Best Essential Oils For Your Most Annoying Menopause Symptoms

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Let’s get straight to the point: Menopause is not for sissies. It sounds fairly straightforward, doesn’t it? Your ovaries stop making larger amounts both the hormones progesterone and estrogen, menstruation slows and then stops, and ultimately this means you are no longer in your child-bearing years.

Here’s what they don’t tell you: Menopause can make you feel as if you are going crazy. You have wild mood swings and some days, you feel as if you hate everyone and everything. You gain weight, have headaches, experience days when you feel completely washed out, you frequently can’t sleep and when you do sleep, you have night sweats so severe that you need to change your clothes or the sheets, your breasts feel like someone is stabbing them with needles, your back hurts, your joints hurt, you have hot flashes no matter how cold it is outside and then your (male) doctor will tell you that all you need is a little exercise and fresh air.

For many women, doctors seem to have only two answers to their menopause symptoms. They either don’t take them seriously enough or they immediately tell you that you need hormone replacement therapy. They actually suggest hormone replacement therapy knowing full well that it greatly increases your risk of developing cancer. Nice.

You do have other options but you probably won’t hear about it from your doctor. There are herbs and natural oils you can consume that help many women, such as flax seed oil, black cohosh, or evening primrose oil. You can also use essential oils to help find some much needed relief from most menopause symptoms.

Menopause isn’t a disease, but a natural period of change in a woman’s life. It can start occurring as early as the mid-30’s (although this is quite rare) but for most women it starts very quietly in their 40’s. You might wake up just once a month with night sweats or you start getting more frequent headaches. The average age for the true onset of menopause is 51. Some women experience only minor symptoms, others experience quite severe symptoms. It can last just two or three years but, on average, lasts seven years. Yes, we said seven years. That’s a long time to be so uncomfortable.

Many essential oils mimic estrogen in the body, fooling it, so to speak, into believing that it is still getting the estrogen that it is used to. Essential oils will bring you relief from many of the symptoms of menopause without bringing you the danger of cancer.

Let’s take a look at the best essential oils for those annoying and painful menopause symptoms so you can get some major relief soon!

1. Night Sweats and Hot Flashes

There are several oils that offer relief from this most common of all menopause symptoms, hot flashes and night sweats. Of all of the essential oils for this problem, peppermint is tops on the list. The menthol in peppermint oil makes your brain think that whatever part of your body you apply it to is cooler than it actually is. Your skin will absorb this oil and distribute this “cool” feeling all over the body. You shouldn’t apply peppermint oil directly to the face as it might be a bit strong. If you want to use it on your face, dilute about 4 drops of peppermint oil in one tablespoon of a carrier oil, such as jojoba oil or coconut oil.

Other oils that may help you to feel cooler are lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit, clary sage, geranium, and cypress. Some women enjoy putting about 20 drops of their favorite oil in a spray bottle and mix it with 1 cup of water, then gently mist their face or chest for instant cooling relief that will last for hours.

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2. Stabilize Emotions

No one likes to feel irritable with everyone or want to cry at the drop of a hat, but that is exactly what can happen when you are going through menopause. Most women find that using aroma therapy or a bath filled with essential oils can help regulate their emotions. Some of the best oils for this purpose are lavender, ylang-ylang, Roman chamomile, sandalwood, or valerian. Add about 20 to 40 drops to a warm bath for some instant relief from symptoms. You can also try putting some in a room diffuser for all day relief. Depending on which scent you like best, you might want to keep a small bottle in your purse or pocket so that you can take some big whiffs when you feel like you are about to lose it.

3. Pain Relief

Menopause can make you feel so many different aches and pains, you wonder if your body is going to fall apart. For those backaches, breast pain, headaches, or joint aches, don’t reach for those over the counter pain relievers, simply reach for some essential oils. The best ones for pain relief are sweet marjoram, rosemary, thyme, eucalyptus, German or Roman chamomile, lavender, and peppermint. Chamomile, sweet marjoram, and lavender can leave you feeling super relaxed, so you might want to save those for night time use. You can mix your favorite oil with some almond oil or coconut oil and massage the affected areas for almost instant relief.

4. Vaginal Dryness

One of the most annoying symptoms of menopause is vaginal dryness. It can make sex very uncomfortable. You want to be certain to mix your essential oils with a good quality carrier oil such as coconut oil or olive oil. Mix about 1 or 2 drops of clary sage in 1 tablespoon of oil and apply at least once per day. Give yourself time to heal and rejuvenate.

5. Fatigue

Menopause can come with completely unexpected, crashing episodes of fatigue. Sometimes a little 20 minute nap can go a long way. When you can’t grab a catnap, try some basil, rosemary, black pepper, ginger, eucalyptus, and nutmeg or peppermint essential oils. Aroma therapy works well, as does a room diffuser for longer term use. Many women suggest using a room diffuser in the mornings, before you begin to feel tired. It’s the old “tiger in the cage” theory. The story goes that it is easier to keep a tiger inside his cage than to try to put him back in.

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6. Insomnia

The crazy thing about menopause is that you can feel so washed out and sleepy during the day, but then you can’t sleep at night. Or you fall asleep exhausted but you wake up after just a few hours and can’t get back to sleep. Try using a room diffuser to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. The best oils for insomnia are lavender, Roman or German chamomile, valerian, clary sage, and sweet marjoram.

The easiest ways to use essential oils are either mixed in a good quality oil carrier and applied to the skin, added to a warm bath, or in a room diffuser. Plain old aroma therapy right out of the bottle helps when you can’t use anything else. A few women have reported that they kept a mini spray bottle in their purse filled with some water and peppermint oil for instant relief from hot flashes no matter where they went! Sometimes you need to get a bit creative. Feel free to experiment with different oils until you find the ones that work best for you.

Don’t forget that many women find that they can avoid many of their symptoms, especially those annoying hot flashes, by avoiding (as much as possible) some of the known triggers:

Stress
Excessive caffeine
Heat
Sugar consumption
Excessive alcohol consumption
Smoking
Certain medications (speak with your doctor)
Extreme emotions (anger, frustration, sadness)

Although you can’t control everything that happens in your life, avoiding as many of these triggers as possible can keep hot flashes to a minimum.

Although nothing can stop you from going through menopause at some point in your life, you don’t have to suffer needlessly. Using essential oils can help to ease you through this experience until menopause is nothing more than a bad dream.

References:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu

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