Being More Comfortable at the Doctor’s Office

Posted on: 23 June 2015

Menopause can be a difficult time, and to make matters worse it often coincides with kids going off to college or your partner starting their own midlife crisis. Nothing ever seems to go right, and everything combines to make life incredibly difficult. There are, however, ways to treat menopausal symptoms to make them less severe and allow you to get through the rough patches. Maybe though, you don't like the idea of adding extra hormones into your system, especially with your own going haywire. Or perhaps you have a personal history with breast cancer and cannot take the extra estrogen supplements. Well never fear, there are natural remedies that can help you on your way back to sanity.

Black cohosh

Black cohosh is a medicinal plant that Native Americans have been using for years as an anti-inflammatory agent. Now however, it is being used to combat menopausal symptoms. Black cohosh can be used to help treat hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness to various degrees of effectiveness, depending on the woman.

What black cohosh does in your body is support and maintain hormone levels. Instead of adding more estrogen or progesterone, it simply supports what you have already in your system and doesn't allow the levels to fluctuate quite so much.

Vitamin B

These vitamins are all grouped together for this particular list. Vitamin B has often been touted as the cure-all, and menopause is no exception. Vitamin B, in all of its various forms, has been seen to lower the levels of stress that a woman feels during menopause. While it won't help with the hot flashes, less stress is never a bad thing. To increase your level of vitamin B the natural way, you can eat more salmon, trout, sunflower seeds, or spinach.

Evening primrose oil

Evening primrose oil is a plant extract that was found to be useful in treating some menopause symptoms. Specifically, it was found to moderate hot flashes and moderate most other menopausal symptoms. This is because it acts similarly to black cohosh to maintain hormone levels instead of adding to them.

Of course, you must always remember that your body may not react as well as someone else's to each of the varying treatments. Menopause is a very personal thing, and so each woman's ideal menopause treatment is specialized to her. If you have any questions about any of these treatment options, talk to your family physician.