I’ve been downloading and listening to some really interesting podcasts from the BBC Radio 4′s Medical Matters Series.

There’s a really interesting one on gut bacteria and their role in health and disease (from 8th March) and one investigating Pregnancy Nausea (29th Feb), with one researcher suggesting that it could be related to the immune system and the way it reacts to the foetus. Well worth a listen.

The Department of Health has issued a statement that they will go ahead with the Statutory Regulation of Herbal Practitioners. The debate still rumbles on, with opponents loudly expressing their disapproval.

Statement by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

Comments in the Telegraph and surprisingly positive from The Mail.

From January 2011, I’ll be offering Nutrition and Herbs consultations at Room4Health in Leith, Edinburgh.

Combining Nutritional Therapy and Herbal Medicine allows us to work at a deeper level, providing powerful and effective tools to support and improve your health. Some people prefer to focus more on one therapy, whilst many find the benefits of both worthwhile – the choice is yours.

For bookings please contact Room4Health on 0131 553 2646

Since I started my practice as a Medical Herbalist, I’ve treated hundreds of women who are experiencing menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, insomnia, mood swings, depression, weight gain and vaginal dryness, most of whom have experienced some if not a vast improvement in their symptoms.

I started working as a herbalist in 2002 as the first big trial of HRT was stopped when it was found that there was an increased risk of side effects (including breast cancer and heart disease) in women using certain types of HRT long term. As a result most of my clients were women who had stopped or didn’t wish to use HRT, so I learned a lot very quickly about what herbs are effective for the different symptoms but also for the different ‘types’ of people.

A story in the news today (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7824864.stm) has highlighted one of the difficulties for herbal medicine in modern times – a lack of clinical studies to ‘prove’ it’s effectiveness. There is also a huge difference between using ‘over-the-counter’ herbal medicines (self-medicating) and using a formula created by a qualified herbalist after taking a full case history – the latter will likely be different for each person, and the herbalist will monitor their condition to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the treatment. As I have often found, a certain prescription may work for 6 months and then need to be changed as the underlying hormone levels, stress levels etc continue to change.

The National Institute of Medical Herbalists was able to fund a small clinical trial on the effectiveness of complex herbal prescriptions (using several herbs rather than just a single one) in menopause and the preliminary findings can be found here – http://www.nimh.org.uk/about-the-nimh/the-menopause-project-/nimh-outcome-study.

If you’d like any more information on the herbal or nutritional approach to peri-menopause and menopausal symptoms, please don’t hesistate to get in touch or book an appointment at one of my clinics.