This is Larry Wilson's take on menopause:
MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS
Menopause should occur without difficulties if the adrenal and thyroid glands function normally. In fact, it should be a time of great joy, ease and even relief for women who have been concerned with unwanted pregnancy or perhaps plagued by symptoms related to premenstrual tension, heavy menstrual bleeding, or other symptoms.
However, if the adrenal and thyroid glands are not functioning well, many women experience hot flashes, fatigue, irritability, depression and perhaps vaginal dryness at menopause. Also, their risk for osteoporosis and some cancers increases.
None of these symptoms or diseases are inevitable, and they can all be handled without using hormones, drugs, or herbal products such as Amberen, black cohosh, and others.
CAUSES OF MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS
The hormonal theory.
One way to understand menopausal symptoms is that imbalances in the thyroid and adrenal glands interact with lowered hormone levels. This occurs most often when the ovaries cease producing the same amount of ovarian hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.
Normally, the adrenal glands should increase or balance the lower ovarian production and there should be no symptoms. If they do not do this, then symptoms arise.
Said differently, the inappropriate responses of the adrenal and thyroid glands to the changes in the ovarian hormones are what cause the vast majority of menopausal symptoms.
This means that correcting thyroid and adrenal imbalances can go a long way to preventing and correcting menopausal symptoms.
The stress theory.
A second way to look at menopausal symptoms is that a hormonal change causes added stress on the body. The woman's glandular system can react by having occasional ‘flashes' of adrenal activity, which are most annoying, though they are not harmful as far as medical science knows. This might be called the stress theory of menopause, which is also essentially correct.
THE ADRENALS AND MENOPAUSE
The adrenal glands, perched on top the kidneys, produce small quantities of both male and female sex hormones. At the menopause, the adrenal glands should produce adequate estrogens, progesterone and other needed hormones in the correct balance and amounts to avoid symptoms that can occur when ovarian hormone production of these hormones diminishes.
However, many women today have a
condition that is termed adrenal insufficiency. This is basically underactivity of the adrenal glands. These women's adrenals do not respond correctly to the new need for sex hormones in response to diminished ovarian hormone secretion. Briefly, the causes of weakened adrenals include stress of any kind, nutritional deficiencies and almost always a buildup of toxic substances. These include toxic metals and perhaps environmental chemicals in the adrenal glands themselves and/or in the pituitary gland, which regulates the adrenal glands, signaling them when and how much of its hormones to secrete.
At times, an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system is at fault as well. This can cause the adrenals to malfunction, secreting either too much or too little or the incorrect balance of hormones. This brings us to the other vital gland involved in menopause symptoms.
THE THYROID GLAND AND MENOPAUSE
The thyroid gland is the other piece of the puzzle that frequently is involved in menopausal symptoms. This is not to say there are not other causes, which are covered later. However, thyroid imbalances are very common and definitely affect female hormone regulation in the body.
The thyroid produces thyroxine, a powerful hormone that affect the burning of sugar or glucose in the body and in so doing regulates the rate of metabolism, body temperature and much more. It is such a critical hormone that many people are given thyroid hormone replacement when they feel tired, cold, short of breath or have thin, brittle or falling hair. Low thyroid activity can also cause weight gain, a sallow complexion and many more problems for a person.
CAUSES OF THYROID IMBALANCE
Thyroid difficulties are extremely common and almost universal due to iodine deficiency, in part due to the presence of iodine antagonists in the environment such as fluorides, chlorine compounds and bromides in baked goods such as breads.
I find that diagnostic names such as hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's thyroiditis or others are less important than figuring out and correcting the biochemical imbalances affecting the thyroid gland.
The gland is either toxic, depleted of vital nutrients like iodine, or affected by tumors, or is not functioning correctly due to pituitary gland problems. This gland, often called the master gland, secretes TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone. This hormone directs the thyroid to secrete its hormone in the proper amount.
Other thyroid imbalances that are somewhat less common include an inability to convert T4, a largely inactive hormone, to its active form called T3 or triiodothyronine. This imbalance is called Wilson's Syndrome, and can be researched on the internet. It is overdiagnosed in our opinion since many times the cause is once again a toxic or depleted body chemistry. Specifically, selenium and other nutrients are greatly deficient in this condition and it usually responds to the type of nutritional therapy that we suggest.
Another cause of thyroid problems that is extremely common is stress. This is a general term for excessive physical, mental or emotional activity that overtaxes the gland. When it can no longer respond correctly, it malfunctions, either secreting too much or too little hormone. These are among the major causes of thyroid imbalances.
Another cause of thyroid imbalances, touched upon but in need of elaboration, is mental and emotional stress that affects the thyroid gland, in particular. Women are much more prone to this stress-related condition than men.
In general, women are less accustomed to expressing themselves completely. They have been shut out of the mainstream of society by men and by tradition in many cases, for generations. As a result, when faced with a crisis, they often go into a form of “overdrive†or a more technical term is a stress response that severely taxes their thyroid gland. When this occurs, and it can happen at any age and usually in childhood, the thyroid is severely damaged. The problem frequently does not reveal itself on tests until menopause, when the deficiency of ovarian hormones places added stress on a woman's body.
At this time, the problem “catches up†with the woman and she experiences symptoms that are attributed to menopause but are really due to an underlying thyroid imbalance. The thyroid problem may or may not be revealed on standard blood tests.
However, it is very apparent on properly interpreted hair mineral analyses and often by symptoms such as a low body temperature, dry hair and very dry skin at times, fatigue, weight gain in some cases and perhaps other related conditions.
Another very unusual cause of thyroid difficulties is problems in the batteries that are in the thyroid gland. These have to do with supplying energy to the gland.
THE BONES AND MENOPAUSE
Bone health is impacted by menopausal symptoms. Copper is sometimes involved in this process. Copper helps fix calcium in the bones. Without adequate bioavailable copper, calcium may go to the bones, but does not remain as well as it should.
Another related syndrome we call slow oxidation involves the bones. Slow oxidizers, as those with sluggish adrenals and thyroid activity are termed, often have biounavailable calcium and magnesium because the body cannot keep these minerals in solution in the blood and they precipitate or collect in the soft tissues instead. The body then robs the bones of calcium to place more calcium into the blood. This is also explained more in another article on this website, Osteoporosis.
Lead can also enter the bones and weaken them and this is the case in many, many women. Like the fatigue and stress feelings, the bone problems often begin to show up at the time of menopause or afterwards. At this time, the hormone system is under more stress and begins to malfunction more obviously.
