Menopause: Alternative Treatments

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KEY POINTS

• Menopause is the time in a woman’s life when she stops having menstrual periods. Some women seek treatment for physical, mental, and emotional symptoms.
• Exercise, a healthy diet, herbal supplements, and other therapies may help some of the health problems that are linked to menopause.

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What is menopause?

Menopause is the time in a woman’s life when she stops having menstrual periods. Hormone changes can cause physical, mental, and emotional symptoms before and during menopause. The symptoms may come and go.

Physical symptoms may include:

• Hot flashes and night sweats
• Feeling very tired
• Changes in your sleep patterns
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Muscle and joint pain
• Dry skin
• Vaginal dryness that causes discomfort or pain during sex
• More frequent need to urinate, or leakage of urine
• More frequent vaginal and urinary infections

Menopause can also cause mental and emotional symptoms, such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Mood swings, tearfulness, and irritability
• Less interest in sex
• Trouble concentrating and remembering things

How is it treated?

Many women seek ways to treat these symptoms that do not involve hormone replacement therapy. Some treatments may help prevent osteoporosis also. Other possible treatments may include:

• Eat a low-fat, mainly vegetarian diet. Some studies show that meat-based meals affect hormone levels more strongly than other foods. It may help to avoid spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine if these trigger hot flashes for you. Vitamin D, found in fortified dairy products, eggs, tuna, and salmon, is needed for good bone health. Talk with your healthcare provider about how much vitamin D you need, and if you should take a supplement.
• Exercise. Regular aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, dancing, or swimming may improve symptoms. Weight-bearing exercise also helps strengthen bones. High impact exercise that is done once in a while may make symptoms worse.
• Lose weight. After menopause women often gain weight. Studies have shown that women who lose at least 10 pounds have fewer hot flashes and night sweats.
• Simple Behavior changes. Lower the temperature in the room, use a fan, and dress in layers.
• Take herbal supplements. Black cohosh, chasteberry, dong quai, red clover, and soy products have effects similar to the female hormone estrogen. St. John’s wort may help with mild depression, but it can interact with many medicines.
  • Talk with your healthcare provider about what you are taking or plan to take. Natural remedies are not always safe. They may have different strengths and effects. They may be contaminated. They may interact with other medicines that you take.
• Learn to manage stress. Relaxation skills include:
  • Deep breathing (focusing on taking slow deep breaths)
  • Mental imaging (picturing yourself in a calm place and letting your muscles relax)
  • Mindfulness (focusing only on the now, without judging, and not thinking of the past or future)
  • Progressive muscle relaxation (tensing and relaxing your body, one muscle group at a time)
  • Tai chi or yoga (exercise programs that involve a series of movements done slowly and with mental focus)
• Quit smoking. Smoking may trigger hot flashes, weaken bones, and irritate your bladder. Talk to your healthcare provider about ways to quit smoking.
• Use water-based lubricants or moisturizers for vaginal dryness. Use a vaginal cream or jelly if sex is painful. You can use water-based lubricants if you are also using condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. If you do not use condoms you can try other silicone or oil-based lubricants. You can buy vaginal lubricants at the drugstore.
• Try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Your thoughts, and how you react to things, affect how you feel about yourself and your life. CBT helps you look at your thoughts, beliefs, and actions, and understand which ones cause problems for you. You learn to replace these thoughts and beliefs with healthy ones. This is the cognitive, or thinking, part of CBT. You will also learn to face the challenges in your life calmly, and then take actions that are likely to have good results. This is the behavioral part of CBT.
• Try hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy uses a state of deep, relaxed focus to treat symptoms. It may help treat sleep problems, depression, stress, or pain. Hypnotherapy may help you feel better without using medicine, or it can be used along with other treatments.
• Try acupuncture. Acupuncture uses very thin needles to treat pain, hot flashes, depression, and anxiety. Acupuncture may stimulate the release of the body's natural painkillers. Studies show that acupuncture and sham acupuncture (using toothpicks or phony needles) both work equally well to improve hot flashes.

You may find it helps to:

• Wear cotton sleepwear to reduce discomfort from night sweats.
• Talk and share feelings with a friend or family member or join a support group for women who have been or are going through menopause.

You can get more information from:

• North American Menopause Society
  800-774-5342
  http://www.menopause.org