The Hot Topic by Christa D'Souza

Author:Christa D'Souza [Christa D'Souza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780722689
Publisher: Short Books
Published: 2016-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

The idea of taking hormones? To be honest, I didn’t consider it either at first. But there were a few reasons for this. The first was that in September 2007 I was diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump the size of a grape pip in my right breast while on holiday that summer in Greece. Only grade I, treated with radiotherapy (my oncologist said I didn’t need to bother with tamoxifen if I didn’t want to) and a mere verruca compared to the experiences so many of my poor friends have had with the disease. But it was cancer nonetheless and oestrogen-positive to boot, meaning that I simply wasn’t eligible for HRT. HRT included oestrogen and the last thing my body needed, quite obviously, was more of it. The second is that I have always had a slight fear of hormones – it’s why I never took the birth control pill for any length of time. The third was the ‘embarrassment’ factor. There’s a rumour going round west London, of a woman, newly divorced, in the throes of passion with a new lover, and telling him the oestrogen patch on her arm was actually Nicotinell.

Also, there were alternatives. There always have been. Belladonna. Opium. Rattlesnake poison. Star anise. Lead injections. All sorts of non-hormonal substances and methods have been used to treat menopausal symptoms over the years. In 1849, one William Tyler Smith recommended a course of ice water injections into the rectum and the vagina for hot flushes, followed by the application of leeches to the labia and cervix (as reported in Louise Foxcroft’s wonderful book Hot Flushes, Cold Science: ‘His colleagues were advised to count the leeches when they removed them to make sure none was lost and left there.’) The still common practice of prescribing antidepressants the moment the word menopause is mentioned in the GP’s surgery is surely a legacy of the Victorian response to menopausal women, which consisted of either treating them for hysteria or chucking them in an asylum.

Black cohosh (originally used by Native Americans), Pueraria mirifica (extracted from a plant found in Myanmar); Relizen (whose active ingredient is harvested from Swedish flower pollen) – these are just some of the non-hormonal plant-based formulas out there which claim to relieve menopausal symptoms, many of them to be found on the shelves of Holland & Barrett. Kinesiology acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine have been known to make a significant difference to some women. (Watch out for a new treatment from the US called Menerba which consists of 22 herbs used in Chinese medicine and is currently awaiting FDA approval). Then there is something called ‘maca’, a turnip-like root found on the Andean plateaus which Peruvians have been taking for centuries. As well as balancing hormones, protecting against brain damage and relieving hot flushes, maca is supposed to increase libido and aid vaginal lubrication. Does it get you high, too, you may ask? Well, it is taken by athletes to improve performance and old people to increase vigour, so there’s obviously something in it.

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