Acupuncture and Other Natural Solutions for Menopausal Disorder

Did you know that menopause is NOT a health problem?  

In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), we call it a woman's "Second Spring."  

"First Spring" is your first period.  When you think of Springtime, you think of growth, fertility, and abundance. 🌸

Second Spring is a new beginning!  🌹

The beginning of focusing on yourself.

And not the various stages of fertility, child-bearing, and raising children.

It's a time when you start giving less f*cks about what people think about you, and let me just say, that alone is FREAKING AWESOME.  

You give WAY less f*cks about the hetero male gaze.  (But let's be honest, we always care about what the gays think. 😉) 

You rediscover who YOU really are.  What YOU are really into.  

You can give your knowledge, experience, and newfound time to others...if you want.  

We've been taught in our culture is that when a woman is no longer young and fertile, her value goes down.

Not true. 

Maybe it was when they burned "witches" at the stake, but they can't do that to us anymore!  🎉 🥂 👯‍♀️ 

It's the season of the White Tiger. 

In Chinese astrology, young women are associated with the Fire element.  You're burning with desires.  You are desired.  You have a lot on your plate.  Things move fast.  

As you age, that Fire transforms into Metal.  Metal is cool.  It's cutting.  It's precise.  It's a tool.  

Unfortunately, what most people associate with menopause is...

• hot flashes
• night sweats
• vaginal dryness
• joint pain
• irritability
• insomnia
• weight gain 
• heavy periods (excessive bleeding)
• not being attractive anymore 😢

Hey - don't worry.  None of this has to be your reality. 

What causes Menopausal SYMPTOMS is estrogen deficiency, usually.

In TCM we call it "YIN DEFICIENCY." 

It is fixable, naturally, without artificial hormones. 

Yin is part of "Yin-Yang."  Yin is what you can see; Yang is what you cannot see (breathing, thinking, cellular movement, etc.)

Yang is "Fire." Yin is "Water." 

If you continue using the Fire Operating System, you'll quite literally burn out.  

Yin Cultivation: the Secret to Thriving During Menopause

Yang is a sprint or a marathon. It's paced. It's energetic. It's competitive. It's "masculine."

Yin is more metaphorically "feminine." It's relaxed. It's the flow of a river or the tide. 

Yin and Yang are opposites, but intricately connected.  You can't have one without the other.  Both exist and transform into each other.  Yin is similar in nature to Estrogen.  

Yin Deficiency signs are your stereotypical menopause symptoms:  hot flashes, night sweats, dryness, trouble sleeping, and restlessness.  

Yin is also connected with Blood.  The period is leaving.  The Blood is becoming scarce, and therefore, the Yin is changing. 

Yin is cool where Yang is hot.  Yin is night; Yang is day.  Yin is feminine; Yang is masculine.  Yin is material (what you see); Yang is invisible (energy). 

We all have both Yin and Yang.  

What feels like heat flashes are not actual heat, per se, but the absence of cooling energy. 

No, ice will not "cool you off" in this context.  Ice causes damage to your Spleen: Yang Deficiency due to Cold Damage.  In menopause, we must take extra care of our Spleen Energy. 

Yang Deficiency signs can accompany the Yin Deficient signs.  Yang Deficiency symptoms include feeling cold easily, water retention, fatigue, poor digestion, weight gain, and painful joints.     

Yin is Relaxed 

People get confused when I say "slow down" or "take more breaks."  It does NOT mean "stop all movement." 

It means, listen more to your body. It means, don't force things, especially if you don't feel like doing them. 

When you slow down, you can focus more on internal movement:  

--> Is your breath flowing smoothly and deeply?

--> Active stretching instead of cardio, for example, or a long walk instead of running 5 miles.   

--> Channeling and focusing your thoughts into a journal or list, etc. instead of fretting. 

--> Booking the vacation instead of telling the story about how "everyone is depending on me and I don't have time!" (I'm telling this to myself, too!)

There is a stress element to it.  Overbooking yourself, feeling overwhelmed with everything - your body will tell you with menopausal symptoms.  

