Hormone Testing After 50

On average, women hit menopause by the age of 52, but it can happen as early as 40 or as late as 60. If you’ve entered your 50s and haven’t yet reached menopause, you’ve likely already begun the transition to menopause (perimenopause). 

Menopause is the point in time when your ovaries stop releasing eggs, you no longer have menstrual periods, and your estrogen levels become very low. During perimenopause, your estrogen and progesterone levels slowly decline, which can cause a wide variety of symptoms, from hot flashes to mood swings to irregular periods. 

As hormone levels fluctuate throughout perimenopause and postmenopause, you might be miserable as you ride the hormone roller coaster and experience all the symptoms that go with it. 

At Women’s Specialty Care in Lake Forest and Grayslake, Illinois, Karen Mass, MD, FACOG, and the rest of our team are passionate about helping your transition to menopause go smoothly, which is why we offer laboratory testing to check your hormone levels and supplement crashing levels when necessary. 

In this month’s blog, we discuss common hormone-related symptoms that come with perimenopause and postmenopause and how we can help. 

Signs you’re approaching menopause

Perimenopause can begin up to 10 years before you actually reach menopause. As your hormone levels decline, you can experience a number of unpleasant symptoms, which could include:

• Irregular periods
• Mood swings
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Low libido
• Vaginal dryness
• Pain during sex
• Hair loss
• Weight gain

You may go several months without a period during perimenopause, and your cycle may be irregular and sporadic. But you don’t actually hit that milestone until you’ve gone 12 consecutive months without a period. 

Testing your hormone levels 

If symptoms of perimenopause are making you miserable, there are ways to get relief, and our Women’s Specialty Care team offers treatment that help. 

Before we can treat declining estrogen levels, it’s important that we perform some blood tests to ensure that low estrogen is actually what’s triggering your symptoms. Abnormal thyroid function can present very similarly to perimenopause. 

Not only do we look at your estrogen levels, but we also check the levels of your follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH is another key player in regulating your menstrual cycle, and those levels provide helpful information on whether your symptoms are due to perimenopause or not. 

Getting help during your transition to menopause

If testing confirms that perimenopause is the reason for your symptoms, we can make a treatment plan from there. 

A highly effective treatment for leveling out hormone fluctuations is hormone replacement therapy. Injections of supplemental hormones that are identical in makeup to the ones your body makes naturally can stop the roller coaster and help you feel more like yourself. These are called bioidentical hormones. 

In addition, making healthy lifestyle choices can give your body the tools it needs to better regulate changing hormones. These healthy habits should include:

• Staying hydrated
• Getting enough exercise (30 minutes per day, 5 days a week)
• Eating a nutrient-rich diet that includes fruit, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains
• Getting enough sleep every night
• Limiting caffeine and alcohol consumption

Your transition to menopause doesn’t have to be a miserable one. Get your hormone levels checked and supplemented by our Women’s Specialty Care team. Simply call your nearest office location, or schedule an appointment online today.