Some women find that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) helps with their fatigue. HRT is an effective way of managing menopause symptoms and can improve the overall quality of your life, energy levels and sleep.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the gold standard of treatments for menopausal symptoms since it directly addresses their root cause: changing hormone levels. Thus, HRT may effectively treat fatigue and the symptoms that can exacerbate it.
Men and women concerned with low energy and increasing fatigue can experience the energy benefits of HRT (hormone replacement therapy).
Fatigue and Sleep Issues
Estrogen is intimately linked to serotonin, and serotonin makes melatonin. Melatonin is the primary sleep hormone. This means, if you've been sleeping less and feeling fatigued, you could have low estrogen.
Is Menopause Fatigue Normal? It's normal for everyone to feel overtired or overworked from time to time. Such instances usually come and go and people are usually able to recover well. Unrelenting exhaustion, on the other hand, lasts longer, is more severe, and isn't cured with rest.
What causes fatigue during menopause? Like so many symptoms, menopausal fatigue is due in a large part to hormone changes and the downstream effects. The levels of estrogen and progesterone are changing all at once and these interact with the endocrine hormones associated with energy from the adrenal and thyroid.
Thyroid. An overactive or underactive thyroid can often be the underlying cause of fatigue, particularly in women. This hormone controls your body's metabolic rate i.e. how food is converted to energy.
It can give you more energy, elevate mood, and increase sex drive. It can make sex more comfortable and improve sleep in both men and women. All of these things may help you not only feel better and more confident, they can also spur you to stay active and take better care of yourself.
It usually takes a few weeks before you feel the benefits of HRT. It can take up to 3 months to feel the full effects. If you have not felt the benefit of HRT after 4 to 6 months, it may help to try a different type. It can take your body time to get used to HRT.
1) You are tired ALL the time.
This is often because the oestrogen used in HRT is the most active form of oestrogen and it's also a pretty big dose of it. This oestrogen is very stimulating. If we have already been dealing with quite a lot of stress, our nervous system can struggle to deal with this much stimulation.
Most of the time fatigue can be traced to one or more lifestyle issues, such as poor sleep habits or lack of exercise. Fatigue can be caused by a medicine or linked to depression. Sometimes fatigue is a symptom of an illness that needs treatment.
Melatonin and serotonin go hand in hand. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which can be converted into melatonin, a natural hormone, in the pineal gland. Both of these hormones play a key role in sleep. Melatonin is produced at night and it plays a key role in adjusting your body clock.
You may be too exhausted even to manage your daily affairs. In most cases, there's a reason for the fatigue. It might be allergic rhinitis, anemia, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease (COPD), a bacterial or viral infection, or some other health condition.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
There is no specific age cut-off for starting HRT.
In fact, a recent study found that women who used HRT had one point lower on the BMI scale and also about three pounds less of body fat compared to women who didn't use hormone replacement therapy.
Symptoms said to be due to adrenal fatigue include tiredness, trouble falling asleep at night or waking up in the morning, salt and sugar craving, and needing stimulants like caffeine to get through the day.
Extreme fatigue in women can be caused by high sleep debt, being out of sync with your circadian rhythm, your menstrual cycle and period, pregnancy, menopause, hormonal contraceptives, poor diet, lack of exercise, stress and anxiety, medication side effects, and medical conditions like thyroid issues or anemia.
Fatigue
Unfortunately, estrogen dominance can cause fatigue. This symptom can occur whether or not you have insomnia. If you experience persistent tiredness or feel more drained of energy than usual, talk to your doctor about being tested for hormonal issues.
Low energy is one common effect that many women experience before, during, and after this transition time. Fatigue around menopause occurs because of changing hormone levels, night sweats and other sleep disruptions, or other issues. You might feel physically and mentally drained or just plain tired.
There are plenty of potential culprits. Medications for blood pressure, sleep problems, pain and gastrointestinal reflux can induce fatigue, as can infections, conditions such as arthritis, an underactive thyroid, poor nutrition and alcohol use. All can be addressed, doctors say.
The transitional phase that leads up to menopause, known as perimenopause, can start as early as in your 40s and can last 7-10 years. These symptoms you are experiencing are hallmarks of the perimenopausal stage of life. The good news is that perimenopausal fatigue is completely normal and treatable.