 MENOPAUSE and HOT FLASHES, or the cessation of monthly menstrual periods, occurs in Western women at around the age of 50. As ovarian function falls off and hormone levels drop, the pituitary sends signals to the adrenals to increase their hormone output. When this backup hormone system is working properly, menopause should come with few or no side effects. The reason it fails for Western women has been blamed on adrenal exhaustion caused by stress, low blood sugar, and poor diet.
Symptoms - Hot flashes are suffered by more than two thirds of women in menopause and are the most common reason they seek medical attention for menopausal complaints. Other disturbing symptoms may include loss of interest in sex, depression, moodiness, crying, anger, irritability, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, dizziness, fatigue, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, gas, headaches, heart palpitations, night sweats, insomnia, muscle and bone aches and tingling, shoulder and hip pain, cramps in the legs and feet, numbness in the arms, painfully sensitive skin, urinary problems, memory loss and mental sluggishness, dryness of the skin and vaginal tissues, breast tenderness, and weight gain. The risks of osteoporosis and heart disease also increase significantly after menopause. All of these problems are blamed on the loss of female hormones.
Conventional Treatment - The conventional answer to waning hormone levels in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The prescription version consists of pharmaceutical estrogen and synthetic progesterone, most popularly Premarin (derived from mare's urine) and Provera. Premarin has now become one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the US, but accompanying its rising popularity has been an alarming rise in beast cancer. Long-held suspicions of a link were confirmed when Harvard researchers reported the preliminary results of the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, involving 121,700 women. In June of 1995, researchers reported that women in the study who took estrogen after menopause had a 32% higher risk of breast cancer. Women who had been off the drugs for two years or more showed no increased risk. The implication was that taking estrogen for a few years to relieve hot flashes and other acute symptoms is probably safe, but taking it for decades could be hazardous. Estrogen is being prescribed, however, to slow post menopausal bone loss; and for that, it must be taken for decades.
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Synthetic or mare's urine estrogen and synthetic progesterone can also have unwanted side effects and are listed in the Physician's Desk Reference. These include PMS-like symptoms, breast tenderness, breast enlargement, breast secretion, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and bloating, skin and eye sensitivities, headaches, dizziness and depression, weight gain and water retention, bleeding between periods or missed periods, changes in libido, and enlargement of uterine fibroid tumors. Side effects listed for Provera include bloating, water retention, nausea, insomnia, jaundice, mental depression, fever, masculinization, weight changes, breast tenderness, abdominal cramping, anxiety, irritability, and allergic reactions. Fluid retention can exacerbate asthma, migraines, epilepsy, and heart and kidney problems.
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