The Doctor's In to discuss the signs and symptoms of menopause

All right, by medical definition, menopause is defined as 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle, marking the end of a woman's reproductive years. Then there's three different stages. It can start as early as actually in your 30s. Let's talk about it this morning. Dr. Suzanne Archer from Trinity Health IHA Medical Group is here to break it all down. Dr. Archer is an OB-GYN who specializes in menopause. So thank you for being here, doctor. Thank you, Dina? I'm happy to be talking about this because we never talked about it too much in the past and that's changing now, right? Why do you think that suddenly we're having these conversations? Is it social media? Is it women just being willing to share? I think both of those. I mean, menopause, as we know, is a hot topic. No pun intended there, but we have definitely over the years, over the past 20 years, has changed dramatically in women feeling more comfortable talking about it i think social media plays a very big part in that yeah i am happy for that that women are allowed to have platforms to share it on and to talk about i think our parents didn't talk about it my parents didn't talk about it um but i think the generations below us will know a lot more about it what is it exactly what's happening in your body so menopause we know as you said that it happens it's a literal point in time when your periods have stopped after 12 months 12 consecutive months but the big factor that is happening in the body is those ovaries have just decided to stop working the ovaries the estrogen the progesterone those levels of hormones start declining in the body and due to that decline we see some symptoms big symptoms that women come in to talk about and i'll tell you what when you look at the symptoms associated with menopause it's almost like what isn't it's head to toe stuff so um you know you hear about the the hot flashes um inability to sleep moodiness lack of desire uh but there's a whole bunch of other ones too isn't there doctor there is i think um the top um symptoms that women have as you said the the sleep the hot flashes night sweats the mood those are probably the most common and a lot of times happen all together. And that's what we mostly treat women for, I feel. But we know there's estrogen receptors all over the body. Yeah. So we see that affects with regards to the skin, it affects the muscles, tendons. I mean, it's more than just the reproductive system. So that's where women will have other symptoms that are associated to it. Yeah. Your hormones play such a big role in your body, right? Mentally and physically. And the ovaries are in charge of producing both hormones? Yep. Okay. And so when they decide to stop working, which is a normal happens and yeah, when you're unable to have children anymore, that's when... And it drops off quite suddenly, right, doctor? Yes. I think over the years, it declines. Like with our perimenopause stage, that can happen for years prior to women stopping their period. Okay. And that's the slowing down. It is definitely slowing down, but you also have abrupt fluctuations in the hormones that cause a lot of the symptoms of perimenopause. But yes, the declining estrogen is the primary reason women have symptoms. So can it start as early as your 30s? The perimenopause can. We say it can start, most women start in their early 40s, but it can start as young as age 35. So what are women looking for right now? If they're starting to feel something, are you supposed to run and get blood work done? should you do? Great question. I think many patients come in to ask us, I want to get my hormones checked. How do I get my hormones checked? There is no serum, saliva, urine test that will help diagnose it. It was really clinical diagnosis with regards to women's symptoms. Why isn't it just a simple blood test? Because it just fluctuates so much? Absolutely, yeah. Fluctuates throughout the menstrual cycle, so there's no point in checking. In other words, on a Monday you might be normal, on a Tuesday you might be low and on a Wednesday you might be high. It's just the woman's body. It is. You're right. It's very complicated. We are complicated. Okay, so here's the good news in all this. Ladies, there are a lot of treatment options out there. Hormone replacement therapy is my particular brand that I go with. So next hour, we're going to talk to the doctor about that. Who can do hormone replacement therapy? If you can't do that, what are your other options? All those things. We'll talk about that in our nine o'clock hour. Dr. Archer, thank you. Thank you.