Total Health Magazine

At best of times, understanding the ebb and flow of women’s hormones through the various stages of their life can seem like a daunting task. To make matters even more challenging, the Allopathic medicine perspective tends to medicalize and pathologize women’s hormonal issues. All too often, the first approach is prescribing hormones either as bio-identical hormones or HRT, both options come with risks.

Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin Part II

A previous article, “Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin,” discussed the basics of setting up a daily nutritional foundation by choosing a multivitamin-mineral formulation appropriate for one’s basic needs and expectations. As pointed out, with regard to nutrition it matters whether one is old or young, male or female, an athlete, etc. Also discussed were issues such as determining the quality of a product and improving absorption of nutrients. Setting up a nutritional foundation is always the place to start when considering supplementation. Nevertheless, a foundation is just that, something to build upon.

The venerated father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, has had many of his wise sayings immortalized over the past two millennia. Most of us know a version of the following: “As to diseases, make a habit of two things—to help, or at least, to do no harm.” However, there is one quote attributed to Hippocrates that has all but disappeared from a list of his most quotable quotes. Hippocrates poised the rhetorical question, “What is Woman?” to which he supplied the answer: “Disease!”

When it comes to women’s health, the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine embodies may pearls of wisdom. One of the most well-known sayings is that a Chinese doctor would rather treat ten men rather than one woman! It is no surprise that women are the more complex gender. A woman’s unique physiology gives her extraordinary advantages, such as a longer life span. However, altering the very delicate and finely balanced female hormonal system can also predispose women to a long list of health problems that can compromise her physiological, emotional and mental well-being.

Dear Pharmacist,

I took your column regarding hormone replacement to my doctor. He’s never ordered progesterone, just estrogen because of the hysterectomy. For eight years, I’ve suffered with occasional hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia, and I can’t lose weight. Anyway, three days later, his nurse called to say he did some research, and wanted to add bio-identical progesterone to my compounded prescription cream. Two weeks later, I feel remarkably better.

Mary has worked full time while raising three children and is suffering with insomnia and night sweats for a few months now even though she is far from menopause; Joanne, a busy stock broker, has such heavy periods she is locked in her house for seven days every month; and Melinda, newly married with an exciting job is losing her hair, gaining weight around the middle, and feeling exhausted. All three women are suffering from a common condition in Canadian women—estrogen dominance.