By Alex Mitchell, Integrative Life Coach and Hypnotist

In 2025, 1 Billion Women Worldwide Will Be Postmenopausal

Are you one of the 1.3 million women globally who will enter menopause this year? Have you considered incorporating Cannabis into your self-care for menopause?

I’m a summer-of-love child, born in 1967. Like many women around my age, I knew almost nothing about the changes that I would experience as I reached perimenopause. I gradually noticed lots of little things and some big changes too, and realized I was on this middle essence journey. I had no instruction manual. What to do? Living with hot flashes and vaginal dryness, and a distinct drop in libido was not in my plan for my life. “I did not sign up for this," I thought to myself.

So, I began to read and experiment. I studied, began making self-care Cannabis products for myself, and noticed changes happening in my body. I started to talk with other women about what I was noticing, and they tried these self-care methods, too. And they worked.

Women’s Health Research and Cannabis Research Are Both Underfunded and Overlooked

As we all know, not only is women’s health research woefully underfunded and overlooked, but so is medical Cannabis research. Throw in the legal status of Cannabis at the federal level in the US and here we are.

Here we are with a plant that can help so many, with no way (yet) to make great leaps in our understanding. I applaud the Effective Cannabis Newsletter for providing a place for me to share what’s happened to me and my use of medical Cannabis.

Cannabis and Perimenopause

Now, let's get back to what Cannabis has done for me at this point in my middle-essence journey. I hope that you are able to take this information and experiment a bit and see if you, too, can find relief using medical Cannabis.

First, I noticed that when I incorporated a multi-cannabinoid oil infusion containing CBD, CBDA, CBG, CBGA, THC, and THCA into my daily routine, my hot flushes stopped. It took me a while to figure this out, as I thought they had just stopped. But then I was behind in making medicine and ran out, and the hot flushes returned. When I took my tincture regularly, they subsided again within a day.

It only took a few times of this happening before I made the connection. When I had Cannabis regularly, I didn’t have hot flushes.

Then, I noticed something else. The next time I didn’t have my multi-cannabinoid oil infusion, but I was still consuming THC and CBD, the hot flushes returned. That led me to realize that CBG and CBGA were most likely the cannabinoids that were helping me with this symptom.

Of course, I experimented. I deliberately went without CBG and CBGA to see what would happen. The hot flushes were in full force. I made a CBG/CBGA tincture and tested it alone for my hot flushes, consuming no other cannabinoids. The hot flushes subsided again.

I tested this several more times and concluded that CBG and CBGA worked for me.

Then I got curious. Would this work for other women? I started to talk about it with others. Some women made tinctures and tried it too. CBG and CBGA helped them, too.

Women’s Sexual Health in Midlife

During perimenopause and beyond, a symptom of the hormonal changes a woman is undergoing can be vaginal dryness and loss of libido. I definitely have experienced those. Following my great results with Cannabis and hot flashes, I knew that incorporating Cannabis topicals and suppositories might help.

Again, I experimented on myself. Cannabis topicals and suppositories, both of which can be made inexpensively at home, helped. I determined when and how to use these products for the best results for me and my situation.

Consider Hormone Replacement Therapy in Addition to Cannabis

I did end up during my exploration of menopause information, finally finding the book “The New Menopause” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver. Reading this book finally corrected the misinformation that I had accepted as fact, particularly the misinformation that hormone replacement therapy is dangerous for women.

I’m now taking bioidentical hormones and have noticed even more perimenopause symptoms resolving. And I continue with my medical Cannabis use. The combination of the two for me is what’s best for my health.

Are You One of the Millions Affected by Breast Cancer and Menopause?

Are you one of the millions of women who have had or currently have breast cancer? Perhaps you’re already in perimenopause, or if you’re younger, maybe you’re experiencing early menopause due to cancer treatments.

Many menopause medical specialists have taken to Instagram to help educate women about this time in our lives. They provide a valuable free resource for many women and recently, more education and conversation about breast cancer and menopause have come into focus.

Bringing Breast Cancer and Menopause Into the Spotlight

In late 2024, Dr. Mary Claire Haver interviewed Dr. Corinne Menn about breast cancer and menopause on Instagram. Dr. Menn is herself a breast cancer survivor and menopause specialist.

They highlight the hidden menopause crisis faced by breast cancer survivors, who are often left out of the larger menopause conversation. Dr. Menn explains how cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, ovarian removal and estrogen blockers induce early menopause, causing severe symptoms in many women in treatment. However, the current medical system largely ignores these symptoms, prioritizing cancer recurrence prevention over quality-of-life concerns. Also acknowledged during the conversation is the lack of knowledge about the differences between systemic estrogen and local estrogen treatments by some treatment teams.

Dr. Menn goes on to share that up to 50% of women discontinue their prescribed endocrine therapy due to menopausal-type side effects, often because their oncologists and other providers fail to offer any solutions.

That number shocked me. I’m shocked that women who have breast cancer are suffering so much due to menopause side effects that they discontinue their treatment.

Why Aren’t Oncologists Trained in Menopause Care?

In the interview, Dr. Menn emphasizes that breast cancer patients and survivors deserve individualized menopause care and she criticizes the one-size-fits-all approach that denies patients access to treatments like vaginal estrogen, even when evidence supports the safety of such use.

A major issue that she raises is that oncologists, who are trained to do everything they can to prevent recurrence, do not have training in menopause care and often dismiss patients’ suffering. Women are frequently told to “just be grateful they don’t have cancer” when they report severe menopausal-type symptoms such as joint pain, sexual dysfunction, and cognitive decline.

Advocating for Change: What Women Can Do

Both doctors stress that suffering is not required. Women should educate themselves, advocate for their own care, and seek out specialists who understand the intersection of menopause and breast cancer. They also highlight the need for updated medical guidelines and better training for healthcare providers to improve survivorship care.

Maybe you’re like me, and you thought that hormone replacement therapy was a definite no for breast cancer survivors. I learned so much during this interview and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the intersection of breast cancer and menopause.

Medical Cannabis and the Future

What might we find out about our health if we had more research about Cannabis and menopause, Cannabis and cancer, and Cannabis and women’s health?

Can you imagine a world where all women who need support during their middle essence journey had access to Cannabis alongside other types of treatment?

That’s the future that I want.

I want that future as soon as possible.

I want that future for all women.

So, how do we get there?

We have to continue to advocate for medical Cannabis and for descheduling this incredibly powerful plant medicine. We must continue to advocate for justice for all people wrongly imprisoned for activities that are now legal in many places. We have to educate more people about the power of medical Cannabis, including our health care professionals.

We have to work together to bring Cannabis to the people who need it.

Are you with us?

Resources

Interview on Instagram: Dr. Mary Claire Havers and Dr. Corinne Menn

About Alex Mitchell:

Alex Mitchell is an Integrative Life and Cannabis Coach, educator, and Cannabis medical patient. She works with people who are seeking deep change in their lives, whether through the use of plant medicine or other change work techniques.

Click the Learn More Button 

Effective Cannabis Newsletter is a platform to educate on the vital role of the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) in one's health. The information is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information contained in or available through this newsletter is for general information purposes only. It is not medical advice; it is health awareness.