Mindful Beauty
  • Home
  • Mindful Beauty Store
  • Mindful Beauty
    • Natural Skincare
    • Mindful Beauty - ArthroAroma
    • Mindful Beauty Lavender Pillow Spray
    • Mindful Beauty - Massage Oils
    • Mindful Beauty - Serum 22
    • Mindful Beauty - Serum 22 Organic
    • Mindful Beauty Aromacology Bath Oils
    • Mindful Beauty Natural Body Powders - Talc Free
    • Mindful Beauty Exfoliator
    • Natural Organic Foot Powder - Talc Free
    • Tibetan Incense
    • Aromatherapy Diffuser
    • Professsional Salon Massage Oil 1 Litre
    • Our Natural Cosmetics Ingredients >
      • Mindful Beauty Essential Oils
      • Wild Atlantic Way Seaweed
      • Sunflower Oil
      • Shea Butter
      • Important Facts about Shea Butter
      • Honey - Sweetness for the Skin
      • Jojoba Oil Health Benefits
      • Wild Atlantic Way Seaweed
    • Natural Beauty Tips Articles >
      • Beauty care - 7 beauty tips
      • All About Facial Skin Care
      • Celebrities Beauty Secrets
      • Beauty Tips in Winter
      • General Skincare Recommendations that May Help You Avoid Skin Problems
      • Beauty Secrets Are All Around You
      • Anti Aging Skin Care Guide?- Yes, Time To Glow Ladies
      • The Best Skincare- 5 Mistakes You Can Avoid
      • Skin Care Tips for Natural Glow
      • Winter in the mountains: back to the season of dry skin?
      • Bad Breath isn’t Good – How to Get Rid of It?
      • Makeup artists not just for celebrities: how to choose one
      • Natural Skincare For Acne Tips >
        • Acne Skin Care Tips for Winter Time
        • Acne: Herbal skin care
        • 7 Little Known Acne Skin Care Secrets
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Vitamins
    • Natural Food Vitamins
    • Minerals Reverse Disease - If they are food form
    • Vitamins & Minerals
  • Mindfulness
    • Mindfulness Ireland
    • Mindfulness & Depression
    • Mindfulness Resilience
    • Mindfulness in Healthcare - Drs & Nurses
    • Spirituality & Medicine
    • Mindfulness & Compassion Fatigue
    • Mindful Beauty - How to Meditate
    • Meditation & Neuroscience
  • Wellbeing Articles
    • Mindful Beauty - Flower Remedies
    • Mindful Beauty Day for Nurses
    • Homeopathy
    • Tibetan Medicine
    • Aromatherapy
    • Traditional Chinese Medicine >
      • Ear Accupuncture NADA Protocol
      • TCM Cupping Health Benefts
    • Healing Sound - Sacred Mantras
    • Mindful Beauty - Herbal Medicine
  • GIfts, Books & Audio
    • Nurses' Gift Sets
  • About Us
  • Useful Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments
  • Menopause Symptoms – Herbal Remedies
  • Refund Policy

Mindful Beauty Blog 
Discover your beautiful mind...

Menopause - Part 1 - Chinese Medicine - Dong Quai - Dong Who?

17/5/2021

0 Comments

 
So here is Part 1 of the menopause series where I will be giving natural health tips from the halls of Complementary Medicine. This blog is all to do with Chinese Medicine and their amazing herb for menopause - Dong Quai.

​This is known in Chinese Medicine as the female Ginseng. And for good reason too. 

Over 50% of people use CAM (Complimentary or Alternative Medicine) and most of them do not discuss this with their doctor. There is no point as medical students in Ireland have absolutely no training in herbal medicine or naturopathic medicine. So they have nothing informed to say when asked about herbal medicines, homeopathy, tissue salts, Chinese Medicines etc; This is why I am writing these blogs. To give evidence based information about complimentary medicine.

I see CAM as preventative medicine. 

​About 13% of Australian women use CAM therapies for managing hot flushes, and the three most commonly used CAM therapies they use are phytoestrogens (plant-based female hormones), evening primrose oil and ginseng. But first let us have a recap on what menopause is. 
​
Picture

What is Menopause & Perimenopause?

Menopause is the point at which a woman stops ovulating and menstruation stops, oestrogen disappears causing lots of side effects, indicating the end of fertility. However many years before the menopause, levels of oestrogen production slow down and this is called the perimenopause. This can start fifteen years before the menopause and is called the ‘circadian’.

Apart from being a sex or reproductive hormone, oestrogen acts on many organs and systems in the body. Cells in the vagina, bladder, breasts, skin, bones, arteries, heart, liver, and brain all contain oestrogen receptors and require this hormone to stimulate these receptors for normal cell function. Oestrogen is required to keep the skin healthy and contributes in the bone formation process. 

