THE MENOPAUSAL SYNDROME AND AYURVEDA

Hello friends.Today's post is on menopausal syndrome.Here we will see what is this syndrome all about ,all sign, symptoms and Ayurvedic aspects with Ayurvedic treatments.
So let's start.

WHAT IS MENOPAUSE

It is the point at which ovaries stop their function of producing ova and stop release of female harmones estrogen and progesterone.In simple words it means woman can no longer become pregnant .It is said that woman reached to her menopause when she miss her 12 consecutive menstrual cycles.And also she feels somewhat signs of menopausal syndrome. Basically all signs and symptoms are directly related with decline in estrogen harmone.And all these signs and symptoms starts at premenopausal or menopausal transition phase.This is the phase when women gradually moves towards complete stoppage of menstruations​. After that particular full stop point of menopause,next phase starts called postmenopausal  phase. Premenopausal phase can start in 40s and lasts up to 50th year ,but there is no specific rule or investigation to predict when will woman reach her menopause.Thus premenopausal phase can last for 5years or more up to ten years.Though the average age of menopause is 50years old still it can occur as early as in 30s or as late as in 60s.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSAL SYNDROME

Intensity of all signs and symptoms of this syndrome​ is highly individual.That means if one is suffering with severe conditions then other may not even realise her premenopausal phase.common symptoms are,

1)HOT FLASHES -
It is a vasomotor symptom which comes along with drop in body's level of harmone estrogen.It is a sudden warmth that's most intense across head and chest.It can be last for 30seconds or more up to 10minutes.Also there can be excessive sweating or reddened skin.

2)MENSTRUAL DISTURBANCES-
This disturbance is only because ovaries make less and less estrogen, progesterone harmones which regulates monthly periods.There can be increased or decreased bleeding. Shortening or prolongation of time period can also occur.

3)MOOD SWINGS-
This is the most troublesome symptom.Women say that they want to cry without any reason.They get disturbed with little bit of stress,feel irritated all the time,never feel fresh.Also anxiety is present there.

4)OSTEOPOROSIS-
  This is a sign which shows its prominence after menopause that is at post menopausal phase.As estrogen is essential to absorb calcium in bones , it's decline causes bone thinning or porous bones.These porous bones can break down very easily and it can become a tendancy to break down.

5)VAGINAL DRYING-
Due to the lack of feminine harmones vaginal secretions get reduced. Women  feel dryness ,sometimes etching, burning at vagina.

Now we will see what Ayurveda says about this troubling phase of every woman's​ life.

AYURVEDIC VIEW ABOUT MENOPAUSAL SYNDROME-
According to Ayurveda it is a rasadhatu  dushti.Let me explain what is rasadhatu. We all know that 'cell' is a basic structure of our body or we can say cells are building blocks of our body. Similarly Ayurveda has mentioned seven building blocks of body.We call them dhatu.Ras,rakt,mansa,med,asthi,majja, shukra these are all seven dhatu. Rasadhatu is the first dhatu which is generated from aahar ras or simply nutritional diet digested at digestive system.Then rasadhatu provides nourishment to next dhatu named raktdhatu and so on dhatu gives birth or nourishment to his very next dhatu in above given sequence.There is specific mentioning in Ayurveda about which disease does the particular affected dhatu can cause.Also all these seven dhatu has specific functions.Ayurveda mentioned preenanam (प्रीननम्) as the main function of rasadhatu. What is mean by preenanam?It includes many terms.
Preenanam means providing appeasement that is to give aggressive power to keep peace. To do mollification​ that is to make soft in feelings. To quench that means making satisfied by cooling.To conciliate means to stop being angry. Alleviation​ that is making problems less severe.Restoration that is to return something to its original state by cleaning or repairing. Endurance that is to provide tolerance to remain active for long period of time. Pampering means making as comfortable as possible by providing luxury. Sustenance that means maintaining nourishment and providing livelihood. This is how our Acharya included all these terms in a single word very cleverly. Now to make it quiet easier to understand I will compare rasadhatu with modern concepts. These are not exact the same terms but we are comparing them in rational manner. All liquid part of body that is plasma and some harmonal secretions can be included in rasadhatu.Rasadhatu also produces two updhatu or subtypes which are not actually building blocks of body but are with little different Constitution and function.These two are stanya(स्तन्य) and raja (रज)that is breast milk and menstrual bleeding.
Now it is very clear that why premenopausal women suffer with all this syndrome. All above functions​ of rasadhatu got affected and women feels hot flashes,feels mood swings,dryness , upset mind,generalised body weakness ,irritation,lack of tolerance.At the point when menstrual bleeding stops permanently rasadhatu stops it's function of producing raja(रज) and thus stoppage of its function of restoration that is returning something to original place by cleaning and repairing. Then as one dhatu provides nourishment to his next dhatu, the result of affected rasadhatu shows all rakt, mansa ,ashti  dhatu dushti one by one causing aneamia , hyperacidity, hypertension, abnormal thyroid functions,fibroid uterus and the very common osteoporosis.

AYURVEDIC TREATMENTS FOR MENOPAUSAL SYNDROME-

  Before thinking about treatments for the syndrome,it should be kept in mind that stoppage of menstrual bleeding is not a disease but is a very natural phenomenon. So all treatments are just to minimise severity of signs ,symptoms and to avoid further complecations.
Acharya charak has given some common reasons for rasadhatu dushti  that is common causes of affected rasadhatu-

गुरु शीतम अतिस्निग्धम अतिमात्रं समशनतां।
रसवाहिनी दुष्यन्ति चिंत्यनाम च अतिचिन्तनात।।

In this Sanskrit shlok he mentioned that if one is taking much cooled things like freezed water or coldrinks or any freezed food,or if taking so much oily spicy food,or eating too much in quantity,or doing so much worries all the time then it will cause rasadhatu dushti. And then it will lead you to all above pathogenesis we had seen.
So basically​ when women reach to their 40s, they should give time to themselves.  Follow your routine very strictly.Include good habits like exercises in your routine. Try to keep your body flexible and keep calcium products in diet to avoid osteoporosis and frozen joints. Take healthy and in sufficient amount of food. Add high protein diet to your meal.All vegetables and fruits are good for you. Try to remain happy in all situations and  try to fulfill hobbies so that  you will no longer feel overstressed.
After then only it comes to medicines.
SHATAWARI KALP is the best medicine for this age women.Take two tsp SHATAWARI KALP in one cup of milk, add one tsp ghee to it and take it every night.Kashmari fruits are also very useful. Boil them with milk and then have that milk with added sugar. Also RASAPACHAK WATI  one tablet twice a day for ten days.Jatamansi fant is the medicine to Keep you calm and stress  free. Put jatamansi powder in a glass of water for overnight and drink it at morning after draining. Other medicines can be taken on symptomatic basis according to opinion of a Ayurvedic doctor. So if one is suffering with menopausal syndrome badly then she must go to any expert ayurvedic doctor​ to consult and treat  all such problems.