Homeopathy for Menopause, Siobhan Daffy LBSH ISHom Dip kin
Article by
Aisling Grimley.
Homeopathy can be very effective in supporting your health during menopause and perimenopause. Siobhán Daffy is a classical homeopath and kinesiologist specialising in women’s health during this transitional time. Here, she gives an overview of homeopathy and some examples of case studies from her practice. At the end of the article, you'll also find a brief explanation of homeopathy and how to find yourself a homeopath.
Homeopathy treats the whole person and can treat a wide range of menopausal symptoms
Homeopathy is an integrative system of medicine that treats the whole person rather than a condition or symptom. Homeopathy regards your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health as being interconnected. A homeopathic consultation will dive deeply into your general health, sleep patterns, food cravings, physical symptoms, stresses and emotions. You will have an opportunity to talk about your life situation including any challenges or difficulties in your work or personal life. This type of consultation can also be very nourishing for getting in touch with your changing needs during this time and identifying what you hope to bring to fruition in your life going forward. As a result of this in-depth consultation process, the homeopathic remedies you are prescribed will be individually tailored to suit your specific symptoms and needs. And you will have follow-up consultations to track your progress over the following weeks/months.
Menopause and peri-menopause can be a multi-faceted journey with physical, mental and emotional challenges. Many women struggle with anxiety, increased stress, sleep problems, hot flushes, joint pain, digestive problems and a variety of other issues. A homeopathic consultation will take everything into account and support you on every level, working holistically. For example, if you consult a homeopath with menopausal hot flushes, a homeopath will still look at the whole picture, and include other aspects of your health. This is known as a constitutional approach. The overall imbalance will be treated; the woman’s hot flushes will be relieved and her overall health will also be improved. Occasionally, we come across women who have no other problems in their life, who simply present with specific menopausal symptoms; in these cases, prescribing on those symptoms alone may solve the problem.
Homeopathic remedies are non-toxic and non-addictive. This is because only very minute amounts of the active ingredients are used in their preparation. Remedies are prepared from many different sources including common medicinal plants and minerals, in a homeopathic pharmacy such as HELIOS in the UK or REMEDIA in Austria.
It is preferable to be treated by an experienced homeopath, as over-the-counter prescribing is not as effective. Most over-the-counter homeopathy commonly dispensed in health shops and pharmacies is for first aid situations such as common injuries, teething in babies or mild illness. Anything more complex requires professional experience from a homeopath, naturopath or other holistic physician. If you are local to Dublin, Down to Earth Health Shop on George’s Street has a homeopathic pharmacy desk, with trained professionals who may be able to advise you. I’ll also include further references at the end of this article.
Case Studies from Siobhan Daffy's practice
I will now give you some examples of homeopathic remedies commonly used for menopausal symptoms. I’ll also share three case studies, so you can see for yourself, that even though the clients have many things in common i.e. menopause or peri-menopause, they all needed different remedies. (All names and personal details have been changed to protect privacy.) I hope this gives you a clearer understanding of how homeopathy can be an effective support during your menopausal transition and the value of getting holistic support to nourish and care for yourself during this time of transition and change.
Anita aged 52 –
Anita came to me for support with hot flushes. She rarely had a period anymore and since they finished the flushes were getting worse. Initially they began only at night. Once midnight hit, they were every 2 hours, sometimes every hour. They started in her bladder and moved up her body, afterwards she had sweats down the centre of her back and chest. 70% of the time she had to go to the loo as well. Now they were coming during the day as well. She worked in a small office and it was either roasting or freezing, there was no temperature control. She noticed they were worse after eating sugar or drinking alcohol. She felt exhausted and work was a drag. Her mood was very low, she felt irritable and down on herself. It was hard work to keep things going.
Remedy prescription: Sepia LM 1 drops daily for one month
Short-term outcome:
This was a very rapid result, when we spoke 3 weeks later, she said ‘I’d say within about 24 hours my mood was rising, I was getting my head above water. It stayed up pretty much, I can work things out. I’ve had maybe 3 flushes, and only because I was out a few nights and I had a few drinks. When I eat properly, I hardly get any flushes.’
Long-term outcome:
We continue to work together, we repeated the remedy when needed and over time the flushes are phasing out, occurring occasionally during times of extra stress. It is interesting to note how the remedy helped her to clarify the correlation between flushes and her diet – in this case sugar and alcohol were big aggravating factors.