​There will be more information in coming weeks when I will explain how to include phytoestrogens in your diet.
Picture

HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy 

After the scares in the media about the risks associated with HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) over 20 years ago which have been published in the past, there is a strong case for using alternative medicine to balance the body, especially when you get to supply your body with plant hormones rather than ones derived from horse’s urine. Research in the past has highlighted the side effects of taking HRT to include breast cancer and heart disease but we know today your risk is quite low if you take transdermal patches, in particular, of HRT. 

Many women experience few if any symptoms during this time but others may suffer from some or all of the following; anxiety, hot flushes, dry skin, fatigue, feelings of bloating, headaches, heart palpitations, insomnia, irritability, decreased interest in sex, loss of concentration, vaginal dryness and weight gain.​

Mindful Beauty Sweet Dreams Box

€49.99

Sleep easy at night with our special range of products, using 100% natural essential oils that are traditionally used to help lull you to sleep:


  1. Lavender Pillow Mist with Lavender & Chamomile - 100ml
  2. Dream Massage Oil with Lavender, Patchouli & Vetiver - 250ml
  3. Softening Foot Oil with Petitgrain, Roman Chamomile & Castor Oil -100ml
  4. Bath Oil with Rose, Geranium & Petitgrain - 100ml


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop
Twenty five per cent of women go through the change without as much as a night sweat. So not all menopause experience has the commonly known symptoms so it is possible to just sail through if you are in that lucky quarter. Or if you are Japanese woman. 

When the menstruation stops altogether most of the acute problems a woman will face are over and a new balance between hormones is established. This is the stage when she may be vulnerable to potentially serious health problems such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and vaginal atrophy.
Picture


Many GPs have recommended hormone replacement therapy HRT to control severe symptoms caused by oestrogen deficiency in menopausal and post- menopausal women. Basically a molecularly similar oestrogen is taken by the woman but this oestrogen is synthetic and only close to the natural oestrogens produced in the body. ​
Picture

Chinese Medicine & Dong quai

In Chinese Medicine, menopause is looked at as a period in which the energy of the kidney is declining. For the Chinese Medicine doctor the kidney has a corresponding emotion, tissue, sensory organ and element. These are respectively, fear, bone, ear and water. The adrenal glands on the top of the kidney are now responsible for producing the hormones that the ovaries used to produce.
 
Chinese herbal medicine is one of the best ways of treating the menopause as the approach is holistic and this appeals to the condition as it is very much a mind body spirit imbalance. The herbal formulas that the Chinese doctor will give will replace the oestrogens that you are now not producing with plant oestrogens. One of the formulas in Chinese Medicine acclaimed for its beneficial effects for the menopause is called four things soup.

Dong qui Angelica sinensis has long been used to treat menopause in Chinese Medicine and for the women of China. Thousands of years in fact. Western herbalists view it as a uterine tonic. The Chinese Drs have used it also to treat amenorrhea. The herb has also been shown to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. 

Evidence Based Dong Quai 

Over 70 compounds have been isolated and identified from Danggui. The main chemical constituents of Angelica roots include ferulic acid, Z-ligustilide, butylidenephthalide and various polysaccharides. Among these compounds, ferulic acid exhibits many bioactivities especially anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory effects; Z-ligustilide exerts anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, neuroprotective and anti-hepatotoxic effects; n-butylidenephthalide exerts anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular effects.1
 
The herb is known by millions of women for benefits as stabilising mood swings, reducing hot flushes and decreasing insomnia. Even though many Chinese Medicine practitioners recommend taking this herb as part of a blend, most take it on its own. 

If you are on anticoagulant medication like warfarin you cannot take it as the herb interferes with the action. Also not to be used during pregnancy as it has oestrogen like effects and could cause a miscarriage. 

This is what the American Herbal Pharmacopeia has to say,' Dang gui is especially important because it fills a therapeutic niche not readily addressed in Western conventional or herbal medicine. It has been used successfully for several hundred years, and can broaden therapeutic options for women beyond hormone replacement therapies and hysterectomies. Hopefully, increased use of dang gui and its appropriate formulas will help to reduce at least a portion of the 600,000+ hysterectomies performed annually in the USA."

Dong quai is probably available from most health food stores and some pharmacies who value herbal medicine. 

1. Chao, WW., Lin, BF. Bioactivities of major constituents isolated from Angelica sinensis (Danggui). Chin Med 6, 29 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1749-8546-6-29

    ​If you want to be alerted to the next in the menopause blog series sign-up to the newsletter here

Subscribe to Newsletter

Mindful Beauty Footcare Box

€39.99

Pamper your feet with this range of products blended with 100% natural essential oils that traditonally soothes, cleanses and refreshes tired, overworked feet. Reflexologists and Chiropodists will love this too!


