Survey on complementary medicine and menopausal symptoms

2014-04-07 08:43:34

In many respects, Europe is more progressive compared to North America in its approach to medicine and use of natural therapies. In Germany, many herbal medicines are in common use by conventionally trained physicians. Menopausal symptoms are a challenging area for many women, and there is often a lack of treatments that are both safe and effective available to women suffering with menopausal symptoms. These typically include hot flashes, night sweats, and mood disturbance including irritability, anxiety, or depression. Given the harms associated with use of conventional hormone replacement therapy, there is a lack of treatments available, and women often resort to using herbal or other natural strategies.

Recently, a survey was conducted among German gynecologists, evaluating their experiences with using complementary therapies in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Over 9500 gynecologists were surveyed about the effectiveness of a range of natural therapies, including black cohosh, chaste tree berry, St. John’s wort, acupuncture, homeopathy, and lifestyle change.^[1]

Notably, over 98% of gynaecologists had experience with some form of complementary medicine. Therapies that rated highly for their effectiveness included lifestyle changes, and herbal therapies including St. John’s wort and black cohosh. Therapies that were regarded as less effective were yoga, acupuncture, and homeopathy. This may also be due to less experience with these particular therapies.

This study is important because it shows the growing integration of natural strategies within conventional medicine in progressive areas of the world. Several natural therapies are regarded as effective for the management of menopausal symptoms by specialists in women’s health.