A Woman’s Guide To Menopause

Women naturally stop producing estrogens around the age of fifty.

Many would claim that this is how the body naturally functions. However, why do so many women have such negative emotions when this occurs? The explanation is that in order to restore and maintain optimal health, estrogen is required throughout life.

Like estrogen, hormones are vital to all bodily processes. Estrogens provide women with energy and the capacity to develop in a variety of ways, including mood, memory, and metabolism.

Estrogen affects nearly every tissue in the body, including the skin, hair, heart, and bones. Menopause in Dubai significantly diminishes women’s capacity to produce new tissue. A woman’s systems are affected for the remainder of her life when her estrogen levels drop, including the loss of bone and muscle, brain tissue, skin connective tissue, heart muscle, and artery walls. This is why menopause treatment in Dubai is increasingly sought for long-term hormonal health support.

The Symptoms of Menopause

According to conventional belief, up to 80% of middle-aged women experience hot flashes, which often last only a few years. However, hot flashes can last up to 14 years, and the earlier they start, the longer a woman is expected to experience them.

Hot flashes are more likely to persist for years after menopause in women who experienced them prior to stopping their periods than in those whose symptoms only started after that time.

The median duration of symptoms for women who began experiencing hot flashes during the early perimenopause or while they were still having regular periods was 11.8 years. Nine of those years happened after menopause, which is almost three times longer than the median of 3.4 years for women whose hot flashes didn’t begin until their periods stopped.

Drops in estrogen are connected to hot flashes, which can occur often during the day and night and cause women to flush their faces and be covered in perspiration. According to studies, women who experience hot flashes are also more likely to experience bone loss and cardiovascular issues.

Women going through menopause have a long range of symptoms! We offer a thorough list of symptoms and link them to potential hormone excesses or deficiencies to help the reader determine which hormone (or hormones) is causing the ailment.

This list is used by skilled medical professionals who treat women going through menopause to connect the symptoms to either an excess or a shortage of hormones.

Estrogen Deficiency
Hot flashes	Night Sweats	Sleep Disturbances
Vaginal Dryness/atrophy	Dry Skin	Headaches
Foggy thinking	Memory gaps	Heart palpitations
Heart palpitations	Yeast infections	Painful sex
Depression	Low libido	Bone Loss

Estrogen Excess
Water retention	Heavy, erratic menstruation	Breast pain and swelling
Fatigue	Craving for sweets	Weight gain
Fibrocystic breasts	Mood swings	Uterine fibroids
Low thyroid symptoms	Anxiety and nervousness	Irritability

Progesterone Deficiency
Many signs of an overabundance of estrogen include	Swollen breasts	Headaches
Low libido	Anxiety	Mood swings
Menstrual irregularities	Depression	Cramps
PMS	Infertility	Fuzzy thinking
Acne	Joint pain	Weight gain

Progesterone Excess
Somnolence	Gastrointestinal bloating	Mild melancholy
Breast edema	Candida flare-ups	Worsened estrogen insufficiency symptoms

Testosterone Deficiency
Prolonged exhaustion	Mental fog	Memory issues
Depression	Diminished libido	Diminished drive
Muscle weakness	Decreased sense of well-being	Heart palpitations
Skin thinning	Bone loss	Vaginal dryness
Incontinence	General aches and discomfort	Fibromyalgia

Testosterone Excess
Acne	Male-pattern hair growth	Voice deepening
Clitoral enlargement	Irritability/moodiness	Insomnia
Scalp hair loss

Low cortisol
Exhaustion	Allergies	Cravings for sweets
Irritability	Chemical sensitivities	Hypothyroidism symptoms
Low progesterone symptoms

High cortisol
The same signs as low cortisol, such as	Bone loss	Anxiety
Sleep difficulties	Low libido	Hair loss
Anxiety	Increased triglycerides

Low Thyroid Function
Fatigue, particularly in the evening	Low endurance	Cold extremities
Low body temperature	Dry skin	Cold intolerance
General aches and pains	Weight gain	Depression
Anxiety	Scalp hair loss	Puffy, swollen eyes
Brittle nails	Reduced edema	Low blood pressure and pulse rate
Low focus	Forgetfulness	Elevated cholesterol
Heart palpitations	Infertility	Constipation
Fibromyalgia

Weight Gain during Menopause

Menopausal weight gain is the symptom that many women find hardest to tolerate as they approach menopause.

A woman’s self-esteem and self-image can be severely damaged by a few additional pounds (or even more), but gaining weight can also lead to a number of health issues that increase her risk of acquiring potentially fatal illnesses. At EV Clinic, we are aware of it on a daily basis.

Approximately 90% of women going through menopause gain some weight. It’s not only about what they eat and how much they exercise, as many women will attest, even though they frequently do both rather well.

Between the ages of 45 and 55, when menopause usually hits, women often gain 15 to 20 pounds. In most cases, a woman’s excess weight is not distributed equally across her body. Instead, the weight tends to build up around the abdomen, and women frequently observe that their bodies gradually lose their hourglass shape and start to take on a rounded look.

