讓身體重拾“自愈”的能力

After six years on a 2)prescription 3)estrogen 4)patch that 5)alleviated her hot flashes， but did nothing to address her midlife 25-pound weight gain， Martha B. started searching to treat her 6)menopausal symptoms. She turned to the 7)hormone therapies and started to take pills that have been seen to have estrogen-like effects in humans.

Without changing her eating habits， Martha said she lost 20 pounds. But after four months off the patch， the hot flashes came back. Other than the hot flashes， she started to experience the increasing 8)allergies， dizziness and the occasional loss of balance. Now， she was wondering， “What do I do next?”

According to experts， about 70 percent of women experience hot flashes， weight gain and other symptoms as they 9)transition from their fertile to postfertile years and their hormone levels fluctuate sharply. It’s a process that lasts an average of seven years.

These women are seeking treatment for menopausal symptoms. They turn to the modern devices like medicine and hormone therapies for help. But some bigger issues emerged. In 2002， when the initial findings of a National Institutes of Health study—known as the Women’s Health Initiative project—suggested that women on conventional hormone therapy were at greater risk for heart disease， cancer， stroke and 10)blood clotting， the market for alternative treatments soared. There are now more than 500 products that 11)purport to relieve symptoms associated with menopause. “It seems like that if you were a certain age， your doctor would hand you a prescription for hormone pills and that would be that，” said Karen Giblin， the director of Red Hot Mamas， an organization that offers educational programs and information on menopause. “Women were 12)popping them like MM’s.” she added.

Meanwhile， more and more women bothered by symptoms are searching for a natural alternative， including natural supplements and regular exercise program. They may try， for example， a supplement of 13)phytoestrogens derived from soy and 14)red clover， a low-dose 15)progesterone cream， or 16)swear by black 17)cohosh 18)capsules. “Now， so many women I speak with want to go natural.” said Giblin. Instead of resorting to drugs， a large number of women tend to ease the symptoms in a “primitive” way.

In a recent study， researchers found menopausal women aged 55-72 who started a yearlong exercise program experienced significant improvement in both mental and physical health while those who didn’t exercise got worse. “The group that improved took part in three hours of fully supervised exercise a week for 12 months，” says researcher Carmen Villaverde-Gutierrez. “As well as monitoring severe symptoms， we also looked at the women’s quality of life and found that the average scores for the exercise group improved while those for the 19)control group decreased.”

Discussions about “natural cures” are constantly springing up. It is widely believed the human body is designed to heal itself. There is no denying that the human body needs outside help by conventional medicine to help it heal at times. But many tend to forget that the body has an extraordinary immune system built in to help the body heal itself without outside intervention. The human body was created to heal itself and many times medicines that are produced to help the body heal， can create side effects that can cause other 20)complications. Sadly people tend to resort to medicine once they don’t feel well.

瑪莎·B六年來都堅持按照醫生處方用雌激素貼片來緩解熱潮紅癥狀，而對于自己因中年發福而增重25磅這一事，她卻沒有采取任何行動。后來她開始尋求新方法來治療她的更年期綜合癥。她轉向采用激素療法，開始服用一些藥片，該種藥品已被證實在人體內可產生雌激素般的效用。

不用改變飲食習慣，瑪莎說她減了20磅。但在取下貼片的4個月之后，她的潮熱癥狀又卷土重來了。而且除了潮熱之外，她還開始有越來越嚴重的過敏、頭昏眼花癥狀，身體還會偶爾失衡?，F在她想知道:“接下來我該怎么辦呢?”

根據專家所說，女性從生育期向絕育期過渡這段時期，體內的激素水平會產生大幅波動，其中約70%的女性會有熱潮紅、發胖及其他癥狀。這一過程平均的持續時間長達7年之久。

這些女性都在尋求治療更年期綜合癥的方法。她們求助于現代手段，如藥物和激素療法。但更大的問題隨之出現。在2002年，根據美國國家衛生研究院一項名為“婦女健康倡導計劃”的初步研究，發現那些長期采用激素療法的女性患心臟病、癌癥、中風和血凝的幾率更高，消息一出，非傳統療法的市場飛速擴展?，F在市面上有超過500種產品聲稱能緩解更年期癥狀。“就好像是只要你到了某個年齡段，你的醫生就會給你開點調節激素的藥片，別無他法，” 凱倫·吉布林說，她是“火辣媽媽”這個組織的負責人，該組織提供教育計劃和有關更年期的信息?！芭總兂运幘拖裢蘉M’s牌巧克力豆一樣稀松平常?！?br>