During menopause, estrogen production slows and then stops. When that happens, a number of changes -- many of them unwelcome -- happen in a woman's body. Periods become irregular and then stop. You may have hot flashes, mood swings, a deeper voice, and an increase in facial hair.
Vaginal dryness is another common symptom of menopause -- and close to one out of every three women experiences it while going through "the change." And it becomes even more common after menopause. Vaginal dryness also can occur at any age from a number of different causes. It may seem like a minor irritation. But the lack of vaginal moisture can have a huge impact on your sex life. Fortunately, several treatments are available to relieve vaginal dryness.
How Chinese medicine works on vaginal dryness
1. Stimulate an increased of own estrogen supply to female genital organ.
Estrogen is not only supplied to female genital organ, but also to many organs and systems, such as bone, hair, eye, nail, skin, cardiovascular system, lipid metabolism, and much more. Therefore, in order to supply sufficient levels of estrogen to female genital organ, the role of this herb to accommodate more own-estrogen supply to the vagina become important while the women itself maintain healthy diet rich in phytoestrogen (estrogen-like from botanical sources), such as fenugreek, rice bran, oats, barley, etc.
2. Replace own estrogen through certain estrogenic activities from phytoestrogen.
Estrogenic activities from ‘external sources’ becomes common solution nowadays, such as with a hormone replacement therapy, either with estrogen replacement therapy or progesterone replacement therapy.
However, since this synthetic estrogen systematically showed relationship to cancer risk, particularly with breast cancer risk, use of HRT should be under supervised by doctors and the benefits should outweigh the risks. Contrary to synthetic estrogen, natural estrogen or phytoestrogen showed reverse that risk or having chemopreventive properties against carcinogenesis in addition to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Continue to read Chinese medicine Treatment for Menopause.