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MENOPAUSE -
THE CHANGE AS A NATURAL
RITE
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
Today’s article will be an excerpt from
a previous aired radio talk program “Wellness; A
Total Approach To Health”
with guest Amanda McQuade
Crawford. The topic discussed will deal with
menopausal considerations and how
a woman can make better decisions when dealing with
hormonal balance.
Amanda
McQuade Crawford holds a
degree in Medical Herbalism from
Britain’s School of Herbal
Medicine and is a member of England’s
National Institute of Medical Herbalist. She is a
former council member of the American Herbalist Guild
and cofounder of the National College
Of
Phytotherapy in New Mexico. She has
traveled the world lecturing about women’s issues and
herbalism. She is the author of book The Herbal
Menopause Book.
David Hawkins:
Let’s deal with the issue of menopause.
Why does the conventional medical system treat this as
a disease and how does Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
affect a women’s health?
Amanda Crawford:
What we are trying to promote in women’s minds is that
menopause is not a failure of the ovaries to produce
estrogen. Menopause is not a disease
that requires drugs to fix it. Menopause is a huge
body change in a women’s hormonal cycle similar to that
of puberty. It is a condition that can be
self-monitored unless there is history of
other health concerns. In herbal therapies we are not
just looking for herbs that will raise estrogen
levels. We want it understood that just by
elevating estrogen levels in a woman all her symptoms
would not disappear.
For millions of years
women’s estrogen levels have been designed to
decrease as we age. When we think that
hot flashes will just disappear by
adding in estrogen, we set the potential for side
effects of artificially high levels of estrogen. We
are interested in helping the total health of the body
by addressing the adrenal glands and how they deal with
stress. We use herbs like Siberian Ginseng
and nettle leaf as mild gentle tonics that
don’t have anything to do with estrogen to help
alleviate stress and help many of the symptoms
attributed to menopause.
We have many
herbal approaches to hot flashes. In a hot
flash the hypothalamus in the brain senses a decrease
in estrogen. A message is then sent to the pituitary
that in turn signals the ovaries to make more
estrogen. The ovaries aren’t always able to respond to
this signal so the body responds by trying to storm the
temperature regulation center with an adrenaline rush
to get it moving. This is an attempt to reset the
thermostat for heat to reach a higher temperature like
on your home’s heating thermostat. During the hot flash
you may feel chilled before the actual sensations of
heat due to this new heat regulation. The skin gets
involved due to dilation (opening) of the blood vessels
which brings increased blood flow to the surface of the
skin and helps the body to cool based on the new
temperature setting.
Hot flashes are
affected by stress, caffeine in hot coffee,
spicy foods and alcohol. Smoking
also make hot flashes worse. Dietary and
herbal approaches would include
increase soy based
food which are high in
phytoestrogens, red clover
sprouts, alfalfa, lentils and other whole grain foods.
Supplementing with Vitamin E and evening primrose oil
has also been effective for treating hot
flashes.
David Hawkins:
Many women are concerned today with Hormonal
Replacement Therapy (HRT) due to
hysterectomies. The issues of heart disease and
osteoporosis are also concerns. How do you address
these with herbals?
Amanda Crawford:
Due to the known risk factors of HRT
(mainly increased risk of hormonal driven cancers,
estrogen driven fibroids and hormonal migraines) many
women are seeking reasonable alternatives. There are
times when HRT is necessary, but one has to remember
that drugs are strong and side effects are an issue. In
a study done in England, researchers used black
cohosh tincture at specific
doses and time periods and found the results to be
equivalent to HRT therapy. The use of
phytoestrogens again comes
into the picture here. Phyto
meaning plant based does not mean that they contain
actual hormones but have substances that have mild
effects like hormones. They do not become hormones but
attach to estrogen receptors and have either preventive
or therapeutic properties. They are safer and have
fewer side effects. Again soy foods are high in
genistein and
diadzein; two
phytoestrogens. One cup of
soybeans has the equivalent in
phytoestrogen as one .625
Premarin.
In dealing with
osteoporosis there is more to it than just
exercise and estrogen issues. It is more important to
make sure the calcium you are getting is
bioavailable
(meaning easily absorbed through the digestive
process). Milk is not the best source
or chewing Tums or even some forms of calcium in tablet
form. Food form is best like soy foods, green leafy
vegetables, nuts and seeds (sesame) are good.
In regard to the issue
of low estrogen and heart disease, this is still under
investigation. Because many of our health conditions
are attributed to lifestyle imbalances (specifically
heart disease), to single out one hormone is very
simplistic. Both of these issues are addressed in my
book.
David Hawkins: My
last question involves the use of progesterone
creams that have hit the market. What do
you think of them? (Mainly wild yam creams.)
Amanda Crawford:
What is often called natural progesterone from
wild yam or other sources is
actually diosgenin,
one of the steroidal saponins
found in wild yam that has been synthesized in a
pharmaceutical lab to be converted into progesterone.
It is not all that natural;
it is not the straight natural plant material
made into a cream.
It is progesterone.
However, there are companies that make wild yam creams
that are beneficial for vaginal dryness or discomfort.
Just understand the difference. Plants are far more
than the chemistry, just like human beings are more
than the enzymes and the biochemistry that makes us
up. We are also our personalities and our spirits.
When you go into a lab and try to isolate one
constituent, you are missing the whole.
This fascinating topic
is addressed on a more complete level in the book
The Herbal Menopause Book -- Herbs, Nutrition
And Other Natural Therapies.
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