Menopause and Food

I've been heading into menopause the last year. This means I've had the opportunity to test my TCM theories. They work, I'm happy to report! 

What I've noticed: 

I have less tolerance to "hot" foods and drinks.

I'm not talking about the temperature of the food. In TCM, we always say "eat warm food." Meaning, not straight out of the refrigerator. 

Here, I'm talking more about the nature of the food.

Hot-natured foods, drinks, and herbs include:  

• Alcohol (more than 1 drink now makes me nauseous and dizzy...)
• Coffee (green tea is more cooling, even if sipped warm)
• Spicy Food, including Ginger, Garlic, Onions, Peppers
• Fried foods like french fries (even one gives me instant heartburn, so a great incentive to not snag them from my kids.)

Foods, drinks, and herbs that nourish Yin include:

• Mushrooms
• Broth
• Seaweed
• Green vegetables
• Fruit
• Schisandra berry (Gojizi) 
• Chrysanthemum (great as a tea)
• Rehmannia 

Yin foods are generally soft, moist, and slimy. 😁 

Thoughts on Supplementing Estrogen  

In puberty, your hormones are all over the place. By menopause, hormones settle into a low baseline level.  Artificially keeping the hormones high is not only unnecessary, but potentially dangerous.  

Estrogen is made from progesterone. 

Progesterone is made from cholesterol.  

Cholesterol is where it all starts. 

Yes, we need it.  And yes, statin drugs (cholesterol-lowering medications) are a strain on your body, especially on the Liver.  

That being said, dietary fats are so important for hormone balance in this stage of life.  And you need more than just avocados.  

Here are some of my favorite fatty foods:

• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Fatty Meats like Bacon and Grass-fed Beef
• Eggs (especially the yolk!)
• Cheeses
• Heavy Cream
• Yogurt

I actually eat a fairly high-fat diet.  It just works for me.  

TCM and Hormone Balance 

Yin and Yang come from the Kidney. It's closely connected to your adrenal glands. Worry, daily stressors, and lack of rest weaken your adrenals.  That's where the dryness, hot flashes and night sweats originate. 

The Liver is the "child" of the Kidney/Adrenal. With too much stress, the "child" (Liver, where cortisone is produced) steals from the "mother" (Kidney/Adrenal).  This weakens the tendons (like that menopausal frozen shoulder) and eyes, both related to the Liver in TCM.

The Liver is also connected with the emotion of Anger. Irritability (and PMS) typically arise with a Liver imbalance. 

High cortisol from stress; inflammatory foods; and blood stagnation (pain) can lead to excess heat in TCM.  The more heat you have, the more Yin you use up.  

Improper Diet

It's not so much like, "you can't eat (such-and-such)."  Rather, this is a time to tune into your body's needs. 

"Know," not "No." Does that make sense? 

I was vegetarian for 5 years.  Eventually, I noticed signs that this lifestyle no longer suited me.  Adding in quality animal protein helped get my energy and strength back.  

Another dietary concern is eating "non-foods." 

Food chemicals and highly processed foods (foods cooked in vegetable oils; foods with ingredients that you can't pronounce / don't know what they are) create Heat in your body. 

Heat uses up your Yin, which we're trying to preserve here.  

Xenoestrogens are estrogen-mimicking compounds that aren't produced in your body.  The most common sources of them are processed foods, medications, heavy metals, food chemicals/preservatives, personal care products, and pesticides. 

In Asian countries, menopausal symptoms are not as common because they generally follow a diet that nourishes Yin.  

Foods that nourish Yin include slimy foods like tendons, bone broth, and mushrooms. 

To keep your Yin up, you also need to hydrate. 

This means not only drinking water, but perhaps adding fruit or a scoop of electrolytes to your water.  Lemon, lime, berries, and cucumber in the water help wtih electolytes and hydration. I like to add pinch of sea salt or powdered magnesium too. 

I'm not a fan of the mostly sugar-filled electrolyte beverages on the market.  It's so much better for you (and your wallet) to just add a pinch of sea salt and some lemon to your water bottle.    

