Conventional medicine has a checkered past addressing women’s health issues, especially when it comes to hormone-related issues. Women in California have two choices: keep advocating for themselves or take their business elsewhere.
It's an open secret that women's healthcare isn't taken as seriously as men's. Prior to 1993, women were rarely included in clinical trials, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Even today, some researchers avoid using female mice in studies, partially due to the fact that their reproductive systems and fluctuating hormones might throw off study results, according to the AAMC.
So it's not shocking that many women's mid-life health complaints are dismissed or given pat answers. But that doesn't mean that they have to accept these responses. Women who are passionate about their health can follow two paths for answers: they can advocate strongly for themselves within the system, or they can leave the system entirely, the hormone specialists at The Women's Vitality Center explain.
Perimenopause - unlike menopause, can be hard to fully define. Menopause is considered official when women haven't had a period in 12 consecutive months. But perimenopause features varied symptoms like irregular periods, hot flashes, sleep disturbances, weight gain, brain fog, and more, caused by hormonal fluctuations.
Since other factors can influence many of these symptoms, doctors often blame these issues on stress and tell women they are too young to be experiencing hormonal changes, according to recent reporting from National Public Radio. However, recent studies appearing in NPJ Women's Health indicate that half of women start experiencing brain fog, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and other challenges - typical of hormone fluctuations - between ages 30 and 35.
If many doctors don't take the complaints of women in their 40s and 50s seriously, it's relatively certain they're unlikely to listen to a 30-something who says she's experiencing hot flashes, brain fog and anxiety. And it's not entirely the doctor's fault. Stress truly can cause similar symptoms to perimenopause, and few modern women in their 30s live a stress-free life. Additionally, many chronic or age-related health concerns first appear in the third of fourth decade of life, making the real causes more difficult to pinpoint.
Determined women can try to work within the system, becoming their own best advocates until they find a doctor who truly listens. However, some have better success testing hormonal levels through a naturopathic doctor or another practitioner who addresses hormonal imbalances. These healthcare professionals typically adopt a holistic approach to wellness, using diet, lifestyle changes, and herbal supplements to treat underlying issues. Specialists who pursue hormonal imbalances often use these treatments as well as bioidentical hormones, GLP-1 medications, and thyroid treatments.
Women over age 30 who suffer from these symptoms, have been confirmed not to have thyroid problems or polycystic ovary syndrome, and have gotten no relief from conventional healthcare, should consider pursuing hormone testing and treatment elsewhere, according to the experts at The Women's Vitality Center, serving women throughout California — including Alameda. They suggest watching for symptoms such as:
This hormone testing program is an excellent starting point for individuals who are generally healthy but experiencing hormone-related symptoms. For patients with more complex medical histories or more severe symptoms, practitioners at The Women’s Vitality Center offer additional programs that allow for deeper evaluation and more customized treatment options.
Between life roles, work roles, and hormones, perimenopause can be a time of great change. While medical professionals can't fix the work deadlines or moody teenagers, they can address the hormonal imbalances that make the other changes harder to manage. It doesn't have to be this way.
