naturalistic approaches to health

[pianistimo]

ok.  this question is brought on by my general noticing that when prescriptions are made for one thing or another - the ratios seem to be finally adjusted properly at year 3 for some things.  in those interum years - a woman could start literally growing a beard from taking too much progesterone.

i suppose i should clairfy that even though this question is general - in my specific instance it is related to the suggestion of taking HRT (hormone replacement therapy) just because of getting hot once in a while. 

here's how i see it.  it's a natural process.  when i stop getting hot - i'm done with this thing called 'menopause.'  now, some people like taking medicine for headaches and pain.  i've never really liked to do that.  i guess i prefer pain.  why do people then expect that everyone should take the same medicine whether they want to or not.

i do not want any more facial hair other than the sporadic one or two stray hairs that occur.  once i saw a woman with a full moustache.  i bet she was on hormone replacement therapy.  *runs away at full speed. 

i'm not talking aboutm1469either.  she's too young.  for either.  but, what i mean is - aren't there a lot of natural therapies for this?  i heard something about soy products and also 'wild' yam.  and, of course, exercise. 

why do my mother and aunt care so much about this topic.  i feel i need a squirt gun to keep them away.

[pianistimo]

more specific question.  are there natural therapies for, you know, - menopause?  drinking?  minimally? 

one thing i have started doing is eating less red meat.  i feel generally a lot better.  in fact, i'm sort of experimenting with vegetarianism.  just in case anyone is interested and/or is a medical doctor - here's how i feel.  generally fine.  menopause isn't a disease, right?!  i don't even have mood swings yet.  occasionally tired.  but, i consider it a right at my age to rest a bit more on days i don't feel as good. 

as i see it - if you just accept where you are at - it doesn't delay the progression, right?  you just get through it and out the other side.

i'm not a doctor - but as i see it - when you start messing with hormones - you're just saying - hmm.  let's delay this for a few years.  i don't want to delay anything.  i want to just see what happens.  is this wrong? 

my heart feels fine.  on 'man against the wild' episode last night - he went into a freezing lake in the alps and showed how to survive it.  perhaps i will resort to this if the hot flashes become too sweaty of a process. 

[timothy42b]

more specific question.  are there natural therapies for, you know, - menopause?  drinking?  minimally? 

Everything is natural.  What could not be? 

If you mean are there herbal products that contain no active chemicals that you could take for these illnesses, sure. 

But they don't work.

Are there herbal products that DO contain active chemicals?  Sure.  Some of our prescription medicines originally came from plants. 

And now you have two problems:  If they work, they have side effects.  In fact, this is how you can tell if any kind of alternate health treatment works - if it has any effect, it also has side effects.  No side effects tells you it's a crock.

Second problem is dose.  300 mg of aspirin is always 300 mg of aspirin.  A pound of willow bark might be 3 mg of aspirin or 3,000, depending on weather, fertilizer, etc. 

There's no free lunch.  Sorry.  You're looking for magic. 

[elspeth]

There are natural therapies for pretty much anything, you just have to do your homework and make sure you don't go to a charlatan who's only after your money. Just because something's 'all natural' doesn't mean it's good for you or your bank balance.

I similarly steer clear of quick-fix painkillers and so on. They have their place, but I subscribe to the theory that if I take a painkiller for a headache, I've still got a headache, I just can't feel it so I still need to sort out the cause of the pain and let my body get over it. If I get pain I take it as a signal something's wrong and I need to figure out what's wrong and sort it out - and the root of it in my case is very rarely anything medicinal.

[pianistimo]

timothy42b, you have just called menopause an 'illness.'  you are now on the side of my mother and aunt.  i shall squirt you with a squirt gun, too.

men don't have to pay for just living.  i don't either.  i refuse to buy 'medicine' for something that is normal. *may plant some interesting plants next year.  like 'black cohash.'  whatever that is!

thank you elspeth.  my thoughts exactly.  we can try something less harsh and prone to cause BAD side effects.  like facial hair.  i don't want to wait to see that happen.

[elspeth]

I also like the philosophy that being healthy and well should be a positive state that you work to support, rather than what most people seem to settle for - 'I'm not diagnosably ill therefore I must be well so I won't bother looking after myself until the doctor says I must because I'm ill'. So I aim to look after myself  - regular exercise, good food, enough sleep, making time for me and for spending time with my friends and family. And the piano, of course... And I'm very lucky to have a job that I adore, that helps. I also make time to go have a massage at least once a month because I have an old back injury that would be a problem if I didn't look after it - so I look after it using something I know works on it. Simple stuff but it makes such a difference...

[pianistimo]

agreed about the supporting an already healthy lifestyle - which i am not suggesting would preclude yearly physicals, etc.  and, testing.  it's just that i believe - like you do - that mental stability and doing positive things really helps a person physically, too.  they seem to work together. 

i kind of know when things are 'stable' and/or when i am taking on too many responsibilities or doing too much.  seems that everyone has a sort of 'balance' that they can find with age - that makes them capable of the long distance sort of running instead of short sprints.

the massage ideas sound great.  my husband and i want to get a massage table so that we don't have to spend money - but just give each other a back rub a couple of days a week for free. *i'll charge him every other day.

[timothy42b]

men don't have to pay for just living.  i don't either.  i refuse to buy 'medicine' for something that is normal. /quote]

I see.  You feel somebody owes you a life full of health and without pain, medication free, just because you are special. 

Get over it.  Aging brings consequences.  You now have menopause.  I have high blood pressure, a bunch of joints that ache (legacy of playing sports with more enthusiasm than skill), eyes that need bifocals, etc. 

I can choose to take medication for the symptoms or I can choose to live with them.

What I cannot do is insist that there MUST be an answer I like better, just because it's OWED to me somehow.  I would like that, but I have to deal with the reality I have, not the reality I'd like to have.

Looking for a healthy lifestyle is a good thing - certainly many of our problems are self inflicted wounds.  But looking for "natural" treatment is believing in magic, and grownups don't do that.

[timothy42b]

Sorry to be really busy - as soon as I get a chance I'll edit that last post to say what I meant without being harsh.  Didn't mean to be offensive. 

Tim

[pianistimo]

you're actually not that offensive!  it's kind of a working out - in my mind - of what the options are.  sometimes doctors only give you the medicine that is available and it might have some unpleasant side-effects.  but, as you say - when you are dealing with something that you might want to 'control' - then you sometimes agree to have the side-effects to deal with whatever it is.  actually, you said that quite well.  i think it is true for a lot of different things (even if we don't call them 'illnesses')

i'm sort of in experimental mode right now.  i want to see if natural things will work for now.  perhaps they won't in the future.  but, i would like to just see how things will work out with a dietary plan that includes those natural things like soy products.

i personally find exercise to relieve a lot of pressures (mentally) that sometimes build up.  just to deal with things that come at me from day to day.  hope that you are able to control the blood pressure - too. seems that life is quite hectic and stressful for a lot of people.  medicine has it's place - and i'm not necessarily against all of it.