The FibroManual by Ginevra Liptan

Author:Ginevra Liptan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

Sex Hormones

The sex hormones, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, can get thrown off balance in fibromyalgia, exacerbating its symptoms. Nearly half of menstruating women with fibromyalgia reported a worsening of pain and fatigue during menses (Pamuk 2005). About a quarter of patients feel their symptoms got worse during or after menopause (Pamuk 2005).

Since adrenals form the foundation of your hormonal house, adrenal burnout affects the equilibrium of the sex hormones. Often, restoring adrenal function will lessen those symptoms, so we start there. I have observed that women suffering from worsened fibromyalgia symptoms due to menopause often have adrenal burnout—and studies back this up. Severity of PMS has also been linked to adrenal dysfunction (Woods 1998). Menopausal women with more severe fibromyalgia symptoms also have lower DHEA levels, a marker of adrenal health. So if you are struggling with worsened fibromyalgia symptoms during certain times of the menstrual cycle or menopause, first focus on improving the health of your adrenal glands (Miller 2013).

If adrenal balancing doesn’t help, sex hormone replacement therapy is an option. For some women, hormone replacement alleviates the worsening of their symptoms during menopause; for others, it does not. If menopausal night sweats or hot flashes are disturbing your sleep, hormone replacement can give you relief and improve sleep quality (Gambacciani 2005). In my clinical experience I have seen patients improve on hormones, but the one study that has been done concluded that estrogen replacement does not improve fibromyalgia pain in post-menopausal women (Stening 2011). The intensification of symptoms that occurs as hormones transition to the lower levels seen in menopause is temporary, usually lasting about a year or two. Since hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of breast and uterine cancer, the safest approach is to wait it out. However, if you have already maximized support to your adrenal glands and are still struggling with higher levels of pain and fatigue or disturbed sleep in early menopause, it may be worth talking with your HCP about hormone replacement therapy.

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