Natural Medicine For Menopause Post Breast Cancer

By Author: Copa Reena
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Medical menopause following breast cancer treatment is a special category of menopause  Women who were pre-menopausal prior to treatment are often those who suffer the extremes of menopausal symptoms.  In addition, many of the post treatment medications such as Tamoxifen, Femara and Aromasin which affect estrogen levels or its function in the body may contribute to the severity of menopausal symptoms. Symptoms often experienced include severe flushing, sweating, sleeplessness, poor concentration, poor memory, joint aches, weight gain, generalised fatigue, hair loss, predisposition to urinary tract infections and high cholesterol.
There are a range of natural medicines that can help but estrogenic herbs are not recommended if you have had an estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Luckily there are a range of non-estrogenic herbs that help with sweating – Astragalus and Zizyphus for example.  Herbs that calm the nervous system and help with flushing include St John’s Wort, Passionflower, Vervain and others.  Note that St John’s Wort can interfere with medications so ...
... may be contraindicated. Another herb shown to help with hot flushing in menopause is Black Cohosh, however, Black Cohosh can be toxic if taken in high dose. To improve memory and concentration Ginkgo and Bacopa are useful.  Ginkgo is also a blood thinner which may be helpful in avoiding drug side effects such as strokes and clots yet it should be avoided if you are on blood thinning drugs like Warfarin. Be aware there is a range of estrogenic herbs that is commonly recommended in menopause and commonly found in over the counter herbal remedies including Sage, Red Clover, Hops, Ginsengs and Shatavari.
The adrenals make our stress coping hormones and following a breast cancer experience are often overwrought.  This seems to magnify the severity of many menopausal symptoms.  A range of adrenal herbs such as Withania, Siberian Ginseng, Schisandra and others can help. Panax or Red Ginseng is estrogenic and should be avoided. Amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine are also useful to support adrenal function.
Finally it is important to ensure both the bowel and liver are functioning optimally - a sluggish bowel or liver leads to higher levels of estrogens circulating in the body which we want to avoid, secondly flushing and sweating if often worse if the liver is toxic and thirdly because the immunity can be compromised at the gut and liver level. Symptoms of a toxic gut include bloat, wind, a white coated tongue, foul breath, general malaise and bowel motion problems.  If you have a toxic gut you automatically have a toxic liver as there is a back up of toxicity through the portal vein from gut to liver.  Signs of a toxic liver include flushing, sweating (especially between 2 and 4 am), headaches, nausea, lack of appetite or cravings, general malaise. Discussion of a full gut/liver program is beyond the scope of this article but will appear in future articles.
Belle McCaleb is an Adelaide Naturopath, Herbalist, Counsellor, Registered Nurse and Registered Yoga Teacher specialising in Cancer Dietary Support and Hormone Health. For more info go to www.mccalebhealth.com.au