The Truth About Menopause - Personal Training North Vancouver

If you’ve been experiencing symptoms ranging from mild to brutal, and suspect you may be perimenopausal or already know you’re menopausal, you’re in the right place.

When a woman reaches the end of her reproductive years, her ovaries produce less and less estrogen and progesterone, until production stops completely. The adrenal glands (situated above the kidneys) do take over, pumping out a little estrogen, but rarely enough.

The whole unjust process of Perimenopause and Menopause can last as long as fifteen years, and then a woman is considered postmenopausal for the rest of her life.

Perimenopause: is pre-menopause that can begin between the late thirties to early fifties. Menstruation — flow and timing — usually become irregular and symptoms normally start. This can last a few months to several years.
Menopause: is in the thick of often debilitating symptoms, defined as twelve (plus) months after a woman’s period stops permanently. Fifty-two is the median age.
Postmenopause: is the remaining years of a woman’s life. Symptoms often continue, but much less intense. Without the benefit of estrogen and progesterone, health difficulties like osteoporosis, heart disease, and arthrosclerosis often begin.

“The biggest public misconception is that menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats are trivial and short-lived. Menopausal symptoms are seen as something women have to endure, almost like a woman’s burden. Women need to know that they should not suffer in silence and that there are a range of options to help them.”

– Dr. Wendy Wolfman, Director of the Menopause Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital, President of the Menopause Society of Canada, and the first recipient of the Carol Mitchell Chair in Menopause.

Many women are suffering needlessly from the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Often these symptoms are so severe, they affect a woman’s:

Personal and professional relationships,
physical and mental health, and
therefore, quality of life.

Those of you who know the truth of how bad it can really get. How debilitating the symptoms can be. How diminished your life can become.

You’re not alone!

Hubby and I were driving over the Lions Gate Bridge toward Stanley Park to enjoy the autumn leaves and out for dinner afterwards. Nice, right? Yet, I was overwhelmingly irritated.

Thankfully my husband was driving and we were quiet. This gave me time to figuratively “step outside myself” and assess. I couldn’t detect even the tiniest trigger for my irritation. There was nothing! So although the emotion was huge, I was able to realize it was also unreasonable.

I wanted to enjoy the evening. So, I started to list (in my mind) all the great things about that particular evening and about my life that I was grateful for.

After a while, I was able to “talk myself out” of feeling annoyance.

But I realized I wouldn’t always have the time, privacy, or the presence of mind to reign-in my emotion. That’d required a huge amount of energy and self-awareness. I visited my doctor and have now replaced the estrogen and progesterone (HRT) that my body was lacking.

– Pamela’s Story (49 years old)

The Purpose of Progesterone and Estrogen

Both Estrogen and Progesterone are responsible for the development and maintenance of the female sexual characteristics and pregnancy related functions.

However, Estrogen is ALSO responsible for:

Acceleration of burning fat
Increases protein anabolism (precursor to tissue building)
Improving lubrication of and thickening of the vaginal wall
Increasing blood vessels to the skin
Thermoregulation (body temperature)
Helps to produce collagen
Stimulation of osteoblasts to form new bone (thereby maintaining bone density)
Balancing mood
Voice pitch
Hair pattern
Helps control fluid and electrolyte balance
Defends against heart disease and arthrosclerosis.

Estrogen has so many important jobs in a woman’s body. It’s just logical that without estrogen, the body deteriorates often causing symptoms so severe that they wreak havoc in the lives of otherwise healthy, well-adjusted women.

For example: disruption of thermoregulation (ability to maintain temperature equilibrium within the body) is common. Without estrogen, the hypothalamus can no longer regulate body temperature and women experience hot flashes, cold chills, and night sweats sometimes to the degree that it disrupts sleep and severely decreases quality of life.

The Symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause

A woman’s hormone levels (and therefore her symptoms) fluctuate daily. The most common symptoms:

Symptoms	Estrogen Deficiency	Progesterone Dominance	Progesterone Deficiency	Estrogen Dominance
Hot Flashes / Night Sweats	x	x	x
Cold Chills	x
Insomnia / Chronic Fatigue	x		x	x
Headaches / Migraines	x	x		x
Urinary Tract / Bladder Infections	x	x
Incontinence		x
Irregular / Absent Menstruation			x	x
Heavy Menstruation / Cramps			x
Vaginal Infections	x	x
Vaginal Dryness / Atrophy	x
Cervical Dysplasia				x
Ovarian Cysts			x
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome				x
Uterine Fibroids				x
Uterine Cancer			x	x
Dry, Thin, Wrinkled Skin	x
Gum Disease	x		x
Hair Loss				x
Acne		x
Rapid Heart Rate	x
Increased Blood Clotting				x
Puffiness / Bloating	x		x	x
Water Retention			x
Weight Gain	x	x		x
Decreased Libido	x	x	x	x
Brest Tenderness			x	x
Fibrocystic Breasts				x
Breast Cancer				x
Low Back / Joint pain, Swelling & Stiffness	x
Osteoporosis	x		x	x
Fuzzy Thinking / Poor Memory / Diminished Concentration	x			x
Anxiety / Irritability		x	x	x
Depression	x	x		x
Accelerated Aging				x
Allergies / Autoimmune Disorders				x
Thyroid Dysfunction			x

Is it hot in this room? Or is it just me?

My hot flashes start off mildly, but tend to gather strength.

Like a freight train in the distance, I feel them coming. A tremendous heat builds up from the inside, pushing, swelling, until suddenly spreading out over the surface of my skin. Sweat prickles in my hairline and on my brow and then my entire upper body and thighs are perspiring.

Hot flashes are followed with cold chills. This can last half an hour and no matter how many blankets I pile upon myself, I cannot warm up … until the next hot flash.

This carries on until at any given moment, I’m either hot flashing or cold chilling. There’s no in between. I haven’t a hope in hell of feeling the real temperature. At night, this makes it difficult to sleep and wakes me repeatedly.

A person cannot live like this. HRT makes all the difference.

– Simone’s Story (47 years old)

A Healthy Lifestyle Helps Tremendously

Regardless of whether or not you choose to take HRT, paramount is the decision to choose a healthy lifestyle:

Eat real food — starting with breakfast each morning.
Drink lots of water.
No smoking and consume alcoholic beverages in moderation.
Participate in cardiovascular exercise, weight-training, and stretching.
Sleep seven to nine hours a night.
Re-organize life and relationships to reduce stress and increase happiness.

“Follow a hormone-balancing diet: Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, adequate protein, and moderate amounts of healthy fat. Remember to get enough fiber. Estrogen is excreted by the bowel; if stool remains in the bowel, estrogen is reabsorbed.”

— Christiane Northrup, M.D.

How to Feel Healthy During Menopause or Andropause

The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy for Menopause

Weight Train Once a Week!

How to Choose a Personal Trainer

This Information Doesn’t Replace a Doctor’s Advice

HRT must be evaluated by each woman individually accompanied by her physician. Lifestyle, medical history, and family medical history must be considered.

Medical Sites Used For Research

mayoclinic.org
webmd.com
nia.nih.gov (National Institute on Aging)
nhlbi.nih.gov (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)
health24.com
medscape.com
Also the textbook, Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, by Tortora & Grabowski

Are you ready to weight train once a week? Contact us today:

Personal training is by appointment only.

Please email: LeongOrthopaedicHealth@gmail.com