How to Sail through Menopause
In Chinese medicine, the transition into menopause is perceived as a normal, healthy process. The extent of your symptoms has a lot to do with your basic health before and during menopause. If you are overworked, not getting enough rest, eating a diet which produces inflammation, or suffering from anxiety and worry, you will likely have more severe symptoms. These may include hot flushes, anxiety, foggy head, night sweats, migraines, mood swings etc.
Rather than trying to restore your hormones to the levels they were in your 20s or 30s, Chinese medicine works to smooth your transition by nourishing the kidney system and bringing your body into balance.
YIN STUDIO TREATMENTS
Yin Studio treatments for menopause are highly effective in treating menopause and work to reduce stress while enhancing blood flow, promoting healing of the body’s tissues, restoring cells and balancing energy in the body. Many women are not aware of the body’s amazing ability to heal itself using food, herbs and natural things from the earth along with meditation and other therapies that promote wellness throughout the entire body. In traditional Chinese medicine the body is viewed as a whole instead of various systems and organs. By achieving total physical and emotional well-being, most of the symptoms of menopause are eliminated.
When you experience severe hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood swings or other symptoms of menopause most doctors treat the symptoms instead of the cause. While HRT may alleviate hot flashes and prevent osteoporosis, they may also increase the risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer, and have a number of significant side-effects. Western methods of treating menopausal symptoms with HRT deceive the pituitary gland into reacting as if normal ovulation is continuing. That causes a disruption in the body’s natural flow during what should be a time of hormonal transition.
One patient I recall was recommended by a friend of hers whom I had been able to help with menopausal symptoms. This particular patient called Christine was very sceptical about the whole process. She was 51 at the time and had been menopausal for two years. She was experiencing around 6 night sweats every night that were so severe that she would have to get up and change her clothes. During the day the hot flushes were at the severe end of the scale (red face, drenched with sweat) and she was having them 12 times per day. This was the worst case I had ever seen.
We started treatments weekly. She was drinking several glasses of wine a day and also around 4 cups of coffee per day. These are stimulants and will tip the scales of a person who already has excess heat in their system. She reluctantly agreed to give up alcohol and reduced her coffee intake to just one per day. We looked at other aspects of her diet that were heating her up internally and reduced these as well. Along with the weekly acupuncture, Christine was prescribed Chinese herbs that help to correct her hormonal imbalance. After 2 weeks, her symptoms had decreased to around 2 night sweats and 7-8 hot flushes during the day. After 4 weeks, she was not having any night sweats and only 2 -3 hot flushes a day but these were hardly noticeable.
She continued on for several more weeks, feeling more healthy than she had in many years. One interesting aspect of the treatments is that they started to relax her to the point that she recognised some residual emotional issues from childhood that had not been dealt with effectively. At this point, she connected with a psychologist to commence working through these.
Although I have not seen her now since this course of treatment, her friend assures me that she has had no return of these menopausal symptoms and is feeling lighter and freer than she had for most of her life up until that point.
There was no magic bullet. Nature just needed help, and once she found someone who listened to her and to what her body was saying, she was able to regain her natural balance.
Simple as that.
A TIME FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
From puberty until you reach menopause, every month your body is producing Blood for your menstrual flow. If this process is continued indefinitely, you would deplete your energy reserves, which could lead to premature ageing and weakness. In peri-menopause your body, in its wisdom, initiates a change to slow down the ageing process and prevent the loss of Blood and vital essence.
Menopause is an energy gateway—a unique chance for a woman to prepare her body, mind and spirit for a healthy, long life. It’s a time when she can heal, strengthen herself, and balance and harmonise her energies. Part of anyone’s life’s work is to discover their mission. Deep within every woman is the answer. Menopause creates the opportunity for a transformation, a new beginning, as a woman becomes free to discover, pursue or complete her life’s mission and touch her spirit—and the spirits of those around her—in a profound and meaningful way.
Why not book in for a Free 15 minute mini-consultation - Come in and spend some time talking about your health. Whether you decide to work with me or not, you will leave the session knowing that there are concrete things you can do to feel better on your own.
Cathy Bell, Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Registered Acupuncturist AHPRA
Yin Studio:
Founded in 2006 by Cathy Bell, Yin Studio has become a sought-after health and wellness clinic, known for its warm, inviting atmosphere and sincere, compassionate care for its patients.
Cathy Bell provides results-oriented, natural wellness care for people of all ages. Her goal with each patient is a long-term, self-sustained shift in core factors that determine health and wellness. These core factors bridge all levels of being — physical, psychological, even spiritual.
My mission is simple: To support YOUR health and goals, and help you make the most of them. Whether you want to complement your conventional medical treatments with natural support, or go with a 100% natural solution, I do my best to help you achieve the best outcome possible. Treatments are based on getting results as quickly and efficiently as possible. Results matter, and I am proud of a proven history of positive outcomes.
Your body’s natural healing intelligence never forgets how to restore balance and vitality to every cell, tissue, and organ. All you have to do is give it the right support. At Yin Studio you are an active participant in the healing process. You will be educated on the proper way to get your healing system back on track via a targeted, customised treatment plan that will include one or more of the following: acupuncture, nutrition, herbs, lifestyle/mind-body coaching.