Have you ever felt that she often loses her temper for trivial matters lately?

Has she been mentioning poor sleep lately?

If so, don’t be careless, she may be in menopause.

There are five typical manifestations of entering menopause.

Menopause is defined as the point in time when menstrual cycles permanently cease due to the natural depletion of ovarian oocytes from aging.

There is no fixed age range for menopause, and most occur around the age of 50. For example, the average length of the menstrual cycle is 28 days. If the menstrual cycle is less than 21 days or more than 35 days and occurs 2 times out of 10 menstruation, it means that the woman has entered perimenopause.

According to a survey conducted by the International Menopause Society on Chinese menopausal women (40-59 years old), 76% of Chinese women experience four or more menopausal symptoms such as sleep problems (34%), hot flashes (27%), low mood (28%) and irritability (23%).

Menstrual disorders, palpitations, dizziness and tinnitus, anxiety and depression, memory decline, etc①.

Four ways to improve menopausal syndrome：

Many women are deeply disturbed by menopause syndrome. In fact, menopause is not terrible. It is not a beast. Women only need to face it, do a good job in knowledge storage, and establish a healthy lifestyle to go through menopause smoothly.

At present, the commonly used treatment methods for menopausal syndrome include general treatment and drug treatment. General treatment includes regular work and rest, a balanced diet, an optimistic attitude, and drug therapy if necessary.

1. Regular work and rest is necessary.

More than 1/3 of menopausal women will have more or less sleep problems and should maintain a regular schedule. If you often stay up late, it is easy to lead to decreased menstrual flow, anxiety and irritability, physical fatigue, etc. Some will also have premature ovarian failure and low estrogen symptoms, which will lead to early menopause, osteoporosis and other problems.

2. A balanced diet is essential.

A balanced diet includes a regular and quantitative diet, diversified dietary structure, attention to meat and vegetable collocation, and increased intake of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, calcium and vitamin D should be supplemented appropriately because estrogen is also involved in bone metabolism. When the estrogen level is normal, the bone metabolism process is controlled. Once the estrogen in the body is insufficient, the bone metabolism will accelerate rapidly, which may lead to bone resorption being greater than bone formation. This is why the prevalence of osteoporosis increases in menopausal women.

3. Optimism is good medicine.

During menopause, although women are prone to get angry, they should keep a positive and optimistic attitude, often participate in outdoor activities, talk to family members and friends around them, occasionally go out to relax, look at the outside world, and make their lives more exciting.

4. Follow the doctor’s advice and receive medication

Drug therapy can be considered when the above general treatments are ineffective. Current drug treatments mainly include hormonal therapy and non-hormonal therapy. Hormonal therapies mainly include estrogen therapy, progestogen therapy and estrogen-progestin therapy. They are suitable for women without hormone contraindications. For patients with hormone contraindications such as patients with breast cancer risks, they can choose to use non-hormonal therapy, mainly including botanical treatments and Chinese patent drug treatments②.

According to TCM theory, treatment based on syndrome differentiation (“bian zheng lun zhi” in Chinese), is the basic principle of identifying and treating disease in TCM.

At present, the commonly used Chinese patent medicines are Xiangshao Granules and Kuntai Capsules. Among them, Xiangshao Granules are widely used in menopausal syndrome, which can not only improve the physical symptoms of menopausal women such as hot sweating, insomnia, palpitations, forgetfulness and headache but also improve the common emotional disorders of menopausal patients such as irritability and anxiety ③④. Certainly, patients need to consult a professional doctor and take medication under his guidance.

When it comes to treatment based on syndrome differentiation in TCM, Ganoderma lucidum must be mentioned.

Ganoderma lucidum alleviates menopausal syndromes.

Menopause syndromes are caused by human neuro-endocrine-immune regulation disorders. Pharmacological experiments have found that Ganoderma lucidum can not only regulate immunity and calm the nerves but also regulate gonadal endocrine.

—From Zhi-Bin Lin’s “Pharmacology and Research of Ganoderma lucidum” , p109

A clinical study at the Affiliated Hospital of Wuhan University of Science and Technology shows that up to 90% of women with menopausal syndromes, after taking 60 ml of Ganoderma lucidum syrup preparation (containing 12 grams of Ganoderma lucidum) every day for 15 consecutive days, have few and less severe menopausal symptoms such as impatience, nervousness, emotional instability, insomnia and night sweats, indicating that the effect of Ganoderma lucidum is better than that of some conventional Chinese medicine prescriptions.

— From Wu Tingyao’s “Healing with Ganoderma”, p209

No matter what method is used, it is particularly important to pay attention to the management of menopause. Once women enter menopause, they should pay attention to their physical discomfort. Don’t hold back, and don’t procrastinate. Early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment can help women go through menopause comfortably.

References：

① Du Xia. Analysis of the psychological status of menopausal women [J]. Maternal and Child Health Care of China, 2014, 29(36): 6063-6064.

②Yu Qi, 2018 Chinese Guideline on Menopause Management and

Menopause Hormone Therapy, Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical

College Hospital, 2018, 9(6):21-22.

③ Wu Yiqun, Chen Ming, et al. Analysis of the efficacy of Xiangshao granules in the treatment of female perimenopausal syndrome [J]. China Journal of Medical Guide, 2014, 16(12), 1475-1476.

④ Chen R, Tang R, Zhang S, et al. Xiangshao granules can relieve emotional symptoms in menopausal women: a randomized controlled trial. Climacteric. 2020 Oct 5:1-7.

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