Menopause is one more stage in women’s vital cycle. It is mainly characterized by the declination of the ovarian function resulting in the cease of menstruation. There are as many ways of experiencing this biological step as existing women. This process may be either asymptomatic or with many symptoms dependable on the hormonal change produced in the body as well as on psychological elements always present in our lives.

In this stage the ovaries stop producing the necessary amount of estrogens and progesterone to generate menstruation, but in general, they continue segregating smaller amounts of estrogens during much more time, sometimes many more years. Given the fact that there still is estrogenic function in the body, there may be no reason to add hormones externally. If menopause comes naturally, that is to say it doesn’t come precociously or caused by a pathology (clinic or surgical), the body is supposed to be prepared to undergo it.

When alterations happen, the symptoms could be classified according to the moment in which they appear either in the short, medium or long term.
 

 
SHORT TERM SYMPTOMS:

• Suffocation
 

It is the most common manifestation. It is described as a feeling of heat in the face and the neck which is extended to the thorax lasting between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, sometimes followed by profuse perspiration in some occasions with headaches, vertigo and/or palpitations.

 
It can even appear some years before menopause. The frequency and intensity varies, some women never experiment it and others suffer from it until late ages.

 
It occurs during the day or even at night in the middle of the sleep. Some circumstances such as alcoholic drinks, hot meals, etc. can precipitate it

• Sleep alterations

• Irritability

• Mood changes

• Tiredness, etc

 
MEDIUM TERM SYMPTOMS

• Genitourinary alterations:
LThe vaginal mucosa loses its elasticity due to the modification of the epithelium causing vaginal dryness which many times makes sexual relationships difficult provoking pain.

 
The risk of contracting vaginal infections increases.

 
Changes in urethra and bladder also take place. These changes may be accompanied by symptoms such as urgency and more frequency to urinate and incontinence. Repeated cystitis is also likely to appear.
 
• Skin alterations:
The lack of estrogens produces alterations in the dermis and epidermis which together with changes of the age (such as collagen reduction) and external agents such as the sun, the smoke of tobacco, etc. contribute to cutaneous ageing.

 
The spots in the skin which worry us from the esthetic and health point of view (possible risk of skin cancer) are more due to sun exposition than to menopause effects.
 

 
LONG TERM SYMPTOMS

• Osteoporosis:
It is a metabolic disorder characterized by the quantitative reduction of the osseous tissue, consequently increasing bones fragility and therefore the possibility of fractures even caused by minimum traumatisms.

 
In the case of women in a post-menopause state, there is a greater possibility of suffering from this illness due to the lack of estrogens, since they increase osseous formation.

 
The preventive diagnose of osteoporosis is done through osseous densitometry. This is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure used to measure osseous density. Although it is a radiological technique, the radiation dose is very low and it is not supposed to imply any risk.

• Ischemic cardiopathy:
Ischemic cardiopathy is an illness characterized by the obstruction of the coronary arteries in charge of feeding the heart for it to be able to pump blood to the whole organism correctly.

 
When a coronary vessel is completely obstructed, one area of the heart is not irrigated and as a consequence, it becomes necrotic or dies in what is called a myocardial infarction.

 
In the case of precocious menopause, before 40 years old, the risk of ischemic cardiopathy notably increases. Evidently it is associated with other risk factors such as sedentarism, obesity, addiction to tobacco, or arterial hypertension.
 
• Psychological disorders:
Women suffer from affective disorders, especially the depressions.

 
Among the symptoms of menopause, we find some typical of depression such as sleep alterations, fatigue, irritability, mood changes, etc.

 
However…it is important not to confuse the expression “be depressed” which is frequently heard and it is related with the current moment, with Depression as an illness.

 
The consumption of anxiolytics and antidepressives in this stage is really very high.

 
Surely this phenomenon is not only due to the demand made by anguished women who don’t know what is happening to them…but also to the complete impossibility and incapacity for the doctor from the health system to listen so as to comprehend and help the woman by understanding the vital phenomenon she is going through.

 
For women things like having their own children becoming independent, losing their own parents, difficulties with the couple may lead to hard situations to undergo. Irritability, anxiety, insomnia, libido alterations are also typical of this stage. But this doesn’t justify women bodies’ abusive medication…without listening to them.

 
As I said before, there are as many ways of experiencing this biological step as existing women. It is by listening to the subjectivity how they can be best helped. And if the doctor cannot do it for any reason, then he must suggest and refer to other professionals of psychology instead of covering everything with medicalization.

 
When a woman between the age of 45 and 55 years old consults me, suffering every kind of symptoms related to the cycle, with or without menstruation or with some interruptions, with or without the habitual symptomatology (suffocation, insomnia, nervousness, urinary disorders, vaginal dryness, etc), and without significant family antecedents such as cardiovascular disorders or osteoporosis, we are supposed to be in front of a woman whose diagnose is NATURAL MENOPAUSE.
 
I always run a complete homeopathic and energetic clinic anamnesis apart from the gynecological exam with its cytology, scan and mammography to discard any added gynecological pathology.
 
I also request a hormonal analysis which will help us certify the diagnosis should we find FSH with augmented values and lowered estrogens and progesterone, since that indicates the typical ovarian hypofunction of this period. Moreover, TSH-T3 and T4 are used to observe the thyroid function.
 
