Abstract
Hot flashes are a primary reason for medical visits during menopause. They can interfere with sleep, cause mood disturbances, decrease the overall quality of life, and are associated with significant health care and societal costs. This case report examines the safety and effectiveness of
Introduction
Menopause is medically defined as 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle and is a natural stage of a woman’s life cycle.1,2 Women in surgical menopause from a hysterectomy experience a rapid decline in estrogen levels accompanied by menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, anxiety, depression, and decreased quality of life.
Hot flashes are one of the many symptoms women experience in menopause. 1 It has been reported that 70%–75% of women may experience hot flashes that can last from 6 months to 2 or more years.2–4 Hot flashes are one of the primary reasons for medical visits because they can interfere with sleep, cause mood disturbances, and decrease the overall quality of life for women experiencing them. 3 Psychosomatic symptoms such as anxiety and depression are among the mood disturbances that can present in menopause, with some studies suggesting “that perimenopausal women are more likely to develop depressive disorders without a previous history.” 5 The management of menopausal symptoms carries significant health care and social costs that include medical visits, laboratory testing, treatment protocols, and loss of productivity at work. 5
This case report highlights a personalized nutrition approach that includes the use of
Case narrative
A 32-year-old White female with a history of hormonal imbalance, including stage IV endometriosis, fibroids, infertility, painful and heavy menstrual cycles, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) sought nutritional counseling. Her primary concerns included hot flashes, night sweats (disrupting her sleep multiple times per night), changes in moods, and anxiety. She expressed concern for long-term bone health due to early menopause.
The client had four surgeries for endometriosis and fibroids. She underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) two times before successfully maintaining a pregnancy, resulting in twin girls. After childbirth, the final surgery to address ongoing endometriosis was concluded with a hysterectomy and oophorectomy at age 30. She was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (Premarin) following the procedure. The client reported feeling “great for 6 months,” and then she began to notice changes in mood, including generalized sadness, anxiety, and becoming short-tempered and angry. She also began experiencing frequent and intense hot flashes disrupting her work and sleep. Her prescribing physician increased Premarin to 0.9 mg daily. By the time of the initial consultation with the nutritionist, the client had weaned her Premarin dosage to twice weekly due to ineffectiveness in symptom management.
The client also reports having environmental allergies, frequent colds, and exposure to chemicals while working as a hairdresser.
The client’s antecedents, triggers, and mediators (ATMs) and Functional Medicine Matrix were considered in the development of the treatment plan.7,8
Initial consultation: 11 March 2019
The client was assessed during a personalized consulting session, including the review of nutritional intake forms, Medical Screening Questionnaire (MSQ), and Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS) (Tables 1 and 2). A thorough review of the client’s health history was completed.
Timeline & dietary and lifestyle intervention recommendations.
prn: as needed; qd: once daily; bid: twice daily.
Greene Climacteric Scale.
0: not at all; 1: a little; 2: often; 3: extreme.
Based on this consultation, the client was advised to begin a comprehensive nutritional intervention that included the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) Detox Food Plan, targeted supplements that included
Follow-up visit: 1 April 2019
The client returned in 3 weeks reporting several improvements (Tables 1 and 2). This included sleeping more soundly and through the night, uninterrupted by night sweats and further indicating that she sometimes had difficulty waking. The timing of Maca-GO was altered to be taken no later than 2:00 p.m. to support feeling more awake in the morning. Decreased anxiety (despite increased work stress) and 4-pound weight loss were reported.
The client demonstrated excellent adherence to the dietary protocol, supplements, and lifestyle interventions. She reported that she had not taken Premarin since the initial consultation. The nutritionist did not recommend this medication change.
The chief complaint of this visit included nasal stuffiness and congestion caused by seasonal allergies, as captured in the MSQ (Table 1). Seasonal allergy support was recommended (Table 1).
Follow-up visit: 13 May 2019
The client returned 2 months following the initial consultation, happily reporting complete elimination of hot flashes and marked anxiety reduction. Increased self-awareness revealed the need to eat regularly and sufficiently to support blood sugar and mood regulation (Table 1).