Even though women are aware that their weight gain is due to a hormone imbalance, they frequently find little solace from their frustrations when they visit their doctor. Women seek alternative guidance from professionals like those at EV Clinic because they are all too frequently told things like “It’s a natural part of menopause” and “It’s part of getting older.”

After menopause, women who acquire more than 20 pounds have a nearly 20% higher risk of breast cancer, while those who lose 20 pounds have a 23% lower risk.

Hormonal Causes of Weight Gain

The metabolism slows down with age, creating the physiological conditions for weight gain. While aging itself can result in plump midsections, women are more prone to acquire weight as their hormones change before menopause and get ready for a permanently lower hormonal level.

One study found that a woman’s appetite can increase by up to 67% when her levels of progesterone and estrogen decline. Women may acquire weight as a result of a slowed metabolism brought on by menopause and an increase in hunger. The 12% increase in the number of overweight women in their midlife compared to those in their 20s and 30s may be explained by this.

Hormones play a variety of intricate roles in a woman’s body, including controlling her weight. The various hormones that can influence weight growth are listed below, along with how:

Estrogen

When a woman’s ovaries don’t generate as much estrogen, her body looks for the hormone elsewhere. Her body works harder to turn calories into fat in order to raise her estrogen levels since fat cells may make estrogen. Unfortunately, weight increase results from fat cells’ inability to burn calories like muscle cells do.

Progesterone

Menopause is frequently associated with water retention because bloating and water weight lower progesterone levels. Clothes may feel a little tighter, and a lady may feel heavier, even if this doesn’t truly cause weight gain.

Testosterone

Muscle cells have a higher metabolic rate than fat cells because they burn more calories. A woman’s metabolism slows down as testosterone levels decline because fewer calories are converted into lean muscular mass.

When menopause begins, the level of this hormone rises. It causes new weight to be transferred to the midsection rather than the hips, as many women are used to. Because of the mid-section weight gain, some women even refer to the menopausal years as “the middle-age spread.”

Insulin Resistance

Menopause is a time when insulin resistance might develop. This occurs when a woman’s body unintentionally converts all of the calories she consumes into fat. A woman’s body may become resistant to insulin generated in the bloodstream over time if she consumes processed and refined foods.

Low Thyroid

Women who have an underactive thyroid frequently gain weight since the illness slows down their metabolic rate. Although it is uncommon, hyperthyroidism can occasionally result in weight gain. In essence, thyroid hormones control how many calories the body consumes. Fewer calories are burned and transformed into energy when the thyroid is underactive. Rather, the body stores them.

Gaining weight does not have to be a necessary aspect of menopause and aging. Alternatively, it is feasible to pinpoint typical causes of weight gain during this time so that the problem can be resolved.

High Cortisol

In this day and age, women are under far greater stress than ever before. In addition to being mothers, best friends, girlfriends, and spouses, women frequently work demanding professional roles. Life’s frustrations and stressors include work, kids, aging parents, and bills. With fewer hours of sleep, a potential decline in exercise, and a more polluted world, we are no longer just dealing with mental stress but also physical stress. Women frequently have substantially greater levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, than we did even five years ago. When combined with other hormone abnormalities, cortisol induces weight gain, primarily in the abdomen, making weight loss nearly impossible. Comprehensive care plans for menopause wellness in Dubai aim to improve sleep, mood, and overall vitality.

Emotional Changes of Menopause

The ovaries quit making estrogens about age 50. For many years, the ovaries have produced the majority of the body’s estrogens; when they stop, the amount of estrogens in the blood drastically decreases.

Many women experience this transition without experiencing any negative physical or psychological effects. However, a number of symptoms, such as hot flashes, melancholy, irritability, anxiety, and other issues, affect some women.

Moods can be impacted by changes in hormones. Feeling unusually anxious, depressed, or experiencing memory loss can be upsetting. These emotions might occasionally even cause tension in your interpersonal connections. Knowing that menopause’s psychological effects are transient is helpful. You’ll probably quickly regain your composure. These are the most typical menopausal psychological side effects.

While the well-known menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats, ultimately go away, anxiety, despair, and memory problems may persist forever.

Anxiety

Women who have never experienced anxiety may start to worry about small things and become more self-conscious. Panic attacks do happen occasionally. Professionals in mental health offer a range of efficient therapies. Just being aware of the issue makes a lot of people feel considerably better. The most crucial piece of advice is to avoid letting anxiety limit your activities. People who suffer from anxiety or panic disorders may avoid difficult situations, which can lead to an ever-tightening leash that prevents them from having fun. Many facets of everyday life can be avoided as a result of anxiety. This is avoided with prompt treatment.

Depression and Irritability

Menopausal women may experience depression. Additionally, irritability is typical. Examining all available choices is crucial when thinking about treatment for anxiety, sadness, or irritability. To help stabilize hormone fluctuations and lessen physical symptoms that can exacerbate mood issues, the first step is to organize your food and engage in regular exercise. Psychotherapy can be very helpful, and innovative short-term methods have proven to be effective at a significantly lower cost than what standard therapies require. Compared to earlier treatments, modern antidepressants and anxiety meds have fewer negative effects.