  1. Footsie Foot Lotion with Peppermint, Cypress & Tea Tree - 100ml
  2. Tired & Achy Foot Soak with Rosemary, Clove & Marjoram - 100ml
  3. Softening Foot Oil with Petitgrain, Chamomile & Castor Oil - 100ml
  4. Natural Foot Powder (TALC FREE) with Tea Tree - 90g


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery. 

Shop

Mindful Beauty Chillax Box

€37.99

Relax and de-stress during or after a long, stressful day with our products formulated with only 100% natural essential oils, traditionally used to chill out and unwind:


  1. Stress Busting Aromatherapy Mist - 100ml
  2. Bath Oil with Basil, Grapefruit & Marjoram - 100ml
  3. Softening Foot Oil Roman Chamomile, Petitgrain & Castor Oil - 100ml
  4. Flower Rescue Remedy - 20ml


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop

Neroli Candle with Eco-soy Wax

€14.99

Made with ecologically sourced soy wax, our Neroli Candle is all handmade with only natural fragrance oils and coloring. It will transport you to blossoming orange groves with its ethereal scent. No preservatives, vegan and cruelty-free, Irish-made.


Comes in its own recycled kraft gift box.


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop
0 Comments

Menopause in Ireland - Thanks Joe - Now Complimentary Medicine

17/5/2021

0 Comments

 

For an entire week - which is a long time in radio - RTE's Joe Duffy has opened the radio waves to the women in Ireland. All to talk about their experience of the menopause.

This has been a watershed moment and seems like a second Mná na hÉireann highlight in Irish history. 

Women rang into RTE and spoke across the nations airwaves explaining how they thought they were going mad, how their Dr's ignored the fact of the 'perimenopause', how people had to get a divorce because of a personality change due to hormonal changes and how some women spoke of how others took an opportunity to condescend when they found out another women was on HRT as if she had failed her driving test.

A collective lived experience that has empowered more Irish women. 
​
Picture

Women in Black 

Culturally women who went through 'the change' in Europe would traditionally wear black. This was practiced in Ireland by women who used to wear a black shawl. This is now still widely practised across the Mediterranean coast line especially in Greece. 

As people who have done my course will tell you I am always saying - information is power. The more informed a person is the better. 

The RTE radio show gave a long needed platform for discussion on this topic and gave women space to speak out and clarify misunderstandings with better information. 
Picture

Blogging for Menopause

So I have decided to write a number of blogs devoted to natural medicine  information related to menopause and how various complimentary medicines can help you during the transition. This will be in a five part series starting on this Saturday with Chinese Medicine for menopause. Evidence based. 

One amazing situation is that the Japanese don't even have a word for menopause in their language. The reason being is that the women there practically don't suffer it. The reason? Their diet which is high in fish and soy. Soy has a compound in it called isoflavone which is 1/20th the strength of oestrogen. When you consider menopause is triggered by a lessening of oestrogen over time in a woman's body you can see the benefits. 

These interesting facts and more are what I will be covering over the next few blogs as well as nutrition, aromatherapy, homeopathy and herbal medicine - all to help people with menopause. 

I have healed numerous women with menopausal symptoms with one Chinese Medicine herb.  This will all be revealed this Saturday. ​
Picture

Sign-up for Menopause Health Info 

If there are people who you think will be interested in this information get them to sign up to this newsletter. Sounds like a lot of people need this information  from everything that has been spoken of for a week all over the nation.

For all the women who find they can't sleep since ' the change' our lavender pillow spray has been a life saver. Women have told us time and time again.

These Mindful Beauty Pillow Mist's are available in stores all over Ireland. If your local store does not have them they can easily order it in. If you buy ours it o
is 9.99 Euros but if you buy an import it will easily be over 20.00 Euros or more.

​We also use only aromatherapy essential oils and not perfume.  
 

Neroli Candle with Eco-soy Wax

€14.99

Made with ecologically sourced soy wax, our Neroli Candle is all handmade with only natural fragrance oils and coloring. It will transport you to blossoming orange groves with its ethereal scent. No preservatives, vegan and cruelty-free, Irish-made.


Comes in its own recycled kraft gift box.


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop

Mindful Beauty Lavender Gift Box

€39.99

Relax and journey to the south of France with our box of handmade products, all using 100% natural Provence lavender essential oils (among others), all fragrant from the Mediterranean sun! Great for sleep, too!


