Women Health

It can be very frustrating to have to try lots of supposed remedies in an attempt to treat your menopause. You might have friends surrounding you that have found good treatment methods. They might even be pushing you to try the things they have tried. Try to remind yourself that they mean well. They just want to help you find a way to feel better than you do now.

Many generations of women simply endured the stages of menopause without relief. Now there are all sorts of treatments and remedies that can help a woman to ease her suffering. Each woman’s response to treatment is unique. There are some options that will work for you and others that might not. Here are a few treatments you might think about considering or at least researching.

1. Try loading up on phytoestrogens, the famous plant nutrients. Phytoestrogens come from a variety of naturally-occurring foods. Lignans and isoflavones are two forms of phytoestrogens found in a variety of food you eat, hopefully on a frequent basis. Several of the fruits and vegetables we eat everyday contain many phytoestrogen type lignans.

2. Make your pelvic floor as strong as you can. A lot of your symptoms start in your pelvic area, which is why you want to make sure that you’re as strong as it can be; the stronger your pelvic floor the weaker your symptoms will be. You will probably be put on a regular schedule of kegel exercises–the same exercises you did when you prepared your body for giving birth. These kinds of exercises also do quite a lot to help women relieve incontinence symptoms. Basically what you want to do is strengthen all of the muscles in your pelvic area so that you can stay healthy and in shape “down there”.

3. Hormone replacement therapy sometimes has greater effects on menopausal symptoms but as time goes by, more and more doctors and nurses are expressing their reservations about this form of treatment.

4. One of the most miserable or hormone symptoms is suddenly, without warning, being on fire – and usually covered with sweat. It’s not only uncomfortable, it can be extremely embarrassing. Vitamin E can reduce these symptoms in many women. It’s best to obtain this vitamin from your food simply because it’s more easily absorbed and utilized. The dangers of overdosing are greatly exaggerated but the danger is non-existent if Vitamin E comes from our food.

5. Using black cohosh has been said to have benefits. Many women report that, taken in the early stages of menopause, black cohosh can help them drastically reduce the severity of their symptoms. Severe side affects of black cohosh have been seen in a few long-term users and include heart palpitations, vision difficulties, nausea, headaches and dizziness to name a few. Should you consider black cohosh as an option for you we recommend talking to your doctor first. To avoid the above side effects do not take black cohosh for more than six months.

6. Visit your doctor often. Once a year is usually not enough for women who are going through menopause. You should see your doctor every three or four months. You need to do this so that you can keep your doctor informed about your symptoms, your treatments and your progress. This also allows your doctor to keep tabs on any medications you may be taking to treat your menopause pharmaceutically. Your doctor will also be able to catch various conditions as they develop by using regular pap smears and other screeners (like lipid level tests). This will be very beneficial if you start to show signs of aging issues or other kinds of disease.

There are a multitude of treatments available for every symptom. Every female will go through the change in a different way. Many women will not require official treatment whereas others will. It is extremely important to remember you do have options for help if you reach out and take them. There are more ways to reduce the effects of menopause on your sanity than can be discussed in one article.

Try out a drug free menopause treatment to stop the hot flashes of menopause before they get started.

Many women, as they begin to experience the changes that come along with menopause, worry about how to treat these effects if they become serious or very uncomfortable. While using hormone replacement therapy is still safe in many circumstances, especially right when menopause is starting, a lot of women would rather avoid it, believing the risks are still too great. One possible alternative, or at least something to try first, is to treat the symptoms of menopause in a natural, or naturopathic, way.

Lifestyle modifications should be your first approach. They involve no risk, but require a great deal of discipline, self control and willpower. Work to make the life you lead as healthy as possible in every way. This includes eating as healthy as possible, getting plenty of exercise and finding productive outlets to reduce the stress in your life. If you are a smoker and/or drinker you should think about quitting.

Exercise is essential to easing the symptoms of menopause. Some naturopaths recommend yoga, while others suggest a more vigorous workout. A combination of the two may work the best for some women, depending on their physical condition. This can do wonders for hormones that are fluctuating like crazy. Remember, it is easier to make changes to the way you live your life if you possess a good attitude and think in a positive and hopeful manner.

