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(yī)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(fā)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(zhuǎn)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(nèi)可產(chǎn)生雌激素般的效用。

不用改變飲食習(xí)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(yán)重的過敏、頭昏眼花癥狀，身體還會偶爾失衡。現(xiàn)在她想知道:“接下來我該怎么辦呢?”

根據(jù)專家所說，女性從生育期向絕育期過渡這段時期，體內(nèi)的激素水平會產(chǎn)生大幅波動，其中約70%的女性會有熱潮紅、發(fā)胖及其他癥狀。這一過程平均的持續(xù)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(xiàn)代手段，如藥物和激素療法。但更大的問題隨之出現(xiàn)。在2002年，根據(jù)美國國家衛(wèi)生研究院一項名為“婦女健康倡導(dǎo)計劃”的初步研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)那些長期采用激素療法的女性患心臟病、癌癥、中風(fēng)和血凝的幾率更高，消息一出，非傳統(tǒng)療法的市場飛速擴展。現(xiàn)在市面上有超過500種產(chǎn)品聲稱能緩解更年期癥狀?！熬秃孟袷侵灰愕搅四硞€年齡段，你的醫(yī)生就會給你開點調(diào)節(jié)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(fù)責(zé)人，該組織提供教育計劃和有關(guān)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。”她補充道。

與此同時，越來越多受更年期綜合癥困擾的女性正在尋求自然的替代療法，包括采用天然的補充劑和進行定期鍛煉。比如說，她們可能嘗試一種從大豆和紅苜蓿提煉出來的植物雌性激素補充劑，一種小劑量的黃體酮乳霜，或信賴一種由黑升麻制成的膠囊。“現(xiàn)在，很多和我聊過的女性都想采取天然療法?！奔剂终f。許多女性傾向于用“原始”的方法來緩解癥狀，而非訴諸藥物。

在最近的一項研究中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，年齡介乎55至72歲之間的更年期女性，堅持運動鍛煉有一年時間的，身心健康都有顯著的改善，而不運動的，其身心狀況則越來越差?！敖】涤懈纳频哪且唤M測試者12個月來每周都在全程指導(dǎo)下鍛煉3個小時，”研究員卡門·維拉芙爾德—古提瑞茲說?！霸诒O(jiān)測嚴(yán)重的癥狀有否得到緩解的同時，我們也觀察這些女性的生活質(zhì)量，發(fā)現(xiàn)參加鍛煉的小組該項平均分?jǐn)?shù)有所提高，而沒有鍛煉的對照組其分?jǐn)?shù)則下降。”

有關(guān)“自然療法”的討論不斷涌現(xiàn)。眾所周知，人類的身體有自愈的能力。不可否認(rèn)，人類的身體有時需要外界的幫助，需要借助常規(guī)的藥物來幫助康復(fù)。但許多人卻忘記，身體本就有一套非凡的免疫系統(tǒng)來幫助它在沒有外力干涉的情況下自愈。人類的身體天生就能自愈，很多時候那些生產(chǎn)出來幫助身體恢復(fù)健康的藥物會產(chǎn)生副作用，并引起其他并發(fā)癥?？杀氖?，人們一旦感覺到自己不舒服時，就會訴諸藥物。