When you enter menopause, everything happens in your body. Your hormones have to look for a new balance and this can cause you to lose balance for a while. The complaints you can experience during the transition resemble those of a burnout. These two are often confused with each other. The result: a treatment that does not fully suit your complaints. Jeanette Van Pouderoyen works with sthe specialist network and is Psychosocial therapist & Birth trauma therapist for women with complaints about birth and transition. In this article, she tells you everything you need to know about this topic.
Why the transition can feel like a second puberty
The terms menopause and menopause are used interchangeably and confused with each other, but they do not mean the same thing. Menopause is one specific moment, namely the moment when the woman has her last menstrual period. Have you not had your period for twelve months since your last period? Then you know you’ve had your menopause. The menopause, on the other hand, describes the entire period in which a woman goes from a fertile to an infertile phase. The transition begins earlier than is often thought. “For some women, it can start as early as their mid-40s,” Jeanette says.
During menopause, your ovaries produce less and less estrogen and progesterone. This causes hormonal fluctuations ‘It is also called a reverse puberty because you go from a stable hormone phase to a new phase, this process is subject to fluctuations and can have a major impact both physically and emotionally,’ says Jeanette.
You can experience these emotional and physical complaints during the transition
Nope, menopause doesn’t always start with hot flashes. ‘Before the hot flashes set in, the menopause may have already started. It often starts with vague complaints.’ Examples of these complaints are: changes in the cycle, poor sleep, palpitations, headache and muscle or joint complaints.
The transition can also affect emotionally. Jeanette: ‘Women feel more unstable, are less able to withstand stress, are more irritable, cry more often, have anxiety, panic and sometimes suffer from feelings of depression. This makes them wonder: what is wrong with me?’
Transition or burnout?
These complaints of the menopause are very similar to the complaints of a burnout. As a result, women with menopause complaints are regularly labeled burnout. Jeannette tells how she saw this reflected in one of the women she helped with menopause complaints. ‘At the GP she was told that, because of her age and the fact that she was still menstruating, the menopause could not be the cause of her complaints.’
Both during the transition and during a burnout you have less capacity. The less capacity you have, the less well you can deal with stress and setbacks. There is also overlap when it comes to the treatment of a burnout or someone with menopausal complaints. Taking good care of yourself, setting your boundaries and avoiding stress is recommended in both cases. Yet it is important to see the difference between menopausal complaints and a burnout.
This is the difference between burnout and transition
The difference is in the cause. The cause of a burnout is long-term stress and tension, while menopausal symptoms are caused by hormones. ‘When the cause is the menopause, the complaints have to do with something physical, namely hormonal fluctuations. You could then do something with nutritional supplements or hormone therapy in case of serious complaints.’
What’s the matter with me?
There is insufficient knowledge about the transition and which complaints can be associated with it. Research from Essity shows that 46 percent of women do not know what effect the menopause can have on their body. 21 percent of women don’t even know what the menopause means at all.
The taboo surrounding the transition plays a role in this. Jeanette: ‘The transition is not hot in the Netherlands. That has to do with our culture. There is no such taboo in non-Western countries, where a woman in menopause is seen as wise. Here you have to keep looking beautiful and young. Are you in transition? Then you are old.’
The transition is hot & happening
In order to spread as much knowledge as possible about the transition and what this can do to how you feel, we should make complaints discussable. The taboo surrounding the transition? Please break
Do you suffer from menopausal complaints? Hold on and look on the bright side. ‘See the transition as a transformation process in which you turn inward and learn to choose for yourself. The unstable phase passes again. After that, women often come out more stable and happier than ever before.’ Bye taboo, the menopause is happening, but you’re still hot!
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2023-05-07 16:39:54
#Burnout #transition #Heres #difference
