Category Archives: Natural Remedies

Flax Seed: If You Think It Will Help with Hot Flashes, It Just Might

Hot flashes and night sweats are the number one complaint of menopausal women.  For most women they last four to six years. For others, they can persist well into their 70s. That’s why, if there’s a glimmer of hope that something – anything – can help reduce their frequency, it’s worth a try.  Flaxseed falls into that category.  Some women find that adding a couple of tablespoons to their cereal every day helps cool them off.  Is it the estrogenic effect of the plant’s phytoestrogens that’s helping? Or is it just wishful thinking? And, as long as it helps, does it really matter? Consider these latest research findings:

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic randomly assigned 188 women to eat either a daily flaxseed bar containing 410 milligrams of lignans or one that was flax-free. Many of the study participants experienced hot flashes at least four times a day. Over six weeks, more than one third of the women in both groups had a 50 percent reduction in the frequency and severity of their hot flashes and they said that their symptoms were moderately to “very much” improved. … [Read more]

An Independent Lab Says Not All Menopause Supplements Live Up To Their Label Claims

If you’re trying to get through the menopause transition au naturel, that is, without the help of hormone therapy, you’ve probably tried several over-the-counter  products containing Soy and Red Clover Isoflavones (an estrogen-like plant compound), Black Cohosh or Progesterone cream to help with common symptoms like hot flashes, or insomnia.  But finding a Menopause supplement that works for you can be a daunting and expensive process because there are hundreds of brands to choose from, all with different formulations and proprietary blends.  Since the FDA nor any other federal or state agency routinely tests supplements for quality prior to sale, how do you know if a product contains the ingredients promised on the label and in sufficient amounts to work? … [Read more]

Try Eastern Medicine’s Approach to Menopause and Aging Well

Menopause seems to creep up on us. It doesn’t start with a big bang. Rather, for most women, it starts like a whisper, in our mid to late-forties, with symptoms like insomnia, foggy brain, and sometimes depression.  So, you consult your physician who, after a 10-minute office visit, gives you prescriptions for Ambien to help you sleep better and maybe an anti-depressant for the mood swings. A year or two later, perhaps your blood pressure or cholesterol has risen to a level requiring medication, a common problem for midlife women. Now you’re up to four pills a day. And you’re still feeling really crummy.  Isn’t there a better way to take care of ourselves during the menopause transition? … [Read more]

Now You Can Have a Dose of Flax Seed In Your Coffee

Take a walk through your local super market, and you’ll be surprised to see just how many products contain flax seed, which some call a “wonder food” for its many potential health benefits.  You’ll find ground flaxseed as a key ingredient in “chewy” products such as cereals, oat meal, breads, and crackers. But now, one processor has come up with a way to mix it with your morning coffee.

Flax Milk is the latest entry in the dairy and lactose free beverage category.  The company behind it, FLAX USA, says it contains 1100 mg of Omega 3s and has as much calcium as regular milk. Right now, it’s a one-of-a-kind product that’s only available at Wal Mart  in the refrigerated section.  I haven’t tasted it yet, but their publicity materials claim that both the regular and vanilla flavors are delicious. I hope so because I’m not a big fan of nut, soy or rice milks. … [Read more]

Do Any OTC Menopause Products Really Work? Only These Docs Will Tell You The Truth

Before you buy an over-the-counter remedy for hot flashes, insomnia or any other menopause symptom, be sure to check the website of the Wellesley Center for Women’s Health.  This is a group  of doctors and researchers whose mission is “to provide women with information that others normally wouldn’t.”  So they test products that promise to make you feel better and they tell you if they work or not.  And why.

Who are these doctors? They won’t say.  Apparently, they are so truthful they must work anonymously. They describe themselves as “fed up with current practices in the health care industry” and choose instead “to contribute their knowledge of the most common health problems and remedies.”  They’ve got my attention! … [Read more]

Menopause and Insomnia: Hear Expert Advice on a Holistic Approach to Better Sleep

If you’re like me and can’t remember the last time you slept four consecutive hours, you’ve probably tried a “natural” sleep remedy like L-Theanine, Kava, Gaba or a botanical like Valerian and Passionflower. The shelves of Integrative Medicine retailers like Pharmaca and medical centers such as The Institute of Health and Healing, located in San Francisco, are full of products that offer the chance of a good night’s sleep. But what really works for your type of sleep problem? And are they safe to experiment with? … [Read more]

Do Commonly Used Botanical Therapies Really Work for Hot Flashes?

A recent pair of studies has concluded that Black Cohosh and Red Clover (shown in photo), commonly used by women to alleviate hot flashes, are safe to take — that is, they don’t have a negative impact on breast and uterine health. That’s the good news.  The bad news?  Neither botanical treatment worked as well as a placebo in reducing the number of hot flashes and night sweats that the research participants experienced daily over a 12 month period.   What did work was the hormone therapy used in the study – in this case Prempro, a conjugated hormone product made by Wyeth. … [Read more]

Dr. Andrew Weil On What NOT To Take For Menopausal Symptoms

I was surprised to read Dr. Andrew Weil’s comments about the fallacies of taking some natural remedies to alleviate menopausal symptoms in his “Dr. Debunker” column in the latest issue of AARP Magazine. After all, isn’t he known as a leading proponent of natural medicine?

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A Trip to “Menopauseland” Is In Our Future

I guess if ED can be talked about in TV ads, so can menopause. The company that makes Estroven, a natural OTC supplement that claims to alleviate menopausal symptoms, will soon launch a $20 million TV, print and online advertising campaign beckoning us to visit Menopauseland. They describe it as a “cool and calming destination… lush instead of flushed,”  presumably where you can enjoy life symptom free - if you take Estroven, that is.

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10 Foods with High Amounts of Phytoestrogens

If you are experiencing menopausal symptoms typically associated with estrogen deficiency, such as hot flashes, mood swings, and food cravings, you may want to try increasing the amount of plant-based hormones – or phytoestrogens - in your diet.  Phytoestrogens are chemicals that are found in plants that may act like the estrogen produced naturally in the body.  Consider adding these foods to your weekly visit to the farmers market or grocery store.

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