Menopause Metamorphosis

Free Teleseminar: Menopause 101: Menopause for Beginners

Free Teleseminar:
Menopause 101: Menopause for Beginners with Susun Weed
Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 9:00 PM Eastern
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Are you ready for menopause, the second puberty? Are your hormones packed? Are your green allies standing by? Have you started your butterfly collection?
Join 77 year-old herbalist, grandmother, and green witch Susun Weed as she helps you pack for the journey of a lifetime, the metamorphosis from fertile woman to wise old woman. You’ll discover just how easy it is to have strong bones, a hearty heart, flowing hormones, and juicy joints for the rest of your life.
Instead of expounding on favorite themes or interviewing a guest, Susun is dedicating this teleseminar to YOU. She envisions it as a time and space for you to share your menopause story and ask your menopause questions. As always, there will be songs and memories, sisterhood and wisdom.

This event is part of Menopause Month (October 2023) and a celebration of selling one million copies of New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way.

Click for more info and to Register:
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/menopause
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Herbs for Hags

Herbs for Hags
c. 2007 Susun S. Weed

 

I'm so glad I'm finally old. Sadly, many of my friends don't like me to use that word. They say they don't want to be "old." I think what they really mean is they don't want to be the kind of old that's infirm and dependent. I agree.

Vigorously old, excitingly old, sensuously old, daringly old -- those are the adjectives I like to apply to myself as an old woman.

Toward the goal of remaining vigorous, exciting, sensuous, and daring for many more decades, I pay close attention to the food I eat and the medicines I use, and don't use. So you may be as vigorous, exciting, sensual, and daring as you wish to be, too, I'll be here in every issue to share my thoughts and choices about health and nourishment.

As you know, I love plants; I'm an herbalist. I use herbs to flavor my food, to provide optimum nourishment, and to prevent and deal with a variety of both minor and major ills. Of course, I'll be sharing lots of herbal lore with you. But I want to do much more than that. I want to share people's medicine with you. I want to help you make sense of medicine. I want to help guide you through the confusing, conflicting choices in health care. Simply. Safely. Effectively. And with joy.

 

The Seven Medicines

Let's start with one of my three best ideas: The Seven Medicines. This sorting system for remedies helps me get a sense of the safety of any type of treatment.

The safest medicine is Serenity Medicine, also called "Do Nothing." It includes meditation, sleep, deep relaxation, even idleness. Rest cures, going fishing, and time away from responsibilities are also Serenity Medicine.

The next safest medicine is Story Medicine, also called "Diagnosis." Here we collect information. Ideally, figuring out the nature of our problem is done without dangerous hi-tech techniques such as x-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, and exploratory surgery. Remember that every story/diagnosis implies and leads to a treatment. The story (and the plan of action) you'll get from an acupuncturist will differ significantly from the story (and drugs) an MD will give you for the same problem.

Only slightly more dangerous is Mind Medicine or Energy Medicine; some call this "Placebo Medicine." Anything that engages our mental ability to heal is included here, from flower essences to psychic healing.

Lifestyle Medicine speaks to the ways we "Nourish and Tonify" and, while generally quite safe, is more dangerous than the previous three Medicines. What we eat, what we wear, where we work, how we use our bodies, and how we amuse ourselves are all part of this Medicine.

The first four Medicines build health, even if they don't cure; and they frequently do cure, while causing minimal harm. The last three Medicines always harm, even if only slightly, even if they can create miracles of healing.

The fifth Medicine is Alternative Medicine; the action is "Stimulate and/or Sedate." Alternative Medicine includes herbal medicine, naturopathic medicine, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and many more specialities. Unless used wisely, these medicines have the potential to do serious harm. At the least, they excite or depress us by using, but not replacing, our core energy.

The sixth Medicine is Pharmaceutical Medicine. Drugs, as we are all aware, are fraught with problems and side-effects. In fact, one of the leading causes of death in the United States is reaction to prescribed drugs. Pharmaceutical Medicine is not limited to prescription drugs, nor to products of the pharmaceutical industry. Essential oils, supplements, and most encapsulated herbs are so drug-like in their actions that they share the dangers of drugs.

The last, and most dangerous of the Seven Medicines, is Hi-Tech Medicine, or "Break and Enter." While surgery and other hi-tech techniques can work miracles, the harm done by this last medicine can be fatal, permanent, and disfiguring. The amount of hi-tech diagnosis that is currently done is truly scary. Using the first four Medicines not only prevents the need for Hi-Tech Medicine in most instances, it also improves our ability to benefit from -- and protects us against the harms of -- Hi-Tech Medicine if we do choose it.

