ASK DR. SHIROKO

Menopause is not a disease. It is a natural process of change
that occurs when a woman’s body is no longer able to bear children.
Lots of Baby Boomers are in or near menopause at this time, and
there are many of us who have symptoms that cause difficulty.
From the perspective of energy medicine, menopause is a time
when the energy focus of the body shifts from the second chakra to
the fourth chakra. The second chakra is focused on survival.
Nothing is more basic to the survival of a species than
reproduction. The fourth chakra is the heart chakra. It relates to
finding what is true for you. How do you create what you want in
your life?
Menopause is often a time of high stress. Children are grown and
leaving home. Divorce or re-evaluation of relationships often
occurs. Some women are re-evaluating their careers at this time.
These kinds of stresses are all related to an evaluation of your
life and to finding what is really right for you. Emotional
stresses combine with hormonal shifts to create the perfect storm.
Baby Boomers have been leaders in the area of self-discovery. Many
of us spent years searching for the key to our happiness.
Naturally, menopause would be a time of continued searching.
For many women, hot flashes signify the physical aspect of the
energy shift. Hot flashes are jokingly called, “power surges” which
isn’t so far from the truth. When you have more energy in your
heart, you become more powerful.
Part of your approach to menopause should include lifestyle
changes with your diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements. You
could make some basic nutritional changes. As hormone production
declines, our tolerance for carbohydrates declines and contributes
to the weight gain many women experience at menopause. A diet
higher in protein is more balancing. I don’t recommend a diet as
extreme as the Atkins’ diet because it is filled with poor quality
protein, such as bacon and sausage.
Helpful supplements include such things as B complex, omega
fatty acids, and a good multivitamin. If you have tried vitamins
and fatty acids for a month and still have symptoms you can begin
to work with herbs. The most common herbs in a typical menopause
formula include black cohosh, damiana, dong quai, and vitex-chaste
tree berry, as well as soy based supplements. Each of them is
effective for some people. You can experiment to see which one will
help you.
If you don’t experience relief with these, I encourage you to
seek the help of either a professional herbalist or Chinese
medicine specialist or a doctor who does integrative medicine. The
possibilities of treatment are endless and should be personalized
to your set of symptoms.
With all the controversy surrounding hormone replacement therapy
(HRT) it is still a viable option for many women. When your
symptoms don’t respond to supplements or herbs a low dose of a
bio-identical hormone combination can make all the difference. What
do I mean by bio-identical?
Bio-identical or “natural” hormones are chemically identical to
the hormones your body would naturally produce. Theoretically, they
are safer to use because they are not interfering with our bodies
natural processes, just supplementing them. They are made in a lab,
not taken from the ground. No amount of soy beans or wild yams will
give you enough hormones to survive menopause, they are just the
base from which bio-identical hormones are made.
Premarin, is a natural estrogen for horses, it is made from
pregnant mare’s urine, but isn’t natural to humans. When the
studies implicating HRT as bad were done in 2002, the researchers
used Premarin and Provera. Provera is a synthetic progesterone,
that is not bio-identical.
While there isn’t much conclusive research saying that
bio-identical hormones are safer, the philosophy of using
bio-identical hormones is more from a place of making sure you
sustain balance in your body. We give doses that will support your
well being, for long enough to get through the bothersome symptoms
of menopause, and using delivery methods that won’t challenge your
liver-such as creams or topical applications. The whole approach is
different from what used to be done with giving everyone the same
medication at the same doses regardless of side effects.
Dr. Shiroko Sokitch’s column appears monthly. She can be
reached at: dr*****@li***.net.