Dealing With Menopause Naturally

Menopause is the permanent cessation of menstruation, but cannot be officially diagnosed until a full year passes after your last period. Perimenopause, in its final throes, is the sputtering of your menses, typically beginning 12 months prior to menopause and characterized by unpredictable changes in hormone levels, often leaving awful symptoms in its wake.

If a woman knows she is perimenopausal, she can feel empowered to take the appropriate steps to keep her mind, body and spirit healthy during this time and avoid the emptiness/loneliness that comes with wondering "what's wrong with me?"

There are many ways to deal with these very natural but very unfamiliar hormonal changes. Traditional allopathic medicine, at one time, recommended a formal Hormone Replacement Therapy, which artificially replaces Estrogen in the blood to trick the body into thinking it is not changing. We all know the controversy surrounding the dangers of HRT, and today allopathic practitioners are advising their patients not to take HRT as a rule. The good news is many women are getting surprisingly good results using alternative, more natural, nutrition-based supplements and creams to deal with the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. What's important is to know what's happening to your body during this very unpredictable time.

One successful coping strategy for some of the common symptoms of menopause is to nurture and support your adrenal glands by reducing stress in your life. With less estrogen to calm the heart and support the reproductive system, the body can react with increased blood pressure and rapid heart beat. During your menstruating life, the adrenals provide 30% of the estrogen in your blood; the ovaries supply the rest. With the ovaries taking a more or less permanent hiatus later in life, there is much more need for the adrenals to fill in and do their job. Undue stress will make that job harder, so the use of stress-reduction techniques becomes essential for adrenal health.

Use these helpful tips to enter this time in your life with grace and ease:

• reduce caffeine
• get plenty of rest
• introduce foods like soy and whey into your diet
• discuss taking wild yam or black cohosh tincture with your doctor
• exercise regularly
• reduce animal fat in your diet and increase fresh fruits and vegetables
• keep your liver healthy with less alcohol
• discuss the use of natural creams with your doctor
• employ a regular spiritual practice that is stress reducing and relaxing

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