Hormone Replacement: How to Balance Your Hormones Naturally. Dr. Cabot Sandra

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СКАЧАТЬ symptoms may come on gradually during the perimenopausal years, or may come on quite suddenly. Understandably they can be very distressing, especially if you do not understand what is causing them.

      To assess your level of oestrogen and progesterone deficiency, blood tests and/or salivary tests are very accurate.

      You can also take a minute to fill in the questionnaire below, which is known as ‘Your Oestrogen Level Score Chart’.

      If your total score for all of these symptoms is 15 or more, then it is likely that you are suffering from a deficiency of oestrogen.

      If your score is 30, your body is probably crying out for oestrogen. This can be confirmed or refuted by a simple blood test to check your levels of oestrogen and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

      It is an interesting exercise to score your symptoms of oestrogen deficiency before and after starting HRT. Computing your score every three to four months provides a useful self-check to see whether your hormone replacement therapy is adequate. However, you should not decide to alter your dosage based on the results of this questionnaire without first consulting your doctor.

       OESTROGEN LEVEL SCORE CHART

	Symptom	Your Score
	Depression and/or mood changes	_________
	Anxiety and/or irritability	_________
	Feelings of being unloved or unwanted	_________
	Poor memory or concentration	_________
	Poor sleeping patterns	_________
	Fatigue	_________
	Backache	_________
	Joint pains, arthritis	_________
	Muscle pains	_________
	Increase in facial hair	_________
	Dry skin and/or sudden development of wrinkles	_________
	Crawling, itching and/or burning sensations in the skin	_________
	Reduction in the sexual desire	_________
	Frequency of or burning sensation with urination	_________
	Discomfort during sexual intercourse	_________
	Vaginal dryness	_________
	Hot flushes and/or excessive sweating	_________
	Lightheadedness or dizziness	_________
	Headaches	_________
	TOTAL SCORE	_________

      The symptoms that are characteristic of oestrogen deficiency can be grouped together in the chart above, and scored according to the following scale:

      Absent = 0 Mild = 1 Moderate = 2 Severe = 3

      How Long Does the Menopause Last?

      The word ‘menopause’ means the cessation of menstrual bleeding – that is, the last menstrual period. When this occurs your ovaries no longer contain any viable eggs (follicles), and so they can no longer produce significant amounts of sex hormones. So no more eggs means no more hormones, and technically we could say that once the menopause has arrived, it is here to stay.

      However, the menopause is not a disease – it is merely a state of relative sex hormone deficiency; we do not want women to think that now they are menopausal, they have incurred a permanent disease that requires long-term medical intervention.

      During the early 1980s I worked in a missionary hospital in India, which I found a fascinating anthropological and spiritual experience. Luckily I spoke some Hindi and had a solid training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, as we were presented with all sorts of female emergencies that are no longer common in Western countries. I was in my early 30s at the time, and although I knew how to deliver babies and treat gynaecological problems, I was still very naive about the ways of the world and about cultural differences. I was quite surprised to find that Indian women saw the menopause as a completely different experience to the majority of my patients in Australia. Indian women welcomed the menopause and saw it as a liberating time in their lives; they no longer had to worry about unwanted pregnancy, continual anaemia from menstrual bleeding and childbirth, and the load of a big family. However, their liberation was not due to the loss of fertility alone, it was also because they were now free to be themselves. I found that many of the older Indian women, even up to their late 70s, were still sexually active, notwithstanding their lack of HRT. They were pleased to be able to have their vaginal and bladder repairs done, not just to overcome urinary incontinence but also to feel good about themselves as women, and also so they could have a better sex life. So this experience taught me a lot – the way we see the menopause has a lot to do with the expectations that have been brainwashed into our subconscious minds. The menopause is just a new phase of life, and really we are lucky to be able to live long enough to experience it!

      Some women will have very few menopausal symptoms, and so the time that the menopause lasts becomes quite insignificant. In those women who continue to experience symptoms of hormonal deficiency right up into their late years, we can use either nutritional medicine or a combination of natural HRT and nutritional medicine to relieve their symptoms completely. So although the menopause is a permanent stage of your life, any unpleasant symptoms do not have to be permanent.

      HRT can be taken for a short period of time, or for many years. We now know that oral forms of oestrogen and/or progestogens are not safe to take for more than several years, due to the increased risk of breast cancer and blood clots. They can be taken for one to two years, if you prefer to take oral forms of HRT.

      If HRT is to be used for many years to relieve unpleasant symptoms in older women (over 55), then I personally believe that the natural forms of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, administered in the form of creams, patches or low-dose lozenges (troches) are a very safe alternative. As a woman ages, she will generally need smaller doses of HRT, and the amount of hormones in the creams can be easily adjusted accordingly. In many cases it is only necessary to use the creams in the vaginal area, making the amount СКАЧАТЬ