Menopause

Petra, 51, has struggled with weight management her entire life. Now, as she navigates menopause, her challenges have intensified. Her periods have become heavy and unpredictable, and she’s experiencing frustrating weight gain despite her conscious efforts to eat healthily. 

Petra’s once-balanced mood has given way to frequent swings and irritability, straining her relationships with her children and husband. Adding to her struggles are persistent fatigue and brain fog, making it increasingly difficult to focus on her part-time PR job.

Feeling overwhelmed and disheartened, Petra is seeking a clinic that can offer her a natural and holistic approach to managing her menopause symptoms. She’s eager to find support in adopting healthier eating habits, incorporating supplements, and addressing her mental health concerns. 

Petra’s primary goal is to regain control over her body and mind, and to embrace this new phase of life with confidence and well-being.

Weight Loss & Menopause: Understanding the Challenges

During and after menopause, weight loss can become more challenging due to a combination of hormonal shifts, lifestyle factors, and metabolic changes.

Hormonal Changes:

• Decreased Oestrogen: As oestrogen levels decline, the body may redistribute fat to the abdominal area, making weight loss more difficult.
• Metabolic Slowdown: Age-related muscle loss and hormonal fluctuations can slow down metabolism, resulting in fewer calories burned at rest.

Lifestyle Factors:

• Stress & Sleep Disruptions: Stress and poor sleep, common during menopause, can lead to increased cortisol levels and unhealthy food cravings.
• Reduced Physical Activity: Age-related decline in physical activity and energy levels can contribute to weight gain.

Other Factors:

• Insulin Resistance: Menopause can increase the risk of insulin resistance, making it harder for the body to use insulin effectively, which can lead to weight gain.
• Thyroid Dysfunction: Thyroid problems can also contribute to weight gain during menopause.

Our experienced team works collaboratively to support you as and when you need it. Reducing symptoms, prioritising self-care and lifestyle modifications, and finding a more positive mindset will all help you manage menopause and your weight with greater ease.

Hormone testing, from a functional medicine perspective, allows us to provide more targeted support, by giving us insight into your ovulation, cycle length, and hormone status. This information helps our hormone specialists create personalized nutrition and lifestyle interventions to reduce your symptoms, rebalance your hormones, and help you feel better.

How Can Testing Help Me?

The tests that will benefit you most depend on your symptoms and your stage of menopause. If you’re in early perimenopause and are experiencing hormonal symptoms, testing can help us understand your hormone status, enabling us to target specific nutritional and lifestyle interventions to restore balance and achieve your health goals. Functional hormone testing helps identify the root causes of hormonal imbalances in both men and women. It can also provide useful insights into perimenopause and menopausal symptoms, PCOS, weight gain, fatigue, low libido, premenstrual symptoms and more.

Many women find that weight management becomes more challenging as they enter the menopausal transition, and hormonal imbalances can exacerbate these weight challenges.

We always aim to identify the root cause of your hormonal imbalance, so we consider test results alongside your presenting signs and symptoms, as well as your current diet and lifestyle.

What Sample Do You Need?

Hormones can be tested in blood, urine, and saliva, each providing different information. Our hormone specialists will discuss the available options and recommend the most suitable ones for your symptoms and health. Blood profiles may be available from your GP; we always aim to work alongside your medical team. They can also be run privately if necessary. Saliva samples measure the bioavailable fraction of the hormone and are useful for taking multiple samples, like tracking the daily circadian rhythm of cortisol in an Adrenal Stress Profile. The gold standard test for a full hormone panel uses urine samples, which can be done from home.

The DUTCH Profile

One of the most comprehensive hormone profiles available is the DUTCH Profile, which uses a urine sample to look at hormone pathways and metabolites — how the body processes hormones through the liver. The results provide detailed insight into the main hormones, including progesterone, estrogen and its metabolites, as well as the androgens including testosterone and DHEA, and the stress hormones cortisol and cortisone. Metabolism and excretion of hormones, which are tied to gut function, are an important, and sometimes overlooked, part of hormone balance.

DUTCH Cycle Mapping

Depending on where you are in your menopause journey, the DUTCH Cycle Mapping profile maps the progesterone and estrogen pattern throughout the menstrual cycle. DUTCH Cycle Mapping with Complete provides a full picture of a woman’s cycle to answer important questions for patients with month-specific symptoms, infertility, and hormone imbalances. Our menopause specialists can discuss with you whether this would be a useful profile for you based on your current symptoms.