Menopause Treatment: Personalised Support for Hormonal Balance

A woman reaches menopause when she hasn’t had a period for 12 months. This is usually between the ages of 45 and 55. Around 1 in 100 women will experience early menopause, before the age of 40.

When a woman is in menopause the ovaries become inactive and as a result she is no longer able to bear children. At this point, the hormones in the body that are related to this function begin to diminish. However, there is still a vital, health-enhancing role for those reproductive hormones that now has nothing to do with reproduction and everything to do with maintaining good health. Hormone receptors are found on almost every organ in the body and are essential for our health and wellbeing.

Menopause is preceded by perimenopause, which is where the hormones begin to fluctuate and/or decline (find out more about perimenopause here)

There are many signs of menopause and each woman will have a slightly different experience of these. Some will only experience a few mild symptoms, whereas others can have many symptoms that greatly impact on quality of life.

There are a number of menopause symptoms that you can look out for that signal your body’s hormonal fluctuations as the ovaries slowly lose their function. Symptoms are similar to those leading up to menopause, but with more consistency in:

• Hot flushes (although some refer to these as hot flashes) and night sweats.
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia).
• Changes in mood, such as feeling anxious, tired, irritable, or depressed.
• Difficulty concentrating or poor memory.
• Urinary problems – such as recurrent urinary tract infections, loss of bladder control (urinary incontinence).
• Joint aches and pains.
• Changes to the vagina, such as thinning, dryness, discomfort, itching and pain during sex
• Loss of interest in sex (loss of libido).

You reach menopause after going 12 months without a period. From here, you are in postmenopause. Once you’ve had your last period you can expect the symptoms of menopause to last for around four to five years as your hormones settle. The good news is that most women find some relief from this point onwards.

As you move through each phase of menopause, hormone levels can fluctuate significantly causing hormonal imbalance. However, these vital hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone remain important for bones, vaginal and urethral health, skin, brain function and cardiovascular health. It is therefore important to effectively balance and replenish these hormones in order to maintain health, energy, mood and brain function.

Menopause may be something all women go through, but that doesn’t mean there is a ‘one size fits all’ treatment path. Every woman is unique, and so we provide bespoke menopause treatment, developed for your individual needs using bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT). We carry out a thorough video or telephone consultation (according to your preference), together with appropriate tests (via post), when symptoms begin displaying as this enables us to develop an effective treatment path. We look at the whole picture, including lifestyle factors, nutrition and family medical history.

Find out what your journey at the Marion Gluck Clinic may look like, from consultations to prescriptions and ongoing monitoring.

BHRT helps balance your hormones and significantly relieves symptoms of menopause, and other hormone-related conditions including premenstrual syndrome (PMS), postnatal depression, and endometriosis.

Traditional HRT uses synthetic hormones and their chemical structure is similar to, but not exactly the same as those produced by the body. These chemical differences can mean that synthetic hormones act differently in the body and can produce different effects. We produce bioidentical hormones from diosgenin, sourced from Mexican yams, that are 100% identical to the hormones your body naturally makes, unlike synthetic hormones.

We see many women who have concerns about side effects of traditional HRT, and those who have tried synthetic hormone treatments but had unwanted side effects and as a result are looking for HRT alternatives. Because bioidentical hormones typically avoid the side effects associated with synthetic hormones, they have become a popular choice.

We work closely with Specialist Pharmacy to seamlessly deliver your hormone prescriptions, which can come in different formats, from creams, to lozenges.

Find out more about BHRT.

In addition to relieving the symptoms of menopause, BHRT has many long term health benefits, especially if taken within a few years of becoming menopausal, including substantially reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 50%.

Many women are concerned they will need to be on BHRT for the rest of their life. We personalise your treatment to you, so it lasts exactly as long as you need. Some women will experience menopausal symptoms for just a few months whereas others may experience symptoms for years. We will provide treatment for as long as you have the symptoms and as long as it continues to improve your wellbeing. At some point in time your body will decide that it can cope without treatment and then we make a joint decision with you to reduce and stop your treatment and see how you feel.