Natural Menopause Support is a practical, evidence-informed guide to perimenopause and menopause, written by Australian clinical naturopath Alison Mitchell.

This book will be a valuable resource for women who are in the lead up to menopause, or in the midst of it. It discusses the nature of menopause, and how its impact on women is influenced by history and culture.

Helping women to understand what is happening in their bodies, several chapters discuss the changes that are taking place and contributing to the many symptoms of menopause, including hot flushes, mood swings, joint pain, vaginal symptoms and more.

A full range of options to support this transition are discussed, natural and otherwise, so that women can make informed decisions about their own care. Herbal medicine is featured strongly throughout the text, with example formulae and a reference guide.

Inside you will find:

• What is actually happening in your body, and why the symptoms cluster the way they do
• Detailed chapters on hot flushes, sleep, mood, joint pain, brain health, bone density, gut health and genitourinary symptoms
• Herbal medicine throughout, with example formulae, safety information and a reference guide covering around fifty herbs
• Nutrition and exercise guidance, with recipes
• A balanced chapter on menopausal hormone therapy, covering the evidence for and against each formulation
• The historical and cultural forces that shaped how menopause is treated, and why so many women are still dismissed
• A bonus chapter, A Partner’s Guide to Menopause, written for the person sitting beside her

Written for a general readership but detailed enough to serve as a reference for naturopaths, herbalists and other practitioners working with women in midlife, Natural Menopause Support draws on more than eighteen years of Australian clinical practice.

Menopause is not a single event. It is a transition that can begin in your late thirties and continue well past your final period, and each stage asks something different of you.

In perimenopause, oestrogen fluctuates unpredictably rather than declining steadily, which is why symptoms come and go and why so many women are told nothing is wrong.

At menopause itself, the picture settles but does not resolve, and the priorities shift.

In the years that follow, post-menopause brings its own considerations: bone density, cardiovascular health, cognition and genitourinary changes that often arrive long after the hot flushes have stopped.

Natural Menopause Support covers all three stages. It is a practical, evidence-informed guide from Australian clinical naturopath Alison Mitchell, drawing on more than eighteen years of clinical practice with women in midlife.