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Menopause: A Natural Cycle Not a Terrible “Disease”
By Dr. Helen Thomas, D.C. | August 27, 2008
Revealed in this week’s issue…
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Menopause Myths Annihilated: No, It’s Not a Life-Threatening Condition… |
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Your Unique Experience: We May Have the Same “Equipment” But That’s Where the Similarities End… |
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Ayurveda vs. Modern Medicine: How Comfortable Are YOU With the Cancer Risks of Combined HRT… |
Mere mention of the word “menopause” to most women elicits a chorus of groans and moans. “The hot flashes!” they cry. “The mood swings! The bloating! It’s awful!!”
While dealing with the symptoms of menopause can be uncomfortable and even embarrassing at times - breaking into a feverish sweat in the middle of an important meeting or a romantic dinner for two certainly isn’t ideal - we often forget that menopause isn’t a life-threatening condition. It’s not a collection of syndromes, and it’s not just the hot flashes, mood swings and bloating.
Menopause is quite simply a natural and healthy cycle that occurs in women. And because of this, we need to learn how to work with it instead of fighting against it.
IF WE CAN SURVIVE CHILDBIRTH, WHAT’S A LITTLE MENOPAUSE?
The female reproductive system is a wondrous and beautiful thing. You might find that hard to believe when you’re suffering with menopausal symptoms after a lifetime of dealing with the ups and downs of menstruation, but it’s true. After all, it is we women who hold the magic and honor of giving birth because of our systems!
In general, we have the same “equipment” in common, the basic pieces of female anatomy that are affected by menopause: the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix and vaginal cavity. But that’s were our common bond ends. Each of us also have unique factors, unique body types, digestive tendencies, genetics, life histories, and toxic levels within us that make menopause a different experience from woman to woman.
According to the principles of Ayurveda, these unique factors and how we incorporate them in our approaches to dealing with menopause will determine whether we enter the menopausal cycle primed for a healthy or unhealthy journey through it and beyond.
PUT DOWN THE COMBINED HRT AND NO ONE GETS HURT
The narrow view of menopause is that the keystone issues behind it is hormone levels; namely, that we have to add to our estrogen levels - through practices like combined HRT (progestin and estrogen Hormone Replacement Therapy) - in order to get on a path toward menopausal balance. We mistakenly think that we can’t get enough natural tools to help us maintain this balance.
Not only does this leave us feeling powerless against the forces of nature, it often spurs us into taking on unsafe and toxic practices to “combat” menopause and its symptoms, practices like combined HRT.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has an interesting “summary of published medical studies” on their website here. The highlights (or lowlights, if you think about it) include disturbing links between combined HRT and cancer risks.
The ACS article states that the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) studies “have shown that daily use of combined HRT increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer by about 5% to 6% with each year of use…The longer HRT was used, the more the risk increased.” The ACS article also reveals that though “combined HRT did not increase endometrial cancer risk…more of the women getting HRT had abnormal vaginal bleeding (a possible sign of endometrial cancer) that needed further testing.”
You can read more about the cold, hard facts about cancer and HRT here.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather NOT increase my chances of getting cancer by subjecting my body to synthetic drugs!
TAKE THE HIGH ROAD: THE HOLISTIC AYURVEDIC APPROACH TO MENOPAUSE
The Ayurvedic approach to menopause is as unique as each woman’s response to this natural cycle. The Ayurvedic formula is an exact science practiced for centuries, and it’s centered around diagnosis of the personal imbalances and management protocols on how to return to comfort and health during the menopausal cycle.
Ayurveda has designed a logical, easy-to-understand system to follow that addresses your personal imbalances and restores your health, vitality and beauty, and I’ve created a program around it - available in the coming weeks - because I want you to be a strong, healthy woman through menopause and beyond.
My Ayurveda 3-Step Menopausal Balance Program will provide you with the Ayurvedic techniques you can use - in combination with those you’ve discussed with your health care provider - to restore your balance during and after menopause.
The first step in my Ayurveda 3-Step Menopausal Balance Program is my booklet on the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. Determining your particular dosha is the key to figuring out which menopausal remedies will work with your body type and digestive tendencies.
The second step in my Ayurveda 3-Step Menopausal Balance Program is my “Menopausal Remedies for Your Body Type” report. In it, you’ll find specific Ayurvedic remedies that are tailored to each of the doshas. (Both pamphlets are easy-to-download PDF files that will be e-mailed directly to you upon completion of the purchasing process.)
The third and final step in my Ayurveda 3-Step Menopausal Balance Program is a tele-seminar with me, Dr. Helen. I’ll go into more depth about the doshas and menopausal remedies, and this will be your opportunity to talk to me directly! Ask your questions, get clarification on your personal issues, and tap into my vast expertise in Ayurveda. (When you purchase this program, an e-mail will be sent to you with the call-in information.)
Take the lead in your success in health and vitality using and ancient science that people have used in continuity for 8,000 years! Details on the tele-seminar date and time and how to purchase this amazing program will follow in the coming e-zines. Stay tuned and stay healthy!
Topics: Ayurveda and Menopause, Ayurveda and Modern Medicine |
2 Responses to “Menopause: A Natural Cycle Not a Terrible “Disease””
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August 28th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Doctors and especially pharmaceutical companies try to push all these HRT for those of us who are in menopause. Doctors have so many terms relating to menopause , the befores and the durings and the afters, that many women don’t exactly know when they are in menopause. The word “menopause” needs to be clearly defined properly. My own doctor has tried to push HRT on to me for years, but I refuse to take it. I had such horrible menstrual cycles which included migraines twice a month, that I couldn’t wait for menoapuse to hit. I didn’t take any prescription drugs for the menstrual cycles or the migraines. Guess what! When I stopped having periods, I stopped having migraines. That was six years ago. I have embraced menopause because now life is so much more enjoyable.
Could you have a segment on bone density? I have been told I have osteopenia, so I’m taking a liquid calcium, vitamin D, magnisium combination and I exercise. I would like to hear how Ayurveda addresses this issue.
It’s very difficult for me to utilize your teleseminars, but I would like to know when the information is available so that I can receive it. Thanks so much, Dr. Helen, and God bless you as you make a positive difference in people’s lives.
September 1st, 2008 at 6:38 am
Great post! I am reaping the benefits of ayurveda and am happy to find so much about its connection with menopause. I found out about ayurvedic medicine and menopause through this article at Women to Women: http://www.womentowomen.com/menopause/ayurvedictreatmentformenopause.aspx
You might be interested in this.