THE HRT REHAB CENTRE

THE VEIL OF OESTROGeN

I see menopause as the lifting of a veil; that veil being oestrogen. This veil has been with us for over 3 decades and we know it well, so when it starts to fluctuate we begin to feel and think in ways we haven’t experienced before.

This veil of oestrogen is thinnest just before our period (PMT), during pregnancy, postpartum and again at perimenopause, and you might notice some irritability, anger and other symptoms. These are the first signs that oestrogen has given you superpowers and without it, you begin to notice just how much responsibility and stress you’ve really taken on.

By our late 30’s to early 40’s, these symptoms and triggers begin to appear more frequently, and it no longer feels as easy to carry on as normal. By our mid 40’s, most women will find themselves in perimenopause, and this is when the veil is now off most of the time. We feel different - physically, mentally and emotionally. And If we haven't been caring for ourselves up until this point, our symptoms will be worse and we will begin to see clearly what is not working in our lives. Like removing a pair of blinkers, we come out of the hormonal trance and see who we truly are. 

As the veil of oestrogen lifts we are shown more and more aspects of what we want to/must shed and who we desire to become. The thin veil is the opportunity to see beyond the hormonal acts/ actions/ personalities/ person/ being of caregiver, mother, sister, daughter, friend and wife.

Parts of ourselves that have long been hidden behind the veil are now emerging and we can feel unrecognisable to ourselves, losing our confidence and igniting anxious and depressed feelings. A negative self chatter starts to occur and negative beliefs begin to surface as we question our sense of self and move into a fight or flight response. As our cells, immune system and microbiome attune to our thoughts and transmute them into biochemical signals that change our gene expression, we begin to see changes in inflammation and hormones that have real biological impacts on our bodies. 

STRESS BEING THE CAUSE

When it comes to menopause, we tend to focus on the symptoms. However, the symptoms are always a manifestation of our stressors - our thoughts, beliefs, patterns and conditioning.

A stress response can be triggered in response to a real or perceived attack or threat, conscious or unconscious, meaning that thought alone can cause you to go into a stress response. The thought can come from something that’s about to happen or an anxiety that you imagine will happen, with three of the common triggers being uncertainty, a lack of information or the loss of control. All three are present in the lives of women in perimenopause.

As Dr. Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté share in their recent book, The Myth of Normal, stress is a mandatory survival function and when activated, it immediately activates us to confront or escape threats to our existence.

 “Over the long-term, the hormonal surplus can make us anxious, depressed, suppress immunity, promote inflammation, narrow blood vessels promoting vascular disease, encourage cancer growth, thin the bones, make us resistant to our own insulin inducing diabetes, contribute to abdominal obesity, elevating the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic problems, impair essential cognitive and emotional secretes in the brain and elevate blood pressure and increase blood clotting raising the risk of heart attacks or strokes.” 

Notice how these are all physiological symptoms that we are spoon fed by the “experts” for why we must take HRT because of our hormone deficiency. 

The authors go on to share how the brain itself is “the central organ of a super system that extends throughout the body and influences every aspect of physiological functioning, from the caliber of our blood vessels to the contraction of our intestines, the beating of our heart, the manufacture of immune cells and our bone marrow, the secretions of our hormones from the sex gland, and the functioning of our kidneys.”

Our brain, mind and body are all interconnected - there is no denying it - and whilst the book focuses mainly on disease, I invite you to see your menopause symptoms in a similar light, being that they are indicators of dis-ease in the body. 

“What if we saw illness (menopause symptoms) as an imbalance in the entire organism, not just as a manifestation of molecules, cells or organs invaded or denatured by the pathology?”

“When we cease to view illness (menopause symptoms) as a concrete autonomous thing with a predetermined trajectory and when we have the proper help and the willingness to look both within and without, we can start to exercise agency in the matter. 

After all if disease (menopause symptoms) is the manifestation of something in our lives rather than merely their cruel disruptor, we have options.

We can pursue new understandings, ask new questions, perhaps make new choices. We can take our rightful place as active participants in the process rather than remain its victims, helpless but for our reliance on medical miracle workers.”

WISDOM:

THE BODY’S INTUITIVE GUIDANCE SYSTEM

If you have symptoms such as premenstrual PMS, perimenopause, SAD (seasonal adjustment disorder) or pre and post natal depression, these are your body’s intuitive guidance system telling you that something is off - whether it be in your body, mind, soul, life, relationships or past traumas. 

These windows of wisdom are like a credit card; you get a bill once a month (PMS) to find out what the damage is. Similarly, during times where the right brain is more activated like in perimenopause, pregnancy and postpartum, you will be given these windows of wisdom from your body. Any area of your life that is not whole, or where you feel misaligned, will come up at these times (because the veil of oestrogen is lifted). 

Whilst taking a pill or hormone replacement at this time might ease your symptoms, they are also masking this inner guidance that is your body’s way of communicating to you. It’s not so much that birth control pills or HRT are bad, but that there is deep wisdom within your  natural cycles and we should only be going down this path if we already have clear insight into what our body is trying to tell us through our symptoms.