Healthy Estrogen for a Healthy You

Little did I realize that when I developed my line of natural remedies to help myself and other women going through menopause, that I was partaking in a whole menopause awakening going on in the western world.  It is ridiculous how much the women in our culture suffer during what should be a natural and smooth life transition.  In menopause,our ovaries stop producing estrogen, and our adrenals are supposed to take over.  In an ideal world our adrenals then produce enough estrogen for our post fertile years. But for some reason, this isn’t happening for women in North America and Europe. So I started to research the herbs and methods used in traditional cultures to treat women.

  

Women’s health, specifically menopause, is the hottest market trend. There is an abundance of new products out there.  Many of them are being marketed as “natural”. Some are, and some were developed from natural ingredients. Well, guess what? All pharma products start off as natural.  The problem is when they recreate “the natural" in a lab.  Nature left alone is the best source of medicine. 

   

As I began to research how to help myself I looked towards countries with a long history of natural, herbal medicine.  Believe it or not, there are many countries in the world where women don’t experience any of the 50 symptoms of menopause that we recognize.  

Take for example, hot flashes.  Women in China don’t get any.  

Okay, that was an exaggeration.  Women in China do get hot flashes.  But check out this statistic.  Only 10-25% of Chinese women get hot flashes as opposed to 60-90% of North American and European women.  That is a significant difference!  They basically flipped the haves and the have nots. And in this case, I would prefer to be one of the have nots.

And that leads to a very big, why.  Why is this happening in the west and why are areas with a long history of herbal medicines, used to treat women, immune to the debilitating symptoms that are affecting up to 90% of the more developed world?

The story traces back to the 16th century, when witch hunts killed off our midwives.  The midwife was responsible not only for births, but she was the village wise woman, an herbalist, who was responsible for all aspects of women's health.  

When we killed off the midwives we lost a great source of our knowledge in how to treat the complex cycles of women’s health.  And then after they killed off our wise women, the modern western medical world proceeded to ignore us at best, or call us hysterical at worst.  Sadly, many women were institutionalized for mental illness, when in fact they suffered from a hormonal imbalance that was affecting their moods and behaviour.  What a travesty! 

Letting the injustices of the past go, I focused on how to help rectify my own situation, and to assist others as well.  

Simple dietary changes helped me tremendously. 

• No sugar, alcohol or caffeine does wonders.

• Every day I ear ground flax and fermented soy products (tempeh and tofu) a few times a week.

Herbal formulas

• I take an herbal remedy from a doctor of  TCM which has helped tremendously.  I am not sharing the name of the formula here as herbal remedies are powerful medicines and should not be self prescribed.  Best to make an appointment with your own TCM practitioner and get the remedy that is right for you

• Western herbs such as black cohosh, vitex, wild yam and red raspberry are relatively mild herbs that can be helpful for light symptoms but less helpful for stronger symptoms.  The west has largely lost the tradition of using the stronger herbal remedies but there are some general stronger herbs that are used.  Examples of one such stong herb is St. Johns Wort.  This is an effective herb, used to treat the emotional aspect of lower estrogen, but it should be used with caution and with the recommendation of an herbalist

Aromatherapy

• Aromatherapy is my “go to” as it works immediately.  A simple blend which includes fennel, clary sage and mint works great. I put mine in a little roller bottle.  It fits nicely into my bag.  It is unobtrusive if I need a quick swipe during a hot flash. And totally beats me being  a red faced, sweating mess presenting at a meeting.  

• Aromatherapy is a wonderful remedy for vaginal atrophy. Lower estrogen means less circulation.  Less circulation to the genitals causes vaginal atrophy  Vaginal atrophy symptoms include, UTI’s incontinence, low libido, dryness, itching, burning, painful sex, prolapse, thinning walls and bladder infections.  Aromatherapy increases blood circulation to the area which reverses the atrophy.  The oils used in my Hooha Rejuvenating Serum include, clove, ginger, mint, rose, fennel, coriander and more.  To increase blood flow and to keep the area healthy.  

• Wrinkles and sagging skin, are likewise symptoms of lowered estrogen levels.  Aromatherapy oils such as clary sage, fennel and coriander all help to naturally raise our estrogen levels. Raised estrogen levels mean that we look younger and feel healthier.  More estrogen means more circulation, more collagen and less wrinkles.  

And the best part of natural medicine, is that unlike pharmaceuticals, you don’t have to worry about getting some horrible diseases as a result of using them. 

And that's the biggest win of all!