Menopause retreat says it will rebalance my hormones in 7 days, is that actually a thing

52, perimenopausal for about three years by my reckoning, and the night sweats and the 3am wakeups are finally getting to me. A friend sent me a link to a menopause retreat that looks beautiful, and the programme says it will "rebalance your hormones naturally in seven days" through food, yoga and a "personalised hormone protocol". There is a hormone test on day one and you go home with a supplement plan.

I am tempted, honestly, because I am so tired. But it is a lot of money and the hormone bit sounds either amazing or nonsense and I cannot tell which.

Has anyone done one of these? Did anything actually change?

The words "test on day one" and "go home with a supplement plan" in the same sentence would make me nervous on any kind of retreat. That is usually where the money is, not the yoga.

Not menopause, but I went through a similar thing deciding about a retreat while on medication and the best advice I got here was to take the actual programme to my own doctor before booking. She read it in about two minutes and pointed out the bits that worried her. Might be worth doing the same with the hormone protocol, at least so you know what it is.

TessaM52 said:

rebalance your hormones naturally in seven days

No, a week of food and yoga does not rebalance hormones, and that phrase is one I would treat as a reason to look elsewhere rather than a feature. Perimenopause is defined by hormone levels changing; nothing in a seven day programme stops that, and a test on day one with a supplement plan at the end is a sales structure as much as a clinical one.

That does not mean a menopause retreat has nothing to offer. Rest, regular sleep, less alcohol, more movement, especially strength work, and time with others in the same position can genuinely help you feel better and cope better, and the NHS lists most of those among the things that help. What they cannot do is replace treatment. The treatments with real evidence behind them for night sweats and hot flushes, HRT and menopause-specific CBT among them, come through your own doctor, who can look at your history and talk through what suits you. That conversation is worth having whether or not you go away.

On the specifics in that brochure: ask who interprets the hormone test and what the result would change. Ask what is in the supplement plan, what it costs, and whether any of it interacts with medicines you take; herbal products can, and your doctor or pharmacist is the right person to check. And if anything in the programme suggests stopping or avoiding prescribed treatment, that is a firm no.

Sadie has just written up menopause retreats, which sets out the honest version of what these weeks can and cannot do and the questions to ask. The general checklist in red flags when choosing a wellness retreat covers the hormone and supplement language too.

Thank you, that is very clear and a bit of a relief, if I am honest. I think I wanted it to be true because I am so tired. I have booked a GP appointment for next week to talk about the night sweats properly, which I have been putting off for about a year.

Good on you for booking the GP first. My mum put it off for years and said afterwards it was the single best appointment she ever made.

Update: saw the GP, who was brilliant and much less dismissive than I had braced for. We talked through options and I have a plan to try, and a follow up in a few months. I have also found a much plainer yoga and walking week for the spring with no tests or protocols, just rest, which is probably what I wanted all along.