Menopausal Effects On Our Vulvas & Vaginas

Vaginal Atrophy, Atrophic Vaginitis… Hmm, not very positive or friendly sounding words.  As an OB/GYN Nurse working in a variety of clinical settings for years, I heard these terms quite frequently.

My reaction was varied depending on the day, my mood, etc.:

• negative, why do female health matters always seem to be labeled in negative ways
• clinical (see negative above), why does a normal aging function of  a woman’s body get labeled like it was a disease? Women are not supposed to be reproductively capable for life. It only stands to reason that the reproductive parts of our bodies will not always function like a highly fertile 20 year old.
• won’t happen to me… sort of like the won’t get pregnant the first time I have sex or as a teen. We are invincible young people and our vaginas will never get old. Our faces won’t wrinkle. Our boobs won’t sag. Oh yeah, and no grey hairs either!

Ta Da! Time to think about these things as I am now 50 and continue to work with women around their health and health care issues. When I hear the words vaginal atrophy or my clients describing symptoms about their vulvas and vaginas, well, the whole things seems closer to home. At 50 years old I can see the changes in my body, in my reproductive tract, and my general level of energy. (Dorothy may not be in Kansas anymore and I am definitely not feeling 20 anymore!)

Symptoms of vaginal & vulva atrophy can include:

• thinning of the vaginal walls and labia
• shortening and tightening of the vaginal canal making intercourse difficult or impossible
• lack of vaginal moisture (vaginal dryness), vulva dryness
• vaginal  & vulva burning (inflammation)
• spotting of blood after intercourse
• discomfort or pain during intercourse
• pain or burning with urination
• more frequent urinary tract infections
• urinary incontinence (involuntary leakage when you cough, sneeze, laugh, lift that bag of groceries or your grandchild…)

This picture, to me, depicts the Divine Vagina, the Divine Female Reproductive Tract!

So what’s a gal to do to keep her vaginal area comfy and functioning at the capacity she desires at any given time in her peri-menopausal or menopausal life? I have suggestions. They are just that, suggestions. Find what works for you and do it. What works may change over the seasons of the year and at different stages of your life.

My Advice:

Whole food diet: Your body CANNOT function in a healthy manner unless you feed it with the foods nature intended. Yes, for those of you who have listened to me say this for years… decades, I do get sick of hearing myself say it, write it, repeat it over and over. The fact of the matter is your body cells function best with real food. Anything else passing through that trap door on your face and you risk the consequences: unhealthy body including that voluptuous vagina and her friends the vulva, uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. And yes, I will continue to rattle on about whole food eating the rest of my life.

Herbs to THE Rescue: Herbs are foods and will contribute to your whole food lifestyle and your cellular health.

My home made herbal oil infused wild yam lube for all sorts of vaginal needs!

Make a wild yam cream to slather onto your vulva and into your vagina. I made the wild yam lube cream and will share it in a video in my Herbal Online Course for teaching you the basics of starting to make and use your own herbal preparations: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/herbs-for-health-healing/  Join me for this fun, informative, and health liberating 1 week course.

Or buy it from me!

Voluptuous V™ is available now, click here.

Use herbs in tinctures, medicinal strength teas, and capsules to enrich your female organ’s health. Three herbs that I love for female health are stinging nettles, red raspberry leaf, and red clover blossoms. Make use of the plant magic we have in our world to prevent and heal health concerns.

My homemade tinctures for menopausal health. Motherwort is good for hot flashes, moodiness, and a few other common menopausal symptoms. The nettle, red raspberry & red clover tincture is good for cellular health, uterine health, and vaginal atrophy. If you are younger and want to conceive, it makes for a good fertility tonic too!

Avoid synthetic hormones: birth control pills, estrogen replacement, etc. While the short term fix for the inflamed and irritated vagina may seem liberating… the long term consequences are not worth it. Let see: Cancer or an aging vagina… hmm, I’ll work with and around my vagina’s needs thank you very much.

Continue to have a regular sex life. Having sex on a regular basis helps to keep the vagina juicy and the tissues stronger. This makes sense as having sex, having orgasms, enjoying playfulness with your partner releases sexual hormones that keep us younger in more ways than one!

