Menopause Symptoms

Along with providing your skin with important nutrients, proper female hormone balance is essential for healthy, moist, and resilient skin, particularly because of the action of estrogen on the skin. Estrogen is responsible for the deposition of fat under the skin, which gives rise to the soft and fine-textured skin that many women enjoy during their younger years. Estrogen also keeps the skin looking and feeling plump and healthy.

During your active reproductive years, your body produces enough estrogen to properly support the structure and texture of your skin. But when you enter the menopausen, your estrogen levels start dropping, which causes your skin to become drier, and the underlying collagen connective tissue, muscle, and fat tissues that give skin its support also begin to shrink, leading to more apparent creases and wrinkles.

While that all sounds like doom-and-gloom, keep your head up because there are plenty of nutrients you can take to rebalance and restore your hormones levels naturally, resulting in plumped up and moisturized skin. The following nutrients either create estrogen-like activity in your body or help you to produce more of your own estrogen. They also slow down the metabolism and excretion of the estrogen you do produce, thereby raising your own estrogen levels. You can use as many or as few of the following nutrients as you need to achieve your desired level of hormonal support. 

• Boron is a trace mineral found in apples, grapes, almonds, legumes, and dark-green leafy vegetables. There is some evidence that boron enhances estrogenic activity. In one study, when women on estrogen therapy supplemented their normally low-boron diet with 3 mg of boron, their blood levels of estrogen were significantly elevated. Based on this research, I suggest taking 3 mg of boron per day.
• Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) is a fat-soluble B vitamin necessary for the production of folic acid. It helps to safely and effectively impede the breakdown of estrogen in the liver. I recommend taking 400–500 mg of PABA a day in divided doses.
• Wheat germ oil is rich in vitamin E, which has mildly estrogenic properties. In fact, wheat germ oil contains the fatty acids and other nutrients that your body needs to support and produce hormones such as estrogen. I recommend taking 2,000–2,400 mg of wheat germ oil in capsule form a day, in divided doses.
• Cobalt slows down the excretion of estrogen, thus allowing you to better maintain your own production of estrogen. It is able to do this by stimulating the production of heme oxidase. This, in turn, promotes the breakdown of cytochrome p450, a substance that normally metabolizes and detoxifies estrogen. By breaking down this substance, cobalt helps to prevent estrogen metabolism and excretion. I suggest taking 400–500 mcg of cobalt a day. To further improve your cobalt status, you can also take 100–500 mcg of vitamin B12 a day. Research shows that cobalt is supplied in your body by B12. If you have adequate levels of B12, you likely have adequate amounts of cobalt, as well.
• Black cohosh is an estrogenic herb that was often prescribed in colonial times to treat a variety of menopausal symptoms. I recommend taking 40–80 mg of a standardized extract of black cohosh twice a day. This dose should contain 2–4 mg of the active components (triterpenes, calculated as 27-deoxyacteine). 

According to a study that appeared online December 2, 2010 in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society states that many doctors are still prescribing high doses of conventional hormone replacement therapy for menopause hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia, even though the risks have been thoroughly proven and documented, and even though lower dose hormones are effective in alleviating these menopause symptoms.

I find this news so upsetting, considering how dangerous convention hormone replacement therapy has been proven to be--greatly increasing the risk of diseases like breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, to name just a few.

If you are one of those women still taking conventional hormone replacement to find menopause relief, please talk to your doctor about cutting back or stopping altogether. You can find many, many safe, suitable natural therapies for your  menopause symptoms throughout my blog.

And for more information on female hormones and natural menopause relief, please visit my Web site.

Curcumin, the therapeutic agent in the culinary herb turmeric, has long been known to have amazing health benefits, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. And recently, researchers identified a powerful phytoestrogen in curcumin called diarylheptanoid. Studies show that it interacts with estrogen receptors and has estrogen-like benefits that help to reverse, among other symptoms, the perimenopause symptom of vaginal dryness. 

One very easy way you can increase your curcumin intake is to start using turmeric as a culinary spice in your cooking. For example, whisk a teaspoon into a pint of homemade salad dressing, or stir a teaspoon into a pan of risotto or into any savory sauce or gravy. In addition to its earthy flavor and health benefits, turmeric adds a bright yellow color to your food.

