|
The Yoga of Menopause - Alternatives to Hormone Therapy
By: Susun
S. Weed
There has been much news recently about the potential
dangers of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women. Menopause
is not a "pathology". It is a powerful rite of passage
and can be viewed as a tranformative part of a woman's life. The
transformative "wise women" view sees hot flashes as
"power surges" and the "Changes" as the intense
spiritual journey of the crone.
For the past 20 years, Susun Weed, wise woman, herbalist, has been an
advocate of assisting menopause with herbal remedies and other means.
As she tends her goats and plants on her 55-acre homestead in the
rolling Catskill Mountains of New York, Susun leads women in monthly
Moon Lodges and workshops and states that her work and that of the Wise
Women Center she founded, is dedicated to re-weaving the healing cloak
of the ancients, offering teachings of the wise woman way approach to
menopause.
The Yoga of Menopause
Alternatives to Hormone Therapy
copyright 2002 Susun Weed
MENOPAUSE IS ENLIGHTENMENT
The energy aspects of menopause are of special interest to me.
As a long-time student of yoga, I was struck by the many similarities
between menopausal symptoms and the well-known esoteric goal of
"awakening of the kundalini." Though the ideas presented in
this section may seem strange or difficult to comprehend, they contain
powerful messages about menopause which lie at the heart of the Wise
Woman approach.
"Kundalini [is] the root [of] all spiritual experiences. . .
."1 Kundalini is a special kind of energy known in many cultures,
including Tibetan, Indian, Sumerian, Chinese, Irish, Aztec, and Greek.
Kundalini is said to be hot, fast, powerful, and large. It exists within
the earth, within all life, and within each person. Psychoanalyst Carl
G. Jung called kundalini anima. Kundalini is usually represented as a
serpent coiled at the base of the spine, but women's mystery stories
locate it in the uterus - or the area where the uterus was, if a
hysterectomy has occurred. During both puberty and menopause, a woman's
kundalini is difficult to control and may cause a great number of
symptoms.
East Indian yogis spend lifetimes learning to activate, or wake up,
their kundalini. This is also called "achieving
enlightenment." When they succeed, a surge of super- heated energy
goes up the spine, throughout the nerves, dilating blood vessels, and
fueling itself with hormones. As kundalini continues to travel up the
spine, it changes the functioning of the endocrine, cardiovascular, and
nervous systems. Not just in yogis, but in any woman who allows herself
to become aware of it. Menopause is a kind of enlightenment. Hot flashes
are kundalini training sessions.
TAKING HORMONES? THESE HERBS ARE FOR YOU
More and more American women are using herbal remedies to help them with
menopausal problems. Those who do take ERT (estrogen replacement) or HRT
(hormone replacement) may be surprised to discover that herbal medicine
has a lot to offer them as well.
Herbs for women on ERT/HRT include those that alleviate side-effects as
well as those that counter problems caused by the hormones.
Herbal Helpers Counter Side-Effects
Water retention is the symptom most often cited for dissatisfaction with
hormone replacement. Herbal tinctures and tea, such as dandelion or
cleavers, and ordinary foods can not only relieve the distress, they
will go to the root of the problem and help prevent recurrences.
* Dandelion root tincture (Taraxacum officinale) strengthens the liver
and helps it process out the excess hormones you are taking. When the
liver works well, the kidneys work better, and tissues no longer bloat.
A dose is 10-20 drops in several ounces of water or juice 2--3 three
times a day. If you have any digestion problems, take your dandelion
before meals; otherwise, anytime is fine. You can safely take dandelion
daily for months or years if you need or want to.
* Cleavers herb tincture (Galium molluga) tells the lymphatic tissues to
get moving. Relief from edema is usually rapid when 20-30 drops are
taken in several ounces of water or juice. Repeat up to six times at
hourly intervals if needed. Cleavers is especially helpful for easing
swollen, sore breasts.
* Foods that relieve water rentention include (in order of
effectiveness): asparagus, nettles, corn (and corn silk tea), grapes,
cucumbers, watermelon (and watermelon seed tea), parsley, celery, black
tea, and green tea.
Headaches are the second most common side-effect of hormone use.
Unfortunately, they are common among menopausal women not taking
hormones, too. Herbs that help relieve headache without a drug-like
action -- such as dandelion, yellow dock, milk thistle, burdock, garden
sage, skullcap, and St. John's/Joan's wort -- are generally considered
safe to take with hormones.