The client reported 100% compliance with the food plan and supplements and reported an additional 2 pounds of weight loss but had not implemented the exercise or stress management protocols. The client credits the combined effect of the diet and supplements to feeling “very, very good” and commented that her husband had noticed the improvements in her moods and well-being.
Final follow-up: 16 September 2019
Due to work demands, follow-up consultations were scheduled but unfulfilled between the second follow-up (13 May 2019) and the final consultation. She remained highly compliant with diet and supplement changes and continued to improve stress management implementation, which included exercise. At this consultation, the client reports that anxiety was 100% resolved, and she remains free of hot flashes (Tables 1 and 2).
The client reported seasonal allergies/flares (dampness, leaves), resulting in watery, itchy eyes, itchy ears, and sinus congestion. This was the reason for the increased score on the MSQ (Table 1). Additional allergy symptom relief recommendations were provided (Table 1).
The
Client Perspective
Before seeing a nutritionist, I was on hormone replacement therapy and knew something was out of balance for me. I was feeling extra moody, and the hot flashes were unbearable. Rather than having the doctor up my dose again of the hormone replacement, I knew there had to be an alternative method. My nutritionist recommended a clean diet and a few supplements, and I was excited but nervous at the same time to get started. At just 32 years old, I did not want my hot flashes or moods to get worse. Now, I have experienced ZERO hot flashes and I attribute this mostly to Maca-GO. My moods improved vastly and my life just feels better. My kids and husband would certainly agree!
Discussion
The standard treatment for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms has traditionally been to prescribe estrogen therapy or a combination of estrogen and progesterone therapy. 1 However, when hormone replacement therapy was found to increase cancer and cardiovascular disease risks, practitioners began searching for alternatives.9,10
In this case, the personalized nutrition approach is focused on dietary changes and the use of a
The exact mechanism of action on hormones is not fully understood. Early studies “. . . suggest that action of maca relies on plant sterols, which act as chemical triggers to help the body itself produce a higher level of hormones appropriate to the age and gender of [
While the exact mechanism of action may not be fully understood, multiple studies have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of
The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) Detox Food Plan was recommended and closely followed in this case. This food plan supports Phase 1 and Phase 2 detoxification through the intake of nutrient-rich foods, phytonutrients, fiber, and targeted antioxidants. 22 Like the elimination diet, it removes common food triggers while supporting liver function through various food choices. This includes the consumption of high-quality animal protein, legumes, nuts and seeds, various fats and oils, fruits, gluten-free grains, and a wide selection of vegetables, including but not limited to cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, and thiols. When the toxic load is reduced and the detoxification pathways are appropriately supported, hormone metabolism will be supported. 23
This case report demonstrates that a 32-year-old woman in surgically induced menopause experienced the plethora of symptoms that one would expect to see in natural occurring menopause later in life. This was a result of stage IV endometriosis that was not resolved after multiple surgeries. The author believes the success of this case report is directly related to the use of
Limitations
First, with a multi-modal approach to clinical care, it is not possible to definitively conclude which intervention(s) were responsible for symptom improvements. Second, the time between follow-up consultations was too lengthy. Symptom improvements suggest that a reduction in Maca-GO prior to the final visit would have been ideal. Third, “While case reports have the potential to detect signals of causal relations, they usually cannot exclude the possibility of a chance association.”
6
Furthermore, the results from one case study cannot be representative of a larger population. Future studies that involve a larger number of participants would be warranted to better evaluate how
Conclusion
This case demonstrates the safe and effective use of a personalized nutrition approach,
The current body of literature available on
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
K.R. is a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition serving as an Assistant Professor at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences. The author wishes to acknowledge Mary VanNortwick, DCN, RDN, for her support.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Informed consent
The client presented in this case report provided written informed consent for the publication of patient information in the present manuscript. The client also was given a copy of the manuscript to read and review.
