I was working with a patient for many months. We were trying to get her night sweats under control so that she could sleep. The lack of sleep was disrupting her daytime life with fatigue and brain fog. After many trials with many herbs, I brought up the possibility of bioidentical hormones to manage her menopause symptoms. She wanted to know if they were safe. After reading the results of the Women’s Health Initiative study back in 2002 she had concerns. They had shown a relationship between hormones and increased cardiovascular and cancer risks.
A wonderful article published in Integrated Healthcare Practitioners goes through what we currently know about the research.
While it concludes that we need more research done, especially comparative studies, it does point to some small studies done that support the use of bioidentical hormones over synthetic versions. They show less side effects and better safety profile for bioidentical estrogen and progesterone.
So what order should therapies occur in to treat menopause symptoms naturally?
- Follow good nutritional guidelines – a whole food, plant based diet.
- Move your body – daily exercise is helpful for symptoms and for prevention of cardiovascular disease and fracture risk.
- Herbs and vitamins – often these are enough to keep symptoms at bay. Sage, Black Cohosh and Soy all have evidence to support their use.
- Bioidentical hormones – when other interventions cannot provide the relief needed, adding some progesterone with or without estrogen can yield fabulous results.
How long have you been suffering with menopause symptoms? Is it time to get your sleep, sex and sanity back?
To see if naturopathic medicine could help your menopause symptoms, book a free meet-the-doctor session using our online booking system, or call the office at 705-792-6717
