I thought once my periods stopped and I was menopausal that all my symptoms would stop.

Menopause means the cessation (end) of your menstrual periods and, therefore, the end of the reproductive years. But it doesn’t mean symptoms associated with hormone imbalance during our cycle will magically disappear.

Rapid fluctuations of a number of the steroid hormones can create a roller coaster effect. This period of time is often called ‘perimenopause‘, or climacteric period where the symptoms of hot flushes, sweating, headaches, PMS, menstrual bleeding changes and irregularity, mood swings and all the symptoms of estrogen dominance can exist.

These symptoms can vary from woman to woman, and last for a few months, even 10-15 years.

There is a period, following the cessation of your menstrual cycle, where things are still settling down and you can experience debilitating symptoms.

Just because your periods stop, it does not necessarily mean that your symptoms will disappear. A lot of factors come into play, particularly estrogen dominance and the circumstances that promote it.

Typically, menopause symptoms are viewed by doctors as being linked to estrogen deficiency based on the fact that our estrogen levels drop by 40-60% at menopause. This simply isn’t looking at the ‘big’ picture that is our endocrine system. Nor does it take into account an overweight woman can potentially manufacture more estrogen in the body after menopause (via her body fat) than when she was years younger!

Even a woman with low levels of estrogen can have estrogen dominance symptoms if she doesn’t have any progesterone to balance the effects of estrogen in the body.