Yvonne aged 49
Yvonne came to me for peri-menopausal changes and mood swings. Her entire life had been a hormonal struggle, since puberty. Her periods had always been troublesome and she was looking forward to the end of them. Over the years she’d been prescribed many hormonal interventions but none of them agreed with her and she was really hoping to find something natural. Her moods were really disturbing her, once minute she was angry, another she was crying. She could have ten different moods in one day. Her cycle was irregular but still there, just as unpredictable as her moods. Sometimes it was heavy other times light. She was very uncomfortable in the house when the heat was on and better for being out in the fresh air. She said, ‘I just wish someone would pick me up and tell me it’s all going to be alright.’
Remedy prescribed: Pulsatilla.
Short-term outcome:
Within 3 weeks, her moods had stabilised considerably. Yvonne said, ‘I feel more like myself, I haven’t burst into tears in about 2 weeks!’
Long-term outcome:
We worked together over several months and as Yvonne had been dealing with a lot of these issues since puberty this was a remedy that suited her in many ways and she had a lot of improvements in other symptoms which were lurking in the background. We also used some related remedies from this ‘family’ of remedies. Her periods grew less frequent and ceased during the time we were working together. Her moods continued to be stable.
Mary aged 55
Mary came to me because of a host of problems related to menopause. Her periods ceased a few years before. Her problems seemed to be getting worse instead of better over time. She was having spells of insomnia alternating with bursts of energy and mental activity. She would feel a rush of energy in her head and could end up outside late at night walking around the block to try and calm herself down. She was getting constant dry flushes of heat, bursting in her head and burning headaches which were worse on the left side. She felt agitated and restless a lot of the time. She sometimes had palpitations. She said ‘some days are very ditsy days,’ when she would be forgetful and foggy brained. She felt unable to handle work, her boss wasn’t very understanding and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep her job. Mary was extremely talkative, she spoke very quickly and had a lot of complex family dynamics going on, there was a lot of fighting and unrest among extended family members.
Remedy prescribed: Lachesis 200c
Short-term outcome
When Mary returned after 3-4 weeks, she was more settled in herself and less agitated. She was still having some insomnia but there had been an improvement and the flushes were 1/3 less, she said. In general she felt calmer in herself and had taken a step back from the family to look after herself a bit better.
Long-term outcome:
We worked together over several months with Lachesis and some related remedies to continue to ease the menopausal symptoms. It became easier for Mary to identify triggering factors, such as family dramas or certain foods and she began to take better care of her mental and emotional health. Over time, all of the original symptoms eased, and the flushes gradually disappeared. As Mary’s fogginess, insomnia and agitation reduced, she felt more confident dealing with work and came to a better understanding with her boss.
Siobhan Daffy, LBSH ISHom Dip kin
About Siobhan Daffy
Siobhán Daffy LSBH ISHhom Dip Kin is a qualified and registered classical homeopath and kinesiologist with over 20 years’ experience working in wellness and natural health. She runs a one-to-one practice online and in person, specialising in women’s wellbeing. She also runs courses, talks, and retreats providing information and tips about peri/menopause and holistic wellness in the workplace.
Find her on social: www.naturalrhythms.ie @dynamic_woman on Instagram.
To find a homeopath where you are:
in Ireland Irish society of homeopaths - https://irishhomeopathy.ie/
UK https://homeopathy-uk.org/find-a-homeopath-search/
U.S. https://www.homeopathicdirectory.com/search
To find out more about Homeopathy history and research:
A short history of homeopathic medicine and research information
Homeopathy is an integrative system of medicine developed in the late 1700s by the German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann when searching for a more effective way of working with his patients. His work gained the interest of other medics and spread through Europe and to America where it was widely used particularly in treating and preventing illness during the epidemics of the 1800s and 1900s. The first homeopathic hospital—the Cleveland Protestant Homeopathic Hospital—was established in Ohio in the mid-1850s. By 1900, over one hundred homeopathic hospitals had sprung up in the U.S., with twenty-two homeopathic medical schools and over one thousand homeopathic pharmacies.* Through the British Empire, homeopathy spread to India where it integrated quickly with the mind-body approach used in Ayurveda and yoga, and is widely used there to this day. It is also extensively used in Central and South America particularly in Cuba & Columbia, in Australia and in certain African countries like Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana.
The Homeopathic Research Institute HRI based in London collates research papers and studies on Homeopathic medicine. https://www.hriresearch.org/
References:
Coulter HL. Divided Legacy (Vol. III). Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1975, pp. 304, 460.
History of AIH – Our Heritage – Our Future. https://homeopathyusa.org/about-aih-2/our-heritage-our-future.html.
Useful books:
Menopause the common sense approach – Ruth Appleby
Homeopathy – Beyond Flat Earth Medicine – Timothy Dooley
The Homeopathic Revolution – Dana Ullman
Women ripening through the menopause – Melissa Assilem – for therapists/homeopaths/naturopaths.