As board-certified women’s wellness specialists who are dedicated to helping women thrive through menopause and beyond, our team at New Beginnings OB/GYN understands just how unsettling the “change of life” can be. With little warning, many women find themselves coping with a range of bothersome symptoms, such as:
Whether you’re dealing with terrible symptoms in the transitory phase of perimenopause or your symptoms worsen after you reach menopause, we can help you mitigate the physical and emotional effects of dwindling reproductive hormone levels.
Here, Dr. Christina Parmar and Dr. Rania Ibrahim offer practical strategies for easing irritating menopausal symptoms so you can reclaim your vitality and return to your busy life.
When dialing down the intensity of moderate to severe menopause symptoms, many of our patients are surprised at how effective a few basic lifestyle changes can be.
The best part about these modifications? Apart from their simplicity and often quick benefits, they promote optimal health as you age. Whether you’re battling sporadic hot flashes and night sweats, low energy, dry skin, sleep difficulties, mood swings, midsection weight gain, or all the above, we recommend that you:
These guidelines come from research that shows how unhealthy lifestyle habits — from smoking and eating processed foods to sitting around and stressing out — can significantly worsen menopausal symptoms.
For many women, the most severe menopausal symptoms are hot flashes, night sweats, chronic vaginal dryness, and irritation. If this sounds familiar, we may recommend topical estradiol, an estrogen therapy that comes as a gel, spray, or emulsion (lotion-type mixture).
If hormone therapy is a safe option, applying topical estradiol to your skin once daily can help ease severe hot flashes and vaginal dryness. If you only struggle with persistent vaginal dryness, itching, burning, and irritation, we can prescribe an estradiol cream to insert into your vagina.
If you’re not a candidate for hormone therapy, you can ease vaginal dryness (and end painful intercourse) with over-the-counter vaginal moisturizers or lubricants. If you’re sexually active and using condoms, choose a water-based lubricant (rather than an oil-based product) to prevent condom damage.
But if your vaginal dryness is severe — especially if your lubrication response is diminished and your skin is noticeably thinner and more delicate — we may recommend MonaLisa Touch®. This game-changing treatment uses painless, noninvasive laser energy to improve vaginal tissue health, restore a normal lubrication response, and resolve mild urinary stress incontinence.
If lifestyle changes don’t deliver full, effective relief from severe, persistent menopausal symptoms, systemic hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be the answer.
Using a prescription supplement of plant-based hormones with the same molecular structure as your natural hormones, bioidentical HRT eases severe menopausal symptoms by restoring system-wide hormonal balance.
If you opt for systemic HRT, we implant a steady-release hormone pellet beneath your skin, usually in the upper buttock area. The rice-sized pellet starts releasing hormones in a controlled manner right away. Depending on your needs, we insert new pellets two to four times a year to keep your hormone levels optimized and your menopausal symptoms at bay.
If you’re looking for guidance as you navigate menopause, we can help. To learn more about menopausal symptom management or schedule an appointment at New Beginnings OB/GYN in Shenandoah, Texas, call or click online today.