Foods that balance hormones:

• Protein (at least 4 ounces with each meal, especially if you want to lose weight or address fatigue)
• Cruciferous Vegetables (at least 1 cup each day, especially if you have signs of high estrogen)
• Seaweed (at least twice per week)
• A vegetable-based diet (but not necessarily vegetarian -)
• Water (Drink. More. Water.)
• Fats

Foods to eat LESS of to balance your hormones:

• Less sugar (sugar is considered a HOT food regardless of the actual temperature of the food eaten/drank.)
• Less alcohol (no more than 1 drink per day; alcohol is a HOT-natured food.)
• Avoid animal protein that isn't organic, free-range, and hormone-free
• Less coffee (too much is usually a sign you have adrenal fatigue; coffee is also considered a HOT-natured food, even if you drink it iced.  And again, ice is also problematic.)
• No food chemicals, food coloring, and things you can't pronounce (read labels!)

Soy?  

There's so much confusion about this food.  Soy is full of phytoestrogens and could help reduce signs of estrogen deficiency.  This is NOT me saying go balls-to-the-wall with the soy milk ~

• Soy is often GMO, so only buy organic
• Unfermented soy (like the milk) is not absorbed well, so it's best avoided
• Fermented, organic soy (tofu/tempeh) is OK to eat a few times per week
• It's cooling/cold in nature so keep that in mind if you have Yang Def. or Dampness

Herbs for Menopausal Disorder

Herbs are my go-to for treating hot flashes, night sweats, dry skin, insomnia, heavy periods, etc. 

I ended up needing a menopausal protocol for myself. For a couple of weeks, my hot flashes got so bad my fingertips were literally dripping with sweat when I was trying to treat patients. 

I started this protocol and within a week, my symptoms were about 25% better. Within 2 weeks, the hot flashes and night sweats were pretty much gone. 

This is exactly what I took:  

Cataplex F 6 tablets per day (fat metabolism supplement tablet containing vitamin B6 and iodine for thyroid support)

Symplex F 4 tablets per day (unique profile of nucleotides and peptides from bovine ovary, adrenal, pituitary, and thyroid) 

Drenamin 3 per day (vitamin cofactors for natural adrenal hormone and neurotransmitter synthesis. Supports energy production and metabolism.)

Organically Bound Minerals 3 per day (supports nervous system health; can use MinTran instead if you need Calcium too.) 

Wild Yam 2 tablets per day

Wild Yam is awesome. 

It can make you sleepy, so it's great to take at night. 

It's a source of phyto-estrogens that mimic natural body estrogen without causing toxicity.  That said, it's not great for folks with excess estrogen signs.  Also, it's a common weed in many areas of the country.  You may just have some growing in your backyard.  I do!

Schisandra

Schisandra is a Blood tonic.  It's is one of the only herbs that can rejuvinate Liver cells.  It's also great for dry eyes. 

It's an adaptogenic herb that's calming, neuroprotective, and can help stop excessive sweating.  

Rehmannia

Rehmannia's natural form is like a blob of black, gooey molasses.  

It's a nourishing "Blood tonic," so may not suit you if you have a lot of Dampness. 

It's great for anemia, fatigue, or hair loss associated with Blood Deficiency.  It helps prevent or treat inflammation, especially if your joints feel warm to the touch.  It's an adaptogenic herb as well, so can help with adrenal fatigue.  

Turmeric

You didn't think Turmeric was just for pain, right?  It's also a great way to help your Liver detox. 

It's an herb of circulation, so in some cases, it can help stop excessive bleeding and improve cognition and energy.  

Dong Gui

Dong Gui or Angelica Root is the #1 herb for menstruating women.  Any herb formula for menses will almost always contain at least some Dong Gui. 

It helps correct anemia (it's a Blood tonic) and painful, heavy periods.  It also moistens the bowels.  Not suitable in large quantities if you have a lot of Dampness.

Most herb formulas that address menopause disorder will include a few different herbs that balance your own constitution.  If you're not sure what exactly to take, ask a licensed herbalist!  🙋‍♀️    

You can download my free e-book on how to use herbs for stress-relief, hormone balance, and better sleep here.