Hi Ladies.
What a relief to find this forum and not feel so alone going through this.
I'm really into nutrition and holistic health/wellness, and I try to avoid mostly all conventional or mainstream medicine. I'm very alternative in that way.
Now going through the lovely, typical peri-menopause symptoms and experiences, from heavy bleeding to anxiety to hair loss. Difficult and unpleasant for sure. ARGGH.
Meanwhile, I exercise, take a lot of vitamins, eat a very clean diet, use herbs, etc. and try to get my head around the fact that this is one of life's normal, natural, expected transitions and yeah, it's gonna hurt. Just try to go with the flow, so to speak LOL
But I wonder if I'm doing myself a disservice by rejecting anything allopathic. (HRT, birth control pills, Tranexamic, IUDs, etc.) that might make things easier for me.
What are your thoughts on holistic vs mainstream medicine for your symptoms?
What natural alternatives work for you?
Has modern medicine really made a positive difference for you?
I am strictly holistic...it hasn't been easy at times. At times it has been life threatening for sure. I am about 6 years in, I think...maybe more. At the beginning it was just stuff like itching and flooding.
I find that symptoms ebb and flow. The longest lasting symptom was the anxiety. That was about 6 years, maybe it was from the beginning, I am not even sure anymore, but it was a LONG HAUL! I have finally stepped off the anxiety roller coaster in the past few months and I am VERY thankful. I think I can handle anything else but that one.
The rest seem to flow one into another, sometimes for a few days at at time, sometimes a month or two until I can find something that helps.
At the very beginning wild yam cream helped with breast changes and perhaps other things I didn't realize were hormonal. I wasn't paying much attention back then. lol.
In 2012 I was hit with a thyroid and hormonal hurricane that left me really ill for about 8 months. I finally found holistic help for that through an alternative procedure called "correactology" that can only be found in Ontario Canada
For the anxiety and mental, last year I finally found out through a friend about bach's remedies, they were a Godsend for sure!
And right now i seem to be doing great with just a chewable vitamin that has all the minerals and many herbs thrown in and are gender and age specific.
I need nothing more than that vitamin right now and I have been feeling exceptionally like myself for well over two months now.
Would it have been easier to go mainstream? I have no idea. I don't like the idea of side effects, and everything mainstream seems to come with side effects or a great many doctors appointments and tests. I just can't see myself doing that unless I really have to
And prayer...prayer has brought me to all the things my body has needed to bring me through this with no casualties. It seems that God brings in the right thing at the right time when I need it.
Some of herbs can be very dangerous! What all vitamins ands herbs do you take can you share them and the dosage?
My friend said to me 'why don't you just go get some cream and you'll be back to normal'. She said it as nice as she could. But I really don't want to do HRT. I was just reading an article about perimenopause and it was encouraging. It mentioned healthy eating, drinking a lot of water and push yourself to at least do 10 minutes of exercise each day. They also encouraged to try herbs and whatnot for the symptoms. One of the herbs was Fennel seed which is also on the list to prevent cancer. So I started drinking fennel tea hoping this will help balance my hormones or at least help anyways
I drink a juice cocktail using high doses of vitamin C, 500mg magnesium malate, and silica/diatomaceous earth.
Then I take daily
Floradix Iron, up to 4 tablets
1000mg evening primrose oil
B complex + 300mg B6
4000IU vitamin D
1200mg fish oil
CBD oil
a few times a week: 550mg black cohosh, vitamin E
Other than that, herbal tea, fresh herbs for cooking,
So glad you're feeling better and there's a light at the end of this tunnel.
I'm with you on the anxiety issue, too. Not looking forward to more of that.
I've always struggled with anxiety in life so it really flares up with the hormone stew.
Medical appointments and tests are a big issue with me too. No thanks.
I'd rather be home.
It's good to know we have options and alternatives. I'd rather stay natural. I keep hoping this is the worst it can get.. then it gets worse LOL
I'll try fennel tea. I love herbal tea.
