Treating Menopause

“I am sweating non-stop at night to where I am soaking the sheets!” “I feel this bone-shearing fire and it gets worst after eating sugar.” “My own mother when through 10 years of pure menopause hell with hot flashes, night sweats, and rage-will I experience the same thing!?!”. “Will these hot flashes last forever?”.

These are all of the questions we get in our Acupuncture Consultations with women in the Peri-menopause and Menopause transition. I am here to tell you-No, these symptoms do not need to be extreme and do not have to last forever. Let us dive into what is Menopause, why do some women experience some of these symptoms, and what Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine can do to lower them.

Menopause is a natural transition for all women. It is a right of passage where a women transitions into the mother phase of reproductive years to crone. Menopause happens when there is no period for 12 months and beyond due to the ovaries stop producing eggs. As the ovaries transition from producing eggs, the hormones of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone start to decrease. In turn, the adrenal glands that sit on top of the kidneys will take over and produce the estrogen and androgen hormones (2). You see, Menopause does not shrivel up your ovaries and leave your hormones levels to zero. You are not a sac of skin with hot flashes. You are woman with an intelligent body, who needs the right support in this transition.

For some women, the decreasing of these hormones during menopause can create an uncomfortable experience such as “irregular periods, vaginal dryness, fatigue, hot flashes, sweating or night sweats, dry skin, irritability, moodiness, and lowered libido” (1). During the transition of menopause, the liver and kidneys are effected through a “physiologic and biochemical change” from the decrease of these hormones. Many have some level of discomfort with these symptoms of change and there are some conventional treatment options such as Hormonal Replacement Therapy but they can be limiting and with adverse effects. TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine, offers an another way of treating the symptoms of menopause such as Hot flashes through Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, and Nutritional Guidance without adverse side effects.

Menopause Transition: The key to supporting the transition of estrogen production from ovaries to adrenal glands is to have healthy support in the kidney, liver, and gut health pathways. “Estrogen has many beneficial roles to help maintain liver function such as promoting coagulation, maintaining proper fluid balance, and fostering increase in HDL and decreasing LDL for favorable lipid profiles “ (1). Estrogen helps protect liver mitochondrial structure and functions, support immunity, and promotes antioxidants” (1). The mitochondria part of the cell is known as our energy powerhouses to combat fatigue and sluggishness.

Conventional Medicine will usually offer certain medications, or Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT) such as estrogen, progesterone, and other single compounds/combinations. While HRT provides temporary relief and maybe safe for short-term usage, it may come at a cost of the body not adjusting to the menopause transition. As the body switches from ovaries to adrenals producing the sex hormones such as estrogen and androgen, “taking estrogen HRT may discourage the adrenals from fully developing their estrogen-producing capacity” (2). There are some risk to HRT such as increasing the risk of imbalances such as the gall bladder disease and cancers of the breast, uterus, and liver (2,3). Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a safer option.

Let us talk about Hot Flashes. Hot Flashes are a way your body is communicating to you that something is out of balance. In TCM, the symptoms of menopause usually mean a deficiency of yin fluids. These yin fluids help calm and relax the liver, which is supported by the benefits of estrogen. There are other patterns of imbalances branching off the deficiency of yin fluids such as Yin deficiency with Empty heat, Liver qi stagnation, Liver fire, and other TCM patterns. The cool things about these patterns is they can shift and change. Your body is not destined to be “stuck”, or “forever” in this imbalanced state. The tools of Acupuncture alongside Nutrition and Herbal Medicine are cardinal to managing and decreasing Menopause symptoms. Nutrition and Herbal Medicine put the ingredients into the body needed to help support the imbalances and Acupuncture helps navigate these ingredients to where they need to go. This is how Acupuncture helps cool Hot flashes, balance hormonal pathways, improve digestion and sluggish, increase energy, and balance mood.

General Nutritional: TCM nutrition is about adding into the diet and nourishing the body. For the yin deficiency, adding foods to “build the yin” such as “wheat germ, mung beans, string beans, seaweed, spirulina, millet, black bean, tofu, kidney bean, barley, black sesame seed”. Usually in Menopause discomfort, there are “vitamin E, B-complex, C, and A deficiencies due to decreased calcium absorption” (2) These vitamins are co-factors to help with calcium metabolism such as “Vitamin E stimulates the production of estrogen” (2). Sometimes higher doses of vitamin E help decrease hot flashes at the dose of 300 I.U. of vitamin E 3 times per day at meal times. Decreasing alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, poor quality of meat, and sugar will help decrease hot flashes as well.

Herbal Medicine: Herbal Medicine is essential in managing Menopause symptoms! You may have heard of the common herbs of Dang gui (angelica sinensis), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Aloe vera gel, Royal Jelly from the queen bee to decrease hot flashes. Dang gui is usually combined with other TCM herbs to help support your body type and specific heat and hot flash patterns. Motherwort is a nourishing and calming nervine for heart space and emotional balancing. Aloe vera gel helps cool the excessive heat.

Acupuncture: Acupuncture and Herbal Therapy are combined to help decrease hot flashes. The Acupuncture Consultation is where our Acupuncturist can assess the symptoms, gather some information, and complete a Plan of Action for treatment. The general guide line 6 week treatment plan followed by a reassessment for maintenance. The 6 week treatment plan includes Acupuncture and Herbal therapy and most women can expect to see improvement in decreased Hot flashes at 2 weeks and 6 weeks of treatment. Maintenance may include Acupuncture once per month, or every 6 weeks, and Herbal therapy for lower dosage to support the Liver and Kidney health during the Menopause transition.

References:

1. “Menopause Protocol”. Wei Laboratories. 0222-01.

2. Pitchford, Paul. “Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition”. Chapter 31: Blood Disorders. “Menopausal Difficulty”. Pg 403 (4).