post menopausal bleeding

January 12, 2004

Hi everyone, happy new year. Thank you to everyone who sent in suggestions for

my sons pyrexia and stiff neck. He is now recovering well, although he's lost a

lot of weight and is tired easily.

Have had a phone call today from a pt I've been successfully treating for just

under 2 years as she has gone through the menopause. She had not had a " proper "

period for 18months. In August last year she stopped all Rx's from me as she

went in to hospital for major surgery on her hip. Re-commenced Rx's as hot

flushes returned end of October. At that time she requested that Cimicifuga was

removed from her mixture as she'd read the press reports and was concerned about

the suggested cancer link. However, she asked to have the Cimicifuga again in

December. I had stopped giving her Vitex but she also requested that in December

as these 2 herbs do seem to work best for her.

She called me this morning as she had a period last week (the first for 18

months). She felt " pre-menstrual " in the 2 weeks leading up to the period, with

breast tenderness and generally feeling " out of sorts " . She had also had a

change in vaginal mucus during the preceding weeks. Obviously she hadn't put

these changes down to an imminent period as it had been such a long time since

she'd had one. She is seeing her GP this morning and wanted to take a list of

the herbs in her Rx.

I was giving her

Leonurus 20

Cimicifuga 20

Astragalus 15

Dioscurea 15

Hypericum 10

Tarax rad 10 7.5ml bid ex aq cal pc

Also Vitex 10gtt mane

How usual is this occurence in other practitioners experience? I've heard of

women having a period after quite a long absence from menstruation when first

starting on herbs, but never after nearly 2 years. Could this be down to the

re-introduction of Vitex? My pt is obviously concerned about the possibility of

malignancy. She's also quite understandably fed-up having thought that all of

this was behind her and had to go out and by sanitary protection as she no

longer had any in the house. She'd been having unprotected intercourse for a few

months. Her life was just settling back to normal after her operation and she

was enjoying increased mobility as a result of her recent operation.

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Regards

Sue Salmon.

January 12, 2004

Hi Sue

I've had a px who this happened to, from memory she had been on HRT some time

prev and her rx contained cimicifuga but not vitex. She had a period after

quite a few months of tx with premenstrual sx and was not amused, later she had

another very light period which she didn't mind as she was feeling so much

better.

I felt the she was now able to continue her natural menopause with HRT out of

the way and the herbs had helped her get back on course. The period was a good

sign that things were getting back to where they should have been pre HRT.(There

was no other problems with bleeding, discharge, swelling or pain and she had

been having reg smears).

I would look for possibilities of malignancy, see if she has had reg smears and

if not advise one and advise her to use precautions for time being. If all looks

good reassure. Chris