Your Options for Easing Menopause Symptoms

Are you experiencing daytime grogginess thanks to night sweats that are preventing you from getting any solid sleep? Maybe you’re feeling more anxious for no apparent reason. Or perhaps your sex life has waned due to vaginal dryness.

These symptoms are some of the more common side effects that women experience as they transition through menopause. And each year, 1.3 million women in the United States embark on this journey.

Our multidisciplinary healthcare team here at LaSante Health Center includes gynecology experts who help women through every stage of life, from puberty through menopause. 

So if you’re experiencing menopause symptoms that are having no small impact on your quality of life, we want you to know that we have solutions.

The many symptoms of menopause

The one constant about menopause is that no two women have the same journey. In fact, there are more than 30 potential side effects that can come with the sudden loss of reproductive hormones, which occurs when your ovaries begin to shut down.

While some women sail through the transition without too much disruption, most women face some of the more common side effects of menopause, including:

• Hot flashes and night sweats, which affect 75% of postmenopausal women
• Vaginal dryness, which affects more than half of women between the ages of 51 and 60
• Bone loss — women lose about 20% of their bone density after menopause
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Sleep issues
• Hair loss
• Thinning skin
• Weight gain
• Pelvic organ prolapse
• Incontinence

As you can see from this list, menopause can be far more than a nuisance, as it can lead to some significant changes in your mental and physical health.

Tools and resources for weathering menopause

If you’re struggling with menopause, we want you to know that there are some good solutions, which include:

Hormone replacement therapies

When you pass through menopause, you lose estrogen and progesterone hormones, so it makes sense that one of the most effective ways to deal with menopause symptoms is to bring these hormone levels back up.

If you’re dealing with hot flashes and you’re worried about bone loss, one solution is systemic hormone replacement therapy. Through patches, pills, and creams, we can raise the levels of estrogen and progesterone in your system.

If your main concern is vaginal health, you can try a vaginal cream that you apply directly to the tissues for a more targeted approach.

Lifestyle changes

Aside from hormone replacement therapy, there are other ways in which you can better weather menopause, such as:

• Strength training to offset bone loss
• Relaxation exercises to reduce stress
• Dressing in layers to deal with hot flashes

We can also discuss some dietary changes you should make during this new period of your life, such as adding more calcium.

Getting mental health support

Menopause can be a challenging time mentally as the aging process speeds up and changes take place in your body. From a purely hormonal perspective, menopause can also lead to higher levels of anxiety and depression.

At our practice, we provide comprehensive mental wellness services to help you weather this period of your life.

The bottom line: If you’re finding menopause to be difficult, we can help you put together an effective toolkit for easing this journey so you can enjoy these years to their fullest.

To figure out which treatments are best for your menopause symptoms, we invite you to book an appointment online or call us at our Brooklyn, New York, office at 718-246-5700.    

We serve the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.