But beyond all the before mentioned, I mainly “listen” to the patient. She is an individual case and the therapeutic is individual. We have to consider the woman in this moment of her life and history.
 
There are many ways of living menopause. There are women who are happy for not menstruating any more, because for example, the phantom of an undesired pregnancy disappears (although it is important to remember that contraception is still relevant in this stage since after the last menstruation the woman can still get pregnant). Other women, on the contrary, can get anguished because it is the end of what they feel the most important stage in their lives.
 
Contraception has to be also taken into account since after the last menstruation women can still get pregnant.
 
The history of her femininity and the relationship with her body appears.

 
I look for information on how the transmission from female to female was in her family and history: how her first menstruation was, what information she counted with, how she initiated her sexual relationships, if she has had children or not, if she has wished them in spite of not having them, if her current sexual loving life is satisfactory, if it was before, when was it, the current relationship with her body, if she takes care of herself and how, if she looks after her own health, eating habits or if the esthetical aspect prevails. Women come to our consultations with more or less doubts and questions about what is happening to them but in general, all of them have a big necessity to speak and be listened to, as well as to be understood in this stage of vital change.

 
It is true that menopause implies the end of a fundamental stage, but we can’t deny that there is an amount of energy which was monthly meant for the reproductive function that can be now creatively re-driven to other interests.

 
The therapeutic I use is individual and global. It involves:

LIFE HABITS

• Promote physical exercise, walk at least one hour twice or three times a week, or carry out specific exercises to strengthen the muscle mass and prevent osteoporosis.

• Avoid overweight in order not to overload the articulations and prevent cardiovascular illnesses.

• Avoid toxics (tobacco and alcohol) and stress.

• Be aware of everyday life and what menopause is: an evolutionary phase to develop different aspects of oneself, which weren’t possible in other moments

• Moderate exposure to the sun (sunrise and sunset).

EATING HABITS

• Wholemeal cereals: not refined since they are richer in minerals and vitamins, while the refined ones increase osseous decalcification.

• Fresh fruits and vegetables: because of the natural hydration and the vitamins they provide us with.

• More revitalizing food: raw food is the richest for being the closest to the solar energy source. It is in the raw and green where solar energy turns into food.

• Antioxidant broths: (onion, celery, carrot, cabbage, apple) during some seasons the oxygen is dragged from the elements, letting the radicals free and therefore having an antioxidant effect.

• Normo or hypoproteic diet: according to the WHO the basic is 0.65 g. of proteins per kg of weigh/per day since hyperproteic diets decalcificate.

• Avoid dry or hyperosmotic diets: because in general they increase the dryness of mucosa and therefore vaginal dryness increases, the typical symptom of menopause.

• Contraindication of hyperfat and hyperproteic diets: because they increase the risk of cardiovascular pathologies and periarticular edema (articular pains). The physiological warehouse of proteins is collagen, which when saturated, lies in the intercellular space to move then towards the arterial walls where fat will later be deposited. That’s why these diets which generate hyperacidity in between making the bones decalcificate to compensate are contraindicated (calcium gets out from the bones).

• Ingest essential fatty acids: dry fruits contribute in general with essential fatty acids (ingest especially pine nuts, because they have the highest concentration of calcium). These acids are also present in the germen wheat oil and primula or evening primrose.

• Ingest E vitamin: wheat germen is the food supplement with the greatest amount of E vitamin, also called antiage.

• Avoid: refined products, viscera, eggs (because of the poultry vaccines’ toxicity) bivalve shellfish, toxics (coffee, tobacco), phosphates (cola drinks since they decalcificate)

• Calcium reinforcing diet, milk substitutive: the daily calcium requirement is 800 mg. for an adult person including menopause stage in women. The richest products in calcium per 100g are cheese (from 380 to 1220 mg), sesame (783 mg), dry fruits (dry figs 190 mg, hazelnuts 225 mg, almonds 252 mg) yoghurt (180 mg), milk (120 mg), dry soya (190 mg), curly cabbage (230 mg). Vegetables generally maintain a more adequate proportion of phosphorus (every two of calcium one of phosphorus) to make the most of them.

• Diet supplies with calcareous salts: calcareous salts reorient the calcium increasing its osseous fixation. They always need to be given with another calcium supplement.

• Therapeutic support with natural hormones: through food or products of phytotherapy. Food with phytoestrogens: soya and its derivatives (soya milk, tofu, soya hamburgers) Alfalfa. Medicinal plants: chasteberry, bugbane, wild yam.

MEDICAL HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT

Homeopathy is a medicine which respects the knowledge of the body and its auto regulating mechanisms.
It uses natural medicines obtained from the animal, mineral, vegetal and human world and, as it is an energetic medicine, it acts on the Vital Energy of the person.

 
The Vital Energy, stimulated by the medicine, will act on the own immune and defensive system of the organism to start the healing process.

 
The homeopathic medicine doesn’t replace deficiencies, but helps the organism to recover the lost equilibrium expressed through the symptoms and the illness.

 
When menopause comes within the expected boundaries of the age and as a normal process a respectful treatment according to the moment of life is needed and expected.
 

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