Menopause and other health conditions
I have spoken before about pre-existing health conditions being made worse as you go through perimenopause and menopause, such as IBS, anxiety, joint aches and pains, arthritis, and allergies. But there are now a lot of women contacting me with more serious health conditions, and they are just so frustrated because there is no information out there that they can find as to why their conditions are getting worse or what they can do to help themselves.
So, with the ones I'm going to look at today, I can't offer any advice on medical treatment, but I can give you a little bit more information as to what other routes you could maybe go down to try and help yourself and lessen the impact menopause has on these particular conditions.
So, let's take a look at some more conditions which can be impacted by menopause:
1. ADHD
We know that with this condition generally, concentration can be much more difficult. There can be restlessness and it can be harder to control emotions. During menopause, emotional control can also slip. You can get more restless, concentration can be affected too and become more emotional generally. So, in this situation, when experiencing both ADHA and menopause, ADHD symptoms can seem to worsen, with more flare-ups and even less emotional control.
For this particular one, you could look at things like Concentration Essence, which is one of the flower essences, to help with focus.
If you find that memory and concentration and other associated symptoms are getting worse, you could look at the herb Ginkgo biloba.
With ADHD, sometimes sleep can be really difficult and that can be confounded by menopause sleep issues, so to help you could look at herbs such as valerian and hops.
Fish oils can be really good for memory and brain function, so you could look at a fish oil supplement. Or if you're vegetarian or vegan, you could go with a flaxseed supplement.
2. Tourette’s symptom
I don't know much about this condition or the underlying issues, but it is one I have been contacted about recently.
So, how can menopause impact it? Well, we know that in any situation where hormonal flux is going on, it's putting much more pressure on your body generally, which means that any conditions such as Tourette's could possibly get worse. Your body just can't cope with everything that's going on.
So, with this particular one, we would just say to speak with your doctor if you're on medication for this. Check with them to see if there is anything they can do for extra support.
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3. Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an immune disorder where there's inflammation of the joints. So, there can be joint pain flare-ups, heat, and a lot of pain going on. We also know that women in this situation tend to be on anti-inflammatory drugs - may be steroids or immune suppressant drugs. We know too that going through menopause, joint inflammation is really common. You can get things like tendonitis or just general joint flare-up pain, and stiffness as well.
So, with rheumatoid arthritis in perimenopause and menopause, flare-ups can become much more common and much more frequent.
Falling oestrogen during perimenopause and menopause can also decrease your pain threshold, so even if the pain isn't any greater, because of the low oestrogen, you may feel that the pain is worse in this situation.
With this one, you can look at herbs such as Devil's Claw. Whether it helps long term will depend on the severity of your rheumatoid arthritis. Make sure you drink plenty of water every day because menopause itself can cause dehydration, which can then cause more joint aches and pains. Acupuncture can help with pain relief for this particular condition as well.
4. Epilepsy
We have a lot of women coming to us who have epilepsy, saying that their epilepsy is worse. And again, they're getting more frequent seizures and they're becoming less able to cope.
So again, very often, this can be a direct result of falling oestrogen putting extra pressure on your body. It could also be dehydration, so definitely, remember the water in this situation too.
5. Fibromyalgia
Another common condition that a lot of women have been contacting me about is fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia tends to involve muscle and joint aches and pains. It can feature fatigue. It can consist of a sense of being generally unwell and not having the energy to do things.
So again, in menopause, with all the changes that are going on, your body can get fatigued. Again muscle and joint aches and pains are common and you can get that general malaise of just feeling low, feeling down. So, when experiencing both fibromyalgia and menopause, a lot of women find that their symptoms can increase and their pain perception decreases.
What you can do to help yourself?
Firstly, it is very important, with any of these conditions, that if you're on prescribed medication and your condition is getting worse, then please speak to your doctor to see if there's something they can do.
Now, regarding HRT, I know a lot of women don't want to go on HRT for various reasons, but sometimes we say to women, "This may be the best route to go down short term, just to help you through this phase or to get you over this particular hurdle."
So don't just suffer with all these conditions when there could be things that could give you a little bit of support. Maybe just ask your doctor to go on a very low dose short term, to help you and your body to cope with all this.
Remember to still do all your normal self-care. It's so important. It's going to have a really positive impact, regardless of what's going on. So, look at your diet. Are you eating well? Are you eating enough? Are you drinking enough water every day?
All of these conditions use up such a lot of body energy, so it's so important to take time to rest and relax. Please don't skimp on this one. It's such a vital self-care tip.
You can look at complementary therapies: acupuncture, and nutritional therapy. Look at herbalism. You've got homeopathy as well and things like massage, and just treating yourself with that little bit of extra self-care. These can all help lessen the impact menopause has on your body and any pre-existing health conditions.
With these conditions, there is so little information out there on how menopause impacts them, which is why women are coming to me, wanting to know if there's anything else they can do. So hopefully, with this one, I've given you a little bit of extra information, and there may be steps that you can now take, that you weren't aware of before.
If any of you out there suffer from any of these conditions, and you're going through perimenopause and menopause and you have found something that's helped you, please, please share this one. It's really important to get as much information as we can out to all those women that are struggling with these conditions at the minute.
Until next week, take care.
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