When it comes to hormone replacement, naturopaths believe it’s possible to achieve the same effects using natural foods, without resorting to medications. Soy beans contain phytoestrogens, which have an estrogen-like effect in the body. Naturopaths do warn, however, that some of the necessary phytoestrogens are removed if the food is processed, so be sure to read labels carefully to make sure it contains isoflavones. However, it’s possible to have too much soy, so trade it off regularly with other foods that contain phytoestrogens, such as flax seed. If a woman takes 2-4 tablespoons of ground flax seeds per day (that’s flax seeds, not flax seed oil), she should have enough to provide the phytoestrogens she needs. She would need to drink extra water, though, since ground flaxseeds absorb water from the body.

There is also an assortment of herbs, vitamins and minerals that can be taken for a variety of menopause symptoms. The two kinds of herbs that are most suitable to treating menopause symptoms include phytoestrogen herbs and non-estrogenic herbs. The former, which include black cohosh and dong quai, are effective at replacing a portion of the estrogen that has been depleted from the body. The non-estrogenic herbs help to encourage the hormone glands to produce more of their own natural hormones. A woman’s hormone production is stimulated because these herbs act on the endocrine glands as well as the pituitary gland.

Other supplements that are helpful for women going through menopause include: potassium and magnesium phosphates, passion flower, hops, ginseng, oats, gotu kola, and gentian. It is always wise to thoroughly research any herb before you begin to take it on a regular basis. It is also essential to discuss herb therapy with your doctor if you are taking any other form of medication.

Menopause is a difficult time for many women, and requires them to make a number of adjustments to their lifestyle in order to combat the symptoms. For example, did you know there are certain menopause foods that can stabilize your situation and prevent weight gain? Click here to learn more about menopause symptom relief.

categories: naturopathic menopause treatment,natural menopause treatment,menopause,women’s health

Hormone replacement therapy, now more commonly known as hormone therapy, use to be medical worlds standard treatment for those women suffering from hot flashes and other side effects of going through menopause. They also thought that it could help prevent osteoporosis and even heart disease.

In 2002 however; the minds of many in the medical field changed when they saw the results of a clinical test. What the test uncovered is that the hormone replacement therapy could actually be causing a lot more health hazards than benefits. As the doctors saw the increase of health hazards with women on this therapy they began to prescribe it less and less and a lot of women completely stopped it on their own when they heard the news about it may being dangerous.

Those who took the hormone replacement therapy were given estrogen and progestin. This therapy would ease some of the symptoms of menopause making life easier for the women going through a difficult menopause. The long term prescriptions for this are rarely given now, on occasion though, women are given the treatment for short term.

If the bioidentical hormone replacement is given short term, there still might be some health benefits. Over short periods of time, doctors have discovered that it can help lessen the chances of getting osteoporosis. If used moderately, the hormone therapy may still be able to lower the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Heart disease risk can be lowered if estrogen is given in the early stage of postmenopausal years but not throughout the entire cycle of menopause.

There are risks for taking hormone replacement therapy and women who are experiencing menopause should weigh the facts and figure out if menopause is causing that much disruption in their lives that it would be worth chancing the hazards that come with the therapy.

Long term use of the therapy actually increased the threat of heart disease in women who took the real therapy. Breast cancer appeared to increase with long term use. Strokes increased in women that took the long term therapy. There were also an increase in false positive mammograms.

On the other hand, if women only took estrogen did not seem to have an increase in heart disease or breast cancer, but; they did have an increase in strokes, blood clots in their legs and an increase in abnormal mammograms.

If your menopausal symptoms are far greater than the risk, you should talk to your doctor if the following things are bothering you the most. If you have severe hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms that are interfering with daily life. It has been discovered that you have lost bone mass and you have stopped having your period before the age of forty.

If you experience any of the above mentioned situations, it might be wise for you to consider the treatment anyway. Your doctor will be able to identify whether or not what you are experiencing is extreme enough to begin you on the hormone therapy.

Compounding pharmacists are professionals with specialized and trustworthy expertise in the medical field. Among the best within their industry, they have knowledge of procedures like the Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, or better known as the BHRT.