Serenity Medicine, Story Medicine, Mind Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine can be used daily to build health. Alternative Medicine, Pharmaceutical Medicine, and Hi-Tech Medicine are best reserved for acute, immediate emergencies.

 

Bone Health and the Seven Medicines

Many postmenopausal women fear breaking a hip. This fear is promoted by Pharmaceutical Medicine, assisted by Hi-Tech Medicine, and disseminated by advertising which increases fear and claims safety comes from bone scans and drugs. In one ad, we are told that taking a certain drug will cut our risk of a hip fracture in half. Sounds good, unless you realize that the risk for most postmenopausal women is only two percent. Cutting that by fifty percent brings the risk to one percent -- only one percent lower than the risk of women who don't take the drug. And the drug does nothing to improve bone health. Women are frightened into agreeing to use Pharmaceutical Medicine to counter osteoporosis. But increasing bone mass does not reliably prevent fractures, nor does it improve health. In fact, postmenopausal women with high bone density are far more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Drugs don't improve health, they improve test scores.

Calcium supplements may sound like an alternative, but they are pharmaceutical medicine, too; and women who take them are actually more likely to break a bone than those who get their calcium from food..

What can we do if we want healthy bones that flex instead of breaking? Don't begin with a Hi- Tech diagnosis, for starters. Instead, start with Serenity Medicine. A short daily meditative practice helps us be more alert to the inner and outer landscapes, improves our stability and gives us better grounding. Fewer falls definitely translates into fewer broken hips.

Then engage Story Medicine. Change fear into action. Collect information about your bones without scans. How? The more flexible and toned the muscles are, the stronger and more flexible the bones they attach to are. Your overall flexibility is a window of insight into the health and flexibility of your bones.

Mind Medicine offers us a shaman's playground of mind-over-matter techniques, including prayer, visualization, homeopathic remedies, and Reiki, to name but a few. Just imagining our bones as sturdy and strong actually helps make them so.

And be sure to treat your bones to Lifestyle Medicine. To keep my bones healthy I: eat a quart of yogurt a week, drink a quart of nourishing herbal infusion each day, eat plenty of well-cooked greens from the cabbage family, regularly use mineral-rich herbal vinegars, practice yoga weekly, walking daily, do tai chi several times a week, and pump iron at the local gym for at least an hour a week. These Lifestyle Medicines don't just prevent a broken hip, they improve my overall health. They help make me a vigorous, exciting, sensuous, and daring old woman.

 

Reweaving the Healing Cloak of the Ancients

I hope I have your ear, and your interest. I want to help you reclaim the power of your own health. In future issues we'll talk more about healthy bones, healthy hearts, healthy libidos, and Wise Woman Ways to make old age fun.

Come with me. Let us sit at the feet of the old wise women and listen to their stories. Let us knit the yarns they spin into our own lives. Together, let us reweave the healing cloak of the Ancients.

 

For more read Susuns book New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

 

Personal Mentorship with Susun Weed

Personal Mentorship with Susun Weed!

Beautiful, new, custom-built mentorship website!
As a mentored student, you’ll open the door to exclusive content, special photos, new videos, private talks with me, bi-weekly group zoom meetings, recipes, bonus gifts, and lots more.
The new site is a basket overflowing with green wisdom from my heart to yours: easy access to new and old workshop talks, lots of plant monographs, my radio show archives (including HealthyLife and Time Monk), and so much more.
Everything you need to learn your way.
Let’s explore green blessings together and have fun.
Susun

Register here: www.wisewomanmentor.com

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Herbal and Home Remedies That Prevent Memory Loss

Herbal and Home Remedies That Prevent Memory Loss

Excerpt from: New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

Even a single family member who is senile or afflicted with Alzheimer's is enough to make anyone dread the possibility. Since women have always lived longer than men, the Ancient Grandmothers have a thing or two to tell us about how to keep our memory sharp until the day we die (at 100+). These remedies are taken from my book New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way. They are arranged in order of safety, with the safest first and the most dangerous last.