As I walk daily into the menopausal years, I welcome them with open arms. Every season in life brings with it its beauty, its challenges, and the potential for growth as a human being. In the meantime I listen and learn from my elders: what did they do to naturally ease menopausal concerns and welcome their wise woman years? Womanly wisdom is wisdom meant to be shared.

To Learn More About Using Herbs To Contribute To Cellular Health, Reproductive & Menopausal Health, And Longevity Join My Herbs For Natural Health Online Course.

This Is A No Sweat, Straight Forward Class On Making Simple Herbal Medicines And Learning about 3-5 Herbs That Enhance Each Specific Body System For Your Vibrant Health.

I Look Forward To Sharing This Time Honored, Wise Woman Wisdom With You, Paula

Wild Yam at Nature’s Storehouse, Canton, NY

I have praised the virtues of wild yam for menstrual and hormonal health in many blog posts: (this is just 2 of the posts, click the titles to go to the links)

Wild Yam… A Gal’s Best Friend!

Got Heavy Bleeding? Get Wild Yam!

I always recommend Living Earth Wild Yam as it is sold for birth control. It has to be high quality wild yam or it will not work and Living Earth will be out of business. It is a good company to trust.

Living Earth Wild Yam is now available at Nature’s Storehouse in Canton, NY. If you are local and use wild yam it is handy to buy now. If you want to try wild yam to reduce menstrual bleeding, you can do so easily now.

As with any health and healing concern, check with a healer to see if you need other herbs and lifestyle changes to help heal your body.

With heavy bleeding there are many other changes you can make to accentuate the wild yam being effective at reducing estrogen dominance symptoms.

Give me a shout if you need help, locally or via long distance consulting. Cheers!

Wild Yam… A Gal’s Best Friend!

I have praised the virtues of wild yam before.  I am writing to remind you how this blessed, natural plant can help to re-balance your menstrual cycles and female reproductive health.

Things wild yam can do for your fantastic female body: (Men, pass this along to your lady friends, they may just thank you!)

Wild Yams Virtues:

• end menstrual migraines: those pesky migraines that come on when hormones shift with your cycles, say around ovulation and/or around when your moon flow starts,
• helps to bring your menstrual cycle into a more regular rhythm,
• eases PMS,
• lessens cramping at the beginning of your moon flow (will ease cramping post child birthing too!),
• got heavy bleeding issues… wild yam will slow that funky stuff down.  My flow became sporadically heavy after I turned 40.  Wild yam doses daily and my period is a light flow and no more unexpected “gushes” in public soaking through every piece of clothing! Grateful that issue is finished in my life,
• low doses increase fertility, high doses create a birth control effect (without the nasty side effects of synthetic hormones and putting yourself at risk for birth control induced breast cancer, etc.),
• 
• traditionally used to treat threatened miscarriage with uterine contractions present, combined with Cramp bark, Black Haw, or False Unicorn,
• increases the flow of Chi, Life Force Energy, to your reproductive tract. This is a good thing, energy brings healing,
• traditionally used to ease nausea and vomiting in pregnancy*,
• eases menopausal symptoms,
• Got PCOS?  Try wild yam…,
• wild yam is anti-inflammatory and is used for many inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, gall bladder disease, muscle cramps, spasmodic asthma, intestinal cramps, endometriosis, etc.

Wild yam is amazing, on its own, and in combination with other female healing herbs: Stinging nettles, cramp bark, red raspberry leaf, Cramp bark, Black haw, False unicorn, motherwort, black and blue cohoshes…. to name just a few amazing, healing female herbs!

(*Make certain you get help from a skilled herbalist when using herbs during pregnancy.  Keep in mind that herbs are safe, whole foods for our bodies!)

 

Looking For: Females who have used Wild Yam for Birth Control

Hello Ladies,

I am searching out women who have used wild yam for birth control.

I am curious around both success stories and not so successful stories.

I am gathering information to potentially rewrite the booklet for the publishing company:

 

If interested and used Wild Yam for birth control, email me at pyoumell@gmail.com

Thanks and herbal healing blessings to you!

