How effective is Traditional Chinese Medicine? Does acupuncture help with difficult menopause?

I’ve never tried it, so I can’t tell you anything about its effectiveness – or otherwise, but I see that the United Nations World Health Organisation has approved acupuncture as a treatment for symptoms associated with menopause. So it could be an answer for women who don’t want to take the chance with HRT.

In Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), menopause is seen as a natural process which alters the balance of Yin and Yang. After menopause many women discover (and may be disturbed by) the more yang (energetic, aggressive) side of themselves.

From a TCM point of view, mind and body are one, and the whole woman and her experience of life is considered in diagnosis. These life experiences (especially when out of balance and not dealt with properly) can manifest as disease in the body, and especially as gynecological problems.

Interestingly, TCM holds that all perimenopausal symptoms to be signs of ill-health, and the biggest factors in determining your comfort through this time will be the dietary and emotional health you’ve maintained throughout your adulthood.Well that seems fairly obvious.

Is it worth trying acupuncture? That’s up to you of course, and if there are any practitioners in your area – and how much it costs!

But TCM offers dietary suggestions too

• Cutting back on your sugar intake.
• Taking a break from coffee, chocolate, colas (tough for a lot of people, but think about feeling better!)
• Eating more tryptophan-rich foods – turkey, bananas, figs, whole grain crackers, figs, and dates.
• Eating more foods rich in phytoestrogens – red clover sprouts, yams, and linseed.

What’s Tryptophan?

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning that the body can’t manufacture it. The body has to get tryptophan and other essential amino acids from food.

Tryptophan helps the body produce the B-vitamin niacin, which, ­in turn, helps the body produce serotonin, a remarkable chemical that acts as a calming agent in the brain and plays a key role in sleep.

What are Phytoestrogens?

The Phytoestrogen Buzz

Earlier posts mentioning phytoestrogen and where you can get it

The Power of Soup

Soya

Please let me know if you have some experience with acupuncture.

HRT or not?

First of all you hear that HRT will alleviate those annoying side effects of menopause.

Then you hear that HRT may harm you, possibly harm you seriously.

Then you hear that HRT could harm you a little but will still make life easier here and now.

What are you going to do?

As if life isn’t troublesome enough at the moment without the worry of deciding if you need Hormone Replacement Therapy.

I know some women who are happy with HRT, they decided that the benefits to them well outweighed the risks involved. It’s a personal choice and we’re all old enough to make up our own minds now.

Have your say – To HRT or Not to HRT

Are you For or Against? What do you think?

The thermogram is a test using heat radiating from your own body to detect problems in the breast. It involves no contact with the body, no compression, and is completely painless.

A thermogram combines advanced digital technology with ultra-sensitive infrared camera imaging. It doesn’t use radiation, and can be done as frequently as necessary.

Thermograms work by creating infra-red images that are then analyzed to find asymmetries anywhere in the chest and underarm area. Any abnormality that causes change in heat production is seen on a thermogram, so any source of inflammation such as infection, trauma to the breast, and even sunburn will cause abnormality in the thermal picture.

Breast thermography detects patterns of heat generated by the increased circulation produced by abnormal metabolic activity in cancer cells. This activity occurs long before a cancer starts to invade new tissue.

A breast thermogram has the ability to identify a breast abnormality five to ten years before the problem can be found on a mammogram.

Breast thermograms don’t diagnose breast cancer. They simply detect physiological changes in breast tissue that have been shown to correlate with the presence of cancer or pre-cancerous states as do mammograms. Breast cancer is only diagnosed by a microscopic examination of breast tissue. So a thermogram could let you know that you need a biopsy for further tests.

Thermograms are definitely the wave of the future for early breast cancer detection. Amazingly, most traditional physicians don’t know anything about them and continue to recommend mammograms.

related post : Ode to the Mammogram