26 Dec Natural Hormone Help for Menopause
Discover How Natural Hormone Solutions Can Reduce Menopause Symptoms And Help To Improve Your Well-Being
Menopause is a natural transition for women as they close the chapter on their child-bearing years, eventually ending their monthly menstrual cycles. Some women go through this time of life without any symptoms at all, and others experience a wide range of symptoms that could last for years. The good news is that there are many natural ways to help you improve your hormone levels so that you can feel your best again.
The symptoms of menopause are a result of reduced or imbalanced levels of hormones. Common symptoms include hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, mood swings, poor memory, low libido and so much more. Before menopause, these hormones had many protective roles in your health and protected you from heart disease, cancers, autoimmune conditions, low bone density, and many more. That’s why it’s common for these conditions to start in midlife, the natural time of menopause.
Lifestyle medicine is always the first step. Proper nutrition can go a long way as a natural way to help with your menopause symptoms. As we age, we may become less tolerant of carbohydrates and need to increase our protein intake slightly. It is also important to have a routine with your meals, sleep hygiene, stress management and physical activity to keep the hormone system balanced, just like a well-tuned orchestra!
Before menopause, your ovaries were a significant contributor to making hormones for you, and when you stop ovulation, they make little to no hormones thereafter. The natural backup plan for menopause is that your adrenal glands can also make these hormones for you. Your adrenal glands are also referred to as your stress glands. Therefore stress management is a big part of your natural way to support hormone production. If your adrenal glands are over-functioning or burned out, it will have a huge impact on their ability to make hormones for you. Fat cells also help with hormone production, and many women gain some body fat around this time. Some researchers define a small fat gain at menopause as natural, other researchers challenge this. Either way, healthy and age-appropriate body composition is important for your overall health including menopause.
Hormone testing can be done through blood, saliva, or urine. Some of these tests have a wide range of what is defined as normal, so many women “fall through the cracks” with traditional medical blood tests. If you have all the symptoms and a normal blood test, your symptoms are right! In this case, a naturopath can help you choose the right hormone test through urine or saliva to get more information. These tests filter out “bioavailable” hormones, and can be considered a more sensitive test, and urine hormone tests such as DUTCH are very thorough and measure many more hormones than what is usually covered by government health services.
Many natural supplements, herbs, minerals, essential fatty acids, and vitamins are available to help you with natural hormone help for menopause. Some help you make specific hormones, others support your adrenals, liver, or pituitary glands to help all the hormonal organs do their part for natural hormone production in your body.
Another option available to patients is Bio-Identical Hormones. These are a great option for patients who want quick symptom relief and a safe and effective alternative to synthetic hormone replacement. These are only available by prescription from specially trained naturopaths and medical doctors.
Bronte Natural Health Clinic is the most experienced clinic of naturopathic medicine in Oakville, Ontario. We have an award-winning team of naturopathic doctors, homeopaths, nutritionists, and live blood microscopists. We are happy to help you find natural solutions for your transition through menopause. You can reach us at bnhc@rogers.com or www.bronthealth.com
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