Being a pharmacist, I got my training in the "western" pharmacy school, but throughout my career, I have manage to incorporate western and eastern medicine. I think a lot of perimenopausal symptoms can be helped by avoiding caffeine, sugars, alcohol, smoking and stress. Taking a potent fish oil that contains at least 900mg of EPA per day is helpful. If you try hormones, try Bio-identical HRT. Please send me a private message if you have any question
I tried the natural route to start off with and that helped a lot of my symptoms but nothing shifted the anxiety and often borderline depression and I was very worried about how low I was getting. I feel fit and healthy these days through a combination of healthy eating, vitamins, herbal supplements and bioidentical estrogen so I feel like I’ve taken the best from both worlds. If I could have stayed the natural route I would have done but I love where I am now!
And none of that is working??
Well, I wouldn't say it's not working lol. But it sure feels like a lot of work at times.
For me, it's about minimizing the severity of this transition.
Maybe gaining 4 pounds instead of 14.
Getting a headache rather than a serious migraine.
Bleeding a lot, but it's just for 2 days, and no cramps or pain.
Anxious, but not escalated to panic attack level.
Angie that sounds very promising. Sounds like a nice balance. I'm glad you feel good and are happy.
I think I'll want to consider the same route if my body needs it. Managing anxiety is one of my concerns, so for that issue alone I'd consider adding bioidentical estrogen.
Thank you Shar.
Incorporating both sides of heath and wellness sounds reasonable. I'm not sure if I'm ready for HRT right yet, but I know if I slide into a dark place, I'll definitely want help. I'm 54, so I keep hoping I've seen the worst.
Absolutely. Natural is best- it can be a rocky road if you start messing chemically with your body. For me though my body wasn’t coping without that support so I had to do it. Getting the dosage right created a whole other set of symptoms so I know first hand how difficult it can be to keep your body in balance. Thankfully I got it right eventually. Good luck with your own journey!
Hi Michelle. Just wondering if you tried Maca? That is known to help with hormones but I was hesitate because some say you gain weight with it.
Hi Kelly.
I did try maca briefly and was really hoping for good results. But I have a weird sensitivity to certain types of roots/tubers, along with nightshades, and maca was a trigger. for me. I seemed to have become a lot more sensitive to a lot more foods these days.
Hi Michelle, I'm also very much against allopathic medicine but like you, am getting to the point where I need to take something because the natural stuff is really not helping. I went to see a herbalist and was taking various tinctures for about 5 months for peri menopausal symptoms and adrenal exhaustion, which include very frequent temperature fluctuations - sometimes as much as 5 times an hour. I took a break from the tinctures when I went on holiday and actually thought I felt better for not taking them so gave them up. Temp fluctuations are so bad though that I started taking A Vogel sage tincture together with their Menosan tablets. But last weekend I gave myself a break again and again noticed that things seemed to ease off. I'm just not certain that my issues are peri-menopausal because it's strange that these so called "helpers" are not necessarily helpful to me. It is becoming unmanageable - I sit in an air conditioned office where I spend the day permanently frozen - but interspersed with regular temperature rises where I feel I get so hot that Im going to expire. This makes me panic/feel anxious - I have to get my clothes off quickly and get outside if I can otherwise I feel terribly claustrophobic like Im going to suffocate. So either the natural stuff doesn't work, or Im taking the wrong things i.e. am not in peri-menopause. I feel like I ovulate as I still get the monthly changes but I have no period (I have 3 or 4 per year). At 44, this has been going on for 4 years now and getting worse so I'm at my wits end about whether to take HRT - I'm against western men's AND not convinced it's menopause but don't know where to go next and Im starting to get depressed at the thought of feeling so rubbish all the time (fatigue, exhaustion, incontinence, constipation, terrible nails, ...) and worried that this is what Ill be like for the rest of my life. So I understand your dilemma.... I would go with the A Vogel/similar supplements with soy isoflavones (phytoestrogens) and sage tincture to see if they help you.... exercise and water are super important - and avoiding coffee, alcohol and smoking - oh and stress but that's a tricky one for most of us!! I also only use natural products on my body/hair/skin, and toothpaste - no nasty chemicals to reduce the toxic overload. Good gut health - I take VSL 3 for a month every quarter and this really seems to "re-set" things. Also liver support to deal with the hormone elimination so maybe some milk thistle... hope some of these work for you...