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Using the Mirena Coil as HRT
The MirenaTM coil – an intrauterine system (IUS) – is familiar to many women as a long-term contraceptive. However, it can also be beneficial to some perimenopausal women for use as the progesterone component of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Progesterone must be taken by women who have a uterus if they are using estrogen HRT because the […]
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PMDD and Progesterone
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affecting 5 to 8 percent of menstruating women. Whilst PMS can be challenging enough, sufferers of PMDD endure debilitating physical, mental, and emotional symptoms in the days leading up to their period, which ends within a few days after menstruation commences. Whilst the condition is not fully understood, […]
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What is Micronised Progesterone?
Progesterone treatment is given as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women with a uterus. This is because the oestrogen component of HRT causes the womb lining (endometrium) to thicken, and progesterone causes it to shed. Without progesterone, the thickened endometrium would result in an increased cancer risk. Micronized progesterone is body-identical Current regulated […]
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Unexpected Effects of HRT
It’s no exaggeration to say that many women starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are praying for a miracle. Something to relieve the insomnia, the mood swings, the fatigue, the night sweats…the list is endless. And for many women, it works. However, some of us get more than we bargained for, cumulatively a range of unexpected […]
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Bioidentical versus Body-Identical HRT
‘Bioidentical hormones’ are manufactured hormones that have the same chemical and molecular structure as the ones produced in the human body. The term can refer to the FDA– and MHRA-regulated and approved HRT that is available in retail pharmacies, or the individually-tailored preparations available in compounding pharmacies or private clinics. Its origins, however, are as a marketing term for […]
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As a woman of color, your experience of menopause may be different
Evidence has emerged that women of color are more likely to experience more adverse health effects during menopause, and this disparity compared with white women’s experiences is likely due to structural racism in the US. Women of color experience earlier and more extreme menopausal symptoms Until recently, most discussion of perimenopause and menopause has focussed […]
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Should you consider topical vaginal oestrogen supplements?
Women in midlife – even those not suffering from hot flashes, mood swings and other well-known symptoms of menopause – may benefit from vaginal oestrogen supplementation. This is because another common, although sometimes less-discussed, symptom of perimenopause and menopause is vaginal atrophy. ‘Atrophy’ refers to the wasting away or diminishing of tissues, and Bleibel (2022) quote that up to 57 per […]
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Yoga Poses for the Pelvic Floor
For women approaching middle age, urinary incontinence and vaginal weakness due to a compromised pelvic floor can be a common problem, particularly after childbirth. The drop in hormones around perimenopause can worsen these conditions. A 2019 study by Kolodynska found that urinary incontinence affects 50 percent of post-menopausal women and twice as many women as men. A study by […]
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Premenopause vs Perimenopause vs Menopause vs Postmenopause
Not that long ago, the only term frequently heard to describe the end of women’s reproductive years was the catch-all ‘menopause’ (and not long prior to that, the only thing heard – if anything at all – was a hushed reference to the euphemistic ‘change’, with a capital ‘C’). Now, greater awareness and understanding has […]
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Testosterone Deficiency in Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is now routinely prescribed for women suffering adverse effects during perimenopause and menopause. What HRT doesn’t address is the decline in testosterone production. That’s right, the hormone that is often considered to be male is produced in females too, albeit at a much lower level. According to Newson Health, three times […]
Menopause is hot.
