Management of Menopause and Perimenopause: Integrative Medicine in Support of Wellness
Since antiquity, menopause has been a marker of transition in a woman’s life. Despite all of the changes that have occurred in modernity, the age that menopause occurs has shifted very little. The median age at menopause among women from industrialized co
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Management of Menopause and Perimenopause: Integrative Medicine in Support of Wellness Katherine Gergen Barnett, Marcia Klein-Patel, and Judith Balk
Introduction Since antiquity, menopause has been a marker of transition in a woman’s life. Despite all of the changes that have occurred in modernity, the age that menopause occurs has shifted very little. The median age at menopause among women from industrialized countries ranges between 50 and 52 years [27], and while there is slight evidence of increasing age at menopause over time and global variations [17], our mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers generally hit menopause at this same time in their lives. What is different today, however, is that women are often living another 30 years (greater than one-third of their lives) after they transition to menopause. While it is well known that there are many bothersome symptoms that women may experience during the perimenopausal and menopausal stages of their lives, this time can also be an enormous opportunity and invitation to wellness for women. Integrative medicine offers some options for women to both mitigate the bothersome symptoms of menopause and support their wellness as they journey through this phase of life. Integrative medicine, as defined by The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, “reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing.” Though
K.G. Barnett, MD (*) Department of Family Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. Klein-Patel, MD, PhD Department of OB/GYN, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA, USA J. Balk, MD, MPH Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA, USA © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 L. Pal, R.A. Sayegh (eds.), Essentials of Menopause Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42451-4_5
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rooted in ancient healing practices such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the field of integrative medicine also incorporates evidence-based approaches from modern medicine and is recognized by academic health institutes and large research bodies, nationally and internationally. The aim of integrative medicine is not always to fix, but rather to heal, and though it will use pharmaceutical intervention when needed, practitioners of integrative medicine also look toward lifestyle interventions, such as nutrition and stress reduction, to bring wellness to an individual. This chapter will focus mostly on integrative medicine modalities to ameliorate vasomotor (VMS) and other menopausal symptoms and on the basic strategies for supporting women’s wellness during this rich, reflective time in their lives. At the risk of being repetitive, this chapter also includes a brief overview o
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