Treating Menopausal Symptoms

The Treatment of Menopausal Symptoms from a Chinese Perspective.

With the release of the new studies on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the topic of menopause couldn’t be timelier. ?The literal translation for menopause in Chinese is “Second Spring.” According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), menopause should be merely the cessation of the period. With that cessation, instead of the monthly loss of blood and Qi (energy), the now wise woman is able to channel this creative/creation energy into other areas of her life.

Unfortunately, hot flashes, insomnia, anxiety, night sweats, and/or heart palpitations often accompany this transition form fertile female to wise woman. With the current fears about HRT, many women are looking for alternatives to the western medical approach.

According to TCM, menopause can be symptomatic for several reasons: lifestyle and diet throughout a woman’s life being the most significant factors. At the top of the lifestyle list is overwork (especially in the years directly preceding menopause). Emotional stress, including fear, worry and anxiety, weaken the body and can lead to a worsening of the menopausal symptoms. It also seems that women within a family can tend towards similar menopausal patterns.

Chinese herbs are TCM’s best line of defense for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Chinese herbs are especially useful and are generally considered safer than HRT because of the gentle tonification of the Kidney Essence and bringing the woman’s body back into balance; building deficient areas and clearing excesses. When creating a formula far a patient, her individual constitution and symptoms are taken into account to create a formula just for her. When I create an individualized formula for a patient, I make it in powder form and it is drunk as a tea. If she presents with very classical symptoms and constitution, a classical formula (in pill form) can be used.

Patients often have remarkable results with the treatment of menopausal symptoms with TCM Symptoms usually begin to abate within a week.

The best time to treat menopausal symptoms is a decade before the time comes to move into your Second Spring and become the wise woman. But, if you are already in the middle of this transition, Chinese medicine is usually very effective in alleviating symptoms.