Perimenopause And Menopause

Natural aging, stress, nutrition, medications, weight gain, environmental exposures as well as various disease processes can cause hormone imbalance. The peri-menopausal and menopausal transitions are marked by chaotic hormonal changes. At Innovative Health we use an integrative, functional, and metabolic approach to achieving hormone balance.

What is Perimenopause and Menopause?

Perimenopause (Menopause Transition) is the time in a woman's life, when there are hormone imbalances, and her menstrual cycle, begin to vary due to these natural changes in hormones. The changes in the menstrual cycle may be noted in the frequency of periods and changes in character and amount of bleeding. Perimenopause may affect many physical and psychological factors causing burdensome interruptions in a woman's daily life.

Every woman is affected by menopause after the average age of 51. It is estimated that 6,000 women in the United States reach menopause every day, resulting in over 2 million women per year. Many women transition without significant complications; however, countless others suffer from significant hot flashes, night sweats, sleep, memory impairment, psychological issues, vulvovaginal, urinary and sexual dysfunction.

Since it is possible that you may live in a state of menopause longer than in your reproductive years, it is imperative that the identification of risk factors for common diseases such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular and cancer be evaluated and discussed between you and your health care provider.

Symptoms of female hormone imbalance during menopause include:

Hot flashes
Night Sweats
Insomnia (Difficulty sleeping)
Weight gain
Mood Changes (such as depression or anxiety)
Irritability
Brain fog
Headaches
Inability to concentrate
Loss of Libido
Skin tone loss
Vaginal Dryness
Bone Loss
Bladder Problems

Treatments for Menopause Symptoms

Various treatments exist to treat perimenopause and menopause. Forms of treatment include:

Complementary and Alternative Medications: Black Cohosh, Red Clover, Don Quai, Evening Primrose, and other natural supplements.
Lifestyle changes: dietary changes, increased exercise, smoking cessation and stress reduction
Conventional prescription medications: synthetic hormones and antidepressants are available for the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

At Innovative Health we utilize Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT). Bioidentical Hormones are hormones made to be structurally the same as your body's own natural hormones.

BHRT uses only natural hormones and can be administered in a variety of ways:

Orally through pills, capsules or troche
Injection
Pellet Therapy
Creams
Gels

Types of Menopause

Natural Menopause
Also called spontaneous menopause, natural menopause is defined as the occurrence of the last menstrual cycle. Prior to this event, many physiological changes occur. In the U.S. the average age at the beginning of menopause is 51 years. Symptoms of menopause can occur for 4-8 years before your menstrual cycle stops.

Premature Menopause
Premature menopause is defined as menopause occurring before the age of 40. This can be due to certain medical conditions such as autoimmune, thyroid, ovarian, and metabolic conditions.

Induced Menopause
This menopausal state may be temporary or permanent. Temporary menopause is short-term and may occur as a consequence of cancer therapies such as radiation or chemotherapy. Permanent menopause results from the removal of the ovaries that frequently occurs simultaneously with a hysterectomy.