Introduction

The most commonly reported symptoms in perimenopause are fatigue, hot flashes/night sweats, irregular cycles, insomnia, and mood changes.


Did you know? The last five years before the last menstrual period are a typical time of declining cardiometabolic health for women. More severe perimenopausal symptoms are linked to a higher risk for cardiometabolic issues later in life. These include heart disease, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity. Assessing and improving your health in your 40's will make the transition much smoother and decrease your risk for these diseases.


Understanding Perimenopause:

Tracking your symptoms against your menstrual cycle is key to understanding whether you are approaching the change or not. You may still have bleeding even if you are not ovulating, and changes in your typical PMS symptoms usually reflect this. A lack of PMS symptoms before a bleed may indicate that you did not ovulate. Additionally, perimenopausal symptoms are usually worse during typically low estrogen stages of the cycle (just prior to, and during the period, and just after ovulation)


The goal in managing perimenopausal symptoms is not to "balance" the hormones that are naturally changing and eventually declining. It is to support women's overall health to improve their resilience to these hormone changes.


Testing for Perimenopause

Testing can be done to look at these hormones (such as FSH, LH, Estrogen and Progesterone, DUTCH test, etc.), but it is difficult to run labs to predict when menopause is coming because hormones may be shifting quite a bit during this time. It is also difficult to predict how severe one's symptoms will be based on labs as the hormone levels are not always consistent with the patient's experience.


Other labs can be done, however, to evaluate for alternative diagnoses for your symptoms and to take a look at your overall health going into menopause: vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, thyroid dysfunction, and/or insulin resistance, and investigate your risk for future health issues like a heart disease or diabetes.


Natural Treatment for Perimenopause

Naturopathic medicine has much to offer in supporting women with perimenopausal symptoms and prevention of chronic diseases related to menopause. Minor diet and lifestyle changes, herbs, and supplements targeted at optimizing nutrient status, gut health, detoxification, blood sugar regulation, and gentle hormone balance can provide much needed relief.


Conclusion:

In summary, managing symptoms in the perimenopausal period takes the form of addressing overall health, and being proactive about this can send you smooth sailing into the next stage of life.


Book in with one of our practitioners today if you are suffering from uncomfortable perimenopausal symptoms, or if you want to ensure your health is in peak shape BEFORE the onset of symptoms.