* Chinese herbalists say headaches are caused by liver stress. My
favorite liver-strengthening herbs are dandelion, yellow dock, milk
thistle seed, and burdock. I use one at a time, a 15-25 drops of the
tincture several times a day, for two weeks. If symptoms continue, I
switch to a different herb.
* A strong tea of garden sage leaves (Salvia officinalis) offers
immediate relief from headaches and helps prevent future ones. It also
reduces night sweats. * Tinctures of skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)
and St. Joan's/John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) ease pain and relieve
muscle spasms. Use 5-20 drops of skullcap and a dropperful of St.J's at
the very first sign, no the very first thought, of a headache. Repeat
the doses every five minutes until pain free. Skullcap can be quite
sedative, especially in large doses.
Herbal Allies to Prevent Problems Caused by Taking Hormones Breast
cancer risk is increased 20% in women who use ERT for five or more
years. Use of HRT for five or more years increases breast cancer risk by
40%. Each five years of continued use increases the risk. In addition,
women who take ERT are far more likely to get uterine or endometrial
cancers. All women on hormones increase their risks of lung and ovarian
cancer, too. Nourishing herbs such as red clover, and foods such as
beans and yogurt, offer easy ways to stay cancer- free.
* Red clover blossoms (Trifolium pratense), when dried and brewed into a
strong infusion (one ounce herb steeped an a quart of boiling water for
at least four hours) prevent cancer by providing phytoestrogens that
counter the cancer-promoting effects of oral hormones. Usual dose is 2-4
cups a day. The infusion tastes like black tea and can be flavored with
mint if you like.
Since uncooked beans and unfermented soy contain anti-nutritional
factors that may promote bone loss and dementia, soy "milk"
and tofu are not recommended. Miso and tamari definitely help to prevent
breast cancer but soy isoflavones may promote it.
* Yogurt helps build powerful immunity. Women who eat a quart of yogurt
a week have 700% less cancer than women who eat no yogurt.
Dry eyes afflict more than 9% of women using ERT and over 7% of those on
HRT. Risk increases by 70% for every year of continued use. And the
longer a woman uses hormones, the greater her risk. Herbs such as
oatstraw, chamomile, and chickweed can help relieve and prevent this
problem.
* Oatstraw infusion (Avena sativa) cools and moistens your eyes from the
inside out, builds strong bones too. Use one ounce of dried herb in a
quart jar; fill to the top with boiling water and cap tightly. Let steep
four or more hours. Dose is 2-4 cups a day. Refigerate after straining.
* Cucumber slices ease dry eyes; so do chamomile tea bags.
* The ultimate ally for women with dry eyes is fresh chickweed (Stellaria
media), applied as a poultice to the closed eyes. Leave on for five
minutes, or until the plant material feels warm (it will heat up).
Repeat as needed.
Stoke and heart attack are actually increased by use of ERT/HRT, though
modern medicine has long proclaimed the opposite. Every major
double-blind study done to date has created a larger and larger gap
between ERT/HRT's supposed ability to help cardiovascular health and its
actual results. Protect you heart with nourishing and tonifying herbs
and foods such as motherwort, hawthorn, and cherries.
* Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) tincture helps the heart. The Japanese
claim it is their secret of longevity. A dose is 5-15 drops, twice a
day. Motherwort also relieves hot flashes, calms tachycardiia, and eases
anxiety. It's an all-in-one remedy for menopausal women.
* Hawthorn (Crataegus oxycantha) flowers, leaves, and fruits are all
used to maintain heart health and control fluid build-up in hear
tissues. A dose is 20- 30 drops of tincture 2-4 times a day, or a cup of
tea with meals. This widespread shrub is considered one of the finest
heart tonics in the world.
* Cherries are even better than apples at keeping the doctor away. Dried
cherries and cherry juice, even tincture of cherries. More than
three-quarters of the women in America over the age of fifty have
refused ERT/HRT. If you want to join them, taper off your dosage slowly,
while continuing to use nourishing and tonifying herbs such as
dandelion, motherwort, red clover, oatstraw, and seaweed.
There are many types of estrogens.
Women make estrogens.
Plants make estrogens and estrogen-like compounds.
Chemicals, especially organochlorines, act like estrogens. (xenoestrogens)
Pharmaceutical companies make estrogens from substances such as horse
urine, wild yam roots, and petrochemicals. Tamoxifen, used to treat and
prevent breast cancer, is a type of pharmaceutical estrogen.
