This year, we have had more warm days than previous years. The heat aggravates the symptoms of menopause. Women may experience more instances of hot flushes, sweating, and difficulties in falling asleep. Even symptoms such as stiff joints, aches and pains in the joints and muscles can feel worse. Why does this happen, and how to deal with it?
Menopause is an ageing problem that every woman will have during a certain period in her life (usually around 45 to 55 years old). It is due to the decline of a woman's oestrogen levels and degeneration of ovary function. But nowadays, there are more and more younger women starting to suffer menopause-like symptoms, for example: being easily irritable, easily losing their temper, hot flushes, night sweating, disturbed sleep, lack of energy, low stamina and concentration. This could not be explained by oestrogen level decline. Some percentage of those young women have been found with thyroid gland dysfunction, but the treatment is still not very satisfactory.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, our wellbeing is based on the harmony of Yin and Yang in the body. Yin represents the blood, fluid and essential stuffs in the body, function for nourishing, controlling and calming down; Yang represent organs' functional activities. When Yang works well or organs function well; Yin is also needed to nourish the organ, to control the functional activities, to calm down over-activities. On the other hand, Yin also represent vital energy in the body. When people are getting older, both Yin and Yang are degenerating.
For older women, the Yin degenerates more quickly than the Yang. Therefore, ladies's bodies start to feel irritable, because Yang has lost control. Organ function starts to get over-active. This is the start of menopause, hot flushes, night sweat, insomnia, and lack of concentration. The organ's over-activities will aggravate the Yin deficiency, making the situation worse.
For young women in modern life, they are over-stressed because of the multi-tasking they have taken on in their office and home. If they can't get proper rest to recover their energy for their daily routine, it will deplete the Yin, to trigger the same symptoms as with menopause. But these are based on lack of energy, so the treatment for women of different age groups are different.
In TCM, the treatments for menopause are by using herbal medicine to nourish the Yin of the body, to rebalance Yin and Yang, to boost up energy levels of the body. Acupuncture is used to readjust the circulation, to restore the harmony of Yin and Yang, to get rid of hot flushes and night sweats, to calm the nerves and improve the quality of sleep.
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