Menopause and Perimenopause
Dr. Anju Mathur of Angel Longevity Medical Center helps women through the challenging life transitions that occur during menopause, perimenopause, and hormone decline.
What causes hormone loss?
While most women naturally lose their hormones between the ages of 40 and 50, other factors such as stress, lack of nutrition, poor sleeping habits, lack of exercise, smoking, and excessive alcohol intake can also cause hormone levels to decline. In addition, some women lose hormones due to a hysterectomy or the removal of an ovary.
A balancing act Understanding imbalanced hormones
The right hormone balance is important to your long-term emotional, mental, and bodily health. Factors such as aging, stress, obesity, and poor nutrition can negatively affect hormonal balance.
For hormone imbalance, Dr. Anju Mathur’s wellness program encompasses the use of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, which can provide relief from perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms. In addition, it may help minimize the risks of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, and some types of cancer.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can address underlying hormonal deficits and imbalances stemming from many causes to improve your overall sense of wellbeing. However, in aging women, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is most commonly used to reduce the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.
LIFE TRANSITIONS RESTORING BALANCED HORMONES DURING ALL OF LIFE’S STAGES
Hormone replacement therapy for women is a highly effective solution for hormonal imbalances – especially as a menopause or perimenopause treatment. Here is a closer look at our approach to balancing your hormones during these key life transitions:
Perimenopause
Perimenopause usually sets in around the early 40’s; however, women can experience it as early as the mid or early thirties.
During this phase, the ovaries begin to produce less estrogen and progesterone, which causes women to experience changes. Usually, women first notice changes in their menstrual cycles, and the menses may become irregular, heavier, lighter, later, or earlier.
Some women experience amenorrhea, infertility, or anovulation. Because progesterone rules the menstrual cycle, waning levels of this hormone can cause these changes. In some cases, perimenopause can last from 10 to 15 years before clinical menopause begins. Other symptoms of perimenopause can include:
- Increased PMS symptoms
- Bloating
- Migraines
- Acne
- Fatigue
- Low libido
- Irregular periods
- Insomnia
- Breast tenderness
- Vaginal dryness
- Hair Loss
- Mood Swings
Menopause
Menopause symptoms affect millions of women each year, and it occurs when the menstrual cycle ceases, which marks the end of a woman’s natural childbearing years. Menopause is neither a disease nor an illness; it is a natural and usually gradual change in glandular function when major hormonal shifts occur as a result of ovaries not producing estrogen and progesterone.
On average, this occurs at age 52, but it can happen much earlier or later. As a woman enters into menopause, her hormone production may fluctuate wildly, which can cause a number of symptoms, including:
- Hot flashes
- Moodiness
- Depression
- Low libido
- Sleep problems
- Memory loss
- Weight gain
- Anxiety
- Increased skin wrinkling
- Fatigue
- Night sweats
- Thinning bones
WHAT IS ESTROGEN DOMINANCE?
Women going through perimenopause or menopause run the risk of developing estrogen dominance. The increasingly popular term, “estrogen dominant,” does not mean that women have too much estrogen. Rather, it indicates that they have too little progesterone in relation to their estrogen levels, even if the estrogen level is also low.
There is an ideal ration between the two hormones. Women can have normal or even low levels of estrogen, but when they have diminished levels of progesterone, estrogen dominance results. Because estrogen is a proliferative (cell growing) hormone, too much of it without progesterone to balance it will cause problems, such as:
- Fibrocystic breast disease
- Water retention
- Heavy or irregular periods
- Endometriosis
- Breast or uterine cancer
- Hypothyroidism symptoms
- Migraines
- Belly weight gain
- Bone and mineral loss
Balancing hormones with our perimenopause or menopause treatment and hormone replacement therapy can prevent estrogen dominance – along with the many health concerns associated with it.
Other hormones for women
Balancing the levels and ratios of estrogen and progesterone is important, but many women also need their thyroid, DHEA, and testosterone balanced. These hormones are important to overall health and wellness, and they can also decline with aging. As such, Dr. Mathur focuses on them as well during perimenopause and menopause treatment.
The thyroid hormone controls all aspects of metabolism and extracts energy from the cells and food. DHEA helps to reduce inflammation and allergies while increasing youthfulness. Many women are also deficient in testosterone. While testosterone is often considered a male hormone, it is a critical hormone in women as well. Hormone therapy for women with natural testosterone can increase sexual desire, energy levels, and muscle tone, as well as improve feelings of emotional well-being.
Meet Dr. Anju Mathur
Dr. Anju Mathur specializes in menopause and perimenopause treatment using natural bioidentical hormones. For the last 50 or so years, women in this country have been prescribed Premarin and Provera. Premarin is a synthetic form of estrogen and is made from the urine of pregnant mares. Provera is a synthetic progesterone and does not have the same functions as natural progesterone. Most women get the same dose of medication and usually do not have their hormone levels checked.
Dr. Mathur only uses bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, which uses hormones that are identical in molecular structure and function to the hormones produced in the human body. For this reason, they can be easily metabolized and used in the body without producing harmful or inconvenient side effects. Most women experience estrogen deficiencies with aging, and estrogens promote youthful cell growth in organs of the body. Some of the benefits of bioidentical estrogens include:
- Enhanced skin smoothness, firmness, and elasticity
- Increased moistness of mucus membranes
- Improved muscle tone
- Stronger sex drive
- Reduced risk of osteoporosis and colon cancer
- Improved memory and neurological function
- Greater feelings of wellbeing
I’ve been doing the hormone treatment for approximately 1 1/2 months. I wasn’t sure I’d stick with it because I had a lot of pills to take, which is not my favorite thing to do-at all. But, I managed it remarkably well and have experienced amazing results. I feel better than I have in years. Pains have gone away. Hot flashes have pretty much gone. I have more energy and have confronted things that I put off for a long time. Looking forward to improving even more. This is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. Thanks!
– Carole S.
I started hormone replacement therapy in January for hot flashes, night sweats, and “the jitters.” It’s now four months later and I have no hot flashes, no night sweats, and I am calmer and happier, with a relaxed, peaceful energy! Thank you, Dr. Mathur.
– Nancy
Our unique approach to hormone replacement therapy
At Angel Longevity Medical Center, Dr. Mathur takes a different approach to hormone replacement therapy for women during menopause and perimenopause treatment. She carefully measures a woman’s entire hormone panel, not just female hormones such as estrogen, so that she can tailor a replacement program specifically for the individual. Bioidentical hormones are available through compounding pharmacies in a more custom hormone dose formulation. In this way, she brings all of the hormones into balance, allowing patients to feel years younger and relieve their perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
In addition to bioidentical hormones, Dr. Mathur can provide other hormone therapies that help to relieve perimenopause and menopausal symptoms. For example, nutrient IV infusions can improve the effectiveness of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
Because many women complain of weight gain during hormone decline, Dr. Mathur can also provide a physician supervised medical weight loss program and nutritional supplements, recommendations for lifestyle changes, whole food suggestions, and dietary plans.
Learn how menopause and perimenopause treatment specialist, Dr. Anju Mathur, and her custom wellness program help women painlessly transition through the different phases of life. Call (818) 961-2055 to schedule an appointment.
