Dear Dr. Stovall,

I'm 43 years old and have been having hot flashes for nearly a year.  My doctor said I was perimenopausal, and that it was normal for my age, but that doesn't lighten my symptoms any.  I don't want to take hormones, is there anything natural I can do?

LWT

Dear LWT,

I feel your pain, or rather, I felt your pain!  Having been through menopausal symptoms myself, (first, surgically induced at age 24, then again last year at the age of 45) I know how uncomfortable the night sweats and hot flashes can be.

Often, we automatically think that we are having the symptoms due to a lack of estrogen, when the opposite can be true.  We absorb estrogen-like compounds called phyto-estrogens and xeno-estrogens from our environment, and the foods we eat, and can be estrogen-dominant, which has similar symptoms.

Phytoestrogens come from plant sterols, and have an estrogen-like effect on the body.  According to the Women's Guide to Natural Progesterones:

Foods high in beneficial plant hormones can include alfalfa, apples, aniseed, brewer's yeast, barley, beet root, cabbage, carrots, chick peas, clover, corn, cow peas, cucumbers, fennel, linseed, garlic, green beans, green squash, hops, oats, olives, olive oil, papaya, parsley, peas, plums, potatoes, red beans, pumpkin, legumes, lentils, red clover, rhubarb, rice, rye, sesame seeds, soya bean, sprouts, split peas, sunflower seeds, nuts, squash, wheat yams, green beans, and cherries.

Some herbs containing beneficial plant hormones are black cohosh, dong quai, hops, sage, red clover, fennel, liquorice root, wild yam, bladderwrack, horstail herb, sarsaparilla.

Xeno-estrogens, on the other hand, come from chemicals, petrochemicals and foreign substances that can also mimic estrogen in the body. This toxic estrogen-like compound attaches to  the estrogen receptor sites, blocking more natural forms.  Nearly all xeno-hormones are synthetic petrochemical by-products present in our food, medicines, plastics, clothing, soaps, etc. Water and soda bottles, especially ones that have been allowed to sit in the car or outside and get warm, are the worst culprits.

Back to your issue, the most historically successful products are the wild yam creams, commonly called natural progesterone creams.  Recent research indicates that the creams are best applied to the same soft-skin area daily, with the site being alternated monthly.  The most common creams are 20 mg, but we have them up to 500 mg. 

There is also saliva hormone testing available, which can give you your baseline levels of the three estrogens, testosterone, progesterone, and even cortisol.  Knowing your hormone levels can help you to know which direction to go, whether it’s natural estrogens, progesterones, or both. 

After you have your baseline numbers, you can retest at quarterly intervals, if desired, to track your progress. (The kits we offer call them Female hormone panels I or II, and there are also Male hormone panels, and fertility panels, as well as adrenal hormone testing and blood spot testing for thyroid hormones. 

You simply purchase the kit, fill the tubes with saliva as indicated, and place it in the pre-paid envelope to be picked up by Fed-Ex, and your results will be mailed or e-mailed to you, and me or your health-care provider, if you desire, within a few days.  You can test again in 90 days, testing only those hormones that you are monitoring. 

The individual tests run around $30, the panels can run a couple of hundred, and are generally not covered by insurance when you order your own tests.)

To your health,

Terri Stovall

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