Okay, you’ve faced the fact. You’re entering the potential minefield of the euphemistically named menopause transition and you know your hormones are definitely out of whack.
Each month (each day, really), your estrogen and progesterone are dropping a little bit further until low-estrogen symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness start to appear and your periods change before stopping altogether.
For some women, as estrogen drops it drags down the stress-buffering brain chemical serotonin. If this describes you, you might feel moody, depressed, and anxious, or have the sensation that your brain is turning to mush. Of course, some women have none of this, telling me that menopause was a walk in the park. Hot flashes? Just a rosy glow. (Some women also win Mega Millions.)
Here’s a quick summary of how I help women with menopause symptoms. It’s explained in much greater detail in The Triple Whammy Cure.
For the estrogen-progesterone symptoms:
• Avoid sugar and cut back on caffeine.
• Eat the Triple Whammy way (learn how by clicking here).
• Eat plenty of soy products (soy milk, tofu, edamame).
• Take black cohosh, one or two capsules daily, OR progesterone cream, 1/2 teaspoon daily rubbed onto an area where your skin is thin (like your inner thigh or your inner wrist) for at least three weeks of every month. If you’re still menstruating, skip the cream on those days.
If you’re not feeling better after a couple of months, consider bioidentical hormones. You can read my evaluation of their safety and best use here.
For emotional symptoms:
• Boost your serotonin by taking two fish oil capsules and one B-complex 100 daily.
• If you need more support, take St. John’s wort.
Finally, some women have hot flashes worse than those of three angels in the Bible, tossed into the oven to roast. Here I suggest (sorry about this) a prescription antidepressant, like Effexor-XR or Lexapro.
Doctors are uncertain why these work, but very often they do, and when you’re up all night with sweats and heating your cubicle with hot flashes, sometimes, just sometimes, you need to go a step further.