However, for consistent therapeutic results, I recommend supplementing with 1,000 mg of curcumin daily, taken with food.

For other tips of how to reduce the bothersome effects of menopause, visit my Web site.

• My last period was 6 months or longer ago (real menopause)

• My periods are lighter, less frequent, and of shorter duration (late perimenopause)

• I'm 46 or older

• I'm having hot flashes

• Intercourse is painful

• My desire for sex has faded

• I have difficulty achieving orgasm

• I have frequent vaginal infections

• I leak urine when I laugh, cough, sneeze, exercise, or wait too long to void

• I've lost my zest for life

• I have difficulty sleeping through the night

• I'm frequently tired

• I'm anxious and irritable

• I forget small details

• My skin is drier, thinner, and more wrinkled

• My muscles are losing their tone

• I'm gaining weight

• My joints and/or muscles ache

• I have itchy, crawly skin

• I sometimes feel as if electric shocks were going through my body

Did you know that certain medications are notorious for promoting urinary incontinence--an effect of menopause that effects millions of women?

Talk to your physician or pharmacist to find out if any of your medications may be contributing to this troublesome menopause symptom. If so, find out whether there are alternatives.

A few incontinence-promoting drugs include antidepressants such as amitriptyline (Elavil) and venlafaxine (Effexor); antihistamines such as Benadryl; antipsychotics such as haloperidol (Haldol); and calcium channel blockers such as verapamil (Calan) and nifedipine (Procardia).

You can find a much more complete list in a book called 20 Common Problems in Women’s Health Care by Mindy Smith, M.D. and Leslie A. Shimp, Pharm. D.

• Pumpkin seed extract has been found to be powerful in the treatment of the hypersensitive bladder in menopausal women suffering from urge incontinence. I like Enzymatic Therapy’s pumpkin seed extract product Better Bladder for Women.
• Varuna is tailor-made for the treatment of urge incontinence. The bark of this medium-size tree, which grows along streams and river banks in India, is known for its ability to soothe bladder pain and neurogenically normalize bladder hypersensitivity. This herb is difficult to find on its own in reputable North American outlets, but I have included a high quality form in my bladder support product called Confident Control.
• Magnesium supplementation has been shown to significantly cut down the frequency and severity of urge incontinence episodes, reduce the number of urinations per day, and decrease nighttime urination. In one study, the women in the treatment group saw significant improvement within a month of taking 350 mg magnesium hydroxide orally (that’s one teaspoon of Milk of Magnesia) twice a day. If your doctor approves, that’s the dose I’d recommend.

• I am over the age of 50.
• I experience menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.
• I have low libido.
• I suffer from insomnia.
• I am unable to handle stress.
• I am easily upset.
• I have a negative outlook on life.
• I am often unable to recall details of recent events.
• I have a history of osteoporosis or osteopenia (low bone mass).
• I have a history of cardiovascular disease.
• I have significant excess body fat.
• I am at risk for diabetes.
• I have a history of autoimmune disease, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, and/or AIDS.
• I have a weak immune system and am prone to colds and flu.
• I am at high risk for cancer, especially bladder cancer.
• I suffer from asthma.
• I lack muscle mass and strength.
• I tend to tire easily; my level of stamina is low.

• Range of DHEA blood levels in adult men: 180 to 250 ng/dl
• Range of DHEA blood levels in adult women: 130 to 980 ng/dl
• Ranges of DHEA-S blood levels in adult women:
  
  • Aged 31–50: 2 to 379 µg/dl
  • Postmenopausal: 30 to 260 µg/dl
• Range of DHEA salivary levels in women:     40 to 140 pg/ml

A recent study published in the online edition of the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention has tied hot flashes with a reduced risk of breast cancer.

Researchers questioned 1,437 postmenopausal women between 55 and 74 years old, 988 of whom had had breast cancer at some point. They were asked about the severity of their menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and anxiety. They found that the women who had the most hot flashes had a very low risk of developing breast cancer.