Perimenopausal Relief

Some women cruise right on through to menopause with little or no symptoms to hinder their passage. Then there are those of us that get smacked head-on with some of the worse symptoms that perimenopause can throw at us. Understanding what these symptoms are, their causes, and that we can actually find some relief may help shed some light on how to help ease our navigation through perimenopause, and how to learn to mitigate and relieve unwelcome symptoms.

On some days (and nights), perimenopausal symptoms can feel like a bad dream rather than just an annoying symptom. While some women experience just a few of these symptoms during perimenopause, others suffer many. As to not be blindsided at the onset of perimenopause, here are some symptoms of what to possibly expect:

• Hot flashes/ Night sweats
• Mood swings
• Irritability
• Headaches
• Muscle tension
• Increases stress
• Anxiety
• Irregular periods
• Low libido
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Depression

Not one of these symptoms would any sane woman gladly sign up for, but here they are and then some. Being aware of the causes that can throw all women on a tenuous path to menopause may help in coming to grips with the possibility of having to succumb to the most unsavory of these symptoms. The main cause, in a nutshell, is reproductive hormonal imbalance. Pure and simple, our childbearing years have got to come to an end at some point in our lives, and perimenopause is how Mother Nature handles that process.

The onset of perimenopause occurs when estrogen, testosterone and progesterone production begins to seriously vacillate then gradually plunge. Because of these fluctuating hormones, the brain is sent conflicting signals that result in a series of symptoms that can make us question our core stability.

Perimenopause usually begins between the ages of 45 and 55. Perimenopause usually lasts an average of four years before finally reaching menopause after a full year of the cessation of menses.

Perimenopausal Symptoms Treatment

Once upon a time, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was the gold standard in treating perimenopausal women with moderate to severe symptoms. Then in the early 2000’s it was realized through a gamut of studies that HRT significantly raised the incidences of breast cancer, cardiac disease and stroke in women who partook in this form of treatment. Fortunately, women are now discovering alternative and healthy approaches in finding relief of perimenopausal symptoms that involve very little or no risks.

1. Diet

What we eat affects how we feel and can impact problematic perimenopausal symptoms as well. Overall good nutrition can address vitamin deficiencies and increase our ability to manage our symptoms and our health. A few quick tips: include broccoli, spinach, legumes, fish, seeds and nuts into your diet. By avoiding alcohol you’ll have a much better chance at keeping the worst hot flashes at bay.

2. Exercise

Once you get moving on a regular basis, you cannot help but feel the overall benefits that exercise can be for perimenopausal symptoms. Walking, cycling and swimming are just a few aerobic exercises that increases blood flow to the muscles and evaporates the root cause of so many perimenopausal symptoms; stress.

3. Yoga

Learning the soothing and gentle poses of yoga will address nearly every tense and sore perimenopausal muscle in your body. Yoga is a particularly valuable practice that gently stretches and opens the body to increase positive energy and alleviate stress.

4. Alternative techniques

Acupuncture, massage therapy and aromatherapy are all viable and effective approaches in relieving perimenopausal symptoms. Inhalation or rubbing on the skin of specific essential oils, have proved to have positive impacts on symptoms.

5. Natural Supplements

With the negative long-term outcomes discovered with HRT, more women are turning to herbal, natural supplements that have been used for centuries to mitigate and assuage the adverse effects associated with perimenopausal symptoms.

Continue reading about perimenopausal relief through natural remedies.