Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods
Body-identical menopausal hormone therapy uses hormones that are exactly identical to human hormones. It is safer than other types of hormone replacement, both in terms of cardiovascular risk and breast cancer risk. Examples include transdermal estradiol patches and oral micronized progesterone.
According to a new Lancet review paper, menstrual migraines are more severe than migraines at other times of the cycle.
The authors of the paper explain that menstrual migraines are caused by estrogen withdrawal at the end of the cycle together with an estrogen-dependent release of prostaglandins and histamine. They propose progesterone as a possible prevention strategy.
Progesterone is usually soothing to mood but can sometimes cause anxiety. A negative mood reaction to progesterone is called neurosteroid change sensitivity or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and affects about one in twenty women.
Here’s everything you need to know about progesterone and mood.
It’s time to bring progesterone into the conversation about women’s health. That’s according to Canadian endocrinology professor Jerilynn Prior in her paper “Women’s Reproductive System as Balanced Estradiol and Progesterone Actions—a revolutionary, paradigm-shifting concept in women’s health.” In the paper, Professor Prior makes the case that historically there has been a “cultural over-emphasis on estrogen” while “progesterone tends to be ignored or associated with negative effects.”
Perimenopause or “second puberty” is the two to ten years before the final period. It’s different from menopause, which is the life phase that begins one year after the final period. Symptoms, if they occur at all, occur mostly during perimenopause and are temporary.
The normal age for the final period is anywhere from 45 to 55 so the normal age for perimenopause is up to ten years before that—as young as 35. In other words, if you were born before 1984, you could be in perimenopause and yet still be relatively young. That’s why perimenopause is not about aging but is instead about an important (and unavoidable) recalibration of your hormonal system.