Menopause Self Help
Empower yourself through menopause

Menopause is...

a time of many changes, physical, emotional, spiritual

often confusing, frustrating, demoralizing

a natural part of women's lives

a bridge to the next phase of your life

If you are arriving at this page at the beginning of your menopausal journey, you are in a good place. You can make a choice now about how you want your second half of life to be. In preparation for writing about this topic of menopause self help, I picked up some of the books I bought a few years ago. I started reading Menopause with Science and Soul, by Judith Boice.

The book contains writings by different authors, and it talks about the journey of menopause, and asking yourself questions like:

Do you want to be healthy?
Enough that you are willing to do what it takes? If so, why?
Is it because you want to avoid disease?
Or is it because you need your health in order to accomplish your goals?

Although I did not ask myself these questions at the beginning of my journey, I wish I had. I will take time to do so now. I have fallen into just managing symptoms along the way. As I entered peri menopause I left my husband and moved into a house with my seven-year old son.

I had a part-time job paying $12,000 a year and a newly started business that I thought would support me. I turned out to be wrong about that, and I have had a long struggle to get and maintain an income large enough to support my son and I. I ended up going back to school and will receive my bachelor's degree in August, 2011.

So I have completely turned my life around from what it was as I turned 49 ten years ago. Many women will have transitions filled with life change, as I have. Others not so much. But know that this is a time ripe for change, if you want it, and maybe even if you don't.

I realized this past week that I am not in the grip of menopause and it's many challenges any more. I still have physical symptoms that I work with through food, exercise and herbal and nutritional supplements, but I am not identified with being menopausal anymore. I still have hot flashes, even though I am taking bioidentical hormones. I am still working on losing the 13 pounds I gained the year I stopped bleeding.

I went through all of peri menopause and menopause using only natural remedies and self help, although my symptoms were numerous and often severe (a period of about 9 years).

Just this last year I saw a doctor and decided to use bioidentical estrogen, testosterone and progesterone because my energy was so low and my brain seemed to have stopped working. I am feeling great now (about nine months later). I have already reduced the initial dose, and I plan to wean myself off of the hormones over the next year or so.

This entire web site is about menopause self help. You can read about all the symptoms and how they might be different for each individual. You can learn about herbs in general, and about specific herbs to increase nutrition, balance hormones, and reduce or eliminate symptoms such as hot flashes, insomnia, indigestion, etc.

There are a number of pages about diets, foods to eat and foods to avoid, why many women gain weight during menopause and suggestions for how to lose the weight. There is information about superfoods, supplements and nutrition.

You can read about menopause headaches, anxiety, insomnia, mood swings, depression, fatigue, high blood pressure and all the other symptoms, with information about menopause self help.

There are pages about low thyroid, how to find out if you may have a thyroid problem, and the issues with mainstream medicine's treatment. There is information about different types of alternative practitioners, the education they have attained, and licensing information.

There is information on aromatherapy, yoga, weight loss diets, how and when to use bioidentical hormones, and dietary information that goes against the grain, like the idea that animal fats are good for you.

When it's appropriate I have recommended books, websites and products.

Best of all, you can ask a question or tell a story about your own experiences using menopause self help. I hope that your journey is filled with healthy new experiences and activities, and that you grow and learn from the journey.

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