Cessation of menses

by | Jul 22, 2010 | Columns, Featured, Magazine, Wise Woman Ways | 2 comments

Hi Susun,

My period stopped and my doctor wants to put me on synthetic hormones. I would like to avoid taking synthetic hormones – can you help? I am hoping you can advise non-invasive dietary and lifestyle changes that can help shift things gently for me. Thank you.


Susun’s response:

Step 1: Collect Information

Menopause is the cessation of menses. In some books, it is nothing more than that, and what I call the “menopausal years” gets demoted to “peri-menopause” (a word I intensely dislike, having seen it arrive just as women were claiming the power of their menopausal years). The Crone does not menstruate. If your periods stop during your menopausal years, no remedy is needed. Even if they start again, and stop again. . . .

I have met quite a few women in their late 40’s who are eager to have a child, and want to prevent the cessation of their menses until they had achieved their goal. A woman at one of my workshops said she had a child at 53, three years after her last period. To our wail of outrage and surprise, she laughed and advised: “Stay away from new lovers during menopause!”

When not associated with menopause, lack of menstrual flow (indicating, usually, lack of ovulation as well) is called amenorrhea, and constitutes a severe health risk. Bone loss during one premenopausal month without menses is the equivalent of one year’s bone loss post-menopausally. The most common reasons for the menses to disappear before menopause (excluding pregnancy) are lack of body fat (from eating disorders or heavy athletic training) and stress. These remedies may be used by women of all ages.


Step 2: Engage the Energy

If menses cease due to loss and grief, try homeopathic Ignatia. If after a severe emotional shock, try Natrum mur.

Contemplation Medicine ©Leah Dorion

Contemplation Medicine ©Leah Dorion

Step 3: Nourish and Tonify

• Nettle leaf infusion has reportedly returned the monthly flow to women drinking it regularly, even in their sixties!

• If menses stop due to lack of body fat, increase the amount of olive oil and butter in the diet to at least 4 tablespoons a day.

• If emotional upheaval has stopped your menstrual cycles, seek supportive counseling or a therapy group to help you work with your grief, anger, and repressed memories.

• Dong quai (Angelica sinensis) root tincture, especially when combined with while peony root (Paeonia albiflora) and licorice (Glycyrhizza glabra), is a superb remedy for women whose menses cease unaccountably. Let a daily dropperful or two nourish your “palace of the child” and help you establish regular cycles. CAUTION: Avoid dong quai if you are prone to flooding, or have fibroids.

Step 4. Stimulate and sedate

• Acupuncture treatments can be quite useful in re-establishing normal menstrual/hormonal cycling.
• Strong pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides or Mentha pulegium) tea, a cupful/250 ml or more a day, for the three days of the new moon, can stimulate menstrual bleeding and restore regular cycling.

Step 5. Use supplements

• Supplements of vitamin E, 200-600 IU daily, have helped women restore ovulation and menstruation. Consistent use brings best results.

Step 6. Break and enter

• Ten or more sessions of Rolfing (body work focused on breaking patterns held in the fascia between the muscles) can restore menstrual cycles for women not yet in the menopausal years.

Green blessings, Susun Weed

photos: Wise Woman Spiral © iStockphoto.com / Chuck Spidell | Contemplate Medicine © Leah Dorion

Author

  • Susun Weed

    Susun S. Weed has no official diplomas of any kind; she left high school in her junior year to pursue studies in mathematics and artificial intelligence at UCLA and she left college in her junior year to pursue life.

    Susun began studying herbal medicine in 1965 when she was living in Manhattan while pregnant with her daughter, Justine Adelaide Swede.

    She wrote her first book -- Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year (now in its 30th printing) -- in 1985 and published it as the first title of Ash Tree Publishing in 1986.

    It was followed by Healing Wise (1989), New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way (1992 and revised in 2002), Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way (1996), Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way (2011), Abundantly Well - Seven Medicines (2019).

    In addition to her writing, Ms Weed trains apprentices, oversees the work of more than 300 correspondence course students, coordinates the activities of the Wise Woman Center, and is a High Priestess of Dianic Wicca, a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields, and a Peace Elder.

    Susun Weed is a contributor to the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women's Studies, peer- reviewed journals, and popular magazines, including a regular column in Sagewoman.

    Her worldwide teaching schedule encompasses herbal medicine, ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, psychology of healing, ecoherbalism, nutrition, and women's health issues and her venues include medical schools, hospital wellness centers, breast cancer centers, midwifery schools, naturopathic colleges, and shamanic training centers, as well as many conferences.

    Susun appears on many television and radio shows, including National Public Radio and NBC News.

    View all posts



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2 Comments

  1. Laura

    I came across this question and felt inclined to comment!! I recently got my menstrual cycle back after it was missing for 2 YEARS. I am 25 years old, and was diagnosed with hypothalamic amenorrhea, which is basically caused by a chronic energy defecit… not enough calories to fuel activity. I was not anorexic, but my eating was definitley disordered. I think people in general underestimate how many calories they need… I personally had to cut out exercise almost enitirely (except light walking) and really focus on getting in good high quality foods, especially fats. I used an awesome blend of grassfed butter ghee and organic coconut oil (best discovery EVER!), I also think fermented CLO played a big role in my recovery.

  2. Kim

    I am 32 and was diagnosed with hypothalamic amenorrhea 4 years ago. At the time I was training for a marathon and I am guessing my low body fat contributed to my loss of a cycle.

    Since then, I have obviously stopped running, gained back the weight, tried acupuncture, etc and NOTHING has restored my cycle! My hormones (LH/FSH/estrogen) remain low. I am at a loss since I only do light workouts 3 times a week now and eat very healthy fats daily (avocado, nut butters, etc)

    Any advice?

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