| |
- Heart Palpitations: As mentioned above,
a drop in estrogen can cause your endorphins, the brain's natural
chemicals that elevate mood or kill pain, to fall. Your
brain interprets this drop as “trouble”, and
sends out a shot of adrenaline, the fight-or-flight hormone, and
your heart starts pounding. The fight-or-flight hormone
is a great thing when you are on a camping trip and a snake slithers
by the tent. But, during menopause, heart palpitations can
be scary, and happen at inappropriate times. Of course,
if you suspect heart disease or it runs in your family, it is
best to have these heart palpitations checked out by your doctor. But
if it is attributed to perimenopause or menopause, get your estrogen
levels monitored.
- Migraine Headaches: If migraine headaches
are new to you, or only happened during the first few days
of your period or during ovulation it indicates that you are
responding to low estrogen levels. During perimenopause
these fluctuating levels in estrogen may trigger more migraines
than you experienced during a normal cycle. Your blood
vessels constrict during migraines, and estrogen can dilate
those blood vessels. For some women balancing their hormones
alleviates their migraines. But for others, HRT
makes it worse. The good news is those migraines that
appeared during menopause will probably disappear during post
menopause. But the medical community is still trying
to figure out the connection of female hormones and migraines.
- Memory Lapses: Have you been at the
mall doing chores when you received a call from a friend who
has been waiting an hour for you to arrive, and you completely
forgot? Or say the same thing a couple of times, but
forgot you said it earlier only to be corrected by your listener?
Often short-term memory loss can be experienced when estrogen
levels are low. In the brain, estrogen helps the connection
of neurons, nerve cells that transmit information from one
memory storage area to another. And estrogen also assists
in growing new neurons. So when your estrogen levels
are declining your memory connections aren’t always transmitting
clearly. You are not crazy; ask for support from your
loved-ones to nurture you through your forgetful moments. It
is no fun to be punished for forgetting something. And
HRT can help you if you are experiencing this symptom as well
as keeping your mind stimulated. It will help your brain
create new neural connections.
- Hot Flashes and Night Sweats: The
number one symptom that most people associate with menopause
is the dreaded hot flash. Those not experiencing it think
it’s funny. There is nothing funny about suddenly
feeling flush and overcome with perspiration, dizziness and
heart palpitations. Or being disturbed from a good nights
sleep with a hot flash (aka night sweats) that sends you to
the bathroom to splash cool water on your face and change into
a dry nightgown. When your estrogen levels suddenly plunge
it creates a hot flash. Just as with mood swings and
heart palpitations, when your estrogen quickly falls your brain
pumps out adrenaline, which triggers the fight-or-flight signal,
and you begin to sweat. It is declining estrogen and unneeded surges of adrenaline
that make you wish you could wring yourself out after a hot
flash. I recommend wearing cotton clothing and bringing
a fresh blouse when you leave the house. In the winter layer your clothes by wearing
a cotton tank top under your wool sweaters. In the summer,
enjoy a cotton sundress and keep a stylish fan handy in your
handbag for instant hot flash relief.
- Sleep Problems: If you are experiencing
night sweats it is no surprise you are not sleeping at night. You
wake up tossing and turning in “the wet spot”,
one that was unfortunately not the result of a wild night with
your husband. A sleepless night will promise you
a day of irritability and mood swings. But many women
have sleep problems because the drop in estrogen levels affects
their serotonin levels. Estrogen is responsible for making
serotonin, a neurotransmitter that
most likely contributes to the regulation of sleep, appetite,
and mood. It is also associated with a number of other functions,
including the regulation of body temperature. It
starts becoming obvious how our hormones play a big role in
our bodies.
top | next
| previous
|
|
