Posts Tagged "alternative medicine"

Let it flow and flow and flow

Posted by Liz on May 12, 2008 in stress | 0 comments

My college roomie and I had a teacher’s assistant in college for our “Women and their Bodies in Health and Disease” class. At end of the one of her sessions, we gathered in an upstairs room in the Union and meditated to increase our chi. At the time, it certainly became the brunt of many jokes but a recent post on Becoming Your Stellar Self on the increasing role of reiki in hospitals kickstarted my brain; could reiki be helpful for menopausal symptoms?

Since Reiki is used to balance various systems, one has to wonder if it might be helpful for balancing hormones that have run wild?

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is currently studying reiki in five clinical trials. Of particular interest is a trial on the effect of reiki on stress.

A woman’s adrenal glands go into overdrive during menopause, taking over the role of producing hormones from the ovaries, creating a perfect recipe for an overtaxed system. Factors like stress and lack of sleep create additional demands on the adrenal glands. So it makes perfect sense to engage in practices that help relax our minds and body, and alleviate the excess stress brought on by perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.

As Kate, the TA used to say….let it flow and flow and flow. If reiki is a means to achieving a better balance during a time when our bodies are anything but balanced, well, I’m all for it!

Mama’s Little Helper

Posted by Liz on May 9, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

There’s a new cocktail in town! Won’t necessarily do its wonders for ‘all that ails’ but it’s a good start and worthy of consideration, even for the toughest constitution. Hmmm, I can only imagine eyes popping and chattering as all you Sixties love children excitingly talk about Ms. V and so sorry to disappoint. I’m actually referring to black cohosh, rhodiola, and three immortals with a twist (i.e., topical progesterone cream ). Sounds strange, eh?

True confession time. I started having major night sweats about four months ago. Drenching night sweats. Talk about a wet dream! My MD suggested a regimen of topical progesterone combined with a low-dose topical estrogen. Progesterone? Okay. But, estrogen and me haven’t done too well in the past.

So, Flashfree might be a blogger by night but by day, I’m a medical writer/health reporter so I read and read and read and write and write and write. And while I live and breathe and eat in the Western School of Medicine, I honestly subscribe to the East meets West way of life.

Mind you, I’m not recommending that you go out for happy hour. But what I would like to convey is that there may be an effective allternative if you are hormone-shy like me, provided that you consult the healthcare professionals in your life that are ‘in the know.’

Couple rules of thumb – standardized formulations rule the day, don’t try this at home without speaking to an expert first, and shaken, not stirred!

Any other combos you’d like to share? Experiences? Tell me more!