In-sighting the menopause
“So my big health question for clarity - One thing I’d like to understand from your medical/ alternative experience is this peri/menopausal era which I find myself in. I’ve been on HRT for over a year but as well as practicing for peace, presence and possibilities, I still have tendencies of feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Feeling like this the mid-life crisis at times, but also grateful as for without the ‘suffering’ we don’t get the opportunity to learn. Could you give me your perspective/ advise?”
This request came through my inbox following this article, here
In response, here’s an edited transcript of a podcast I was recently interviewed for on this very topic.
What is the most common case, if there is such a thing, you see in your practice?
Hippocrates said “It’s more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
This message is embedded and resounded throughout all the long established medical systems such as homeopathy, Ayurveda and Classical Chinese medicine.
My approach is to procure innate health not just fix symptoms. So my practice is heart-based and people centred, not symptom focussed.
I seek to empower my patients who are curious to discover how they can take responsibility for their own self healing. We explicitly co-create an individualised plan for healing the whole person. It is not a top down approach implicit in most traditional health care and therapeutic models.
Do you ever treat hormonal imbalances and women of menopausal age?
The type of treatment given is determined by the diagnosis as well as the prognosis. This differs widely depending on how a particular medical system regards the human body, health and healing. Since there are many traditions of medicine, there are many different diagnoses, treatments and prognoses - which is good news as there are many possible outcomes.
To me, the body-mind is one interconnected system, not a collection of unrelated parts. It follows that signs, symptoms and lab findings are indicators of a global imbalance of the entire system not just one aspect of it such as hormones.
So whilst I don’t treat signs and symptoms per se, I do help the person to understand and decode their symptoms of imbalance and take action to restore that harmony. I only intervene when incisive action is required. The result is a restoration of balance and subsidence of symptoms for the patient.
What are some of the real benefits to seeing a doctor like yourself?
My role is helping my patients to disrupt their conceptual framework of dis-ease and limitation and instead procure their own innate health and thriving. Together, work to create the best solution for that person. Although the results can sometimes be swift and lasting, it’s a process of healing, not a quick fix cure.
This means that I create the necessary conditions that spark my patients’ insights into what could be the underlying cause of their imbalance and dis-ease. This ends up generating many possibilities and opportunities to heal, not just one way.
So it’s highly individualised, requiring the full participation of the patient. The responsibility to heal is on the patient, my role is to support and guide them in that process of disruption and procurement.
This approach is neither a replacement nor complement to the existing medical and therapeutic interventions, but an enhancement of them.
In your experience what are the negatives to having to go through the menopause without any professional guidance and help?
At the risk of ‘mansplaining’, my understanding is that menopause is part of the natural cycle of a woman’s life, and not a medical condition.
I don’t think that there are inherently bad medicines or that one way of practicing is necessarily better than another - they’re all a matter of opinion. After careful research and consideration, the patient must go with the approach that makes most sense to them.
In my observation, why people heal has much to do with the quality of connection and trust with their practitioner, not jus the modality of practice per se. For instance, if both parties conclude that taking HRT is the best way to go, then that’s all good. It’s however far from the only way.
My role as a physician is to partner with, and support my patients towards taking informed decision about what’s best for them. It’s not to shoe-horn them into a one size fits all approach. The decision however must lie with them.
People are reluctant to go on any medication are there ways to manage the menopause naturally?
There is a plethora of pills, supplements, methods, potions and lotions claiming to ‘treat’ the menopause. The underlying tacit premise is that there is something wrong with women undergoing the menopause and that needs fixing.
I regard the menopause as a significant transition in a woman’s life, not just biologically. Her role and identity change in relation to the prevailing cultural views - which are currently not favourable to women at this age, although that is changing.
This places immense pressure on women to look, act and be a certain way. Our current globalised culture is very much devoid of rites of passage and celebrations for these significant milestones in a woman’s life in her middle and later years, favouring instead those of eternal youth, outer growth and expansion. This wasn’t always the case and doesn’t need to be this way. We don’t have to be beholden to the prevailing social narrative.
Also many symptoms of menopause overlap with symptoms of stress. Stress being a natural response to real or perceived danger or threat. So it’s the underlying triggers of stress, and not the menopause per se that is the problem. In my work I encourage and can facilitate the disruption of the underlying triggers and habituated responses.
So whilst I don’t rule out the need for HRT in certain instances, it certainly isn’t a panacea for women undergoing menopause. There are many ways to support women to transition through this significant milestone in their life.
The main focus is on facilitating the disruption of limitations and procurement of innate health and thriving.
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