Women make at least thirty types of estrogen, including estradiol,
estrone, and estrace.
Estradiol is the strongest; it is turned on at puberty and turned off at
menopause. Estradiol is positively linked with breast cancer; other
human estrogens are not. Anything that reduces the amount of estradiol a
woman produces (such as pregnancy, lactation, early menopause, and late
puberty) also decreases her risk of a breast cancer diagnosis.
Phytoestrogens counter the detrimental effects of estradiol by competing
for the same receptor sites.
Estradiol is a strong estrogen and is metabolized by the long path. The
other estrogens our bodies make are weak estrogens and are metabolized
by the short path. Alcohol turns off the short path. Phytoestrogens are
weak hormones and hormonal precursors. Phytoestrogens in foods are
metabolized by the short path. Phytoestrogens appear to protect tissues
from the cancer-causing effects of estradiol, xenoestrogens and
pharmaceutical hormones. Phytoestrogens in foods prevent cancer and
promote health; phytoestrogen supplements and processed soy fake-foods
may do the opposite. Breast cancer occurs four times more often in women
whose urinary output of phytoestrogen by-products is low compared to
women whose urinary output is high.
Phytoestrogens are common in food. They are concentrated in seeds
(grains, beans, nuts, berries) and roots. The exceptions to the rule
that plants don't contain human hormones: French beans, rice, apple
seeds, licorice, and pomegranate seeds contain the "weak"
estrogen estrone.
To get the greatest benefit from phytoestrogenic foods and herbs
remember:
1. Isolated phytoestrogens are not as safe as those "in
matrix."
2. To make use of plant hormones, you need active, healthy gut flora.
3. Herbs and foods rich in phytoestrogens need to be used in different
ways.
4. Phytoestrogens may have different effects on women who do not have
their ovaries.
1. Plants contain many types of phytoestrogens; additionally, they
contain minerals and other constituents which help our bodies modify the
phytoestrogens and so we can use them safely. Red clover is mineral-rich
and contains all four of the major types of phytoestrogens: lignans,
coumestans, isoflavones, and resorcylic acid lactones. It is the world's
best-known anti-cancer herb. In general, foods and herbs rich in
phytoestrogens, with the possible exception of licorice, show
anti-cancer abilities. Isoflavone, however, when isolated (usually from
soy) has the opposite effect: In the lab it encourages the growth of
breast cancer cells. (endnote 32 in New Menopausal Years).
2. Plant hormones, including most phytoestrogens, can't be used by
humans. But we can convert them into ones we can use -- with the help of
our gut bacteria. When women take antibiotics, their excretion of
phytoestrogens plummets. Get your gut flora going by eating more yogurt,
miso, unpasteurized sauerkraut, homemade beers and wines,
picked-by-your-own- hands-and-unwashed fruits and salads, sourdough
bread, and whey-fermented vegetables. (See Nourishing Traditions by
Sally Fallon for whey- fermented vegetable recipes.)
3. Plants which are exceptionally rich in phytoestrogens are regarded as
powerful herbal medicines. Plants which are good sources of
phytoestrogens are regarded as foods. While food can certainly be our
medicine -- a practice I advocate -- it is also true that medicines are
more dangerous than foods. Foods rich in phytoestrogens are different
than medicinal herbs rich in phytoestrogens. They have different places
in my life.
I eat phytoestrogenic foods daily in quantity.
I use phytoestrogenic food-like herbs regularly (not daily), in moderate
quantity.
I take phytoestrogenic herbs rarely, in small amounts, for a limited
time.
Phytoestrogenic foods are the basis for a healthy diet and a long life.
The first food listed is the highest in phytoestrogens. The best diet
contains not just one but many choices from each list:
Whole grains (rye, oats, barley, millet, rice, wheat, corn)
Edible seeds (buckwheat, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, amaranth, quinoa)
Beans (yellow split peas, black turtle beans, baby limas, Anasazi beans,
red kidney beans, red lentils, soy beans)
Leafy greens and seaweed (parsley, nettle, kelp, cabbage, broccoli,
kale, collards, lamb's quarter)
Fruits (olives, cherries, grapes, apples, pears, peaches, plums,
strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, salmon berries, apricots, crab
apples, quinces, rosehips, blueberries)
Olive oil and seed oils Garlic, onions and their relatives leeks,
chives, scallions, ramps, shallot Phytoestrogenic food-like herbs are
generally considered longevity tonics. For optimum effect, use only one
from the list below and to stick with it for at least three months.