“Touch my face, granddaughter,” murmurs Grandmother Growth. “Feel the lines that time has worn. Each line tells a story. Feel the lines in my palms. Every line is a memory. Close your eyes and travel with me to your ovaries, real or energetic. They are your memory baskets. When you feel forgetful, close your eyes and journey to the place of memories. Touch your face, your palms, return to this place, and retrieve the memory you want.”

“And, dearest,” Grandmother's voice sighs with the wind, “Remember yourself.”

• Improve your memory fast with meditation. Start with five minutes a day. You can do it! Breathe out.

• Researchers doing double-blind studies on treatments for those with memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s, consistently note that placebos generate a very strong response. In one instance, those on the placebo did so well that it was suspected that they did not have sufficient impairment at the beginning of the study. So get a bottle, label it “Memory Pills,” fill it with candy or nuts, and take one every time you forget to.

Ginkgo biloba tincture has been well studied for the treatment of those dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia. In one study, those taking the leaf extract, 27 percent maintained cognitive functioning and memory, while 86 percent of the placebo group lost functioning. CAUTION: Ginkgo increases aspirin’s blood-thinning effects.

Mental exercise (word puzzles, reading, writing) and physical exercise are important aspects of nourishing and tonifying the brain and memory. Memorize poetry and recite it for friends. Volunteer for community theater and memorize your part. The more you use your memory, the stronger it will be.

• Lower your blood pressure and improve your memory. In a study of 200 men and women, those with even moderately high blood pressure (164/89) had more memory problems than those with normal blood pressures. A dropperful of motherwort tincture (Leonurus cardiaca) daily dependably lowers blood pressure and can generally be used safely with drugs if desired. (Do not use capsules of any herb while you are taking a drug.)

• My father has been taking 400 IU of d-alpha tocopherol (supplement form of vitamin E) and 2- 3 dropperfuls of ginkgo tincture (not capsules) since his non-Alzheimer's dementia was first apparent, more than fifteen years ago. His doctors remain amazed at the glacial pace of his losses.

• Think taking estrogen will save your memory? Think again. The largest (120 women) scientifically rigorous study (Journal of the American Medical Association, January 23, 2000), found 80 percent of the women taking estrogen replacement (and 74 percent of the women taking a placebo) had less memory, less ability to perform daily tasks, and less cognitive functioning after fifteen months of treatment.

Excerpt from:
New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/new-menopausal-years

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Emotional Uproar

Emotional Uproar

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

Step 1. Collect information . . .

Premenstrual, pregnant, premenopausal, and menopausal women rage and weep. Like it or not, you'll probably find your emotions harder to control as you enter your menopausal years. Men given hormone therapy (against prostate cancer) weep and rage too!

Step 2. Engage the energy . . .

* Take time for yourself when you find yourself crying, yelling, raging, depressed, out of control. Create your own sacred space, even in a closet, where you can be alone, without responsibilities, where you can be safe to have every one of your feelings.
* Begin (or deepen your commitment to working with) a journal as a way to care for yourself and your emotions. The Change is an opportunity to value your emotional self and to nourish all of your feelings, from grief to bliss, rage to outrageous.
* Universal healing energy can help when your emotions are roaring. Channel it through your hands to your heart or womb; hold yourself.

Step 3. Nourish and tonify . . .

* My remedy of choice for women dealing with premenstrual emotional uproar is motherwort - the calm, fierce-hearted mother who helps you find your center in the wildest of emotional storms. A dose of 5-15 drops taken several times when you're upset will bring calmer feelings quickly. A dose of 10-30 drops taken twice a day for a month can help prevent mood swings.
* Let a cup of garden sage tea with honey restore your emotional center and soothe your irritated nerves. It is even said to cure insanity and relieve hysteria. In Chinese herbal practice, honey is used (in tea, not cooked) to soften the energy of the liver when it is hardened by rage, frustration, and anger.
* Pamper yourself. Get a massage. Cuddle with someone you love.
* Moods don't swing so much in women who nourish their nerves and even out their blood sugar levels with lots of calcium.
* Slow-acting liferoot flower tincture (5 drops) or slower-acting vitex berry tincture (25-40 drops), taken daily for a week or two premenstrually for several months will help you unravel your emotional snarls.
* Black cohosh root tincture eases menopausal flashes and is said to cure hysteria, too. Try 10-20 drops once or twice a day for a month.
* Keep a piece of licorice or ginseng root handy to chew on when you feel like chewing someone's head off.

Step 4. Stimulate/Sedate . . .

