Natural hormone therapy
Women can experience unpleasant side effects from menopause for several years before they have come and gone. In fact some women may experience things such as night sweats, moods swings, hot flashes, thinning hair, weight gain, night sweats, and general irritability for years before they are completely finished with having menstrual cycles.
There are four stages of menopause that a woman can experience, each with its own symptoms and side effects. Each of these phases are different and will need to be treated differently as well in order to relieve the issues that each woman is facing. There are natural hormone therapies that are recommended to help with the symptoms as they occur. We will discuss what is recommended below.
The first phase that women may experience is premature menopause or PMS. The number of women who are presenting with premature menopause is on the rise every year. Researchers feel that there are several factors which come into play that cause this. Some of the factors are environmental stress, poor diet and nutrition, and pharmaceutical usage. This does include use of birth control pills. Women who experience this problem usually see it start in their thirties and it may go on until the early forties. These women will still have menstrual cycles even if they are not regular. However, they will also exhibit some symptoms of menopause during that time. The symptoms of this problem are very similar to PMS symptoms. They include headache, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, bloating and weight gain.
Women who have these problems are usually considered to be estrogen dominant. Their estrogen levels may be perfectly normal or borderline on the low side, however their progesterone levels are much lower and the symptoms that are noted above come to pass due to this. The alternative treatment for this condition is to use a Progesterone cream. These creams are produced from phytoprogesterones or plant progesterones. Most of these are synthesized from the wild yam root or from soy preparations. The recommended dosage for this cream is ¼ teaspoon per day on days 14-22 of the cycle then increase the dosage to ½ teaspoon from day 22 until menses starts then stop using the cream. Repeat the dosage starting on day 14 of the next cycle. The cream is rubbed into the skin of the inner arms, thighs, or abdomen. The site that is used should be alternated each day to ensure adequate absorption.
The next phase of menopause is peri-menopause. This is the period of time during a woman’s life where her estrogen levels start to fluctuate sometimes wildly with no rhyme or reason. Most women in this phase are between the ages of 45-49. Scientists and physicians here tend to differ on what the recommended treatment should be. The problems lie in whether to treat the symptoms with plant estrogens or to continue to treat with progesterone alone. Some researchers recommend using black cohosh which is a plant estrogen plus progesterone cream to regulate the symptoms during peri-menopause. Tri-estrogen cream is another natural alternative that can be used instead of black cohosh. Black cohosh has not been recommended for long term usage. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has only recommended that it be used for six months time. After that there are issues with liver toxicity and the possibility of it causing blood clots.
The recommended dosage here of Tri-Estrogen cream is ½ teaspoon per day and ½ teaspoon of Progesterone cream twice daily for the first twenty five days of the cycle then stop for five days. The recommendation is to repeat the cycle after stopping for five days.
For post-menopausal women the recommendation is to use ¾ teaspoon of the Tri-Estrogen cream and ½ teaspoon of the Progesterone cream divided between a morning and evening dosage every day. This can be used for 25 days on and 5 days off or it can be utilized every day depending on the woman’s symptoms. It is recommended to have a physician draw hormone levels prior to starting on any of these hormone creams or supplements.
Most women who are menopausal experience a loss of libido. They also have thinning of the vaginal walls and vaginal dryness which can make sexual intercourse very painful. There are some natural preparations that can make this much more comfortable. Vitamin E suppositories can be purchased to be used once daily in the vagina to help lubricate that area and reduce dryness.
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