Menopause Explanation

by Sally Longden

Firstly it is  most important that we realise that menopause is NOT a disease, but a natural transition from one stage of life to another …. from the child producing, child minding, husband pleasing, ‘giving to everyone else’ stage  of life to a more self aware, self realisation, self pleasing and self fulfilling stage of life.  This is a direct result of the change in the particular oestrogens found during these stages.  Oestradial is the fertile female oestogen which comes into play at puberty, is responsible for keeping women sexy, barefoot and in the kitchen and declines at menopause. Oestriol, the empowering oestrogen, is the one more prevalent after menopause.

It has to be noted that Menopause has become increasingly more difficult since the 1950’s due to the increasing imbalances between the hormones oestrogen and progesterone brought about primarily by the introduction of the ‘man-made’ chemical revolution.  Many of these chemicals are endocrine disruptors, many mimic oestrogen causing hormonal mayhem, early onset of annovulatory cycles and therefore a state of severe oestrogen dominance.

Menopause starts as peri-menopause when anovulation starts (i.e. when ovulation does not occur every month). The progesterone needed to balance the oestrogen comes from ovulation, so with this cessation, a woman is immediately plunged into a state a unopposed oestrogen which results in all the oestrogen dominant symptoms (attached)

When ovulation ceases completely the levels of progesterone found in women are the same as that of a man !!!  The worst symptoms of this progesterone deficiency is what is happeneing in the brain as 50% of progesterone receptor sites are found in the brain …. fuzzy brain, forgetfulness, lack of concentration etc, but mood swings, depression, weight gain are some of the others

Real menopause is where the oestradiaol levels now also start to fall.  The main symptom of this phase is hot flushes, which are brought about by any change in oestrogen levels.  Other oestrogen deficient symptoms are dry vagina and thinning of the uterus lining. 

Womens experience of menopause is dependant on the genetic make up, mental attitude and preconceived expectations … remember you are a victim of your belief system !!  Change your attitude towards hot flushes from unpleasant to a ‘power surge’ and they are then easier to bear.  Nutrition plays an enormous role.  The more balance in a woman’s life the less severe the symptoms.  I recommend supplementation with whole food supplements, especially Omega 3 fatty acids, Chelated Cal mag and a good general Vit and mineral supplement.  Menopausal women should eliminate stimulants from their diet that enhance hot flushes, such as coffee, tea, sugar, altficial food additives and colourants.  Eat organic foods as far as possible to avoid the xeno-oestrogens found in pesticides and herbicides

 Natural Progesterone therapy is essential, not only to minimise the imbalance in hormones (works far better than HRT because it addresses the REAL problem which is the drastic fall off of progesterone), but it helps to bring about balance in the oestrogens as well as it is a precursor to these (see attachment).  It is the only substance that stimulates osteoblast function, the bone-building function, which will help prevent osteoporosis.

It has rightly been named THE PASSAGE TO POWER, by Leslie Kenton, and this can be the start of an amazing journey for all women. Yes we need to adjust, but this is a great idea for living a healthy, energetic life from now on

Lifestyle adjustments must include exercise (walking for 40 minutes per day), meditation and affirmations, positive thinking, changing to a whole food healthy diet, managing stress by restoring hormonal balance (with help of Natural progesterone which is natures ‘Valium’)

One should also look at other alternative therapies such as Reflexology and other energy therapies which stimulate organs and unblock energy flows

For sources of evidence on Natural progesterone therapy, read Dr Lee’s book “What your doctor may not tell you about menopause”, he has gathered so much evidence for over 30 years on this safe therapy that has been around since the 1930’s

Beware HRT ! It is a combination of synthetic progesterone and oestrogen which would supposedly protect menopausal women not only from the cardiovascular disease but also from the ravages of osteoporosis. While the so-called ‘experts’ on women’s health are reassuring women that there are no, or at least only very minor, unpleasant side effects, Dr. Lynette J. Dumble, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, believes that “the sole basis of HRT is to create a commercial market that is highly profitable for the pharmaceutical companies and doctors. The supposed benefits of HRT are totally unproven”. She believes that HRT not only exacerbates the presenting health problems but also contributes to the acceleration of the aging process in women. It either hastens the onset of other medical conditions or worsens the existing ones. This perspective seems to be validated by the recent findings from a landmark studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1995, JAMA in 2002 and the BMJ in 2003. The first study involved 121,700 women, which revealed startling effects from HRT. It warned that women who used HRT to offset the symptoms of menopause also increased their chance of developing breast cancer by 30 to 40% by taking the hormone for more that five years. The last study has shown. Not only that the cancer risk doubled, but so did the risk of stokes, altzheimers disease to name just a few of the results that were exposed in that study involving a million women in UK

According to Leslie Kenton, author of Passage to Power, “everybody who is anybody will tell you that menopause is an oestrogen deficiency disease and that you will need to take more oestrogen as you approach mid-life. What may surprise you is this: not only is most of such commonly given advice on menopause wrong, a great deal of it can be positively dangerous”.