Dear Midlife Goddesses, I say this with love: there is a price to pay for all the stress, toxicity etc that we’ve built up in our bodies over decades of high intensity living and stimulation. Here’s what happens to progesterone, your soothing hormone, during the time around menopause known as ‘perimenopause’. Symptoms like irritability, poor sleep, nervous tension and high cortisol are all linked to changing progesterone levels in midlife and I’m here to tell you that it’s prevalent and possibly helpful. Read on for more info.
Your hormones start re-organising in peri-menopause
The meaning of the word ‘peri’ is ‘around’, ‘about’, and the word ‘perimenopause’ means ‘around the time of menopause’. It’s become a popular word over the last couple decades and emerging more frequently in media and in research literature. We’re fascinated (and a little shocked) by the changing face of the time-around-menopause, which is rife with psychological symptoms, metabolic confusion and changing body shape. There’s a lot happening beneath the surface of our skin that leads to what I call the Three Recalibrations. These are:
- Hormonal recalibration – some hormones naturally increase, others fall, leading to a new hormonal landscape where certain hormones will dominate in post-menopause
- Metabolic recalibration – the way we get energy from the food we eat is dramatically changed and this is behind mind fog, memory issues and fat gain (sounds a bit like low thyroid function doesn’t it?) in peri-menopause
- Cognitive recalibration – the way our brains function utilise energy also changes and we can feel scattered, forgetful and find it difficult to focus on one thing at a time
Of course, these are patterns in many of us, but not absolutely everyone. So you may relate to some of these changes more than others.
Want to know more about these in detail? You can soon watch my webinars, stay tuned for the details. I go deep in the webinars to explain what’s happening and how you can improve your hormone health in midlife with food, herbs and teas. Coming soon 😊
Think of these recalibrations as a necessary restructuring of your body’s physical and chemical ‘balance’ and function. Why is it necessary? Well, it all starts with the base assumption (and I am assuming here, albeit based on years of working with hormone balance naturally) that our hormones are working in our best interests to keep us alive, safe, aware and generally well. This is why in stressful times certain hormones in your body get diverted into stress-focused chemical pathways, leading to the creation of more stress hormones to help you survive, maybe even thrive, through difficult times.
Progesterone sacrifice in perimenopause – watch your stress levels
One classic example of this in the naturopathic world is the sacrifice of the soothing hormone progesterone (yep! That’s the one we start losing significantly in our forties) in order to make more cortisol to manage the types of stresses that most of us are facing on a daily basis. So now imagine that you’re in your forties heading down the highway of peri-menopause, destination menopause, so your progesterone is already falling and you’re noticing its harder to get to sleep, or to sleep deeply, or to calm yourself in times of agitation and stress, or perhaps you’re irritable a lot more often than not. Then layer on top of that this type of hormone sacrifice, with even less progesterone to keep you calm and centred and even more cortisol to increase vigilance and alertness in your mind and body.
Is progesterone sacrifice the same as ‘oestrogen dominance’? No, the two are distinctly different situations. You can have progesterone sacrifice showing up as low progesterone levels on a saliva, urine or blood test which is making the oestrogen appear higher when you compare the two hormones as a ratio. However….you can have normal oestrogen levels, perhaps even low levels, which only seem higher in this ratio because the progesterone is too low.
This is how it would look:
The main driving force behind low progesterone that I see in clinic is chronic, underlying stress which increases the production of stress hormones, particularly adrenal hormones, like cortisol, aldosterone, adrenalin and noradrenalin. There is not easy way out of this if you want to support your hormones naturally, apart from making the lifestyle changes required to reduce stress in your life. For some of us, that’s really hard if not impossible. Because many of the factors that cause this stress in our midlife are unavoidable.
The symptoms that can suggest low progesterone levels in midlife that you might want to look out for are:
- Irregular periods
- Missed periods
- Anxiety
- Low mood
- Difficulty conceiving
- Low libido
- Increased risk of miscarriage
- Not ovulating
- Heavy period bleeds
- Gushing period bleeds
- Sleep problems
- Weight gain
I know it’s no joy to have hormonal symptoms. Just remember when it comes to hormones they’re acting as messenger chemicals (literally and metaphorically). They’re telling us something isn’t right, that balance is off. Just like increased cortisol hormone tells us we need a break from stimulation, fear and stress, in perimenopause your hormones can act as messengers for you to give you the information you need to start creating positive changes that will create more health and wellness for you in the future. If you’re experiencing some or many of the symptoms above, it’s time to get to work on address work/life balance and perhaps time to invest in some TLC for you.
Research papers and just general common sense tell us that these may be present for many women in midlife now:
- We had children later in life and we’re raising toddlers and teens in our forties
- We’re working full time and working hard through our forties and fifties while also keeping the home clean, tidy and running smoothly (often with a dash of perfectionism and OCD that we don’t remember having in our 20s and 30s)
- Every day we’re exposed to hormone disrupting chemicals from plastic cookware, flame retardants on furniture and clothing, fumes from cars driving past, the chemistry of pesticides, herbicides, cleaning products, hair products and of course, cosmetics. Did we learn nothing from the horrifying beauty regime of Elizabeth I? Foundation made out of white lead with arsenic-laden pigments…..there’s a cost to beauty and we’re paying it unless the companies making these products are making themselves accountable.