* Valerian root, as a bath or tincture (15-20 drops as needed) is a powerful sleep-inducing sedative that also eases uterine cramps. Avoid long-term use.

Step 5b. Use drugs . . .

* Feeling moody? Mood-altering drugs, legal (tranquilizers, anti-depressants, alcohol, coffee, cigarettes) or illegal (cocaine, opium), create dependence.

Step 6. Break and enter . . .

* Psychoactive plants (such as marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, and mescaline), when taken in a safe setting, offer radically different results than mood-altering drugs. Instead of dependence, they foster self-worth, helping the individual to break open new neural pathways and establish easier flows of emotions and energy through both the physical and subtle bodies.

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/new-menopausal-years

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Five Easy Things you can do Now to help Prevent Breast Cancer.

Five Easy Things you can do Now to help Prevent Breast Cancer.

1. Be more active

Evidence continues to accumulate that a vigorous lifestyle is one of the best ways to cut breast cancer risk. A study of 20,624 Norwegian women found those who exercised or worked out regularly cut their breast cancer risk by 72%. (NEJM, 5/1/1997)

For breast health I walk every day, take a weekly yoga class, and do tai chi twice a week.

2. Eat more unrefined seed foods

All seeds provide phytoestrogens. Women who eat the most phytoestrogenic foods are four times less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those who eat the least. "No study has shown a degree of risk reduction similar to that found for phytoestrogens ..." (Lancet, 10/4/1997)

Whole grains such as wheat, rice, corn, kasha, millet, and quinoa are unrefined seed foods. Beans such as lentils, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, and chickpeas are unrefined seed foods. Nuts including peanuts, walnuts, almonds, and pecans are unrefined seed foods. And edible seeds such as sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin are unrefined seed foods. Fruits and vegetables that are eaten with their seeds - such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi fruit, summer squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers - count as unrefined seed foods. Even seeds used as seasonings count, such as cumin, coriander, caraway, anise, and dill seeds.

For breast health, I have replaced all refined carbohydrates - including white rice and white/unbleached flour products such as pasta, bread, cookies, crackers, pretzels, bagels, donuts, and cakes - with whole grain products.

3. Eat less vegetable oil; increase animal fat, especially from dairy products

"Diets high in corn oil leave animals especially vulnerable to chemically induced cancers" say researchers. (Science News, 6/24/89; 10/2/99) Frightening as this statement is, it is not true only of corn oil but of all vegetable (or seed) oils including those made from soy, sesame, sunflower, cottonseed, flax, and hemp. ....

Read the whole article here:
www.susunweed.com/Article_Prevent_Breast_Cancer.htm

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Look for lots more tips for keeping your breasts healthy in my book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way. ..
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/breast-cancer-breast-health

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Have you received a cancer diagnosis?
Join Susun Weed in a new course that includes personal experiences, herbal allies, nutrition, and much more.
Learn how you can help yourself live with and heal from cancer the Wise Woman Way.
www.wisewomanschool.com/p/cancer-diagnosis-mini-course-workshop

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Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

• Ease stressed nerves, relieve anxiety
Motherwort calms, supports, and strengthens you the way the smell of your mother did when you were very young. Used regularly, motherwort feeds your nerves and your good common sense, relaxing and unclenching any held tension. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Ask motherwort to be your ally in tough times, in shaky times, in grief-filled times.

Try 10-20 drops (tincture from fresh flowering plant) as soon you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.

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Join Susun Weed with her easy video based courses.
Learn how to be happy, healthy, and empowered.
No testing, no effort, just watch, listen and learn.
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Herbal alternatives to Hysterectomy

Dearest Susun,

So I'm about to undergo an hysterectomy ( I have two tumors in my cervix and a large cyst on right ovary (So what would you suggest at this point ( I'm not comfortable with it but I just am very concerned I've also had 3 blood transfusions in the last year and I'm  anemic now  so I guess I'm wondering what you would suggest. Go ahead with the hysterectomy or hold off?.... Please help if you can.

