Apparently there is a parallel universe inhabited by menopausal women that I neither knew nor cared about…..until I became one. Who knew there was such a market out there for menopausal products? Particularly natural menopause relief products that give natural relief to menopause symptoms.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised - after all menopause is natural!! I was expecting to see specific herbs for menopause - I mean there are herbs for every medicinal problem but no, there was more….

The ones I really liked were the advertisements trying to sell you “natural lubricants to combat menopausal vaginal dryness” Products like coconut oil, vitamin E, acidophilus, comfrey ointment, honey, or olive oil!! I’m not too sure whether you are supposed to eat some of them or use them to lubricate your passage…

It’s true a lot of women do experience vaginal dryness as a menopause symptom. The physical signs of this are pretty obvious but the symptoms are spelt out in case you are not sure what “vaginal dryness” might feel like? Huh?? So they tell you about the dryness, itchiness, irritation, burning and say it might cause some discomfort. Talk about the self-evident.

Don’t you love the way medical people say “this might cause discomfort, or “this may be a little uncomfortable” e.g. when you are having your breast squashed flat between two metal plates during a mammogram or your aforementioned vagina being jacked open when having a PAP smear.  Tell the truth- this is going to be excruciating (referring to the mammogram) but hopefully won’t last long and then you can go out and have a stiff brandy to recover!

Back to description of vaginal dryness – they remind you that it is caused by a decrease in the level of estrogen (or oestrogen). Estrogens keep your passages lubricated (sounds like a car engine additive) & elastic (nothing better than a bouncy vaginal passage) so if the levels fall guess what? Vaginal lubrication and elasticity decreases, and the vagina becomes thinner and more fragile (alternatively they could say the car engine splutters and your passage gets less bouncy!).

And guess what? As in so many cases, the cure is often worse than the complaint. Why do so many natural suggestions sound so boring? I’d love to read “A cure for your problem is a prawn cocktail, followed by a lamb roast and then apple pie- with a couple of glasses of wine”. But no, the cure is always lots of water, a low fat, high fibre diet (often vegetarian), lots of soy products & plenty of water. Booorrrrring!! They might be natural cures for menopause claiming natural menopause relief, but then so is wine…and much more enjoyable! Of course you could go the artificial estrogen route and look at creams, rings & tablets, or even HRT. But that’s for another blog…

If you want to read more about how to treat menopause naturally I found this book very helpful

Menopause Relief: Nature’s top herbal medicines and more!