Diana Helfrich
Relaxed through the menopause
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Sweating, awake nights, joint pain? Pharmacist and author Diana Helfrich has the best tips for not despairing during the menopause.
Menopause is still a taboo subject for many women. How do you explain that?
The generation that is now entering menopause has always done everything possible to treat their menstrual period discreetly and not to talk about it. The silence now continues. If men bled from the penis, the newspapers would be full of it.
Now there is your book “Menopause” and it says: The change in the female body begins on average seven years before the last menstrual period.
Yes, progesterone levels drop first, which can lead to heavy bleeding, but also to problems sleeping, irritability and breast tenderness. Hot flashes and then joint pain or cardiac arrhythmias may follow later. About two thirds of all women have these symptoms. A blood test at the gynecologist quickly provides information as to whether the menopause has already begun.
In the past, many women received hormone replacement therapy, but then it fell into disrepute. Based on your research, are you for or against hormones?
If you have real problems, you shouldn’t be afraid of them, because hormones help efficiently. Nowadays you can also use patches, gel or spray to dose much lower.
But doesn’t that increase the risk of breast cancer?
It actually increases over the years, but when someone is suffering a lot, it’s about remedial action. If you drink a glass of wine every evening, you also do a lot for your breast cancer risk – and do it anyway. Hot flashes can easily last ten years. That’s a long time to endure.
In the book you name some alternatives to hormones.
Yes, there are herbal remedies for all ailments. In the case of insomnia, for example, I recommend passion flower herb at the beginning, which is primarily calming. In the life of middle-aged women, all hell breaks loose: the children may be very worried, maybe a parent in need of care and the realization that in their own lives only a bunch of grass is left from the bouquet of possibilities. This can also make you restless and keep you awake.
Only a bundle of grasses – that sounds a bit sad.
Becoming aware of your own finiteness can be positive: I have never been so enthusiastic about shaping my life as I am today, for example.
Diana Helfrich: Tips against hot flashes
- Black cohosh is available as tablets or dragées. The medicinal plant is the classic when the heat is rising.
- St. John’s wort could also alleviate suffering through its effect on brain chemistry. It is also used for mild depression.
- Drink home-made chilled sage tea three times a day for four weeks.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy also offers strategies for changing one’s own attitude towards hot flashes.