How Do Your Hormone Levels Change During Postmenopause?

 

Menopause is a natural part of life, and it is generally indicative of permanent hormonal changes. By definition, it's when the body starts producing far less of certain key hormones that regulate reproduction. As a result, it can also cause a range of symptoms that impact daily life and your ongoing health. Postmenopausal women are at increased risk for heart disease and osteoporosis, just to name two common examples. Luckily there are ways to offset those risks with diet, vitamin supplements, and menopause relief supplements.

Hormones That Drop

Declining estrogen levels are the most common cause of menopause symptoms, but they do not affect everyone equally. On top of that, the decline in estrogen production also affects the body's production of other hormones, including LH, FSH, and progesterone. Both estrogen and progesterone decline during perimenopause and then stay low permanently through and after menopause. The low levels of these hormones are why some people experience ongoing menopause symptoms after entering postmenopause, but they can be alleviated with the right interventions.

Hormones That Rise

While estrogen and progesterone levels fall, LH and FSH levels tend to increase during menopause and can remain higher after it is over. The increase in these hormones is largely responsible for the increased variability in menstrual cycles during menopause, and that means they contribute to additional symptoms like menopause mood swings.

The variability of these hormones and the way they increase even as the cycle of estrogen and progesterone changes fades off make it difficult to answer questions like are hormones high or low during menopause? It's not all of one or the other, menopause is a series of complex changes to the body that include both increasing and decreasing hormone levels.

Treating Postmenopausal Symptoms

There are a lot of options when it comes to reducing postmenopausal symptoms. There are medications that can be useful for persistent symptoms, but there are also natural ways to reduce your symptoms that you can try before seeking a heavier medical intervention. A lot of them are generally good for your health anyway, and should be habits that everyone strives for.

• Daily meditation to reduce stress in ways that can help with sleep and metabolic regulation
• Moderate exercise to maintain muscle mass
• Vitamin and mineral supplements designed to prevent osteoporosis
• Supplements to decrease hot flashes and menopause mood changes naturally
• Herbal solutions that also boost general hormonal health and the immune system
• Dietary changes to include more foods like nuts, leafy greens, and whole grains

It is very common for the symptoms that start in perimenopause to continue for years after you have entered the postmenopausal phase, but those symptoms can be treated. In most cases, they do decrease over time as you get further and further from your last menstrual cycle.

If you are wondering where you are at in the process, remember that perimenopause is the start of these symptoms. Menopause itself is the period of increased irregularity in your cycle, and postmenopausal women are those who are a full year or more past their last cycle.

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