The time when we laughed or whispered the word “menopause” is over, says gynecologist Barbara Havenith. But do women know enough about their bodies and what help is available for symptoms? Here’s what you need to know about menopause.
All women go through menopause, which ends with the menopauze, or the very last menstruation. The vast majority feel all sorts of things during this period, which can last ten years.
If your genetically determined supply of eggs runs out around age 45, you may already experience symptoms at age 35, even if you still have a cycle. We often think that’s young, and that’s why little attention is paid to early menopausal symptoms.
This is what happens in the body when menopause sets in
Our ovaries are bursting with eggs at birth, says Barbara Havenith. She works as a gynecologist at the Hormoonpoli, a practice for integrative medicine in Haarlem and Boxmeer.
The vast majority of those eggs do not mature, but their task is to support the ovaries in the production of the hormone progesterone. Because the egg supply becomes increasingly depleted as we age, less and less progesterone is produced.
The women in Havenith’s office are often between 39 and 42 years old. They experience symptoms such as being easily agitated, feeling down or depressed, and emotions that go in all directions, but also physical symptoms such as a bloated feeling, headache, and abdominal pain.
“Women themselves and the general practitioner do not always think about menopause. But our ovaries last much less time than we do. You are only 40, but your ovaries are already 40.”
Not a burn-out, but menopause
Those in menopause begin to feel the effects of an imbalance in the hormones estradiol and progesterone. “Due to the progesterone deficiency, women sleep worse and are less zen. The sex hormone progesterone is also a neurotransmitter that influences the mood in your brain.”
It is not surprising that women collapse at a certain point, says Havenith. “Women in their early forties often have fairly young children. They work, they have a thousand things to do and arrange, an important part of their body no longer works properly, and they sometimes bleed more heavily, resulting in anemia.”
And then it doesn’t work anymore and they are wrongly diagnosed with burn-out. They themselves also attribute the cause to their own behavior or environment, and not to menopause.
In addition, chronic stress greatly exacerbates the symptoms. “With chronic stress, you produce cortisol, a hormone that is very similar to progesterone. Cortisol takes the place of progesterone. These women experience a lot of symptoms.”
In medicine, there is a tendency towards a one size fits all solution, says the hormone expert. “Women who are ‘out of sorts’ are often prescribed the pill. That can help because you override the body’s own hormones with it, but it is still quite a special solution.”