! When you restore your hormones, you restore your health, your life, you restore you, and you obtain longevity. It’s as simple as that!
To your health!