Citrus peel, dandelion leaves and/or roots, fenugreek seeds, flax seeds,
green tea, hops, red clover, red wine.
Phytoestrogenic herbs are usually too powerful for long- term use. From
the list below (which is in alphabetical order), it is safest to use
only one herb at a time, and use it only when needed, although that may
mean daily use for several months. More information about these herbs,
including specific dosages and cautions, is in New Menopausal Years the
Wise Woman Way.
Agave root, black cohosh root, black currant, black haw, chasteberries,
cramp bark, dong quai root, devil's club root, false unicorn root,
ginseng root, groundsel herb, licorice, liferoot herb, motherwort herb,
peony root, raspberry leaves, rose family plants (most parts), sage
leaves, sarsaparilla root, saw palmetto berried, wild yam root, yarrow
blossoms.
4. Most of the warnings about phytoestrogenic herbs center on their
proven ability to thicken the uterine wall in animals who have had their
ovaries removed. This could encourage cancer, just as taking ERT
encourages cancer of the uterus by stimulating cell growth.. Women
without ovaries are probably safe eating phytoestrogenic foods, but may
want to use phytoestrogenic herbs -- especially ginseng, dong quai,
licorice, red clover, and wild yam -- in small amounts and only for
short periods.
News Notes on Phytoestrogenic Plants (updated June 2002)
Recent studies indicate black cohosh does not suppress luteinizing
hormone, has no estrogenic effect, and contains no compounds related to
estrogen.
Red clover flower heads contain many hormone-like flavonoids, including
isoflavone, daidzein, genistein, formononetin, biochanin, sitosterol,
and coumestrol, a particularly strong phytoestrogen (six times more
active than the one in soy). Red clover contains all four major
estrogenic isoflavones; soy has only two of them. A cup of red clover
infusion (not tea) contains ten times more phytoestrogens than a cup of
soy beverage, is richer in calcium, has less calories, and contains no
added sugars.
Researchers in Australia report a million lambs a year are aborted after
sheep eat clover on pasture. Yet red clover is renowned as a fertility
enhancer. What's up? Stephen Buhner, author of The Secret Language of
Plants, says clover plants make blood-thinning compounds (which cause
abortion) when overgrazed, but don't otherwise. Plants, it turns out,
can fight back.
When unfermented soy takes the place of animal protein (meat and milk),
its anti-nutritional factors can create brittle bones, thyroid problems,
memory loss, vision impairment, irregular heartbeat, depression, and
vulnerability to infections. Unfermented soy is high in hemoglutin,
which causes clumping of red blood cells and may increase risk of
stroke. It is also impressively rich in aluminum (up to 100 times more
than is found in the same amount of real milk). Eating tofu more than
once a week doubled the risk of Alzheimer's in a small group of Japanese
men studied for thirty years.
Human gut bacteria can cleave a sugar molecule from wild yam's steroidal
saponin, producing diosgenin. Labs make progesterone from diosgenin, but
our bodies can't. Diosgenin itself has a weak estrogenic effect.
According to Australian herbalist Ruth Trickey: "A more probable
explanation [for the observed effects of wild yam] . . . is that [diosgenin]
interacts with hypothalamic and pituitary hormones and . . . initiates
ovulation."
For more information, pick up a copy of "New Menopausal Years the
Wise Woman Way, Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90". Meanwhile,
these Wise Woman hints can help you stay healthy and counter the
detrimental effects of hormone replacement. Also "Luna
Yoga" by Adelheid Ohlig, a system of yoga that is specific for
restoring and maintaining female reproductive health and awakening
vitality.
Visit Ashtree Publishing http://www.ashtreepublishing.com
www.susunweed.com
PO Box 64, Woodstock, NY 12498
Phone: 845-246-8081
Bio:
Susun Weed, green witch and wise woman, is an
extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an
encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and health. She is the voice of the Wise
Woman Way, where common weeds, simple ceremony, and compassionate
listening support and nourish health/wholeness/holiness. She has opened
hearts to the magic and medicine of the green nations for three decades.
Ms. Weed's four herbal medicine books focus on women's health topics
including: menopause, childbearing, and breast health. Visit her site www.susunweed.com
for information on her workshops, apprenticeships, correspondence
courses and more! Browse the publishing site www.ashtreepublishing.com
to learn more about her alternative health books. Venture into the NEW
Menopause site www.menopause-metamorphosis.com
to learn all about the Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way.
|
