Honora Lee Wolfe
(Excerpted from Menopause, A Second Spring: Making a Smooth Transition with Traditional Chinese Medicine by Blue Poppy Press, Inc.)

Over the next decade, an entire generation of women will pass through the normal transition called menopause. While Western medicine typically offers hormone replacement therapy for the discomforts which may come with menopause, many women cannot or do not wish to take hormones. Traditional Chinese medicine has a great deal to offer these women. Instead of the standard hormone replacement therapy offered by most Western gynecologists, Chinese medical practitioners treat each woman individually, taking into account the whole pattern of each patient¡¯s physical and mental-emotional symptoms. Treatment may include either one or a combination of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, dietary suggestions, and/or specific exercises or lifestyle recommendations.
Gynecology in general is an area in which Chinese medicine shines. Its treatment is humane, without side effects, and relatively inexpensive for a wide variety of disorders. Chinese medicine may be used instead of or in conjunction with Western medicine for the successful treatment of menopausal discomforts. There are, however, many advantages to the use of Chinese medicine during menopause and for a variety of other women¡¯s health complaints.