Before we get into what exactly is happening to our hormones during the transition to menopause, I want to talk about when this can happen since I think it begins a lot sooner than most women realize. Typically, you will be going through menopause somewhere around the time your mother went through menopause. For example, if your mom went through menopause at age 50, then your range will likely be 45-55. Peri-menopause can start 10-15 years prior to that. So technically around 35-40 depending on the onset of menopause. This can all be impacted by our health as well.

Needless to say, most women will actually start going through peri-menopause before they even realize it. In fact, we can have anovulatory but pretty regular cycles for up to five years before menopause hits OR we see shifts in our cycles. My mom went through menopause at about age 52, so my 10-15 year onset is 37-42. I’m currently 34, which means this is absolutely on my radar and something I want to be mindful of as I make health choices in the future. It’s also something we are always keeping in mind with our clients, especially those seeing us for fertility and goals of becoming pregnant. Knowing your timeline is important!
​

Transition Details: What’s Happening?

What exactly is happening as we transition into peri-menopause and officially reach menopause? Let’s first cover what happens in a normal, ovulatory cycle.

Ovulatory Cycle Breakdown:

• The cycle begins and our hormones are at their lowest point.
• Our hypothalamus releases gonadotropin releasing hormone to talk to the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland then releases follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) to stimulate follicles in the ovaries.
• Our follicles release estrogen so that FSH goes down.
• A dominant follicle is selected and egg development starts.
• We get a peak of estrogen, which causes the egg to mature and we get a surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) and FSH.
• Then ovulation occurs and the dominant follicle releases the egg. LH and FSH go down
• That dominant follicle then becomes the corpus luteum and causes progesterone to peak.

This leads to a healthy amount of estrogen and progesterone that is essential for many different organs and systems in the body. As we age, our ovarian reserve of eggs is declining. Eventually this leads to anovulatory cycles, which means we are not producing progesterone each cycle. This leads to an imbalance in estrogen and progesterone and often estrogen dominance symptoms. Sometimes estrogen is actually high but during this transition, the focus should not be on lowering estrogen but optimizing progesterone where we can. This involves optimizing nutrient status, thyroid health, and minimizing unnecessary stressors that will use up progesterone.

If you want to learn more about the different shifts that happen during this transition and healthy habits that can support you, I encourage you to listen to this podcast episode!

We also help many women during their transition into perimenopause in our 1:1 program. If you’d like to explore what it would be like to work together and if we are a good fit, fill out this form to get more details!​