Natural alternatives for Menopause

Menopause can last anywhere from a mild six month transition, to a turbulent 5 year ordeal. Among the western therapies available are hormone replacement therapies which have little track record of research in comparison to 5000 years of Traditional Chinese Medicines detailed focus on helping ease women through the transition.

Early Menopause Symptoms

In western culture, we are seeing a rise in early menopausal symptoms. Clinically, this begins with a drying of the skin and hair. Menstrual flow becomes slightly irregular and increasingly less blood flows each month. What was once a regular twenty eight day cycle can become thirty, then thirty five days signalling the early stages of menopausal symptoms. Often with this irregularity of menstrual periods comes either a lack of groundedness in emotional states, or a lack of ability to concentrate. Insomnia can also begin to appear, usually either as a difficulty falling asleep as heat and irritability are present in the evenings, or as dream disturbed sleep leading to the inability to fall back asleep again, often with hot flashes at night. When stepping back, early menopause symptoms are seen similarly to the main symptoms listed below, only more mild in nature.

Menopause Symptoms

Looking at the symptoms of menopause, we see an increase in the infrequent symptoms mentioned above in "early menopause symptoms." All of the symptoms become more pronounced, and every women can show a different pattern of the following symptoms:

Physical menopause symptoms:

• hot flashes - usually begins in the evenings, but then becomes more invasive as they can move into the day time as well.
• palpitations - again, typically experienced more in the evening during the early stages, but then quickly these symptoms can extend into the day time as well.
• night sweats
• hot hands and feet
• irregular and scanty menstruation
• dryness of the skin and hair
• vaginal dryness
• urgency of urination

Emotional menopause symptoms:

• increased depression
• emotional instability
• anxiety
• irritability
• mood swings
• lack of concentration

Traditional Chinese Medicine has had over 5000 years of working with menopause, and adjusting it's theory and clinical traditions to create an extremely effective medium for working with menopause and it's symptoms. Although the names of the syndromes may seem foreign, our hope in presenting the different sub-groupings is to help those unfamiliar with the theory begin to see how it functions.

Yin deficiency with false heat (this is the most basic diagnosis of Menopause and all others stem from this foundation):

• mood swings

• emotional instability
• hot flashes
• night sweats

Yin deficiency with false heat and dryness from menopause:

• increase in thirst
• increase in over all body dryness

Yin deficiency with liver qi stagnation from menopause:

• pronounced irritability

• uncontrollable mood swings

Yin deficiency with Shen disturbance from menopause:

• pronounced anger
• pronounced restlessness

Yin deficiency with spleen and heart blood deficiency from menopause:

• tiredness
• insomnia upon waking

By: The Medical Symptoms Database

Soy Isoflavones for Menopause

In countries like Japan and China where people consume large amounts of phytoestrogens (typically from soy foods and beverages), women tend to have fewer menopausal symptoms.  The Japanese don't even have a word for hot flashes!  Studies that look at populations around the world have found that those who consume large amounts of phytoestrogens in their diet have a lower risk of many of the so-called Western diseases as well as menopause.  Like certain herbs, soy contains phytoestrogens, most notably isoflavones, which affect the body in the some of the same ways that human oestrogen does.  Naturally low in fat, soy has also been found to reduce cholesterol levels, and there's some evidence to suggest it may lessen bone loss.  Soy proponents recommend women try to have a daily serving of soy in the form of soy nuts, soy milk, tofu, tempeh, or soy burgers.  While soy is most often talked about as a source of phytoestrogens, it's worth remembering that other foods are loaded with these plant-based oestrogens, too, so if you can't tolerate or don't like soy, investigate options such as flaxseed, chickpeas, lentils and various beans. 

There are other dietary habits which further predispose Western women to menopausal problems.  Western women consume much more meat and about four times as much fat as do women on Asian rice-based diets, and only one-quarter to one-half the fiber.  For reasons that have never been completely clear, a high-fat, low-fiber diet causes a rise in oestrogen levels.  Women on higher-fat diets have measurably more oestrogen activity than do those on low-fat diets.  At menopause, the ovaries' production of oestrogen comes to a halt.  Those women who had been on high-fat diets then experience a violent drop in oestrogen levels.  Asian women have lower levels of oestrogen both before and after menopause, and the drop appears to be less dramatic.  The resulting symptoms are much milder, or even non-existent. 

Soy Consumption Around the World (Average isoflavone intake - mg per day - )

Vitamin E for Menopause

Some women claim that vitamin E offers minor relief for hot flashes.  In a study reported last year researchers at the well-regarded Mayo Clinic found that women who took a daily dose of 800 IU of vitamin E reduced their hot flashes by at least one per day.  While this is only a small reduction, vitamin E has so many other benefits for the heart and brain that it would be extremely beneficial for almost all menopausal women. 

Exercise and Menopause

Exercise benefits the skeleton and is the single most effective strategy to prevent bone fragility and so ward off fractures. 

No other agent, hormonal or mineral, can actually cause the skeleton to become heavier or sturdier than the response to demands made of it.  A vigorous walk every day or so, or any equivalent physical activity, seems to be helpful in reducing hot flashes, along with depression, weight gain, insomnia, irritability and loss of concentration.  A study of more than 1,600 women found that sedentary women were twice as likely as their physically active counterparts to report hot flashes.  In another study, researchers reported that women experienced fewer hot flashes immediately following a 45-minute workout. 

From: Nature & Health | June/July 2003

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