Menopause

24th July, 2024

By Sheena O’Beirne, Naturopath and Nutritionist

The very word sends shivers down the spine of many women, sadly those
shivers quite quickly turn to heat and sweat once perimenopause starts to hit.

Perimenopause is the time when hormones including oestrogen and progesterone, which are high during menstruation, start to drop. During this time periods will change in nature and then come when they jolly will feel like
it. Once there’s been no period for a year, you’re in menopause.

Whilst it’s a time women’s lives can become freer and many find a new
independence and positives to it, sadly some negatives come along too.

Those can include mood swings, weight gain – especially around the middle –
hair loss, bloating, dryness and lack of libido to name just a few. But don’t
despair there is an answer, plus these pesky symptoms are not permanent for
most women, they present as your body adjusts to the new hormone levels.
Whilst waiting for your body to adjust to the new normal, there are a number of
options to alleviate symptoms until that occurs.

Stress. Is there anything that stress doesn’t affect? Well no actually, there
isn’t. Many people tell me they’re not stressed, if I ask if they’re busy – which
means being on from the moment of waking until it’s time for bed – the answer
is often yes. Sorry to tell you but that means stress.

The state in which we go into menopause often dictates whether we sail
through it or suffer through it. Because the adrenals, which produce our stress
hormones, now have to take over the role of producing reproductive
hormones. That means if we go into menopause with tired adrenals, they’re
not going to be able to pump out reproductive hormones at the speed of light.

So managing stress by lifestyle means (massage, meditation, baths,
breathwork, calming oils to name a few) or with supplements or herbal
medicine tailored for you can help enormously.

There are dietary changes that which can help, useful for flushes and
especially weight which is affected by the lower estrogen.

Estrogen which is higher when menstruating dictates a woman lays fat around
the hips and thighs. Enter perimenopause when estrogen drops and hey
presto the weight moves to around the middle. But don’t despair, it simply
means that we need to adjust our food choices – especially those other foods
that go to the middle anyway – because there is an added culprit exacerbating
the situation now.

I’ve helped thousands of people move weight since I wrote a diet book some
years ago and regularly work with menopausal women who ‘find’ themselves
again once they shift those unwanted kilos.

I can tailor make a herb mix for many symptoms including swinging moods,
bloating, heat, lowered libido, and I have tips for hair loss.

So there’s no need to suffer alone, at the clinic we have a big dispensary full
of the tools useful to help alleviate the many symptoms of menopause and get
you back on track to living life to the full again.

Come in before the dreaded time if you can to stave off the symptoms, or if
you are in the thick of it, come in soon to have someone listen, empathise and
give you a helping hand to get through it.

I look forward to meeting you.
Sheena x

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