Menopause skin care on a budget- ditch the expensive exfoliators
Your skin tends to start looking dull as you get older and exfoliating to remove the build up of excessive dead skin cells from your face will really help your complexion. One way to do this is to use a mechanical exfoliator, usually in the form of a facial scrub, sea salt or a microdermabrasion [...]
Postmenopausal hormone therapy and ovarian cancer- again!
Women with moderate to severe menopause symptoms often consider hormone therapy to help ease them through various problems like hot flashes (flushes), night sweats and sore/tender breasts and nipples amongst others. If you’re considering this, the usual advice is to weigh the advantages and disadvantages before starting HRT (hormone replacement therapy). New research published in [...]
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and colon cancer
Many women are using (largely synthetic) Hormone Replacement Therapy to relieve menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats even though it has been associated with an increased risk of stroke and breast cancer. If you are one of them then keep reading. The results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a large study carried [...]
Painful, tender or sore breasts/ nipples- causes, risk factors and solutions
Painful or tender breasts will occur in many women at some point in their lives – up to 70%. Sore breasts are a common problem if you suffer from PMS but you may also suffer from breast pain and swollen, lumpy breasts from other causes. Causes of breast pain and swollen nipples Ultimately, what actually [...]
Natural hormone creams improve menopause symptoms – More proof
“Can make remarkable changes in a woman’s life” There is even more research to show that natural hormone creams improve menopause symptoms. Researchers used creams that contained hormones from plants that are similar to the hormones produced by the body (bioidentical hormones). 150 women between the ages of 30 and 70 years were divided into [...]
Relief for hot flashes
Hot flashes (also known as hot flushes) are the most common symptoms experienced in the perimenopausal years. You may experience hot flashes prior to menopause, which become more frequent and severe with the onset of menopause. What are hot flashes? The term hot flush refers to the sudden onset of reddening of the skin, a [...]
Menopause & Vaginal Dryness – Causes and treatments/ solutions
Vaginal dryness, irritation and burning are common symptoms of menopause which affect different women to varying degrees. During and after menopause, estrogen levels continue to fall gradually until they stabilize at a new lower level. This means that vaginal dryness is usually not experienced until several years after menopause. The vaginal tissue depends on estrogen [...]
Estrogen dominance and fenugreek
Estrogen dominance is a term used to describe the hormonal imbalance that exists during perimenopause. (Read about symptoms of menopause and perimenopause here. )To cut a long story short, you ovulate less frequently as you approach menopause. Progesterone is produced in the ovary after ovulation. If there’s no ovulation then there’s no progesterone. However, estrogen [...]
Estrogen treatment for bladder irritation
Bladder irritation is a common symptom associated with menopause. With declining levels of estrogen, the bladder lining becomes very thin and prone to irritation and infection. There may also be burning pain on urinating and difficulty in holding back urine. Estrogen is responsible for maintaining the lining of the bladder and promoting its blood supply [...]
Are you more likely to get ovarian cancer if you use HRT?
A new study carried out by the Lancet, a medical journal in th U.K. has shown an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer in women who use HRT (hormone replacement therapy). It also showed that the affected women were more likely to die from the disease than women who were not on HRT. This was [...]
Using HRT? Patch may be safer than pills
Conventional hormone therapy using progesterone and estrogen have been used by menopausal women for decades to relieve menopause symptoms, hormone pills being the most popular. After the results of the WHI (Women’s Health Initiative) study which showed an increased risk of developing certain disorders with HRT use, women came off the hormones in droves. Although [...]
Does black cohosh relieve menopause symptoms?
The herb black cohosh is used by many menopausal women to relieve symptoms of menopause especially hot flashes and night sweats as an alternative to estrogen/progesterone hormone replacement therapy. However, the results of a study published recently found that it was no more effective than placebo (usually an inactive sugar pill) for treating menopause symptoms. [...]
I have light pink spotting after use of progesterone suppositories – what's wrong?
Progesterone suppositories supplement any progesterone in your body bringing levels back to normal. It normalizes the endometrium (lining of the womb) by causing shedding of the excess layers that are built up by unbalanced estrogen. This shedding appears as spotting or what is known as breakthrough bleeding which may resemble a light period. Many women [...]
What are the side effects of progesterone? Should I expect the same from a natural bioidentical progesterone cream?
The side effects associated with progesterone are usually found with the synthetic progesterones known as progestins. Manufacturers take the bioidentical progesterone produced from plant sources and change the structure to achieve various results e.g. give it longer lasting effects. The body recognizes these substances as foreign and so reacts to them in various ways leading [...]
Cream progesterone vs oral – which is better?
Progesterone cream can be applied to the skin to relieve many symptoms associated with menopause. It is absorbed into the fat under the skin from where it goes straight into the blood stream from where it circulates to the rest of the body to carry out its effects. Relatively small doses such as those found [...]
Can progesterone cause hair loss?
Hair loss is a common symptom associated with the post-menopausal years. It comes in various forms: hair becomes thinner and lighter coupled with difficulty in styling, alopecia where the hair actually comes out from the roots leaving bald patches and male pattern baldness where hair is lost at the temples and the crown of the [...]
What should I expect when I start using natural progesterone cream?- What are the side effects of bioidentical progesterone?
If your body has very low levels of progesterone, the body tunes down your estrogen receptors making them less sensitive to the estrogen in the body. This is to avoid the negative effects of excess estrogen. When you start using progesterone cream, the body “tunes up” your estrogen receptors. You may start to notice some [...]
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