  1. Lavender Pillow Mist with Lavender & Chamomile - 100ml
  2. Dream Massage Oil with Lavender, Patchouli & Vetiver - 250ml
  3. French Lavender Body & Massage Oil -100ml


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop

Mindful Beauty Sweet Dreams Box

€49.99

Sleep easy at night with our special range of products, using 100% natural essential oils that are traditionally used to help lull you to sleep:


  1. Lavender Pillow Mist with Lavender & Chamomile - 100ml
  2. Dream Massage Oil with Lavender, Patchouli & Vetiver - 250ml
  3. Softening Foot Oil with Petitgrain, Roman Chamomile & Castor Oil -100ml
  4. Bath Oil with Rose, Geranium & Petitgrain - 100ml


IMPORTANT DELIVERY NOTE: Put in your mobile number and Eircode/postcode to ensure correct delivery.

Shop
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Bestselling author Ralph Quinlan Forde BSc (Hons) MA is the writer and editor of the Mindful Beauty blog. His first book The Book of Tibetan Medicine went into 11 languages. His second Nutriwine has
    also been well received. He is the founder of Learning to Exhale which has now trained
    over 2,500 people and in ten hospitals Mindfulness Meditation to rave reviews. He is also a Member of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists.

      Mindful Beauty Newsletter - Special Offers & Blog Updates

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    March 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    May 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All
    Alternative & Complimentary Medicine
    Chinese Medicine
    Herbal Medicine
    Homeopathy
    Mindful Beauty News
    Mindfulness
    Mind Training Lojong
    Natural Cosmetics
    Natural Medicine
    Nutrition
    Reviews
    Tibetan Medicine
    Travel
    Wellbeing

    RSS Feed

Photos used under Creative Commons from Andrew Gustar, forthwithlife, Alexander C. Kafka, Giancarlo - Foto 4U, Ben Sutherland, www.tiket2.com, Lorie Shaull, AmohEric, shixart1985, Raph_PH, Kurt Stocker
  • Home
  • Mindful Beauty Store
  • Mindful Beauty
    • Natural Skincare
    • Mindful Beauty - ArthroAroma
    • Mindful Beauty Lavender Pillow Spray
    • Mindful Beauty - Massage Oils
    • Mindful Beauty - Serum 22
    • Mindful Beauty - Serum 22 Organic
    • Mindful Beauty Aromacology Bath Oils
    • Mindful Beauty Natural Body Powders - Talc Free
    • Mindful Beauty Exfoliator
    • Natural Organic Foot Powder - Talc Free
    • Tibetan Incense
    • Aromatherapy Diffuser
    • Professsional Salon Massage Oil 1 Litre
    • Our Natural Cosmetics Ingredients >
      • Mindful Beauty Essential Oils
      • Wild Atlantic Way Seaweed
      • Sunflower Oil
      • Shea Butter
      • Important Facts about Shea Butter
      • Honey - Sweetness for the Skin
      • Jojoba Oil Health Benefits
      • Wild Atlantic Way Seaweed
    • Natural Beauty Tips Articles >
      • Beauty care - 7 beauty tips
      • All About Facial Skin Care
      • Celebrities Beauty Secrets
      • Beauty Tips in Winter
      • General Skincare Recommendations that May Help You Avoid Skin Problems
      • Beauty Secrets Are All Around You
      • Anti Aging Skin Care Guide?- Yes, Time To Glow Ladies
      • The Best Skincare- 5 Mistakes You Can Avoid
      • Skin Care Tips for Natural Glow
      • Winter in the mountains: back to the season of dry skin?
      • Bad Breath isn’t Good – How to Get Rid of It?
      • Makeup artists not just for celebrities: how to choose one
      • Natural Skincare For Acne Tips >
        • Acne Skin Care Tips for Winter Time
        • Acne: Herbal skin care
        • 7 Little Known Acne Skin Care Secrets
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Vitamins
    • Natural Food Vitamins
    • Minerals Reverse Disease - If they are food form
    • Vitamins & Minerals
  • Mindfulness
    • Mindfulness Ireland
    • Mindfulness & Depression
    • Mindfulness Resilience
    • Mindfulness in Healthcare - Drs & Nurses
    • Spirituality & Medicine
    • Mindfulness & Compassion Fatigue
    • Mindful Beauty - How to Meditate
    • Meditation & Neuroscience
  • Wellbeing Articles
    • Mindful Beauty - Flower Remedies
    • Mindful Beauty Day for Nurses
    • Homeopathy
    • Tibetan Medicine
    • Aromatherapy
    • Traditional Chinese Medicine >
      • Ear Accupuncture NADA Protocol
      • TCM Cupping Health Benefts
    • Healing Sound - Sacred Mantras
    • Mindful Beauty - Herbal Medicine
  • GIfts, Books & Audio
    • Nurses' Gift Sets
  • About Us
  • Useful Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments
  • Menopause Symptoms – Herbal Remedies
  • Refund Policy