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MENOPAUSE PROBLEMS

• Stress can increase menopause symptoms. Many find relief with meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, or tai chi.
• Exercise daily
• Eat a healthy well balanced diet
• Limit alcohol and tobacco
• Get 8 hours sleep a night
• Vitamin A, C, D & E
• Stay hydrated
• Diet: soy, apples, alfalfa, cherries, potatoes, rice, wheat, yams
• Black cohosh, is rich in plant compounds that resemble estrogen and can function like the hormone in the body
• Macafem, don’t contain any estrogen, but it provides nourishment to the endocrine glands, that helps the body produce estrogen, progesterone, and other hormones at balanced levels the body needs
• Tofu is high in phytoestrogens compounds with mild estrogen-like qualities that have been found to ease menopausal symptoms
• Flaxseeds are another source of phytoestrogens. Grind some in a spice grinder, add to cereal or yogurt
• To calm night sweats, take 10 drops sage tincture 3 x day, in a cup of water or tea. The herb has astringent qualities that can help quell profuse sweating.
• Take vitamin E to relieve hot flashes and night sweats as well as mood swings and vaginal dryness.
• Wear lightweight clothing made of natural fibers
• Berries of the chaste tree have been used by women for some 2,000 years, it helps restore progesterone levels, combat heavy bleeding, hot flashes and depression
• Different essential oils are suggested for relief of menopausal symptoms. These may include the following treatments for specific symptoms:

1. Anxiety – Use soothing essential oils such as ylang-ylang or lavender.
2. Hot flashes – Use stimulating essential oils such as grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, and peppermint.
3. Fatigue – Use energizing essential oils like ginger or other stimulating oils such as peppermint or nutmeg.
4. Menopausal fear – Use the essential oil of lavender, which has a calming effect.
5. Hormonal imbalance – Use essential oils that have properties similar to estrogen to achieve hormonal balance including Spanish sage, Clary sage, and fennel.
6. Hot flashes – Use stimulating essential oils in massage including clary sage, geranium, lemon, and sage.
7. Irritability – Treat with a grounding and balancing essential oil such as patchouli, or a sedative oil such as cardamom.
8. Poor Memory – Enhance memory with an energizing stimulate essential oil such as coriander or ginger.
9. Mood swings – Treat with a grounding and balancing essential oil such as patchouli or soothing essential oils like lavender.
10. Osteoporosis – Treat with a stimulating bath or massage including essential oils such as ginger and lemon.

MENSTRUAL PROBLEMS

• For delayed periods, grind radish seeds and consume this powder with buttermilk daily
• For delayed periods, drink parsley and carrot juice daily
• For heavy bleeding, consume the banana flower
• For heavy bleeding, consume gooseberry
• For menstrual irregularities consume raw papaya, raw papaya contains an enzyme called Papain which ensures a proper menstrual flow
• Drink chamomile tea every morning during your menstrual cycle, for menstrual cramps and pain
• Apply warm compress/heating pad to abdomen, to relieve pain and cramps
• Learn to relax
• Low-intensity exercise can help ease cramps
• Yoga breathing exercises can help to eliminate the emotional problems such as anxiety, stress, and tension that are associated with PMS
• Diet to reduce cramps: eat foods high in calcium, magnesium and zinc: pineapples, green leafy vegetables, avocados, nuts, dried fruits, wheat bran, yogurt, pasta, banana, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower
• Avoid: white flour, sugar, canned foods, strong tea, coffee, carbohydrates, chocolates, red meats, vegetable oils, corn, soybean oil, margarine
• Drink a glass of cold buttermilk to prevent gas and bloating
• Consume hot soup or broth to ease cramps, nausea and prevent bloating
• Eat healthy snacks: banana bread, zucchini muffins, hummus, whole grains
• Consume spicy foods to warm abdominal area to ease cramp
• Try seed cycling, alternating ground flax, chia or pumpkin seeds and sesame or sunflower seeds throughout your cycle: in the first half of the cycle, combine 2 tablespoons of ground flax, chia or pumpkin seeds with a tablespoon of quality fish oil; in the second half of the cycle, combine 2 tablespoons of ground sesame or sunflower seeds with 2 grams of evening primrose oil
• Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, Vitamin B, fish oil
• Reflexology
• Meditation
• Soak in a warm bath, add sea salts or Epsom salt with essential oils
• Reiki, this therapy helps stimulate positive energy flow and add a bit of heat to the affected region
• Rub Clary sage essential oil on abdomen, to reduce pain
• Drink Tea: ginger, German chamomile, sweet marjoram, sweet fennel, valerian root, feverfew, wild yam, black cohosh, yarrow, rosemary, lavender, jasmine, geranium, red raspberry, peppermint, wintergreen, basal
• Get enough sleep, interruptions in the regular sleep cycles can interfere with your normal cycle and increase irritability, fatigue, and stomach cramping
• Place a hot water bottle on your stomach. A damp towel heated in the microwave can also be used, to relax muscle cramps
• Abdominal cramping can be relieved through orgasm
• Mix 1oz jojoba, 5 drops peppermint oil, 3 drops eucalyptus oil and 3 drops lavender oil, store in dark glass bottle, massage small amount into the abdomen, to reduce pain