PS  If looking to use wild yam, I suggest this company:  Living Earth.  The product is the correct species of wild yam , the correct dosage, and a reputable company who sells the wild yam for the specific purpose of birth control.  

No, it is not my company.  I live on the East Coast, this company is on the West Coast, USA!     

Got Heavy Bleeding? Get Wild Yam!

Got Heavy Bleeding?  Get Wild Yam!

Heavy bleeding, menorrhagia, is common in early menstruating years, in peri-menopause, and at times when hormones are fluctuating and unbalanced.

(There are a whole host of medical problems that can precipitate menorrhagia but I will stick to simple, hormonal imbalances here.)

Western medicine’s answer to the problem is to regulate a females cycle using synthetic hormones.  Often times this means prescribing birth control pills to teenagers (women of all ages, really) to regulate their cycles.  A teen’s body just started to function in a menstruating way; do we really expect it to function perfectly from the beginning? Should we not let her body settle into what will be normal for her?

When menstrual symptoms persist, I urge females to turn to nature for help.

Getting to the root causes of a female’s heavy bleeding, not covering it up with a synthetic hormone prescription, supports the whole body’s health and healing.

Actions to take:

1.  100% whole food diet – When we feed our bodies whole food, as nature gave them to us, our bodies respond with vibrant health.  This means all physiological processes function as they were meant to.  This means balanced hormonal health and reproductive cycles.

2.  Outdoor exercise, fresh air, and natural light – all three are essential for the optimum function of your body.  Go now: get your boots, sneakers, or flip flops on (depending on where you live on this beautiful planet) and get outside.  Your ovaries, your whole body, will thank you.  Get natural sun light and moon light.  Natural light regulates your hormones.  Nature is amazing.  You are nature.

3.  Sleep – Your body functions best with plenty of sleep, preferably before 10 PM.  This ensures the best natural rhythms of the body.  Human body rhythms follow nature’s rhythms because we are nature.

4. A balanced body weight for you. This means taking into consideration your body size, shape, bone structure, etc.  Adipose tissue produces estrogen and can contribute to hormone imbalances and estrogen dominance, in women. Maintaining a healthy body weight / body composition supports the female body from having heavy menstural flow.

5. Herbs:  There are many herbs that work to balance the female reproductive organs, hormones, cycle… Herbs are food that feed the body cells, nourish your whole body, mind, and soul.  You can take herbs in multi-herb formulas or in single herb healing medicines, depending on what you are trying to nourish and heal.

Remember, herbs are food.  Using herbs is akin to eating fruits and vegetables. Ask a certified herbalist for help finding the formula best suited to your reproductive needs.

I use wild yam, in varying doses to match the natural female cycle and the rising & falling of progesterone, to prevent the gushing bleeding of peri-menopause. Again, wild yam works like a charm.

My menstrual flow is very light (mini pad) except for about 12 hours of moderately light flow and it lasts about 48 hours, sometimes 2 1/2 days.  I was doing the “gush thing” that soaked through pads, clothes, coats, onto car seats, etc.  There were huge clots everywhere.  I am glad to have ended that issue with herbs… wild yam.

The female hormonal cycles:

Wild Yam has also ended my monthly, hormonal-shift migraines. These migraines can happen to women when the estrogen or progesterone levels drop during the monthly cycle.  While this is a normal hormonal drop (see cycle chart above), as hormones do not stay at the same level all month, in some women this shift in hormones can trigger migraines.  Those “beautiful” menopausal years migraines plagued me until I figured out it was an estrogen dominance issue.  Wild Yam to my rescue.

Years ago, I used wild yam as my birth control.  Again, it worked like a charm.

I would recommend you do not use just any wild yam off the store shelves, use Living Earth’s product, and ask for help from a knowlegeable practitioner to know what you are doing with herbs and understanding your body’s fertility cycle.  See below.  AND, read the booklet to know how to take it properly for birth control.  Again, need help, ask.

Below are 2 booklets (The first two are booklets and yes, I have copies of all) and 1 full size book on Wild Yam.  This is good reading to learn the wonders of natural healing; taking self-responsibility for the health of your body.