Poor Memory and Concentration

Menopause can cause memory lapses in certain women, which are frequently linked to a decreased capacity for concentration. This can be irritating and distressing. One common complaint is forgetting words that are just on “the tip of the tongue.” Your performance at work may suffer if you are unorganized and incapable of multitasking.

Menopause Testing

Doctors now recommend personalized menopause treatment options in Dubai based on individual hormonal needs. 

Hormone Testing

For women of all ages, hormone balance is critical to overall health. Unfortunately, there are substantial variations in the accuracy of the assays used to measure hormone levels. Many women explore non-hormonal menopause treatment in Dubai for symptom relief without hormone-based therapy.

Any technique for determining a woman’s hormone levels can be applied if she is not taking any hormones. However, only salivary levels can be used if a woman is using topical or vaginal creams. If saliva testing is not used on women using topical or vaginal treatments, the practitioner may overload the patient with hormones without realizing it.

This is due to the fact that topical hormones (found in creams or gels) totally avoid the bloodstream by being absorbed through the lymphatic system and delivered straight to the tissues.

Saliva, urine metabolites, or blood may be used if a woman is taking the hormones orally, on an estradiol patch, or on pellet therapy (estradiol and testosterone).

Saliva Testing

For over 30 years, saliva testing has been a part of clinical research. For more than ten years, doctors have had access to saliva testing. Saliva testing is the most reliable way to determine the body’s availability of the hormones cortisol, DHEA, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, according to years of clinical experience. Compared to a serum (blood) test, which examines the amount of hormones circulating in the bloodstream, saliva testing is far more specific and accurately determines the quantity of hormones at the cellular level.

However, women who take hormones in a transmucosal (lozenge or troche) or sublingual (drops or spray) format cannot be monitored with saliva tests. The saliva levels produced by these hormone delivery methods are too high to be beneficial since the hormones are concentrated in the salivary glands.

Serum or Blood Testing

The normal range of hormones is defined quite broadly by most serum tests, which is a clear drawback to their usage. Hormone levels are measured using serum, which is a component of a woman’s blood sample. The majority of serum tests quantify the amount of “free” hormone, which is easily absorbed by cells, the amount of “total” hormone, which is associated with molecules that convey hormones in the bloodstream, or a computed combination of both free and total hormone levels. Additionally, the findings of serum tests are frequently inconsistent, particularly if the hormone value reported is in the low-normal range. It is not an accurate reflection of the bioavailable hormone (the amount of hormone that is active in organs and tissues). Because the hormone is attached to the surface of red blood cells and does not show up in the serum in extremely high concentrations, serum testing is less useful for tracking women who use transdermal (patch or cream) types of hormones.

Many women who have normal serum test results find it difficult to comprehend why they nevertheless have hormone imbalance symptoms. (On the other hand, saliva testing yields a more precise range of normal values.) Modern menopause therapy in Dubai focuses on restoring balance and improving quality of life.

Urinary Metabolites

Urinary metabolites give the unique capacity to assess the metabolites of all the hormones, but they are not helpful when women are using topical or vaginal hormone treatments. Knowing the metabolites is crucial because, while endogenous hormones are not associated with the development of cancer, the quinone form of the estrogen metabolite has been. Knowing whether the patient is metabolizing hormones in the incorrect way might help the practitioner modify the patient’s hormone metabolism through supplementary and nutritional therapy. The first step in removing the byproducts from a woman’s system is hormone metabolism.

Urine testing measures the quantity of hormones excreted in the urine, as opposed to saliva or blood measurements, which assess the hormone levels. Urine metabolites assess the levels of hormones and metabolites excreted over a 24-hour period, while saliva and blood measure the level at that time of day.

Not Testing Hormone Levels

Some doctors don’t measure hormone levels because they don’t know how to use the various testing methods. They treat symptoms by prescribing hormone creams, but they are unable to explain why the blood levels remain low.

Because they do not observe any change in blood levels, this is the main reason why some doctors do not think topical and transvaginal treatments are effective.

Safe and Effective Hormone Therapy

Both the general public and orthodox medicine are mostly unaware that hormone replacement therapy for women is risky and should be avoided, or at the very least, utilized for very brief periods of time. Women also seek support from the best menopause gynecology clinic in Dubai for expert evaluation and care. 

The connection between estrogen use and cancer is a legitimate concern for many women. There is a lot of research and discussion in this field. Thus far, research has demonstrated the risks associated with using synthetic hormones like Provera and Premarin that are not bioidentical. Nevertheless, there is currently no research that connects bioidentical hormone replacement—particularly when utilized in conjunction with hormone balance—to an elevated risk of cancer. When we were in our late 20s, our hormones were at their peak, which coincided with the period of our life when we were healthiest and cancer-free.

Some people might try to convince you that a food supplement like soy or a herb can make up for what a woman is lacking. While some of these products might help with menopausal symptoms, they don’t offer long-term protection against Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, or heart disease. We think it’s important to listen to a woman’s complaints, measure her hormone levels, and then prescribe the exact hormones she needs!

Make an appointment with EV Clinic right now!

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