Herbs for hot flushes

Treating menopause the traditional way.

Every woman past 35 dreads it. Not wrinkles or cellulite, but menopause. By definition, the time in a woman's life when menstruation diminishes and ceases, usually between the ages of 39 and 49, menopause has the power to scare.

Aches, pains, hot and cold flushes and irritability have been well documented. Visions of increased facial hair and weight gain associated with hormonal replacement therapy or HRT loom threateningly.

"My husband, a dentist, introduced me to TCM which he used on his patients to calm them down in his chair. Most people are scared or nervous at the dentist's and he tried acupressure to calm them, which seemed to work. Even though I am an allopathic doctor, I was having some problems during my first pregnancy and tried TCM with very good results."

According to TCM philosophy, the kidney controls many bodily functions including anything to do with sexuality, reproduction and fertility.

In terms of TCM, a woman's ageing cycle lasts seven years and menopause begins between the ages of 39 and 49.

During this time, the amount of liquid within the kidney becomes less, thereby causing menopausal symptoms.

Treatment for menopause therefore involves strengthening the functioning of the kidney.

Kidney function

"The belief has nothing to do with the kidney anatomically. It is simply that the older you get, the kidney function in terms of TCM becomes less effective, whether it is to do with general ageing signs like wrinkles, ageing of bones or greying of hair, besides menopause."

To reduce the effects of menopause, TCM tonifies or strengthens the kidney using mainly kidney ying deficiency or yang deficiency as diagnosis.

Patients with ying deficiency may suffer from dizziness, tinnitus, lower back pain, weakness of legs, sweating at night and a red, dry tongue without fur.

Those with yang deficiency may suffer lower back and leg pain, cold hands and feet, swelling legs and peeling fur on the tongue with teeth marks.

"Mainly treatment involves herbs, acupuncture and tuina (pronounced ‘tweena') massage."

"Tuina is a deep tissue massage based on acupoints and body meridians. Our doctor performs the massage with the patient fully clothed, which adds to its popularity in this part of the world. A white sheet is placed over them and the stomach, abdomen, thighs and knees are massaged for 40 minutes. Patients have been known to feel better after the first session although a little tired."

The centre has seen an increase in the number of patients seeking alternative treatment in the last few months as people are wary of side-effects from western medicine.

"People are tired of side-effects. Sometimes patients suffer ulcers, headaches and other ailments as a result of medication prescribed to treat them for something else. Sometimes a solution cannot be found in western medicine for certain conditions."

"There is a gap in allopathic medicine that can be filled by TCM. If it doesn't show in laboratory tests and scans, then it doesn't exist, according to western medicine. For patients, though, the problem persists."

"Hormonal replacement therapy used for treatment of menopause-related conditions is known to increase the risk of breast cancer. Patients undergoing HRT find their hormone levels rise to much more than physiological (normal) levels. I strongly advise patients to use herbal methods without these side effects. It is a natural way to balance your body, and that is what TCM is all about."

Symptoms

Menopause induces different symptoms in different women. "Some women have no symptoms and sail through menopause. Others have hot flushes up to ten times a day, lower back pain, headaches, constipation, cold feet and are moody, depressed or angry for no reason. TCM uses herbs to treat women psychologically as well as physically."

Dr Ridao Alonso said that both TCM and modern allopathic treatment was practiced in conjunction at the centre.

"We have tests done to determine certain conditions and save time before prescribing TCM treatment. Our herbs are sent to Germany straight from China to be tested and cleared of pesticides or other unwanted chemicals."