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Menopausal Symptoms
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Every woman is familiar with the classic symptoms of menopause: Hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness.
These all stem from one common cause: Estrogen deficiency.
Estrogen Deficiency Symptoms
But estrogen isn’t the only hormone that declines when menopause begins. Besides the estrogens, two other major sex hormones produced by the ovaries fall off as well: Progesterone and testosterone
Progesterone
Progesterone, the “forgotten” hormone during menopause is critical to a woman’s health. Progesterone deficiency symptoms aren’t as dramatic, but they do affect many female systems.
Complicating matters is the fact that birth control pills and synthetic hormones appear to hinder the natural production of progesterone decades prior to menopause.
Long term progesterone deficiency doesn’t always begin to show up only at menopause. It appears to be a rampant health problem in women of all ages, culminating in a host of chronic health problems.
Problems such as:
Progesterone Deficiency Symptoms
Symptoms attributed to progesterone deficiency include:
Even when women show none of these classic progesterone related deficiency symptoms prior to menopause, when menopause finally arrives, they usually appear in full force.
You can also see from the above list how progesterone deficiencies are less dramatic than estrogen deficiency symptoms and are more difficult to pinpoint. If you visit your doctor with some of these symptoms, most likely you’ll be prescribed an anti-depressant – a waste of time. This is one reason why anti-depressant prescription use is out of control.
Bio Identical Hormones Do Help
If you were to take bio-identical progesterone, these symptoms would in all probability disappear. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine has yet to catch up to this practice.
When women are given bio-identical estrogen to quell their classical menopausal symptoms, there is a universal recommendation the estrogen should not be taken “unopposed” (see Unopposed Estrogen). We always give bio-identical progesterone together with bio-identical estrogen. This not only takes care the potential problems, but the above symptoms at the same time.
Testosterone
Most women (and men) aren’t aware of this, but ovaries also produce testosterone. The amount made is nowhere near the quantities produced in men’s testes, but it is significant enough to alter her body chemistry. Women need some testosterone, especially to sustain and maintain normal muscle and bone functioning and growth.
What happens during the menopausal years when ovarian production of testosterone declines?
Symptoms Of Female Testosterone Deficiency:
Notice there is some overlap with other hormones in terms of symptoms. For example, osteoporosis is also partly caused by progesterone deficiency. The addition of a combined bio-identical progesterone and testosterone restores, strengthens and actually builds new bone cells – all completely without the toxicity of modern prescription medications touted today.
Thyroid
Finally, I’d like to discuss the thyroid hormone. Although thyroid is not manufactured by the ovaries, thyroid gland function does decline in a similar fashion as the ovaries.
However, the rate of decline is different. Thyroid peaks at age 25 and declines in a more or less even fashion over time. Ovarian production of sex hormones also peak at 25, decline evenly until about age 40 – but then drop off a cliff.
So by definition ALL women who are menopausal are also thyroid deficient (even though their blood tests are “normal”).
Thyroid Tests Useless
A word about thyroid blood tests: They are worthless. The laboratory “normals” for thyroid are too wide and include too many people in the “normal” range. It doesn’t make mathematical or even common sense to arbitrarily label 95% of the population as “normal” when more than half are deficient.
Much more important would be to compare your own thyroid production at age 25 and then compare to your thyroid levels at age 45. It will be down – and down a lot. Don’t let your doctor talk you out of getting supplemental thyroid – if you are 40 or over - you are deficient.
If your doctor won’t put you on thyroid, here is a link to order non-prescription thyroid extract that we recommend: http://thyroid.depressiongoneforever.com
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