Chinese Medicine Helps Menopause
Menopausal Symptom Relief With Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine
Insomnia, night sweats, hot flashes, depression and other symptoms of menopause are eased without Hormone Replacement Therapy's side effects. TCM provides an alternative.
While menopause is a natural process, many women experience a variety of symptoms which interfere with daily life. Those women may benefit from a Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine formula designed for their individual situation, eliminating the need to assess the risks and side effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) drugs.
Symptoms of Menopause
Night sweats and hot flashes can be disruptive for women. Sleep disturbance and profuse sweating requiring changes of clothing do not make for a restful night.
Insomnia may be related to night sweats but may occur on its own. A racing pulse and anxiety may accompany menopausal insomnia. Ongoing fatigue from disturbed sleep patterns is often the biggest reason for seeking relief from menopausal symptoms. Depression may also be an issue for the menopausal woman as hormonal fluctuations affect mood.
Yin Deficiency Fire is one way in which menopause symptoms manifest in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Blood Deficiency or Liver Fire Ascending are other TCM patterns that are commonly seen in menopausal women. Each of these requires a slightly different herbal formula for best relief.
Diet and Lifestyle Changes Can Help
There is a great deal of information available regarding dietary factors such as spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol each of which can intensify the symptoms of menopause. Getting enough dietary calcium in readily absorbable form is important at this time as declining estrogen levels result in poorer calcium absorption. Exercise and over the counter herbal supplements may be the only menopause remedies needed by some women.
Traditional Chinese Herbal Remedies for Menopausal Symptoms
One Chinese herb that is commonly used in treatment of symptoms of menopause is dong quai. This is a Blood Invigorating and Tonifying herb, which makes sense in that women will tend to be Blood Deficient from many years of monthly menses. Blood Stagnation may have occurred as a result of injury or even a difficult childbirth.
But dong quai is not the right Chinese herb for every woman. Dong quai alone may not be enough in cases where the menopausal symptoms are more severe. The good news is that there are over 4000 herbs used in Chinese herbal medicine so there is bound to be a combination that will be right for each woman.
A Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner will be able to design a formula to treat more severe menopausal symptomswithout having to resort to hormone replacement therapy with its potential risks and side effects.. This is especially true for those that don't respond to simple diet and lifestyle changes combined with over the counter herbal supplements
