Think menopause and ‘hot flashes’ are likely the first thing that come to mind.  They are the bane of many a menopausal woman.  In fact, managing them is a big reason many women turn to hormone replacement therapy of one kind or another.

In this article, Carol Leonard, a long time midwife and women’s health advocate, likens HRT for hot flashes to launching nuclear weapons to settle a neighborhood dispute.  And, she offers a number of herbal remedies for those of us suffering from these pesky symptoms.  What’s to lose by giving them a try before going to a more serious arsenal?

Hot flashes (or "Power Surges" for women in the know) and night sweats occur in about 75% of American women; the frequency, intensity, duration of flashes is unique to each individual. They are the result of vasomotor instability. The vasomotor nerves are the body's thermostat controllers. It's their job to regulate body temperature by controlling the diameter of the blood vessels. A disturbance in hormone levels interferes with the signals transmitted to the vasomotor nerves, and prickly hot sensations, dizziness, and sometimes, heart palpitations result. As your system finally adjusts to the lower or different levels of hormones, the symptoms will stop. With the use of herbs and diet, it is possible to exert some control over the length and time of hot flashes and even, in some cases, eliminate them completely. The following suggestions have significantly reduced hot flashes for many women.

•    Herbs - My favorite herb for hot flashes is Motherwort, Leonurus cardaca, which translates from Latin to "Lion-Hearted." (Actually Motherwort, is a a phytoestrogen -- plant-derived estrogen -- and is my choice for many "female complaints," including the crazies.) This showy Eurasian mint with spiky lavender flowering tops and early, large, indented, bright green leaves has naturalized herself in my back field and is perennially present from April to late fall. The bees love her. Motherwort's medicinal component is the alkaloid Leonurine, which is a mild vaso-dilator. The medicinal properties are in the flowering tops and leaves and are soluble in alcohol. Motherwort is common in New England; it is very easy to tincture to extract the medicinal alkaloids.

Here's how: Once you have a positive identification of the plant (you could enlist the expertise of a local root-woman if you're unsure), gather the flowering tops and leaves, being sure to leave at least half of the mother plant and always thanking the plant as you do so. Chop the plant material coarsely, pack fairly tightly in glass jars, then cover with regular, inexpensive 100 proof vodka. Cap tightly. Label with plant name and date and put away in a dark closet for at least six weeks, then pour off the medicinal liquid (decanting) and compost the used plant material. The tincture will last for a long time. You can take half a teaspoon of this tincture up to four times a day when flashing heavily. Expect results in two to four weeks. (NB -- Do not use if you are experiencing menstrual "flooding.")

Motherwort tincture and all of the following natural remedies should be available in your neighborhood health food store or organic co-op.

• Take Dr. Christopher's Change-Ease formula three times a day. This is a formulation of phytoesterol-rich herbs by a master herbalist, available in natural or health food stores.

• Diet - Switch to a grain-based diet and eliminate all sugars and sugar-rich foods including fruit and fruit juices.

• Soy - Adding 50 mg of a soy-based food daily to your diet (such as tofu, tempeh and soy milk) could significantly reduce the incidence of hot flashes. Soybeans contain compounds called isoflavones, a natural plant form of estrogen. Also, soybeans and yams contain a preformed steroidal nucleus so your body can easily manufacture steroids and hormones when you eat them. A typical Asian woman ingests about 30 to 50 mg of isoflavones in her diet daily. The Japanese and Chinese do not have a word for menopausal hot flash in their language.(14)

• Exercise - Daily exercise diminishes hot flashes by decreasing the amount of circulating leutinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), by nourishing the hypothalamus and by raising endorphin levels, which drop when flashing. As little as thirty minutes three times a week can produce positive results.

• Keep Cool - Drink lots of water and herbal teas. Turn down the thermostat, literally. Eat smaller meals, more often. Walk away from aggravating situations. Soak your feet in essential oils of basil or thyme. Breathe deeply. Visualize the heat as Kundalini energy rising up your spine, as the very life-force, Chi, combusting within you. Harness the energy, ride it. Wear silk. Envision polar bears. Put ice on your cheeks. Fan yourself in public. Take your clothes off. Jump into the tub.

• Buy a Safari Hat with the battery-run fan in the front. Print "Red Hot Mama" on the top.

• You could yell, "I'm hotter than a red-assed bee!" That's what my grandmother did every time she had a hot flash (I am entirely serious).

• Vitamins - Take 400-600 IU of Vitamin E daily. Vitamin E supplements have a well-documented and long-standing reputation as a remedy for hot flashes. Be sure to check for freshness when purchasing Vitamin E. Taking rancid Vitamin E will have a negative effect. Use only 100 IU Vitamin E if you have bleeding problems, and only 50 IU if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or rheumatic heart murmur.

•    Take Ginseng (2 mgs daily) to normalize the body's response to hot and cold.

• Drink several cups of Sage tea daily. Use regular garden sage, Salvia officinalis -- you can grow it yourself in your backyard; it's perennial. Harvest only half of the plant in the fall and hang the sage to dry then use one tablespoon of dried sage per one cup of boiling water. Infuse it for 20 minutes. Sage is a "yang" or grounding herb and is renowned for its ability to reduce and eliminate night sweats. The effect is fast acting (NB: Do not use sage for night sweats from nursing -- sage will dry up breast milk.).

• Lastly, a personal opinion here: To prescribe synthetic hormones to eradicate hot flashes is like calling out nuclear weapons to settle a neighborhood dispute.

Lachesis - For when the flashes emanate from the top of your head, are worse just before sleep and immediately upon wakening, and are accompanied by sweating, headaches, or easily irritated skin.

Sepia - When your flashes make you feel weak, nauseated, exhausted, and depressed.

Pulsatilla - If you flash less outdoors, but your flashes are often followed by intense chills and emotional uproar.

Valeriana - If your face flushes strongly during the flash, and you have intense sweating and sleeplessness.

Ferrum metallicum - When your flashes are sudden, your general health is good but ordinary activities bring exhaustion.
Sulfuricum acidicum - If your flashes include profuse sweating and trembling, and are worse in the evenings and with exercise.

Sanguinaria - when your cheeks are red and burning, and your feet and hands feel hot.

Belladonna - When the flash centers on your face, which burns and turns bright red, and you feel restless, agitated, and have palpitations.

Carol Leonard, a “foremother of the modern midwifery movement,” is a New Hampshire certified midwife who has been practicing for over the last three decades. She is the author of her memoir as NH's first contemporary midwife, Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart: A Midwife's Saga, Bad Beaver Publishing, 2008. She is co-founder of the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), which represents all midwives in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and served one term as its president. She is currently building a four-hundred-acre farm in Ellsworth, Maine, named Bad Beaver Farm.  

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