Menopause Support using Functional Medicine
We all experience different transitions in life as we age.
The onset of menopause in women is possibly one of the most noticeable of these changes because it can have a variety of effects on us, with some scarcely noting the change and others finding it quite challenging.
Here, we examine the causes of menopause and the advantages of managing it using a functional medicine approach.
Menopause Basics
Peri-menopause
This is a natural process caused when your ovaries gradually stop working, the transitioning period to full menopause. Peri-menopause can last for months or even several years. The menstrual cycle lengthens and flow may become irregular before your final period. Symptoms are caused by the changing levels of hormones in the body.
Menopause
Every woman's menstrual cycle ends around the time of menopause. It's a very normal biological process that often starts a few years before they get their last period. The onset of menopause happens most frequently between the ages of 45 and 55, and the average age is around 50.
The natural oestrogen a woman produces at this time starts to decrease, which signifies the end of the her reproductive life. She may suffer a number of symptoms before to her last menstruation, including an erratic menstrual cycle, changes in the suppleness of her skin, and discomforts like night sweats and hot flashes.
Symptoms
When menopause is on the horizon, some of us experience little change, while others may have a wide range of symptoms that can significantly affect our everyday lives. The most frequent of these include hot flashes, mood swings, depression, vaginal dryness, headaches, restless nights, low sex drive, and bloating.
The severity of these symptoms can vary from woman to woman, with some symptoms being fairly light while others can be more severe. After the last period, they may continue for a while, sometimes years.
Functional Medicine Approach vs Conventional Medicine Approach
Conventional Approach
The standard conventional medical approach to menopause is treating the symptoms rather than the underlying cause.
For instance, a doctor might prescribe painkillers if a person has headaches. For symptoms like hot flashes, oestrogen treatment may be suggested, and low-dose antidepressants may be used to treat depression.
These aid in addressing the immediate problem, but they fail to consider the patient as a unique individual who might need a more individualised and minimally intrusive course of treatment. This is where a functional medicine approach comes in.
Functional Medicine Approach
The goal of functional medicine is to address the underlying causes of a problem using an individual patient-focused approach.
For instance, functional medicine will examine what is causing the underlying symptoms to appear in the first place rather than simply advising you to take pills for headaches that come with menopause (eg masking the pain with drugs).
There is growing evidence that planning for menopause by enhancing lifestyle changes such as making better nutritional choices and exercising regularly can also make a big difference.
Functional medicine takes time to understand what triggers may be present that are likely to be causing the symptoms of menopause. In many cases, simple lifestyle changes make a significant difference to how a woman goes through menopause and can alleviate many of the common symptoms.
Making the switch to a nutrient-dense diet provides a number of advantages, including preserving hormonal balance and enhancing bone health. Consuming more foods high in vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and B vitamins can help with this. Additionally, you can eat foods that boost hormones like avocados and coconut oil (sources of healthy fats), high fibre vegetables, and quality grass-fed protein.
In the years before menopause, many women experience an imbalance in the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, leading to many of the most typical symptoms. Eating these nutrients that support hormones can help to ease menopause symptoms.
However, removing harmful foods from the diet, such as excessive sugar, and limiting intake of caffeine, which can cause hot flashes, are equally crucial in a functional medicine approach.
In addition to making dietary adjustments, women can benefit from stress-reduction techniques like exercise and meditation.
If you are interested in relieving your Menopause symptoms using natural, proven and effective methods, check out our 12-Week Menopause Program.
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