The Lifecycle of Hormones.
From puberty through to menopause our hormones are constantly changing and what’s happening inside each and every one of us is different. Your journey won’t be the same as your friends’ or even your own mother and that is completely normal.
One thing that does unite modern women is a lack of understanding about what’s going on in their bodies, the role hormones play, and what happens when things go wrong. It’s little surprise, when you consider the ‘label that diagram’ biology lessons we had at school, and the fact that, until recently, women generally didn’t talk about ‘the change’. This is our attempt to correct that by taking you through your hormonal lifecycle, one stage at a time…
It begins
It’s easy to see when girls reach puberty: they develop breasts, their hips widen, and pubic hair starts to grow. What’s less obvious are the huge changes going on inside the body to enable periods to start.
If we take a ‘normal’ menstrual cycle, levels of oestrogen and progesterone (the two most important hormones in the female body) are both relatively low for a couple of weeks following a period. Then, oestrogen rises just before ovulation and stays high, whilst progesterone starts to rise significantly in the two weeks before the next period. It’s at this time, the luteal phase, that women experience PMS, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and heavy and painful periods, which are almost always caused by a lack of progesterone.
We’ll talk more about progesterone later, but first, let’s look at what happens during the reproductive years.
Making babies
Now we all know it takes an egg and a sperm, we at least learnt that at school, but it is, of course, much more complex. When we ovulate, an egg is released from the ovary to be fertilised by sperm and then grow into an embryo. In order for this to happen, a woman needs enough progesterone to enable the egg to implant into the womb. If levels of progesterone are too low pregnancy won’t happen or there will be an early miscarriage. Miscarriages in the first trimester are often the result of low progesterone and studies show that giving pregnant women progesterone in the first twelve weeks is beneficial.
Life with a newborn
Hormones play a huge part in pregnancy, but after giving birth, levels drop considerably. For one in every ten women, this results in postnatal depression. The term postnatal depression does the condition a huge disservice, as many women experiencing it don’t feel depressed at all. Many feel anxious, agitated, and confused, whilst some experience hallucinations. In severe cases, mothers fail to bond with, and ultimately reject their baby.
The hormonal underlying cause of PND is low progesterone and because this anti-anxiety and antidepressant hormone is easily replaced, postnatal depression can be treated and even prevented. It’s why, in some cultures, the placenta, which is packed full of progesterone, is cooked, and eaten after delivery.
Good enough to eat
Now that may turn your stomach, but when you see the role progesterone plays and the amazing results that come from replacing it when levels are low, you’ll understand why it really is good enough to eat. Progesterone is produced by the ovaries, placenta, and adrenal glands and, as we’ve just seen, is crucial for menstruation and pregnancy. Without adequate levels of this hormone, women experience heavy periods, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, bloating and weight gain. Unpleasant, and in many cases, debilitating.
The beginning of the end
When women enter their late thirties and early forties, the body starts to make less and less progesterone, but no two women and no two months are the same. Things can feel completely ‘normal’ through one menstrual cycle, whilst the next may bring bad sleep, night sweats, agitated moods, bloating, and anxiety. This is not, as many women of this age are starting to believe, the perimenopause. It is simply the beginning of the end of the reproductive years.
Still not the perimenopause
It’s important to remember that some women won’t experience any changes at all until the day their periods stop. For others, the journey to that point is far more complex and troublesome, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Many women in their forties experiencing the symptoms caused by a decline in progesterone are told by their GP they are perimenopausal and put on HRT. This often results in heavier periods, more weight gain, and depression. The reason is, that at this point, levels of oestrogen are still high and there is no need to replace that hormone. The thing women need more of is progesterone. That is the answer, and it works.
Erratic periods
You know you are perimenopausal when your periods become more erratic, and heavier or lighter – usually towards the end of your forties and into your mid-fifties. This happens because at perimenopause levels of oestrogen start to fluctuate. They can be very high or very low and because this is combined with a continued decline in progesterone, it is for many a highly unpredictable time.
And finally…
Women hit the menopause when their ovaries are no longer making any hormones. Oestrogen and progesterone levels are low, as are levels of testosterone and possibly Dhea too. Thyroid hormone production also starts to slow down, and women start to become more insulin resistant which can lead to prediabetes. Three in every four women experience symptoms associated with the menopause and for one in four women, these are debilitating and life changing. The good news is that it really doesn’t have to be this way.
Whatever your stage of life, and however you’re affected by changes in hormone levels, there are solutions. Specialist blood tests reveal exactly what’s going on inside you and why you’re feeling the way you do, and trained doctors can then give you a bespoke treatment plan which should make you feel a lot more like you again.
All women go through the menopause. It is part of the ageing process and something that can’t be avoided. It happens when a woman’s periods stop, usually between the ages of 45 and 55, because of declining hormone levels in the body.
Menopause affects all women differently. Common symptoms include night sweats, hot flushes, anxiety, fatigue, weight gain, poor concentration, and bladder problems, but there are many more.
Three in every four women experience symptoms associated with the menopause and for one in four women, these are debilitating and life changing.
We believe no woman should suffer the effects of hormone imbalance and that replacing hormones is necessary to maintain bone, cardiovascular, and brain health.