Hello,

Doctors are very quick to go for hysterectomies. Certainly there are times when it is necessary, but if at all possible, it is best to avoid. Have you tried anything to help with the bleeding? How are you bleeding? Have you been able to try anything to help with it? Shepherd's purse tincture, cotton root bark tincture, Lady's Mantle tincture are all herbal preparations that can help with flooding. Paying close attention to diet to help with iron levels, eating cooked nettles, cooked dandelion leaves, organic red meat, especially liver, eggs, drinking daily infusions especially nettles to help and red raspberry infusions .... Read more about infusions here:http://nourishingherbalinfusions.com/

From Susun in regards to bleeding: "The most effective blood-stopping herbs that I know of are: 
Shepherd's purse (tincture of the fresh plant): midwives swear it stops uterine hemorrhage in seconds. I used it to stop a thirty day bleed during my menopause. (Took about 12 hours to do it.) Many women have told me it has saved their lives (and their uterus). A dose is a dropperful, repeated every two hours

Witch hazel tincture of the bark (not the stuff you buy in the drugstore, though that is good for external uses). A dropperful is a dose. It is also taken every two hours. Witch hazel is a more effective hemostatic, but does not have a special action on the uterus like shepherd's purse. 

Lady's mantle tincture or tea of the fresh or dried leaves is the supreme uterine tonic, used throughout Europe to help women with profuse bleeding. It is much slower acting than shepherd's purse or witch hazel, but helps to insure that the bleeding does not return. It may be used on a daily basis for many months and combined with one of the above herbs. "

Chickweed tincture is good for ovarian cysts, effective but usually takes some time for it to work. Also castor oil packs would be beneficial as they are excellent in dissolving a number of growths.

What is your age? Oftentimes fibroids disappear after menopause. Vitex tincture has helped many women with fibroids. Here is an article of Susun's:

http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com/An_Article-fibroids.htm

It's a lot to take in but perhaps if you can get the bleeding under control with one of the tinctures, you can postpone the surgery and have a chance to do a bit more research. You may be interested in speaking with Susun. She does offer private phone consultations- you would send in all of the necessary information and what you wish to go over so that the full amount of time can be spent solely on addressing your needs. These are scheduled thru our bookshop:

http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000597

http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000598

We also have a very active forum at www.healingwiseforum.com and a search there will bring up a number of threads in regards to hysterectomies and addressing your concerns. If you decide to wait, you may want to look into Susun's books, New Menopausal Allies and Down There, Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Wise Woman Way as they both contain a lot of information on this topic.

Also has the option of possibly just removing tumors been discussed at all? And if it seems that you must go ahead with the hysterectomy, do what you can to preserve your ovaries and cervix, if possible.  Do let us know if you need further assistance.

 

blessings,

Kim

Wise Woman Team

www.wisewomanweb.com

www.wisewomanbookshop.com

www.wisewomanuniversity.org

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Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call in with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her new Mentorship website. Get new content weekly such as the expanded herbal ezine, replays of teleseminars, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, many articles by Susun, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Plantain Honey

Plantain Honey
Used to counter coughs and improve digestion.

* Harvest vibrant green plantain leaves at any time of their growth.
* Chop them finely and fill a jar with the fresh chopped leaves.
* Slowly pour honey over the leaves.
* Stir it a bit with a chop stick and add more honey.
* Let it sit overnight and add more honey until it is really full.
* Wipe the jar. Label.

You can begin to use it in a few weeks, but optimum strength is achieved in six weeks.

 

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Emotional distress

Hi Susun,

I recently bought a copy of your wonderful book for menopausal women...it's great - just a quick query as one of the symptoms of my menopause is I can't seem to make decisions very clearly.

I'd like to try taking a tincture to help relieve depression/exhaustion/lack of direction and self esteem/flushes - is there one particular herb you could recommend or should I be taking a combination? I would be very grateful for any advice at all. I'm 50 now and had a hysterectomy at 46 and have been experiencing menopausal symptoms now for 2 years. Thanks you so much for any help...

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Hello,

Motherwort tincture would probably be best all around to help deal with a variety of symptoms. Also including infusions, especially oatstraw and stinging nettle.

Here is a bit more about motherwort and other herbs useful in dealing with anxiety/fear:

http://www.susunweed.com/An_Article_Fear_AW1.htm

Also Susun's website on infusions if you are unfamiliar with how to make them:  http://nourishingherbalinfusions.com/

You may also be interested in checking out our forum which has a room dedicated to Menopause:  http://healingwiseforum.com/viewforum.php?f=1

 

blessings,

Kim

Wise Woman Team

www.wisewomanweb.com

www.wisewomanbookshop.com

www.wisewomanuniversity.org

 

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Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call in with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her new Mentorship website. Get new content weekly such as the expanded herbal ezine, replays of teleseminars, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, many articles by Susun, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com