While these transitional times for women can come with many undesirable changes and symptoms, they also come with opportunity.
This can be a valuable time in a women's life to change and optimize health behaviours, weed out the stressors and energy drainers to make room for more self-care, self-development, and self-growth.
However, in order to continue to look and feel your best, sometimes a little boost is needed!
This can be a valuable time in a women's life to change and optimize health behaviours, weed out the stressors and energy drainers to make room for more self-care, self-development, and self-growth.
However, in order to continue to look and feel your best, sometimes a little boost is needed!
Important Steps for Whole Person Menopause Relief:
Test Don't Guess: Salivary or blood hormone testing can be helpful to better understand or confirm your stage of menopause. Other important tests include: thyroid [imbalances often co-occur with other hormone changes], cholesterol [cardiovascular prevention and promotion is especially important with changing hormones], iron and B12 [can be worsening that fatigue you've been experiencing], etc.
One size/herb doesn't fit all: There's usually no shortage of advice and suggestions for things like hot flashes or mood swings in menopause, from red clover, to black cohosh, to HRT. As always with natural medicines, the best outcomes usually come when the recommendation is paired to the symptoms as much as possible. Someone with night time sweats only compared to someone with insomnia, depression, hair loss and hot flashes, will benefit from different recommendations in different amounts. It's best to work with a Naturopathic Doctor to narrow down the right approach for you.
Address the whole: diet, sleep, stress management, exercise, and water intake are some core fundamentals to health, and their importance is of no exemption during this critical time in life. Stress alone can be a reason why hot flashes and anxiety erupt during these years. Treating the symptom [hot flashes] rather than the root [stress] itself will only get you so far!
Lowest dose, for least amount of time: If you and your doctor have decided on hormone replacement therapy, or bio-identical hormones, it is best approached with a low dose, short term mindset. The goal should be health promotion, symptom control, and balancing the risks/benefits of this therapy. Be sure to check-in regularly!