- The lead and other heavy metals that have been ‘hiding’ in our bones is starting to leach out into our blood as we exercise less, sit more and gradually lose bone density, causing a range of recognised ‘heavy metal’ induced physical and psychological symptoms.
My Cleanse program is a tidy 8 week detoxification package that stimulates your natural elimination processes to help you keep your body clean and functioning well. It includes a personal consultation with me. If you’re thinking you’d like to get started on purification, then it’s the perfect place to start. Also, if you’re wanting to get your diet and lifestyle in order to minimise your exposure to hormone/endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) get in touch, I can work with you one-on-one for this and tailor it specifically to your goals.
Here’s the biggest lesson I’ve learnt from the fall in progesterone in midlife:
We can’t keep operating like we did in our 20s or 30s.
Perimenopause is about finding a new, sustainable life rhythm for ourselves. One that has dollops healthy, fibre and protein rich foods, oodles of me-time and lots (lots) of rest. Holding on to the way we were 10 or 20 years ago isn’t going to be healthy or even achievable for us when we start feeling the inner chaos of perimenopause setting in.
Many of us have entered parenthood a little later than our predecessors. For example, if you’re a new mum in your late thirties or early to mid forties, then you’re a parent of a teenager in your fifties. It’s not easy parenting teens. But I guess as they get older we just worry about different things. We’re always worrying about our kids not matter how old they are.
The daily grind though, might be more intense in our forties and fifties than we were anticipating. The combination of our work, their school and after school activities, financial needs growing, bills increasing all the time, preparing meals, keeping a house clean…all these things are layered stressors that we most likely can’t avoid. Our soothing and calming hormones like progesterone would ideally help us navigate this period with more grace, but as I mentioned before, it’s usually the first one to start falling.
So understandably, stress can get to us more than it used too. The lesson is to stay aware of how much we’re layering on, and having the strength to say ‘no’ more often, and to carve out space for ourselves to reconnect, regroup and restore.
An ashwagandha latte comes to mind…
Some of the things I’ve found really helpful are meditation twice daily, burning incense and taking it through the home from room to room, slow tea breaks, and my favourite is creating space just for me and my fur-baby Sweetpea (because we seem to vibrate on the same frequency if you know what I mean!) where we can be calm together.
So our morning walks are a must. If I’m working, I put her on the chair next to me, and I spend a little longer brushing her hair now than I used too. I can’t always get this perfect every day, but most days will have these sorts of soothing moments that hopefully will keep my adrenals happy and my cortisol levels normal. I still get stressed so it’s about minimising stress as best I can. I take my hat off to those with young kids, high-stress jobs and parents to care for on top of everything else. I recognise we’re all going to have different levels of responsibility, financial freedom and time. We just want to do the best we can with what we have available to us and practice compassion and forgiveness when things don’t go as planned.
By the way you might like to read my Stress Less posts nd other articles which are full of ideas to calm and soothe your nervous system. Click the links below to read them.
Some progesterone-boosting inspiration here!
What about oestrogen?
You might be wondering, what about oestrogen? Isn’t that the main hormone involved in menopause? There are quite a few hormones that are considered critical for women in midlife, and oestrogen certainly is one of them. You might have heard about oestrogen ‘metabolites’ too, these are the various chemical forms that your oestrogens take as they move through the various chemical breakdown pathways in your body.
Some are healthier than others. There’s a bit of detail in that so I won’t go into it here, but if you’re interested in knowing how your oestrogens are being broken down then you can do the dried urine test for your hormones. I did mine recently, it’s incredibly informative and helpful. When working with hormones it’s sometimes necessary to do some testing. We can get a fairly good idea what’s happening inside a woman’s body by assessing symptoms, but testing gives a more accurate picture of the balance of all the hormones.
We tend to focus more on oestrogen because we know from research that it falls in the leadup to menopause. I find it often waits until a woman is getting closer to menopause to really hit those dramatic falls. Throughout most of the forties though, I find the oestrogen dancing and fluctuating up and down, often errantly. In contrast, progesterone has already started a steady decline in the late thirties and early forties and it’s one that I try to focus on supporting for most women because stress, agitation, poor sleep and tension are symptoms that most of us will experience and they relate strongly to progesterone levels.
We may also have become more focused on oestrogen because of hormone replacement therapy (now called menopause hormone therapy ‘MHT’) and all the talk about the oestrogens in these formulations. This has also been evolving though, and it’s best you talk to your medical doctor or endocrinologist about this if you’d like to learn more about MHT, Bio-Identical Hormones and conventional medicine strategies for menopause. Naturopaths don’t prescribe these sorts of medicines, although we can support you while you’re taking them.
I don’t mean to say that oestrogen is not important, because it’s a critical hormone for women. It’s helpful to keep in mind that your oestrogen is not necessarily going to be low in perimenopause, and it’s important to check your hormones with testing before taking anything that increases your oestrogen levels, even herbs.
It’s 9am now on a wet, winter morning. Lots of birds chirping. The morning walk beckons. Have a beautiful day and I hope this was helpful. Stay tuned for more articles on hormones, perimenopause and navigating change. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it 😊
Hey there! Welcome to my world of totally natural and powerful healing medicines. Medicines from nature. Medicine from Source. I’m a naturopath and herbalist with extensive clinical experience working with a range of health conditions including hormonal, metabolic, mental health, sleep and more.
I’ve brought together years of clinical and teaching experience, academic skill and curiosity to bring you this blog. I hope you enjoy it! If you do, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
