Menopause Symptoms Report

Experts Say No to Estrogen After Hysterectomy

Postmenopausal women who’ve had a hysterectomy should not routinely take estrogen replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis, stroke or heart disease, according to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The new guideline, published in a recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, is based on evidence from the large, ongoing Women’s Health Initiative clinical trial, as well as other studies.

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Menopause and Aromatherapy

I finally found some information about using aromatherapy for menopausal symptoms. I’m repriting the article in tact that was taken from www.50connect.co.uk

Aromatherapy For The Menopause

Hot flushes, mood swings, sleep disturbances and headaches are just some of the menpausal symptoms that can be eased with aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is one of the most accessible and pleasurable alternative medicines around. Just one smell of the rich heady fragrance of jasmine oil, or the pure and cleansing fragrance of pine will make you wonder why you ever used artificial air freshners or took aspirin to relieve your headaches.

Aromatherpy is also one of the safest alternative medicines to be found. The only rules are never apply any essential oil directly onto the skin, except in the case of lavender and tea tree oil, and never ingest internally. The safest methods of use are in an oil burner, in the bath or as a massage oil. To make massage oils, place 4 teaspoons of a carrier oil like almond oil in a saucer or bottle. Add 10 drops in total of one or up to three different aromatherapy oils and massage into the affected area. Alternatively add six drops of essential oil to a run bath.

Quality & Price
Scientific research has proved that the quality of the essential oil is paramount to it’s healing properties. Only purchase oils which state they are ‘pure essential oils’ as opposed to a man-made fragrance which is engineered to smell the same. These fragranced oils have no therapeutic value whatsoever and are not worth buying. Tisserand is a long established company which sells quality essential oils and these can be found in Superdrug stores.

Essential oils are relatively expensive but when you consider how much oil a single pressed flower yields their cost becomes justified. What’s more, you only use a few drops at a time so the investment is worth it. When starting out it’s best to choose three or four oils to experiment with but do remember you will also need to purchase a carrier oil. I prefer to use almond oil because it is rich in vitamin E which nourishes the skin amd has anti-ageing qualities. A large bottle of almond oil usually costs around four pounds.

Specific Oils For The Menopause
Hormone Helpers
Sage OilThe herb sage is renowned for it’s beneficial effect on hormones and the same is true for the essential oil. It regulates and balances hormones and can also be used to treat of PMS. Roman ChamomileRoman chamomile (as opposed to German chamomile, another plant of the same family) also help regulate hormones and has a long history of helping menopausal symptoms.GeraniumThis floral scent is uplifting, healing and balances the hormones. The Egyptians have used this oil for centuries to heal body, mind and spirit.

Hot Flushes
Peppermint OilAnyone who has tried mint shower scrubs or shampoos knows the cooling tingly effect peppermint has. Peppermint feels cool as soon as it touches your skin and will ease hot flushes and night sweats if dabbed on the pulse points behind the ears, on the wrists and back of the knees. However, it should always be diluted in a carrier oil first.

In a bottle or saucer make the massage oil by combining 5 drops of peppermint oil with 4 teaspoons of a carrier oil. You can add up to 10 drops of essential oil in this quantity of carrier oil, but dab a bit on your skin first before adding any more to check that the effect isn’t adequate for your skin already. Alternatively, add a few drops to a bath or shower gel. Peppermint oil can also be used in a spritzer and is perfect in the summer months. Add six drops of peppermint oil to approximately 500mls of water.

Insomnia & HeadachesLavender oil eases headaches, relieves tension and it’s calming qualities promote sleep. It is an uplifting oil and research has shown that it encourages the brain to release happy endorphins throughout the blood stream. Other oils to treat insomnia include valerian and mandarin, where as headaches can also be treated with marjoram.

Besides the dilution, there is no limit to the amount of aromatherpy you can use, so bathe in it, fill your rooms with their wonderful fragrances in oil burners and keep some peppermint massage oil by the bed for those disturbed nights.

Black Women’s Views on Menopause Different

Study: Doctors Must Communicate Better With Black Women About Menopause

April 29, 2005 — Doctors have a lot to learn about communicating with black women about menopause, menopause, a new study shows.

Ivy M. Alexander, PhD, of Yale University, and Coralease C. Ruff, DNSc, RN, of Howard University, conducted a series of seven focus groups for 43 generally healthy black women in two cities. All identified themselves as experiencing menopause symptoms.menopause symptoms.

All of the women had access to health care, yet most of them said their best sources of information about menopause didn’t come from doctors or nurses. Instead, these women turned to other women in their communities, self-help literature, and the Internet.
It’s not that the women didn’t trust doctors. The doctors, it seems, simply weren’t on the same page.

“As clinicians, we need to recognize that culture and life events affect how women perceive various treatment options,” Alexander and Ruff write in the April issue of Menopause Management. “The women in our study put great stock in how their mothers or other older women in their communities had managed menopause symptoms.”

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Male Menopause and the Mid-Life Crisis

WOMEN rightly think that men have it easy with their sex lives. Men may find it difficult to fake an orgasm, and it is all too obvious if they are impotent, whereas the equivalent condition in a woman is hidden. What men don’t have to tolerate, women will say, is the monthly hormonal storm or the menopause.

Once a man has lost his virginity, men’s sexual health is likely to go through two difficult phases. The first crisis is the midlife crisis. This is an emotional crisis and if it coincides with the andropause this is merely a coincidence. The midlife crisis is the time when a man becomes aware of his present position in the world and his likely future. Some men are so cripplingly depressed by an assessment of their life somewhere between 35 and 45 that they set out to prove that the world has misjudged them. They disguise their thinning hair, change their style of clothes and buy a car with pulling power. They pick up the pretty blonde from the George and Dragon, and persuade themselves that the world is still their oyster.

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Andropuase can Mean a Midlife Slowdown

Most men won’t talk about andropause.

That’s not because it’s unheard of: As they age, all men experience changes linked to declining levels of testosterone, the primary male hormone.
And it’s not because a midlife hormone deficit may cause depression, fatigue and irritability, or loss of muscle mass and strength.

Men are reluctant to seek help, medical professionals say, because they don’t want to discuss erectile dysfunction or a drop in libido, two of the most distressing symptoms of andropause.

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Menopause Relief by Doing Pilates and Yoga

I’ve done yoga for over 25 years; and would swear to the multiltude of positive benefits it has had on the quality of my life. You can’t go wrong with doing yoga and pilates.

News Release
Pilates and yoga, often referred to as “mind-body” activities, show promising benefits which include increased flexibility, improved quality of life, relief of the symptoms of menopause, and some reduction of lower back pain. The findings came from two studies presented at the 52nd American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

One study looked at the effects of yoga on quality of life and flexibility in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Researchers at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona studied six women, ages 44 to 62, who participated in a one-hour-long yoga class twice a week for eight weeks. Participants were also given a home exercise program, and instructed to practice on the days when they were not in class. The yoga program used in the study was lyengar, which focuses on a specific sequence of poses that address menstrual disorders, menopause and pregnancy.

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