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Menopause & Symptoms: Getting to the Heart of It

When we think of Menopause, we think of a laundry list of symptoms and ailments, 34+ to be more specific. In the past, it was known as the “great suffering” by women of status (which is maybe a bit dramatic, or maybe not! It was a different time). 

Thankfully with the advancement of science and medicine, we are finally getting ahead of this midlife curve…

In a positive twist, most females do not experience all 34+ symptoms during menopause! However, hot flashes alone can be enough to cause significant disruption in their life. 

The most common, or the usual symptoms to experience are; 

  • Hot flashes
  • Night sweats
  • Mood changes
  • Decreased Libido

And then we have the symptoms that are a little more custom to the experience. Even though many of the symptoms are shared, it is never quite the same. No two women will have the same menopause journey. 

Some of the rare symptoms or less-seen symptoms are; 

  • Joint pain
  • Itchiness, all over but specifically around the vulva
  • Anxiety
  • Depression

While all the above symptoms can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds, we can tackle most of these with ease or find tips and tricks to make ourselves more comfortable. Doing things like dressing lightly when going to bed at night, or adding a fan by your bedside can help to control some symptoms. Working with a coach or speaking with your MD about the emotional strain can also be helpful.

Still, there are changes that come with menopause that can fly under the radar…

The biggest and probably scariest one is increasing cardiovascular risk. You can spend your entire life being extremely cautious about how you treat your body, and when menopause arrives, it is ready to challenge you. 

The drop and then loss of estrogen from the ovaries seems to trigger a constellation of events leading to increased cardiovascular risk, metabolic syndrome, central obesity, alterations in lipids, and elevated blood sugar. 

But, several integral events unfold between the loss of estrogen and the emergence of metabolic syndrome…

In the end, the loss of estrogen in menopause is undeniable, and the risk of metabolic syndrome on cardiovascular health is well established. Out of this complex networking of biological occurrence, there is one controllable concept…

It is the one that gives us the most grief, but it’s also the answer to cardiovascular health in menopause. 

Lifestyle change, meaning, controlling one’s diet, alcohol intake, smoking, and maintaining daily exercise. Also, do not be fooled because heart attacks are not the only threat here, cardiac arrest is linked to stress, anxiety, and depression; all symptoms of menopause. 

Changing your lifestyle provides the best defense against life’s cardiovascular risks for midlife women! 

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Cracking the Chronic Diet Adaptation Code

Chronic Diet or Simple Eating Plan, you decide below!

Case study 1 – Lisa has been bringing the exact same lunch every day for 8 months. She always has her little kitchen scale (she calls him The Warden) to double-check that she isn’t over the grams she’s allowed of grapes per lunch. Honestly, she doesn’t seem that happy or like she is enjoying her food but because her weight is still all over the place, she’s staying the course.

Case study 2 – Nancy brings a fresh salad with protein to work every day. The evening before work she takes a look in her fridge to see what colorful veggies she’s got. On days she has a hard time choosing, she has a little color spinner she can flick, and she picks her salad toppings according to the winning colors. Nancy is always excited to show her lunch to her coworkers because it’s fun! Nancy has also been able to include exercise in her daily routine. She’s feeling less anxious overall, and she’s down nearly 10 lbs!

Nancy and Lisa both have struggled with their weight since perimenopause started changing their bodies. Nancy has managed to keep her sanity and her gastro health by adding new healthier habits and is trying to make them fun and enjoyable. She has noticed a big change in her energy levels. She’s sleeping better, her brain doesn’t feel like scrambled eggs, and her ability to communicate has improved.

Lisa has been struggling a bit longer since perimenopause graced her a bit earlier in life, we all know how unpredictable the big menopause can be. Since starting her journey, Lisa has tried 4 different diets, multiple times each. She successfully got back down to her pre-peri weight, but she gained it back (and then some!) just as fast.

She’s sleeping like shit, gets all her energy from drinking coffee all day, and hasn’t had sex with her husband in months.

