Using cannabis to help relieve menopause symptoms

Please feel very free to ask any questions you might have in the comment section below the article and I’m happy to share more.

Sharing your own experiences is always good too, as it benefits others too when we do that.

Here are two other articles I’ve written on cannabis and menopause:

“Perimenopause relief: Cannabis“

“My Experience and Relationship with Cannabis“

Women’s health issues are so under-researched, under-funded, and even ignored and neglected.

Until more research is done into women’s health, women will continue to be ignored, and only when cannabis has been legalized and decriminalized can we begin to do more serious scientific and medical research on it.

Cannabis has really helped me in miraculous ways when it comes to menopause symptoms and it breaks my heart seeing and reading about women who are suffering needlessly.

For anyone who has had even one major hot flash in their life knows exactly what I’m talking about!

It’s something you wouldn’t want anyone to experience, it’s horrible, and imagine LIVING with them, day in and day out, even in your sleep you’re suffering from them.

Not a quality life if you ask me, and I did not accept that as my destiny, and that decision was what lead me to eventually find cannabis.

I would regret it if I held myself back and feel that it’s my obligation as a woman to share what I have discovered with other women, and other people, for that matter.

Cannabis can help with many other things as well, such as Parkinson’s, PTSD, seizures, chronic pain, depression etc etc. It’s a miracle plant if you ask me!

Many people don’t know this, but women used to use it for PMS and menopause related issues before, – It has been used for thousands of years for all kinds of issues and healing, as well as in spiritual/shamanistic/religious rituals, and more.

Common menopause symptoms:

Foggy mind, can’t concentrate/focus, forgetfulness, sleep difficulties/insomnia, hunger/cravings (in the middle of the night and you just have to get up an eat, that’s how powerful the hunger hormones are!), weight gain, hot/cold flashes, night sweats, fatigue, low mood, dry skin, no libido, nauseous, headache, brain fog, no drive, lack of inspiration etc.

Just to mention a few, and this is all hormonal and should NOT be treated with antidepressants and anxiety meds because that’s not what these symptoms are about at all.

It’s all hormonal, and that’s why it’s so important to do more scientific research into this and to raise awareness about it so that women can be properly helped and supported.

Menopausal women are being called crazy, dismissed as being ‘too young’ (when in reality perimenopause can start in the thirties already), some women are even recommended shock therapy, or are told by others to ‘suck it up’, and put on antidepressants – It’s crazy, and it’s wrong and should not be happening.

I had to learn all this by myself, no one told me about how menopause would be like, or even when it starts, and this is true for many women, there’s very little awareness about these things and it shouldn’t be like that.

My perimenopause started when I was around 42 (I’m 49 now and post-menopause), and I tried everything to help myself;

All kinds of vitamins and supplements, I did fasting, and even tried magic mushrooms (both tripping and micro-dosing), and while psilocybin (the psychedelic compound in the mushrooms) helped, as did fasting, it’s not a sustainable (long term) solution (for me).

When I was experimenting with all this I also learned about the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the body, which is really fascinating.

The ECS regulates everything from body temperature to immunity, digestion and reproduction.

It balances the body and keeps it in homeostasis, but what happens when women reaches their menopause years is that the ECS is running on empty, and cannabis is like a supplement that helps the ECS to run effectively.

Just like for example a vitamin D deficiency can be restored by taking vitamin D pills, an endocannabinoid deficiency can be treated by using cannabis.

We’re still learning about how cannabis works in the human body, and the endocannabinoid system was ‘discovered’ in the 90’s, so it’s still quite a ‘new’ thing that obviously needs more research and this is a challenge as cannabis is still illegal in many places.

In the past, cannabis was commonly found in pharmacies and used as a medicine, but then everything changed (Google “Marihuana Tax Act of 1937” to learn more) and much of this knowledge that I’m sharing here disappeared from the public eye, that’s why people don’t have the awareness about any of this; because it has been kept away from us, but now it’s time to take back our power and our health too.

Now things are changing and it’s up to us to reclaim our health, and by harnessing the power of cannabis as a supplement to the ECS you can keep it healthy and bring harmony, balance and wellness back into your body.

I highly recommend cannabis (for many reasons), so if you feel guided to try it, then do it, follow what your intuition is telling you and see what happens.

For me it was an instant relief from hot flashes and night sweats, that’s why I want other women to know this too, that there is help available, and maybe it will help you too.

Breaking the Stigma Around Cannabis and Women Especially

To break the stigma around cannabis use is important, and to help people understand that there’s a lot to be gained from responsible use of the plant and that you can incorporate cannabis into your life as part of an overall healthy and happy lifestyle.

The negative stereotypical perceptions many have about cannabis are so misguided, so I feel inspired to be part of the conversation that can help shift these perceptions around, that’s why I’m sharing this.

Cannabis can benefit humanity in extraordinary ways, and I’m excited to learn and discover more about this incredible plant and to help raise awareness and spread knowledge about it in positive and empowering ways.

More cannabis related articles here: https://mariaerving.com/?s=cannabis

— You are also very welcome to leave a comment below and share your own thoughts and experiences with cannabis, I’d love to hear from you!

Update:

I’m now post-menopause (thank God 😅) and no longer need cannabis for menopause issues.

I still enjoy it maybe once a year. I think weed is good and helpful for several reasons (much better than alcohol, plus, I like it), and you can have a healthy relationship with it.

Looking back at my whole process, the number one piece of advice I’d give anyone is this:

Listen to your body. It knows what it needs and what to let go of, and it’s we who ignore it, or we don’t want to hear certain things, and that creates a lot of unnecessary issues.

A lot of times, that means cutting out coffee/caffeine.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that was what helped me the most (and you can always go back to it later if you want to, so just give it a try and quit for ten days and see what happens).

From experience, I can say that caffeine is the number one trigger and cause for wreaking havoc on your hormones. It also ramps up alcohol cravings because it raises estrogen—but it’s the bad estrogen, the kind that can cause cancer. The body doesn’t know the difference, or ‘care’; it just wants more estrogen.

If you’re looking to balance your hormones, estrogen-boosting foods are a better option (soy milk for example, it helps reduce hot flashes).

Cutting back on alcohol helps too, and of course, eating healthy makes a huge difference.

I also don’t take any vitamins or supplements anymore, and haven’t for years. I share why in one of the other menopause articles.

A couple of years ago I broke my leg and read that certain vitamins were good to take, so I thought I’d do that, and again the anxiety and depressive feelings came back, so I quit and healed my leg with healthy foods instead (and the low mood and anxiety went away quickly again, like before).

There’s just something about vitamins and supplements that are not what they say they are, so just pay attention to how they make you feel.

Of course, we’re all different, and some might benefit from whatever wasn’t working for me, so I’m not saying anything is ‘wrong’, or that ‘my’ way is ‘right’, I’m just sharing what I learned from my own personal journey.

The most important thing is to just be aware of these things, and then do your own experimentation with it, if it resonates.

What I discovered when I was in the depth of my own challenges with all this, was that many aren’t aware of the possibility of solutions and relief and have kind of just resigned to the suffering, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

It was really sad to read women’s stories of hopelessness and powerlessness, so I hope this information has been helpful to you and that it makes your menopause journey a little easier and more manageable.

Please also feel very free to share the articles with anyone you think could benefit from what I’ve shared here.

The more women who know about all this, the better. 🙏

Image by Thought Catalog at Unsplash.com

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