I  recently picked up a magazine that, granted, is a few years old. Someone wrote in a question asking about developing dry eyes the week before menstruation and wondered if it had anything to do with the onset  of menopause, as she was 45  at the time.

The doctor answered that she had "dry eye syndrome" and to ask her doctor about prescription eye drops. The doctor indicated  it had many causes including fluctuating estrogen levels.


Saying  someone has "dry eye syndrome" when they complain about dry eyes is a lot like telling them they have "stomach ache syndrome" when they complain of a stomach ache.  In fact it is exactly like that. Kind of ridiculous, huh?

 Here is what you want to know about those dry eyes:
 Yes, it is related to the onset of menopause.  Actually it is possible that this occurs in the perimenopausal stage which begins 10 yrs before menopause.  You are officially in "menopause" when menstruation has stopped for a full year. So at age 45  you are more than likely  well into perimenopause.

 The dry eyes are due to the imbalance between amounts of progesterone & estrogen. It is not due to the dropping estrogen.  Many symptoms of menopause actually begin before estrogen drops, during the 10 year prior to menopause as progesterone drops.

And along those same lines are you having thinning bones even though  you have not stopped menstruating? You can also look to dropping progesterone levels.  Progesterone's role in bone building is to help build up bone. Estrogen's role is to help break down bone. You need both processes to make bone. But medicine just seems to want to focus only on getting your body to hold on to the old bone longer than the body thinks it should,  and forgets about bone building process except to have you down calcium and now vitamin D. This is in itself incomplete and requires another article to cover it completely.

The development of dry eyes along with other symptoms (dry mouth, sleep disruptions, hot flashes and numerous other perimenopausal/menopausal symptoms)  can be eliminated or greatly lessened by  using 1/4 tsp of over-the-counter progesterone cream ( I like FemGest)   No you do not need a prescription.  Don't believe doctors who tell you must have prescription progesterone. The OTC progesterone works great.  It's a lot less expensive. I recommend it to many women and they all tell me it helps tremendously. Just take it on the schedule as you would The Pill, stopping it when you start your period for about a week. Apply it to your body where  there is fat and rotate  regularly, breast, thighs, stomach, buttocks, upper arms.  If you  start feeling fatigued you may be using too much. Use as little as you need to get  an effect. You may start out using 1/8 tsp twice a day  and change to 1/8 tsp once a day if you are still getting good results.

 If you would like to know more about this I recommend  reading
What Your Doctor May not Know About Perimenopause,  by Dr. John Lee, MD.

 This is a great read for any woman staring down the road at 40 and even good reading in your 30s so you are prepared.  And do your girlfriends a favor and pass this tip on to them, as it was passed on to me. As the title says...your doctor may not know about perimenopause.

To Your Good Health,
Barb Kaiser RN/ BSN Holistic Health Consultant