The Western(allopathic) versus Eastern Approach to Perimenopause/menopause treatment
Something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to lately is competing messages around perimenopause and the Eastern/Western medicine world.
There are many allopathic, Western docs out there now on a big bullhorn practically screaming about how great hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and how it can take care of your symptoms and suffering without you having to change much of your life.
I am SO grateful these people are bringing more attention to the perimenopause time of life for women.
I also call BULLSHIT.
There are also a few (not as loud) Eastern/Ayurveda/TCM practitioners saying you absolutely should not EVER take HRT.
I call BULLSHIT on this too.
Somehow my friend made me look like the coolest celebrity in this picture taken from a ride on a Costa Rican tuk tuk. Photo by personal paparazzi Indigo Stray Conger.
My take on it is that we have all these tools in the toolbox, and we need to have access to all of them. Every woman is unique in her journey and what she may need.
Here are a few of the problems I see:
🔥Replacing hormones, even bioidentical ones, have risks and side effects. Those need to be explained to you. In the allopathic world, we say “benefits need to outweigh risks”-- this is nebulous. No practitioner can 100% know this will be the case for you, but I will argue that deep down YOU can have a knowing about this. There is no drug in the allopathic world with zero risk. Trust me, I'm a pharmacist 😉
💧When the body has symptoms, from an Ayurvedic perspective, it means we need to address something usually related to lifestyle. This doesn’t automatically mean Ayurvedic herbs. For most women, it means slowing down, creating more space and managing stress (vague, I hate this, but I would have to write much more to get into the nuances). At the core, it means addressing the digestive fire, which is very much related to the stress piece.
⛰️Sometimes, we need a Western drug or hormone to help BRIDGE the gap. For example, if you’re struggling with depression, you may need hormones (this is the preferred treatment in midlife v. an antidepressant) so that you have the energy and motivation to make the changes. When undertaking use of medications, hopefully you have a great practitioner who helps you use them for the right amount of time (the least amount of time for the least exposure to the risks).
🪷Eastern medicine (including Ayurveda, of course) is NOT about what herbs or supplements you now add for symptoms. That’s a very Western lens. The western lens has also separated out systems, as though your sleep quality is separate from the food you eat and as though your GI tract is separate from your ears. EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED. Ayurveda acknowledges that your mind affects your body and your body affects your mind. Your spirituality affects all of it.
We’ve been told so many lies within our culture. One of the biggest lies is that pushing through is what you have to do, AKA mind over matter or mind over body. This is part of what’s wrecking us now in midlife. I certainly know that I’m dealing with symptoms because of choices I made in my 20s and 30s to push push push. And then, to add insult to injury, we’re lied to again and told “this is just aging, and you have to deal with it.”
Trying to reground after the jungle and beach by the water. Pine Valley Ranch Park, Colorado. Photo by Ron Michael Photography.
We should also be asking ourselves WHY we might need to take hormones at a time our body is naturally lowering them. If it made sense to replace our own hormones with external ones, I would think that there would be zero side effects (they are literally the exact same chemicals we make)-- and yet, we know this isn’t the case.
The WHY question is a big one for me. It’s not just related to our choices; I believe it’s also related to the toxicity of our world, including our food supply, especially processed foods, our water, and our air. In Ayurveda, the state of mother earth is reflected in the wombs of women.
Thanks for hanging out in my head today. If you want to learn more, I’m giving my workshop, Holistic Management of Perimenopause + Menopause with Ancient Ayurveda in two different ways coming up soon.
In person in Denver, CO at Karma Yoga on Saturday, May 3 from 2-4:30pm MT. This will include asana (movement), meditation, a talk on Ayurveda + Menopause, and some reflection and journaling. Learn more or register here (scroll down).
6o minutes version virtually via Zoom on Saturday, May 10th at 11am MT/1pm ET. Recording available if you can't make it live. Register here.