What Lisa doesn’t know is that every time she shocks her body into a new diet, her body is already one step ahead. Her body is doing something called Adapting.

Adaptation is the body’s way of keeping you going by any means possible, and that doesn’t mean it’s going to do it in a healthy way. It’s doing it for survival only.

**Human physiology has many safeguards in place to keep our body processes functioning. Many of these safeguards also make it difficult for an individual to maintain lost weight. **

What Lisa is engaging in is called chronic dieting. Nearly 50% of all women in North America are dieting right now! If someone has been a chronic dieter or has spent an extended amount of time in a calorie deficit, their body has slowed their metabolism. And THAT is called adaptation, and you must start eating to fuel your body.

Nancy, on the other hand, has a plan to keep her lunches healthy AND fun. She has a plan to eat good, healthy, enriching food without the focus being portion control (not that I don’t think that’s helpful… it is.)

Nancy eats her salad until she’s 80% full and doesn’t feel the need to weigh it out because she knows that if she eats all her lunch, she won’t be ‘hangry’  and over snack later. It’s really a win-win!

So, if you’re looking to make a change, try making yourself a Simple Eating Plan. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much weight you lose, or how fast it’s lost; a good eating plan is a sustainable eating plan. With a shopping list, a plan, and a little community support, we can all get ahead of the chronic diet fad by enjoying the foods we love and that fill us in the right ways.

For more information on healthy eating vs diet culture and adaptation, feel free to reach out!

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The Pauses of Misconception

The pauses in a woman’s life; that’s Perimenopause, Menopause, and Post-Menopause.

Historically, no one has ever done a good job explaining menopause to women. And for that reason, many women think must suffer through and, eventually, they’ll get past it. But, ladies, it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t need to accept anyone’s incorrect, ill-advised, or just plain malicious advice.

Simple, understandable, clear, and concise definitions;

Perimenopause means “around menopause” and refers to the time during which your body makes the natural transition into menopause. Perimenopause is also called the menopausal transition. Women start perimenopause at different ages.

Menopause is “official” 12 months after a woman’s last period.

Post-menopause includes the years following menopause. For about 85% of women, the menopausal symptoms will diminish completely. GREAT NEWS!!!!

Now we have basic definitions, I say basic because the pauses are unique to each and every one of us.

Common misconceptions about our pauses; there are so many misconceptions and they come from all different sources. We often as women and the people who love women, receive unwanted or uncalled-for advice about the female body. The number one person who feeds us the wrong information is ourselves! A common misconception we have ourselves for our own pauses are that;

  1. Women always know when menopause hits
  2. You should just power through it

Both of those are wrong and do us no justice at all. Timeframes for when peri/menopause start or stop, they’re not universal, like I said above, we’re all unique!

Another place we hear information from is our friends, and our spouses and the most common tend to revolve around relationships. The beginning of peri/menopause is often plagued by the unrealistic idea that it’s the beginning of the end of a woman’s active sex life. That is absolutely absurd, we don’t dry up like old crones, I promise! It’s actually completely possible to get pregnant during perimenopause, no matter what your girlfriend with 8 kids says. As your periods either slow down or go into overdrive, there is no indication that it’s safe to engage in unprotected sex.

I’ve saved the most controversial for last; our professional MDs. In no way do I discredit any professional who has gone the mile to learn their field, but that doesn’t mean that every doctor knows what’s best every time. Recently there was an experience where my doctor made unneeded suggestions about common menopause symptoms and the suggestion was to, “lose weight”. I know the doctor meant well, but I needed a solution that was more in-depth and that required a bit of research or even some questions to be asked.

At the end of the day, what I’m saying is that; we as women need to remember that we are unique and our pauses are not like anyone else’s, but more importantly, we need to advocate for ourselves when we feel our needs are not being met.

To read more about my recent experience, check out my Facebook here.

Thanks for reading and stay kind!