Your Guide to Thriving Through Menopause
Many women are told to expect misery during menopause, but that doesn't have to be the reality. Despite the growing awareness of women's hormonal health challenges, women are still offered inadequate solutions. Alternative approaches often focus on phytoestrogens, while conventional medicine frequently turns to antidepressants.
Neither treatment truly addresses the root causes of hormonal dysfunction, and many women continue to struggle with unresolved symptoms. Fortunately, effective solutions do exist, though many of them have simply been overlooked, suppressed, or forgotten over the years.
At Raena Health, we've identified several key strategies that can help support hormonal balance and address the root causes of many common symptoms.
Progesterone is key to women’s health in all life stages. Recent studies, such as one from the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research in Canada, have shown that progesterone can relieve menopausal symptoms.
As women age, progesterone declines up to 12 times more rapidly than estrogen. By the time menopause sets in, ovarian estrogen production drops sharply as adipose tissue increases output to compensate. This makes progesterone the first line of defense when it comes to relieving menopausal symptoms.
It helps balance estrogen, soothe the nervous system, and protect vital functions throughout the body, from the uterus to the brain.
Studies, including those led by menopause specialist Dr. Jerilynn Prior, have shown that bioidentical progesterone monotherapy lowers the number of hot flashes and night sweats in menopausal women.
Research shows that progesterone may have protective effects in the brain. It can help lift your mood and boost your brain function, which are often concerns during menopause.
Unlike synthetic progestins, bioidentical progesterone doesn’t raise the risk of heart disease. Some evidence suggests it might even benefit the heart.
Progesterone is known to promote better sleep quality, which can be vital for menopausal women who are struggling to sleep well. It also works with other endogenous hormones to prevent osteoporosis and maintain healthy bone density.
Progesterone is much safer than the synthetic progestins used in conventional HRT. Research suggests that progesterone doesn’t increase breast cancer risk, unlike some forms of estrogen therapy. In fact, progesterone can treat and prevent breast cancer.
Progesterone has protective effects against many cancers, particularly breast and endometrial cancers, because it controls how quickly cells divide and when the body gets rid of abnormal cells.
Studies show that progesterone blocks estrogen from attaching to cancer cells and helping them divide faster, which can drive cancer growth. Women with higher progesterone levels have also been found to have a lower risk of breast cancer.
DHEA is another option to help reduce menopausal symptoms. It’s a youth-promoting hormone that tends to decrease with age. By age 70, levels drop to just 10-20% of what they were in youth, and symptoms of low DHEA include fatigue, low libido, poor stress tolerance, mood swings, depression, weakened immune function, brain fog, and other signs of premature aging such as dry skin or thinning hair.
One of DHEA's most important roles is to protect the body from the damaging effects of cortisol, one of the body's primary stress hormones. While cortisol is certainly necessary for health, chronic elevation can lead to inflammation, immune suppression, weight gain, mood disorders, and accelerated aging. When correcting low DHEA, it's best to stick to small doses such as 5-10 mg, as larger doses can be estrogenic.
Pregnenolone is often referred to as the body's "master hormone" because it serves as the precursor to progesterone, DHEA, cortisol, testosterone, and estrogen. Production naturally peaks in early adulthood and gradually declines with age, with significant reductions often seen after age 30–35 and during periods of chronic stress, when the body diverts resources toward stress hormone production.
For women approaching menopause, pregnenolone may be particularly valuable because it provides the raw material needed for progesterone production.
Optimizing thyroid function is another strategy that can play a big role in reducing menopausal symptoms. When your thyroid function is low, nothing in the body truly works as well as it should. You feel tired yet wired, gain weight despite eating less, and experience a foggy feeling both mentally and physically.
The thyroid is the command center for metabolism and energy production, which is the foundation for health in every system of the body. Natural desiccated thyroid offers a time-tested, holistic approach to replenishing the thyroid function that has been lost. Unlike synthetic medications like Synthroid, which only supply T4 (the storage form of T3), NDT provides both T2, T3, and T4.
This is important because many women struggle to efficiently convert T4 into T3. NDT has been used safely and effectively for over a century, and remains one of the most trusted ways to support thyroid restoration.
At Raena Health, we see the diverse needs of women going through menopause, which is why we offer progesterone capsules and creams, B vitamins, pregnenolone, DHEA, magnesium, and more.
We formulate our bioidentical progesterone products without harmful additives like titanium dioxide, peanut oil, and artificial color dyes.
Our commitment to quality and purity ensures you get a cleaner, more natural product that’s less likely to irritate or harm your body and more likely to work.
Raena hormone solutions are designed to align with your body's natural rhythms, providing a gentle yet effective solution for managing menopausal symptoms.