Hot flashes. The change. The Autumn of life.

No matter how poetic you make it sound, menopause is more “hot mess” than glamorous. While most people think menopause starts when estrogen drops off, that’s only one piece of a bigger, complex puzzle; a jigsaw that causes awful symptoms like night sweats, irritability, fatigue, mood swings, trouble sleeping, vaginal dryness and more. If you’re fed up with the upheaval of menopause, you need all the pieces of the puzzle to live your best life.

The Forgotten Hormone:

Responsible for mood regulation, calming nerves, and restful sleep, progesterone is often overlooked and forgotten by physicians. But an imbalance of progesterone can have devastating effects on your health. During childbearing years, progesterone helps maintain the uterine lining throughout pregnancy. It’s also necessary for breast development and breastfeeding. But when a woman reaches menopause, progesterone levels crash– causing anxiety, sleep disturbances, and out-of-control mood swings.

The Motivation Hormone:

Famous for energy, motivation, and a sex drive that won’t quit, testosterone is a man’s thing–except it isn’t. Women have testosterone too, and having healthy, balanced levels of this hormone is crucial for a woman’s well-being. Produced in small amounts by the adrenal glands and ovaries, testosterone helps to regulate libido, strength, and red blood cell production. As women age, the ovaries produce less testosterone, creating an imbalance that can manifest as:

• Reduced sex drive, or decreased sexual satisfaction
• Weight gain
• Vaginal dryness
• Sleep disturbances
• Loss of bone density

Because these symptoms are so common, doctors may check for issues such as depression, anxiety or thyroid disease before uncovering a proper diagnosis of low testosterone.

The Life-Saving Hormone:

Made to keep you safe, cortisol is the hormone that floods your body when danger lurks; it’s an emergency responder to stress. It’s also our anti-inflammatory hormone– it protects your body from inflammation caused by bad lifestyle habits, environmental toxins, or emotional turmoil. Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands when stress strikes. And in a fast-paced and hectic world like ours, most people have a constant release of cortisol which has damaging consequences on the body.

Chronic high cortisol can lead to rapid ageing, loneliness, depression, adrenal fatigue and burnout.

Fitting The Puzzle Pieces Together:

Menopause is a massive change to a woman’s body that has dire effects on happiness and emotional well-being. Although the loss of estrogen plays a big part, there are many more hormones that get out of whack. And each one impacts your life in a big way. Overwhelming fatigue, somber moods, hot flashes, weight gain, and loss of sex drive are just the tip of the iceberg. But, with so many treatments to balance these hormones, why are so many women still suffering in silence?

Because they’re not empowered with the right information. Menopause might be a difficult puzzle to put together, but it’s absolutely possible with the right tests and guidance from someone who treats the root cause of menopause– not just the symptoms.

So, if you’re feeling tired all time but can’t sleep, have terrible mood swings, loss of libido or weight gain, find all the pieces of the puzzle before being treated with medications like anti-depressants. While extremely helpful, anti-depressants aren’t always the answer– especially if it’s your hormones (and not your brain chemistry) that’s imbalanced. Balancing your hormones can take care of your sleep, help you lose weight, boost your sex drive, calm your nerves, and so much more all at once.

Give us a call @ 626-389-8922 or schedule a FREE health strategy call with my team to find out more about living your best life.