Why exactly do you need a Menopause Action Plan?
Think of preparing for menopause the same way you prepared for puberty. Some of you knew what to expect when you were a teenager, and for some of you, puberty took you by surprise. Perhaps you didn’t have the best experience you could have because you weren’t prepared.
Over thirty years of helping thousands of women transition through the change, I have discovered something very interesting. Women who have a Menopause Action Plan transition more easily than those without a plan.
Women with a plan can control their symptoms, age less rapidly, suffer from very few if any chronic illnesses.
Even if their mothers, aunts, and grandmothers had certain chronic illnesses after menopause, they rarely suffer from those same things because they have a plan. They know exactly what hormones they need, or if they even need any at all. They know what supplementation and lifestyle changes they need because they’re prepared for the change.
I’ve had my own Menopause Action Plan since way before I began menopause because I watched my mom and grandmother suffer through it. I tried to help my mom through the change of life since I was a nurse practitioner at the time, and she definitely needed hormones. She tried HRT and said, “I’m not taking synthetic progestin because it makes me too depressed. I’d rather have uterine cancer!” Mom gave me the impetus to actually even dive into bioidentical hormones back in the early 90s.
It’s really personal to me because I was able to help my mom through menopause, so she didn’t suffer nearly as much as my grandmother. When making my ownMenopause Action Plan, I made the conscious decision to live as healthy a life as possible so that I didn’t suffer from the same symptoms as the rest of my female relatives did. I also made it a point to support my hypothalamus as soon as I could.
When I developed Genesis Gold®, I started supporting my hypothalamus. I was 39. That actually delayed my own menopause until I was 57. And while perimenopause lasted quite a long time, I had my last actual period at 58, a little bit later than my mom and 10 to 15 years later than my younger sisters. The only difference between us was that they didn’t support their hypothalamus.
When’s the best time to start creating your Menopause Action Plan?
It’s never too early, and frankly, never too late. If you are premenopausal in your mid-30s, you need a Menopause Action Plan. This way, when perimenopause shows up, you’ll know exactly what to expect, and you’ve already made decisions on what treatments you’ll use. This prevents you from making these critical decisions under stress with young children, a busy career, and all the other stressors that women in their late 30s and 40s go through.
If you’re perimenopausal, you’re already starting to shift, so you’re feeling symptoms. Your periods are irregular, and you’re experiencing insomnia, hot flashes, and mood swings. Maybe you’re gaining weight, or your cholesterol is rising. You really need a Menopause Action Plan that will enable you to make the best decisions on whether or not you need to start hormone replacement therapy or other supplementation to boost your hormones.
If you’re menopausal and haven’t had a period for at least a year, your FSH is over 30, then you need a Menopause Action Plan. Things are starting to fall apart at this point. If you don’t have a plan, you don’t know what diet and exercise plan is best for you, what kind of sleep changes you need to make, and what kind of mindset shifts you need to really thrive during this time.
You need a Menopause Action Plan so that your healthcare provider can help you through this change.
Even if you’re postmenopausal, it’s not too late. A Menopause Action Plan can help you stave off, or even reverse, chronic illnesses. Illnesses like hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and arthritis can be reversed by taking action and getting your hormones back into better balance. I’ve seen patients in their early 70’s able to reverse some of their chronic illnesses just by taking action.
There are all sorts of things to consider when deciding how you are going to manage menopause.
How your body handled pregnancy, what kind of contraceptive you used in your reproductive years, and tons of other factors will affect your menopause experience. Yet most healthcare providers won’t even ask you about these things. However, when you go to your health care provider’s office with your complete Menopause Action Plan, they can better help you have the most graceful transition through the change as soon as possible. It’s incredibly empowering.
Think of your Menopause Action Plan kind of like a birth plan.
Women giving birth go to their midwives or OBGYNs with a birth plan, mapping out what they want and how they want it to happen during the birthing process. Birth plans weren’t a thing until doulas and midwives helped women realize that they had choices and that they didn’t have to give birth all in the same way, directed by their doctors. And once birth plans came in vogue, obstetrics totally changed how health care providers dealt with pregnant women.
The same thing can happen if you adopt a Menopause Action Plan. You will be prepared for what will happen to you during the change and how you can help your healthcare provider help you. Believe me, your healthcare provider is going to be very happy that you’ve already done the work. And if your health care provider doesn’t honor your plan, you’ll be empowered to find another doctor. Because it’s your body, it’s your life, and it’s your change!
The more women who enter menopause with a plan, the more likely there will be a shift in how we take care of middle-aged women in the healthcare field.
I want to see you empowered to direct your own healthcare so that you can navigate through the change as gracefully as possible. So what do you have to lose? Download my free Menopause Action Plan guide today and get started!
Research Reference: The Interrelationship Between Serum Pituitary Hormones in Healthy Adults, Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in glucolipid metabolic disorders, Hypothalamic regulation of pituitary secretion of luteinizing hormone—II feedback control of gonadotropin secretion, Menopause and the Human Hypothalamus: Evidence for the Role of Kisspeptin/Neurokinin B Neurons in the Regulation of Estrogen Negative Feedback
*Statements not reviewed by the FDA
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