NOT YOUR MOTHERS' MENOPAUSE
Dr. Krista Coombs, DrAc, IFMCP
November 19, 2025
Let’s talk genetics for a moment because this discussion could completely shift how you think about your body in as you transition into the menopausal years of your life!
It's a common belief that a woman will experience very similar peri and post-menopausal experiences as her mother. But this is actually an outdated belief, rooted in old scientific and anecdotal information.
HERE'S WHY
A human being has an estimated 20,000 human protein-encoding genes that make up their DNA - essentially the blueprint to build your body from the food you eat and air you breathe. You inherit from your mother and father half of each of their human genes to make your wondrous body. You are not a clone of either of them, but part of each.
Then on top of the genetics you inherit from your parents, you are ALSO built from the up to 10 million genes present in the trillions of microbes that inhabit your body as you grow up!
Initially, when born, you start out with some of the microbes from your mother, especially if born vaginally, and those who hold you first. Then as you grow up, with more exposures to food, soil, other people and animals, medicines, etc, you’ll establish your own complex microbiome, unique to you and no one else.
No two human beings will share the exact same microbial populations. This means the microbial genetics will also be unique to each person, like a fingerprint. And that microbial population will also be in constant flux because of environmental inputs which means the genetic influences are therefore in flux!
This complexity of the DNA alone is mind boggling and is a significant argument for how YOUnique every person on the planet is and how none of us are totally defined by our human genes.
So, let's ensure you have perspective here...
You are composed of more microbial genes (DNA) than human genes! That is absolutely incredible genetic variability between each human being!
HOW THIS APPLIES TO THE MENOPAUSAL TRANSITION
A woman’s life - a human’s life really - is one long transition from growth in the womb to death. Menopause is just one of the more obvious big physiological and mental shifts that essentially encompasses mid-thirties to death. Yet, it is only one of a myriad of changes over time that ladies MUST navigate if they get to live a long life.
In my medical practice, I’ve commonly heard women say that they expect to age and go through menopause similarly to their mothers. I’m here to say loudly that this is an outdated expectation and it’s time to re-educate yourself with the shifts in scientific understanding.
YOUR menopausal transition may have some cross over with how your mother experienced menopause, but mostly, it will be determined by the interplay of your human genetic expression and the state of your microbial community’s genetic expression, with all these genes being turned on and off by the choices of environmental inputs you experience throughout life and especially those turned on and off during the menopausal transition.
So, despite half your genes coming from your mom and for her half from her mom and on down the generations… not to mention some of the genes from your father from his mother on down the generations... your genetic makeup will inevitably be very distinct from theirs in large part because of the significant and variable microbial genetic diversity that impacts how your body works.
This in itself is incredible information, but it doesn’t stop there, my friend!
Add in on top of all that personal genetic variation the variability of each person’s environmental exposures over time - climate, geography, foods, drinks, chemicals, EMF, varying light frequencies, sleep, medications, vaccinations, illnesses, physical injuries, mental stressors, pregnancies - and you are a completely YOUnique individual, very separate from your parents and honestly, any of your ancestors and all other beings.
OLD TO NEW DOCTRINE
Most of us have been indoctrinated to believe that our genes are our destiny. Science seemed to support this doctrine still in the twentieth century.
As scientists became capable of analyzing the human genome, however, in the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s, minds were blown with just how few genes humans actually have and the extreme amount of genes our microbiomes have that impact our physiology.
So, today, the new doctrine says that the human is an ecosystem made up of DNA from human cells AND genes from a variable microbial community, which therefore, makes each one of us YOUnique to everyone else - including your parents.
NURTURE AND NATURE
New to science in the last 50 or so years is the concept of EPIGENETICS. This cool word encompasses all the environmental impacts on our genome - the things that influence the turning on and turning off of our genes and those of our microbes.
Epigenetic influences can include anything the body makes itself through it's own metabolic processes, plus all the outside influences already mentioned above!
