You can’t stop menopause from coming. But you can learn to counteract the menopausal changes that happen—when you understand how your body works. In this article, I will discuss the changes that occur in your body at menopause, particularly in your endocrine system.
We will examine:
Menopause symptoms
Basic elements of the endocrine system
How Menopause Affects You Physiologically
What does this mean for symptom management?
This is one of those full circle moments. Because it’s education that helps you understand the menopause experience. Learning about how your body works makes it easier to advocate for yourself with your doctor. And it’s understanding why symptoms occur that helps you better control them.
Remember, girlfriend: menopause is mandatory, but suffering is optional.
Okay, let’s take a look at the changes of menopause from a more technical point of view!
Menopause changes: The symptoms
Most of the time, when we talk about menopause, we’re talking about the symptoms that accompany the menopausal changes in your hormones.
These symptoms can start to appear slowly and may start when you are in your 30s. In some cases, they may intensify as you age and your endocrine system changes more rapidly.
Some of the common symptoms of menopause include:
urinary tract infection
Worry
Brain fog
Migraines
Painful sex
Depression
Hot flashes
Headaches
Weight gain
Night sweats
Mood swings
Dryness of the vagina
Vaginal atrophy
Decreased libido
Difficulty sleeping
Many times, for the sake of simplicity, we talk about menopausal changes in terms of hormones. At menopause, your hormone levels change. More specifically, your estrogen and progesterone levels.
When you’re younger, your body is used to circulating copious amounts of these hormones throughout the body.
And then when the sex hormones seem to disappear, it causes all those symptoms I mentioned above to appear.
But why do these hormones change?
Ultimately, it is the changes in your endocrine system that cause the changes in your hormones.
What is the Endocrine System?
The endocrine system is the complex network of glands that orchestrates the harmony of hormones in your body. This network extends throughout your body, from the pituitary gland in your brain to the adrenal glands located on top of your kidneys. (1)
The endocrine system regulates sex hormones, which include the all-important estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. But the endocrine system is also involved in the creation and distribution of other hormones, such as thyroid hormones and melatonin.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways your endocrine system is affected in menopause.
The pituitary gland and menopause
The pituitary gland is often considered the conductor of the endocrine orchestra. The pituitary gland produces and regulates various hormones that control different functions throughout the body. However, the hypothalamus controls the function of the pituitary gland. (2)
During the menopause transition, your pituitary gland begins to produce more follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).
When you cycle regularly, FSH and LH are the hormones that coordinate with your ovaries to prepare an egg for ovulation. (3,4)
But as your ovaries prepare to stop baby-making activities and your estrogen levels drop, the pituitary gland tends to pump out more FSH and LH, as if to give the ovaries extra encouragement. Sometimes, we use it as a diagnostic tool to see if you are in perimenopause or menopause.
If a blood test shows that your FSH or LH is high, this is usually an indicator that menopausal changes have begun in the pituitary gland. However, it’s important to note that the stage of menopause you’re in, BMI, and race/ethnicity can affect how your FSH levels drop. (5,6)
There is also some evidence to suggest that elevated FSH leads to the weight gain and brain fog that so many women experience during this transition. (7)
The HPA axis in menopause
So we know that the hypothalamus controls the pituitary gland and the pituitary gland is greatly affected during menopause.
But there’s another part of the HPA picture we haven’t looked at yet: the adrenal glands.
The adrenal glands are the “A” in the HPA axis. “H” stands for hypothalamus and “P” stands for pituitary gland.
The adrenal glands are small glands that sit on top of your kidneys. And they are responsible for the production of steroid hormones, sex hormones and precursors of sex hormones. (8)
But, they are not great multi-taskers. If they focus on making these steroid hormones – like cortisol (which is the stress hormone), that means they don’t make sex hormones.
At menopause, your adrenal glands take over as the main producer of sex hormones in the body, as your ovaries stop producing hormones.
This means that very strong adrenal health can help you make the menopausal transition smoother.
The problem is that your adrenal glands are quite sensitive.
And modern life is not easy for them. With all the stress of everyday life, lack of quality sleep (often also caused by menopausal changes) and a less than ideal diet – by the time menopause comes, these are exhausted.
Too exhausted to handle the added burden of sex hormone production. Eliminate hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and brain fog.
This is why it is so important to take care of your adrenals.
They need plenty of sleep, lots of self-care, and high-quality nutrients to function at their best and be the back-up generator for your menopausal hormones.
Menopause changes in your ovaries
Perhaps the most obvious changes your endocrine system experiences occur in your ovaries.
As your ovaries age, they contain fewer viable follicles (eggs that have not yet been released). You stop ovulating every month. And your ovaries stop making as much estrogen and progesterone as a result. (9)
So many of the unpleasant symptoms of menopause with which we are all too familiar occur due to the loss of these hormones that your body is used to having in abundance. When they decrease, you feel it almost everywhere.
But also, girlfriend, when you stop ovulating you can’t get pregnant. So now is the time to start enjoying your sex life to the fullest.
Other changes in your endocrine function at menopause
There are many other changes in your endocrine system during menopause. So many that researchers are still studying them.
Notable changes include (10):
Thyroid function — many women see changes in their thyroid function as they age, with rates of hypothyroidism increasing during this time.
Pancreatic function – your pancreas is responsible for maintaining blood sugar. As we age, insulin resistance usually increases as the pancreas tends to produce less insulin.
Bone metabolism – your hormones play a role in maintaining your tissues, muscles and bones. When your hormones drop at menopause, it puts you at greater risk for bone density problems like osteoporosis.
You can’t stop menopause from coming.
But, when you support your endocrine system in a meaningful way, it makes the transition much smoother.
The best way to do this is through a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, and a very healthy dose of self-care.
My other two favorite tools are:
