What is Pre menopause?
During pre menopause your hormonal levels can be very erratic. This can cause a whole set of debilitating symptoms. As pre menopause is a hormonal status most women and a lot of health care practitioners are not aware of, many women end up suffering in silence.
Pre menopause is common in women during their forties and can last up to 10 years. Even if it cans tart earlier too. The symptoms and the intensity can vary a lot from woman to woman.
Common emotional symptoms:
• Irritability
• Agitation
• Feeling of being “wired but tired”
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Difficulty staying asleep
• Sometimes increased libido
These symptoms are also common symptoms in the hormonal status; PMS/PMDD. However, when in PMS/PMDD the symptoms disappear once the period starts while in pre menopause they tend to linger on during the period.
The emotional symptoms are often caused by an imbalance of the neurotransmitters* GABA and serotonin. The female hormones estrogen and progesterone have a great influence on those neurotransmitters*. So, when the hormones are imbalanced, the serotonin and GABA levels are also out of balance.
Common physical symptoms:
• Heavy periods, sometimes containing blood clots
• Shorter menstrual cycle (21-24 days)
• Night sweats
• Tender breasts
• Iron deficiency
• Weight gain
Most physical symptoms in pre menopause are cause by a condition called “estrogen dominance”. This is a hormonal imbalance where the estrogen is higher than it normally should be in relationship to the progesterone. This is usually due to a decline in progesterone levels from decreased egg quality which tends to increase with aging.
There is help
If this sounds like you, remember there is help available. A first step to hormonal health and well-being is to track your symptoms. Once you do that in the app you will get explanations to possible causes as well as recommendations on what you can do to feel better.
*What are neurotransmitters? Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that your body can’t function without. Their job is to carry chemical signals (“messages”) from one nerve cell to the next. When your neurotransmitters are out of balance they affect your mood and well-being. The most common neurotransmitters we at HERCARE often mention are serotonin, GABA and dopamine.