 

The below company, Living Earth, is the one I have used, personally and for client’s health and healing needs.  I trust this company and their product. Click on image below to visit the company that offers this female balancing herb. Need help, ask.

Blessing of good health, Paula

                                                                                             

Healing Herbs for Females

Herbs are Healing Whole Foods for Your Reproductive Tract

Herbs are amazing, healing tools because herbs are whole foods.  Whole foods nourish each and every cell in your body. 

Whole food eating means feeding our bodies the way nature intended.  This means eating foods in their natural state, as close to the perfectly “whole” state in which nature provides them.  This also means following the natural growing seasons and eating more foods that are locally grown and produced, in season. Whole food nutrition is eating in balance, which in turn keeps the body in balance.  Foods grown naturally develop with the right proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats intended for that particular food.  They contain balanced vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, and enzymes. This natural balance for each food ensures that the body can properly utilize the nutrients.

The effects of moving away from our whole food diet and eating a refined, processed, and convenience food diet are very prevalent in our society.  (Ask me for my educational handout titled Whole Food Eating for an easy introduction to healing body cells with whole food nutrition, pyoumell@gmail.com)

One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedents of chemical therapy over nutrition.  It is substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poison over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of starvation.    Dr. Royal Lee

 As a culture, we have created the same scenario with our healing medicines, including those for healing the female body.  We have moved away from whole, natural medicines to the processed, refined, factory made pharmaceuticals that upset balance in the human body.  Just as refined, factory made food products upset the body’s natural balance.

Herbs, whether ingested as a medicinal infusion, taken as a tincture or in any other form of herbal medicine, are whole foods.  The nutrients in the herbs: vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, and the nutrients yet to be discovered, are utilized by the body cells to cleanse, nourish, and heal each and every body cell.  Herbs specific for the female reproductive tract are nourishing to the reproductive organ’s cells.

So often we get the message from main stream media and medicine:  Do NOT use herbs as they are potentially dangerous.  This is as crazy as saying that eating beets, apples, or any other natural, whole food is potentially dangerous.

When we eat a beet, an apple, some broccoli, or any whole food, our body digests and absorbs the nutrients in the whole food to nourish our cellular health.  The same process of digestion and assimilation of nutrients happens with herbs.  Herbs are whole food; herbs are healing medicine.

Herbs are plants (leaf, root, stems, bark, berries, seeds), like a beet or an apple, that have nutritional and healing properties with affinities for certain tissues.

Herbs for female health are many and each has its own healing purpose.  Used in combination, they create powerful healing energy in the female body.

Some excellent female healing herbs are:

• Stinging nettles
• Red raspberry leaf
• Wild yam
• Chaste tree berry
• Motherwort
• Red clover flower
• False unicorn root
• Passion flower
• Don quai root
• Wild carrot
• Ginger
• Blue and Black cohosh
• Squaw vine
• Black haw
• Yarrow
• Pennyroyal
• Mugwort
• Partridge vine

These herbs balance female hormones, tone and heal the female organs, and add nutrients to every cell in your body.

A simple healing tea I used to make for my roommate, many years ago before I had become a certified herbalist, to ease her menstrual cramps:  chamomile tea with 30 drops of black or blue cohosh tincture.  When she moved into her own apartment, just up the street, she would call me every month and ask me to bring her a jar of this cramp relief tea.

For specifics on which herbs to use for your personal needs, contact an herbalist in your area.  In the Potsdam, NY area?  Give me a shout.

Herbs for healing other organs: (Just to remind you how amazing herbs really are!)

• Saw palmetto for the prostate
• Hawthorne berry for the heart
• Rhubarb root for the colon
• Milk thistle for the liver
• Nettle as a general nutritive herb (Yes, I truly love nettles!)
• Dandelion and burdock root for liver cleansing and nourishment

The list of herbs and the cells / organs they nourish goes on and on.  These are just a very few example of herbs and the cells / organ they have affinities to nourish and promote healing. This healing action happens because the herb adds whole food nutrition to your body cells.  This is the same thing a beet does; feeds your body cells.

