Did you know that 1 in 20 women are hit by an early menopause? Not by the fact itself, as that has been increasingly apparent in the last few years, but by a study that was done at Imperial College London seemed to tell only half the story.
In the UK, the average age of menopause is 51, but the report showed that higher than expected numbers of women stop having periods before the age of 40. The study says that there is no expected reason for this, and that this figure is much higher than previous estimates, which go back to the 1980s and were as low as 1%.
Almost 5000 women’s records were studied but the lead researchers, Dr Rumana Islam and Dr Rufus Cartwright, were unable to explain why this phenomena was occurring. Premature menopause carries health risks. In the USA, women who experienced menopause before the age of 46 had more than twice the risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problem.
The generational factor in the use of synthetic hormones
But what I found interesting about all of this is that no mention was made anywhere of something that the late Dr John Lee, the pioneer of bioidentical progesterone usage, observed many years ago.
That is that we now have several generations of women who have been exposed to synthetic hormones via the contraceptive pill, plants, coil and HRT.
In a seminar I facilitated with Dr Lee in London, he was asked about a young woman who was experiencing a very early menstrual cycle and he said that before the advent of the pill and HRT women had not been exposed to synthetic hormones in this way and that it was bound to have an effect on their hormonal health.
That it would have an effect on the woman immediately taking hormones is apparent, but what he was suggesting was that this could be passed down to her daughter and then her daughter’s daughter and so on.
To me this certainly makes sense and since the advent of synthetic hormones we have become more aware of the dangers attached of them. To this we have also added the weight of the environmental xenoestrogens that are now so common.
We may not know the exact reasons for this rise in premature menopause but we can certainly use the information we already have to make an educated guess.
Dr Lee was very clear about the health impact of oestrogen dominance and synthetic hormones tip that balance even further in the direction of hormone imbalance.
The rise in surgical menopause
Over 55,000 hysterectomy operations are carried out in the UK each year. This means about one in five women will have a hysterectomy at some point.
The most common age to have one is between 40-50, however they are often carried out on women outside of this age group and 60% of these are for fibroids so this means a rise in premature menopause.
A hysterectomy is a surgical menopause and so women may find themselves starting to have hot flushes and other symptoms earlier than they anticipated.
Replacing lost hormones from the surgery is straightforward, if the hysterectomy was fibroid related then you are probably oestrogen dominant so using a progesterone only cream can help.
If you don’t have many of the oestrogen dominance signs, but do show symptoms of low oestrogen such as vaginal dryness, then you may be better supplementing with a combination cream that has both oestrogen and progesterone.
Helpful information:
Clearly there can be a number of reasons why a woman may be offered a hysterectomy, but sometimes it can be helpful to take a look at the factors that can affect this.
Hormone imbalance and fibroids are related to oestrogen dominance, so having good knowledge of your own hormonal health, and tracking your symptoms, can be a good way to help stay ahead of any potential symptoms after a hysterectomy.