This means that even though you might have genes for let’s say the autoimmune condition, Celiac, the genes for it may never be triggered to turn on in you in your lifetime but do in someone else because of some environmental trigger they were exposed to, beyond just the protein gluten.
When this was noticed in research, this again was mind blowing because it means NURTURE is nearly more important that NATURE. What you are exposed to has huge impact on gene expression; possibly more than what genes you have !
I hope this insight gets you very excited about your personal possibility to influence the trajectory of your own health, regardless of stage of life.
This science indicates that WHAT you do is at least as important and often more important than your human genes!
In fact, WHAT you do heavily influences the community of microbes that live with you, which means you impact their genetic diversity, which impacts your health!
WHAT TO DO IN MENOPAUSE
Back to menopause…
➡️ Just because your mother had a challenging time in peri and post menopause does NOT mean you will. The same applies if she had an easy transition - you might not. It will depend on your own exposures.
*You did not grow up under the same conditions as she did.
*Your microbiome also may have had more insults than hers did or perhaps less, depending on your lifestyle, where you grew up and antibiotic use, etc.
But in THIS MOMENT you can make new choices that positively or negatively impact which genes are turned on or off in both your human cells and your microbial cells, and which microbes thrive and which do not, all of which impacts your body’s response in menopause.
♥️So, even if you have been neglectful of your body much of your life, up to this point, or have experienced extraordinary stressors, many outside your control, you CAN make new choices going forward to enjoy a healthier menopause.
Once a woman transitions from the perimenopausal years, which can be up to a decade and sometimes longer, she enters the post-menopausal years. These have the potential to be equal to your entire pre-menopausal years, darlin - which might be 30-50 years! That means you might spend as much time handling the consequences of hormone decline with menopause as you did with reproductive level hormones!
That’s a lot of years to support your human and microbial gene expression through prioritizing healthier environmental inputs to your body.
This is a particularly big deal when you consider how influential your microbial community - your microbiome - is on helping your body manage hormones!
NEXT STEPS TO CONSIDER
Appreciate that you are YOUnique to every other being on the planet, human and otherwise. In terms of the menopausal experience, this means you will have your own YOUnique journey with it - not just experience what your mom or grandmothers did. And this is a fact with or without use of HRT (hormone replacement therapy - something your mothers likely didn't have regular access to).
Write out an inventory of your life history. Consider what was going on when you were in your mother’s womb, if you were born vaginally or C-section, foods you grew up on, how those food choices changed as you gained independence right up to today. What other exposures do you know of? Vaccinations, antibiotics, other medications like birth control pills, pain mends, immunologics, etc, toxic chemicals, lots of airline flights and travel to other places, mental and physical traumas, and so on. What about generational trauma? This inventory can give you perspective about the environmental impacts on your whole genome’s expression up to today.
Think about how you’d like your body to perform today and onwards. Have a vision of possibility. Ensure it is clear and exciting to consider because that will be a large part of what keeps you motivated to do the work day in and day out.
What do you think it would take for you to achieve that vision? What choices would you need to start making today to help your body recover functions and become healthier more of the time? Write out everything that comes to mind. I promise you A LOT can be done and remarkable results are indeed possible.
Get expert guidance to help you dial in a strategy that is doable long term. You need to understand where you’ve been, what your body is doing today (often checked with Comprehensive Bloodwork and detailed health history taking), and then design a planned healthcare strategy that changes over time to deliver you the goods! This is Functional Medicine at its most ideal. And it is what I LOVE to focus on with women in my medical practice. I can help you when you’re ready to commit to your best life!
You have more power with choice than perhaps you’ve ever known before reading this blog.
And with regards to menopause specifically, your experience does not have to be the same as any of your female ancestors’ experiences because you are YOUnique and can choose to influence your genes in healthier ways. Starting today. Exciting times!
Hugs,
Dr. Krista
DrAc, IFMCP
CHECK OUT HOW TO WORK 1:1 WITH ME (Acupuncture & Consults)