It can be life altering and a scary time around menopause for ladies. Many don’t feel their best, with symptoms of fatigue, hot flushes, vaginal dryness and atrophy, a lack of zest for life and a torpedoing sex drive. They also may start to notice that their skin is not so supple and soft and has a lot more wrinkles than it had before menopause. This is a sign of a deficiency of estrogen. All this is often a total depression spinner for ladies, where they don’t feel themselves and can’t put a finger on exactly what is happening. From the perspective of the man or husband, the wife becomes short tempered and grumpy, and even maybe depressed and weepy or just totally withdrawn.
It is plain to see that this is a potential relationship breaker/ life changing experience if help is not sought.
From a holistic perspective, treatment should address the emotional symptoms as well as physical hormonal imbalance. Homeopathy is absolutely effective and superior at addressing the emotional weaknesses of a women at menopause without side effects. Effects of jealousy, anger, depression, fatigue can all be kept in check with the correct homeopathic prescription. Homeopathy is individually prescribed meaning that not every menopausal patient will get the same medication, but will be prescribed on specific symptoms. An example of this is the homeopathic remedy Lachesis, which may be indicated for a menopausal woman who has difficulty waking in the morning, a tendency to jealousy and who suffers with hot flushes and heart palpitations which seem to be in the throat area. Another candidate may be feeling depressed, with no sex drive, loss of hair, fatigue and irritability, where the homeopathic prescription of Sepia is better indicated.
Approximately 95% of menopausal women suffer from hormonal imbalance due to hormone fluctuations caused by synthetic hormone disrupters in our environment. These disrupters can be a result of synthetic exogenous hormones, exposure to plastics, pesticides, xenoestrogens and can even be passed down from the previous generation.
Specific testing can be done using a hormone panel as well as ensuring optimum liver function. A Liver detox is often recommended as the liver is the organ that processes and produces hormones in the body. If there is constipation, menstrual problems or eczema it is certain that the hormones are not being processed efficiently. Homeopathy is effective at eliminating this long-standing obstacle to cure, where we employ a special technique called homeopathic detox therapy- using isodes of hormonal drugs to balance the endocrine system.
Changes in diet should include phytoestrogens such as flaxseed, chickpeas, alfalfa, non-GMO soy and then cruciferous vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli as well as sufficient sun exposure especially at sunrise and sunset to increase vitamin D levels and keep the circadian clock balanced.
Did you wonder why women start to suffer with hypertension and osteoporosis, more frequently at the advent of menopause? Well, besides the drop in estrogen production by the ovaries, which lead to the bone becoming more brittle, it releases lead from the bones, leaving the bones lacking calcium. Almost every woman who has hypertension problems during menopause needs to have the metal lead chelated from her body. This has accumulated in our environment from petrol emissions. Once this is achieved she can live her menopause without the burden of having to be dependent on hypertensive medication. She will be more cognitively balanced and emotionally at peace – not to mention the pesky symptoms of hot flushes, insomnia which will steadily improve. Some functional medicine practitioners use BIHRT or bioidentical hormone cremes which help to balance hormone levels, but in my opinion, this can have an effect of disrupting the HPA axis if used for periods of 2 months or longer. Interestingly enough, if the sex hormones are balanced most thyroid disorders are simultaneously sorted out. This is an interesting observation since thyroid disease is becoming an epidemic.
Obviously, stress should be well controlled at this time with adequate sleep, nutrition and appropriate exercise that can become a lifestyle event which is enjoyed on a regular basis. Other adjunct therapies I often suggest with successful results, can include a liver and gall bladder flush and Chinese herbal medicine for menopausal syndromes.
