Approach Menopause With Joy .
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 Nov / Dec Vol III No 6.
Sarla Sonawala.
Therapeutics.
` Sep / Phos / Graph / Lach.
Editor: Approach life with joy menopause or otherwise
This is the message Dr. Sonawala has left for us. In her I saw no change in the attitude in life even after Hysterectomy in 1971, it did not slow her at all. Rather she gathered momentum as time went. Her writings through which we know are product of the last 15 years.
Our menopause issue had no article by Dr. Sonawala but she had written extensively on meno-pause - A series of six articles - in Bombay Samachar for the layman.
Dr. Nina Doshi has translated and edited these articles. We are reprinting the translated versions herewith. This however will be the first NJH issue not to carry any poem of hers.
The two most important landmarks in a females life are menarche and menopause. Menopause is an incident which declares the end of the function of the reproductive organs in a female. The phase during which menopause occurs is called the climacteric which can last between 1 to 5 years. The secretion of female hormones gradually reduces. The age at which menopause occurs is independent of the time of start of menses. Heredity and caste are two factors which determine the age of menopause. The average age at which it occurs is usually 45 to 52 years. A healthy mind and body, higher education, independent occupation and the woman strife to equal males may rather postpone the age of menopause. There are three normal ways in which menopause can occur.
- Sudden cessation
- Gradual reduction of flow till it finally stops.
- Stoppage after a series of delayed menstrual cycles.
Profuse flow lasting for long duration is an abnormal presentation of menopause. Artificial menopause can be a result of excision of both the ovaries surgically.
Common causes of concern in females during this phase are:
Dwindling of breast, uterus and ovaries. The body may turn barrel shape due to accumulation of layers of fat around the waist and hips. Pigmented spots and warts (specially around nape of neck), constipation, flatulence, palpitations, hot flushes and hypertension.
A classical presentation of females in this phase of life is - an aging woman with a romantic novel in her hand and a box of chocolate nearby! This may be the reason for the obesity. Reassurance can be one of the best treatments one can offer in most cases.
A natural acceptance of the situation would help tide over this phase with less apprehension. This is the time when the woman is free from responsibilities and it presents her with a golden opportunity to share her time with her grand-children, entertaining them with fairy tales and spending time in hitherto evasive creative or intellectual pursuits. But adversely affected are those females who are dissatisfied and suffer from inferiority.
The fear that this is the end of everything, makes her a neurotic and a psycotic. The female strives hard to retain her youth. Mental symptoms like lack of concentration, forgetfulness, irritability, anger with insanity and sobbing and sighing in certain females are occasionally seen.
Hot flushes, sweating, shivering may cause insomnia - but a resort to sedatives, alcohol and smoking should be avoided. External hormones which are given to postpone menopause carry the risk of cancer.
Simple boiled food, vegetables, fruits provide the necessary nutritional support and prevents constipation and obesity. Fitness through exercise and walking relieves constipation, stiff joints and muscle pains.
Few Important Remedies:
Lachesis: Females who complain of steam running through the whole body, high blood pressure, with headache leading to unconsciousness, pale face, hot vertex, palpitation, constriction of chest, angina, brain hemorrhage leading to paralysis of left side, feel better with onset of menses. A talkative, jealous, possessive female who is a good administrator and manager but lacks that mystique feminity. A divorcee who leads either as a woman liberator or spends time with religious leaders and at religious places. The female detests tight clothes.
Graphites: For obese females with scanty menses. Those whose weight reduces without apparent cause with irregular menses and pain in abdomen. Just as Pulsatilla is a remedy for puberty - Graphites is for climacteric. Bulging abdomen, enlarged loose breast, round but pale face, lachrymation, agglutination of eyelids, falling of eyelashes and dry cracked skins with various skin problems, easy suppurations. Delayed menses, dysmenorrhoea, spotting, scanty flow, leucorrhoea instead of menses. Alopecia areata, dandruff, brittle nails, gastric ulcers, gall stones are problems seen in females. Nervous apprehensions with easy weeping even on hearing good music.
Phosphorus: Irregular profuse flow in thin tall women. Early menses - at times twice a month. Vicarious menses. For graceful tall delicate females with menorrhagia. May be associated with fibroids. Burning of palms and soles. Sudden sparks in the body are common. For creative intellectual females who somehow do not have a satisfied sex life. Craves salty, sour and tasty food.
Sepia: For middle class females who have slogged throughout their life. Who have undergone frequent child bearings. Have started losing hair on heads. Complaints of irregular menses, profuse or scanty, pale, anaemic look. Butterfly pigmentation of face. Pot bellied mothers. Prolapse of uterus with cysts or constipation. Milk causes diarrhoea. Nausea, Belching aggravated by fasting. Likes tasty food. Females constantly taunting their husbands. Beats children and a general state of tension prevails in her house.
Do not espouse a Sepia spouse
Else you will have ample time to grouse
If you two are such
You will blow up your house.
She lacks sex drive. Coition is painful. Cervical ulcer. Yellow leucorrhoea. Stiffness of joints and painful heels are other common manifestations of the Sepia female.
Dr. SARLA SONAWALA
Bombay Samachar Series
Edited and Translated by:Dr. NINA DOSHI.