Stinging nettles are my favorite herb!  Nettles are a power house of nutrition and healing energy for the whole body.  I add nettles to every combination herbal formula I create. Use nettles in your female healing remedies!

With that said, I recommend you read up on the herb you want to ingest for its nourishing, medicinal abilities.  Learn about the herb and its healing affinities before you make the decision to take it.  Contact your local herbalist for help in choosing the right herb or blend of herbs to add to your whole food dietary plan to promote personal health and healing.

Words from a happy client that demonstrates my point about herbs and whole body healing; that body cells are nourished by ingesting herbs:

Thanks Paula! The herbs you recommended for my peri-menopausal symptoms have really helped! No more migraines, moodiness, or horrible night sweats. After years of challenging health symptoms, I am very happy to be healing with whole foods, including female healing herbs.  Sherry B.

Herbs are whole foods.  Use them wisely for healing your female energy and whole body healing.  Blessings of health, Paula

      

Red clover flower and Red raspberry leave, combined with my favorite herb: Stinging nettles, are the three herbs I recommend for a fertility infusion to drink daily.

Ablation? Is This for Real?

Ablation?  

Seriously?  

Fry the Inside of My Uterus?

Ablation is defined as removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablation). This definition alone, erosive processes??, would make me shudder and stop to think about what was being recommended for my body, my precious uterus.

“Stop your heavy period and restore your life” is NovaSure’s advertising hype for uterine ablation.  Wow, my life needs restoring because I bleed?  Really?

The opening paragraph on the NovaSure’s website is a scary Patriarchal MindSet, PMS as Wise Woman Susun Weed aptly calls it.

Heavy bleeding is a symptom that there is an imbalance in a woman’s body.  Eroding the endometrium will not heal this imbalance.  Correcting the imbalance will heal the heavy bleeding and prevent more complex female health problems down the road of life.

Address the cause not the symptoms.

I would look at the woman’s diet and lifestyle to unravel the causes of her heavy bleeding symptoms.  I would suggest diet and lifestyle changes that were fitting to her unique, individual needs.  I would recommend herbs (wild yam to start) to assist in healing the imbalances in her whole body.  How about easing stress to prevent the cortisol steal that creates female hormonal imbalances?

These lifestyle medicine healing choices make more sense to me than burning away the endometrium, the uterine lining.

 

I am an RN and Holistic Health Educator Healing support person.  I worked in Maternal Child Nursing for 12 years before leaving to focus on Wise Women centered care; holistic health education, and healing support.

I first heard of this uterine ablation while sitting at my healing table working with a beautiful female soul.  She told me she had this procedure 10 years prior, at age 32!  I then gently said, “Wait, what? Please explain that to me again.”  I was shocked to say the least but maintained my compassionate energy.

When I removed myself from standard medical care, I lost track of new procedures created to “solve women’s issues.”  Consequently, I am paying attention again, not to recommend the procedures, but to support women in healing and avoiding such body altering procedures.

Not wanting to make her feel bad for her choice; I opened my ears, heart, and soul and listened to her story.  I was amazed and frustrated at how she was convinced that burning away the inside of her uterus, the endometrium, was just the thing she needed to do to solve all her womanly problems.

I have since heard this story, many times over, and it breaks my heart.  Red tents are needed in every community to remind women of the wisdom of their own body, to listen and hear what the symptoms of heavy bleeding are struggling to tell them.

When will our culture stop viewing menstrual flow as “The Curse,” something to hide and be ashamed of.  When will we once again embrace the life-giving energy that women’s moon flow is.  Menstruation creates the miracle of reproduction… how we all are here!

My wish is to be able to support women in these situations.  By sitting with them, listening to their “her-stories,” and helping them to unravel the causes of the menstrual symptoms.  The body will heal when we remove the cause(s) of the health symptoms and nourish the body back to health with nourishing, Wise Woman supported, life-giving choices.  Lifestyle changes centered on whole food eating, whole health living (lifestyle medicine), and herbs to nourish and heal the woman’s beautiful female organs and her entire body, every cell in her body, would be how I would create a Red Tent for every woman I am blessed to support on their healing paths.