Menopause and Alternative Therapy

Complementary and alternative therapies for menopause are medical treatments that are considered nontraditional. They include dietary and herbal supplements, acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage therapy, biofeedback, homeopathy, and eating certain foods that are thought to prevent disease or heal.

Alternative treatments are often used alone, while complementary treatments are alternative treatments that are used in combination with traditional treatments, such as drug treatments or surgery.

Women going through menopause may find relief from their symptoms if they include botanicals such as phytoestrogens in their diet. There are also other nutritional supplements that may relieve menopausal symptoms such as black cohosh and flaxseed.

What Are Botanicals?

Botanicals are medicines that are derived from plants. They have been used for centuries by "folk healers" and are the foundation for nearly half of prescription drugs used today. Botanicals in the form of herbs and nutritional supplements make up a large part of alternative therapies.

Can Botanicals Relieve Menopausal Symptoms?

Some botanicals, such as phytoestrogens, may help relieve menopause symptoms. Phytoestrogens are substances found in plant-based foods that are thought to have weak estrogen-like effects. They may work in the body like a weak form of estrogen. Some may help lower cholesterol levels and have been suggested to relieve hot flashes and night sweats. Examples of plant estrogens include isoflavones. Isoflavones can be found in foods such as soy products (tofu, soymilk, soybeans).

Black cohosh is a botanical that is widely available. The most well known brand is Remifemin. The North American Menopause Society reports that black cohosh may be helpful in the very short term (6 months or less) for treatment of hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness. Safety beyond six months of use is not known. Side effects are rare and include gastrointestinal upset.

Evening primrose oil is another botanical that is often used to treat hot flashes, although there is no scientific evidence to support this. Side effects include nausea and diarrhea. Many women with other conditions, or those that take certain medications, should not take evening primrose oil.

Flaxseed is an edible seed that contains lignans, another class of phytoestrogens. Although there is little scientific evidence to support this, flaxseed is thought to decrease the symptoms of menopause, particularly hot flashes. In addition, some studies show that flaxseed may lower breast cancer risk in women. Also known as linseed, flaxseed is available in whole seed, ground up meal and seed oil forms. However, only the crushed or ground forms of flaxseed contain lignans that your body can digest.

Dong quai is another botanical that is touted to relieve menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years. There is little scientific evidence to support this claim, however, and more studies are needed to determine its effectiveness.

There are many other herbal supplements available. There is little evidence to support the use of any of the following supplements to treat the symptoms of menopause: fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids, red clover, ginseng, rice bran oil, wild yam, calcium, gotu kola, licorice root, sage, sarsaparilla, passion flower, chaste berry, ginkgo biloba, and valerian root.

It should be noted that there is a lack of standardization in the production of these alternative therapies which may result in an over or under dosage.