MIGRAINES

• Apply ice wraps around the neck and head to soothe the body, improve blood flow and ease pain
• Use an ice towel: wet towel, wring it out, place in the freezer 5min and wrap it around your head or neck
• Massages the head and neck area
• Exercising regularly
• Get adequate sleep
• Diet: nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, lean meats, ginger, peppermint, cayenne, fish oil, oatmeal, wheat, garlic, spinach, kale, broccoli
• Avoid: alcohol, especially red wine, non-fresh meats like cold cuts, liver, soy beans, fast foods, processed foods
• Inhale: (place a few drop essential oil on cotton ball, fabric or in diffuser) peppermint, sandalwood, lavender
• Apply a mask of fresh ground clay or fresh sandalwood paste on forehead
• Stop smoking
• Reduce stress: yoga, meditation, massage
• Lay down in a comfortable, dark room
• St. John’s wort (infusion): add 1 tablespoon of herb to 1 cup boiling water/steep/strain/drink
• Feverfew: drink tea or take supplements
• Peppermint: Tea, supplements or apply diluted peppermint essential oil to forehead and temples
• Willow: supplement
• Ginger: fresh or dried ginger root, supplements, or extract
• Valerian: supplement, tea, or tincture made from the dried roots
• Apply diluted lavender oil to forehead and temples
• Inhale essence of lavender essential oil
• Apply diluted rosemary oil to forehead and temples or inhaled
• Lime Tree: tea, tinctures, supplements
• Place raw potato slices in a thin cloth, wrap around head and neck or rub directly on temples, to ease tension and pain
• Horseradish: supplements, inhale
• Honeysuckle: Tea
• Teaberry: gum, tea, tinctures, supplement
• Consider tracking your triggers, symptoms, pain intensity and duration, and other related factors (such as the weather, menstrual cycle, and your activities) in a migraine journal or migraine app

MORNING SICKNESS

• Vitamin B-6, taken as 25 mg every 8 hours
• Take zinc supplements, 25 mg per day
• Get some brewer’s yeast, sprinkled on grains such as brown rice
• Sip on raspberry leaf, peppermint, or anise tea
• Cut or grate some ginger root and pour hot water over it, then drink as a tea
• Take ginger root in capsule form
• Drink flat, room temperature ginger brew or ginger ale
• Chew on crystallized ginger
• Eat some ginger chews
• Take homeopathic tablets: Nux vomica 6X or ipecac 30x
• Make your own belly rub! Use 1 drop of peppermint oil to 3 drops chamomile oil, Peppermint oil is stimulating so a little goes a long way … Place on a warm, damp towel, and rub your belly
• Eat a protein-rich snack before bed
• Daily mild exercise to relieve hormonal activity
• Keep a box of crackers by your bed and eat a few before getting out of bed in the morning
• Avoid spicy, fried, rich, fatty, greasy foods, caffeine, artificial sweeteners
• Get out of bed slowly
• Get plenty of fresh air
• Suck on 1 drop of peppermint oil on a sugar cube, drop the entire sugar/oil concoction into your tea
• Sip on apple juice
• Wear motion sickness wrist bands everywhere you go
• Eat small frequent meals every few hours throughout the day. Make sure to have a balance of carbs and protein to maintain blood sugar
• Suck on lemon drops
• Drink brewer’s yeast and tomato juice with lemon
• Get a lot of rest
• Drink lemonade
• Acupuncture
• Chew on fennel seeds
• Stay hydrated, if water don’t stay down, try frozen natural juice popsicles