Right now, you may be thinking, “perimeno-what?”,. When women get into their 40’s (and even sometimes late 30’s), they may notice a marked difference in how they feel overall. Many women may deal with symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, irregular periods, low sex drive, mood changes, joint pain, and insomnia. Many of these symptoms may be attributed to perimenopause, clinically defined as the transition between perimenopause and menopause. This stage of perimenopause may often start to occur for many women up to 10 years before menopause. Menopause is defined as 12 months without a menstrual cycle, the average age for which this may occur is 51-52 years old. For many women, the perimenopausal time of life can feel like a hormone roller coaster. During this life phase, many women may seek medical help, which may result in bouncing around too many different specialists to seek answers for the sudden changes they may see occurring in their bodies. However, underneath the surface of this tide of changes, hormonal fluctuation may be the driver. Biologically, perimenopause is the natural change caused by the declining function of the
ovaries. Although this process is natural, the fact is that women can possibly reach the point where the symptoms caused by this change may really affect their overall well-being. As aforementioned some of the symptoms may include; irregular menstruation, frequent menstruation, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, anxiety, depression, joint pain, hair loss, and others. Some of the symptoms can put a damper on self-esteem, careers, relationships, responsibilities, and quality of life. Women should know that there are supportive therapies both natural and conventional that may be used to help support themselves.
Know Your Numbers. There is a multitude of physicians who are willing and open to help support you through menopause, oftentimes it can be diagnosed clinically, and labs are not a determinant. However, labs can help rule out other imbalances that may be contributing to how one may feel during this life stage. Consider inquiring with your practitioner about some of the lab tests below. You can also consider discussing this issue with a holistic or integrative physician.
Lab Tests:
● Complete Blood Count
● Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
● Lipid Panel
● FSH
● LH
● TSH
● Free T3
● Free T4
● Reverse T3
● Thyroid antibodies
● Iodine
● Iron, TIBC, and Ferritin Panel
● B12/Folate
● Vitamin D
● DHEA-S
● Pregnenolone
● Fasting Insulin
● Hemoglobin a1c
● hsCRP
● ANA with reflex to titer, pattern, and cascade
● Salivary or urinary hormone testing
Contact a Holistic or Integrative Physician if your regular Gynecologist is unable to help:
They are willing and open to help support you through this life stage. These practitioners can help individualize a treatment plan that can best support you, they are trained in lifestyle interventions such as supplements, herbals, nutritional changes, acupuncture, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, and exercise counseling.
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