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In the month of World Menopause day I wanted to tell you about the potential of homeopathy
in this time in Women's lives.
Medically, menopause is classed as the cessation of periods. Sounds simple enough! However like the start of the fertility of a woman in puberty, the end comes with many more facets than merely the chucking away of the period knickers and freeing up and extra draw in the bathroom! In reality this time for women often coincides with a shift in family situations, children leave home, or are detaching from you in other ways. Parents then take up the mantle of people to parent, and somewhere in all this the journey there are the stumbling blocks of physical symptoms which can impact on well being too.
In my experience its easy to loose yourself in the maze of understanding the changes in your body, and also the new picture emerging of your identity. This is where homeopathic treatment can really go deep, to support and move you through this process.
I want to share my experience how emotional changes can happen with homeopathic remedies.
Some of my patients have mentioned these among the challenges facing them at this time:
What do I do with the space my children have left in my life?
How do I turn down the mummy bear response and allow some space?
My parents are changing and need more from me, where is the balance there?
How to stay connected with my partner?
How do I communicate my needs better to be able to function, when sometimes daily tasks are hard?
Dealing with suppressed emotional patterns which have been put to one side for many years and now are affecting my mental health?
What do I want the next stage of my life to look like? Are there changes I would like to make?
It seems that this time of life is about so much more than the hormonal changes which occur. Women walking through the menopause are journeying often into a rebirth of themselves. It can be exiting, a time to bring about change, and also peace and acceptance.
The potential of homeopathy is to support and enable, shining light on what needs to be healed, physically and emotionally.
Each woman's experience of this time is unique. Homeopathic remedies are selected based on your own story, and the symptoms and challenges you are facing. Remedies are prescribed on your individual picture.
Here are just 2 of the remedies which I have experienced which can help with some of the issues faced by so many.
Cygnus Cygnus - Moving on
This remedy can be very useful in moving on from past grief. It has also been known as the remedy for living grief, I have experienced it as a powerful remedy for the "empty nest" feelings. Children leaving home can feel like a grief to many parents. This remedy has been amazing at helping the emotional pain felt at this time. It is very much a remedy of transition which makes it especially relevant at menopause , Peter Fraser equates this to the "Swan song" of a dying bird, there are thoughts about death and also about birth. There is a concern about completion of old things, making peace with old hurts and unhelpful patterns and then the birth of new one's. There is a desire to be at home and homesickness, a nostalgia for the family home but also a desire to fly free and travel. There is conflict between being part of the group or family and also a desire to be alone and be in the wilderness of nature.
Many women at this time re-examine relationships with friends and partners, setting your own boundaries and asserting your own path within them can be really helped with this remedy.
Lac Equinum- Easing the burden
The situation of a women benefiting from this remedy is one of overburden and the desire to break free from pressures of family and work. At the time of menopause many women can find themselves sandwiched between adolescent children and ageing parents. Both demanding time and attention. Pulled in many directions with the feeling in this remedy is of anxiety when to much is expected of them. Hemmed in by work and family commitments, caught between desire to care and guilt if others needs are not being met. Trying to please everyone is a hard task and the burden becomes to heavy to carry. Doing your duty as mother, daughter, wife, employee can become to much.
The person needing this remedy is described as "Often they feel that they have been trapped in the cycle of life, they have to do a lot of hard work for their family and they are absolutely trapped in this particular situation.The feeling of being trapped, delusion insulted, delusion neglected.
And when trapped they have a feeling of being very irritable and impatient."
This remedy has been great in helping to address this feeling and allowing the balance to be shifted. Helped women to drop the guilt of not doing, or being enough, in this situation, and protect their energy and resources.
Homeopathic treatment based on a persons emotional and mental situation and experience will also alleviate the many of the physical symptoms suffered. I have known both of these remedies not only to help on a deep emotional level, but also address night sweats, insomnia, hot flushes, and joint pains.
A recent patient suffering vertigo and night sweats was amazed how quickly symptoms vanished with the remedies.
As women we face many difficult times of transition in life. Travelling through the menopause with homeopathy can help to let go of old patterns and griefs, resulting in a new understanding of yourself, renewed energy, and a transition into the next phase of life lighter and brighter than ever!
Extra reading
An interesting article I found about attitudes to menopause in other cultures