Alternative and complementary therapies for the menopause

Abstract

Despite a re-evaluation of risks in recent years, hormone replacement therapy is still surrounded by controversy. Almost 30% of women in a recent survey sought a natural approach to combat climacteric symptoms. Nevertheless, a large proportion of patients felt that they wanted a good safety profile and strong evidence base for treatment. This article seeks to review the evidence supporting non-hormonal approaches to treatment. There is only conflicting evidence at best to support alpha-2 agonists, e.g. clonidine and limited evidence for dihydroepiandrosterone and natural progesterones. There is limited randomized controlled trial data for gabapentin, selective norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), many of these studies being related to breast cancer patients. Of the herbal medicinal products, the largest evidence base rests with phytoestrogens. A Cochrane Database review looking at all types of phytoestrogens, e.g. red clover extracts, dietary soya and soya extracts concluded that there was no evidence to support improvement in climacteric symptoms and the meta-analysis of a 178 studies on soy products was inconsistent. Nevertheless, other studies disagree. Mammographic density is not affected by soy or phytoestrogen products and recent in vitro work shows only a weakly proliferative effect of soy isoflavone on breast cancer cells and evidence that soy isoflavone blocks the proliferative effect of estradiol on these cells. There are no studies looking at clinical outcome measures for cardiovascular disease but a number of studies looking at biochemical markers including arterial wall stiffness and apolipo protein B. Recent studies have also looked at the effects of red clover isoflavone on mood and depression, using specific depression rating scales. Finally, it is important to note that herbal medicinal products should not be used without caution. Some may produce quite marked side-effects in high doses and others can interact with pre-existing medication. A strategy for which patients are suitable for herbal medicinal products is reviewed.

Pregnancy, Hormonal Treatments for Infertility, Contraception, and Menopause in Women After Ischemic Stroke

“…None of these alternative therapy studies examined their benefit on vascular prevention, but a number have reported that biochemical markers including arterial wall stiffness and apolipoprotein B are influenced by alternative treatment. 48 It has been reported that gabapentin which does not increase vascular risk, can reduce hot flushes 49 .…”

The effectiveness of herbal medicines in the management of menopause

“…кафедры перинатологии, акушерства и гинекологии Харьковской медицинской академии последипломного образования П роблема перименопаузальных рас-стройств выходит за рамки исключитель-но медицинской. Поскольку общей тенденци-ей является увеличение продолжительности жизни женского населения и постепенное увеличение доли старших возрастных групп, то необходима коррекция комплекса нару-шений в период менопаузы для продления творческого долголетия [7,12,14]. Наиболее частыми ранними расстройствами являются приливы, потливость, бессонница.…”

“…Основным веществом с эстрогенным действием, содержащимся в хмеле, является 8-пренилнарингенин -наиболее сильный по действию из всех известных фитоэстрогенов. В эксперименте он продемонстрировал почти в 40 раз большую тропность к α-рецепторам, чем к эстрогенным рецепторам типа β [7]. 8-Пренилнарингенин снижает уровень фол-ликулостимулирующего и лютеонизирую-щего гормонов [9].…”

Should we give up hormone treatment in menopause?

“…Moreover, soya particularly reduced endometrium and ovary cancer risk and had cholesterol lowering effect (32) . But failing to evaluate their side effects in estrogen sensitive tissues clearly and requirement for more extensive studies on this case has limited the usage of such products (33) .…”