A pantry staple cured Amy’s night sweats
When Amy Beckley began experiencing hot flashes, migraines and anxiety due to perimenopause, no medical treatment could take the edge off…until she discovered a surprising cure that changed everything!
Not again! ” Amy Beckley moaned as the familiar pain of a piercing migraine began. For months, the debilitating headaches had made it difficult for the 40-year-old to concentrate at work and care for her kids. But now, a more troubling symptom had emerged: One night, as Amy climbed into bed, she felt prickly and hot, and all at once, she was sweating and anxious.
What could be causing this? she wondered, when suddenly, she recalled that her mother had suffered from migraines and night sweats, which came on in her early 40s and didn’t subside until after menopause.
Mystery solved, she concluded grimly: The migraines, anxiety and hot flashes were symptoms of perimenopause. Will it wreak havoc on my health for years? she worried.
Planting seeds of health
“If this is what perimenopause is like, I need a solution fast,” Amy told her husband. First, a doctor recommended testosterone therapy, injecting tiny pellets of the hormone under Amy’s skin to help ease her headaches. But as a scientist with a PH.D. in pharmacology, Amy knew it could run $40–$500 a month and increase her risk of heart attack and stroke, so she began researching other options. Amy soon came across a natural remedy called “seed cycling” that involves eating crushed flax-, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds at various times throughout your menstrual cycle to balance estrogen and progesterone. Could something so simple really work for perimenopause? she wondered hopefully. It can’t hurt to find out!
To start, Amy began adding seeds to her morning smoothie and oatmeal. Following
“Seeds brim with nutrients that can balance hormones!”
the seed cycling regimen, she ate one tablespoon each of fresh ground flaxseed and pumpkin seeds during the first 14 days of her menstrual cycle, then she switched to one tablespoon each of fresh sunflower and sesame seeds until her period began. The first month, Amy was shocked at the progress she’d made. Her headaches had decreased dramatically, her energy had returned, her night sweats had stopped and her menstrual cycle had become more regular— a sign that her progesterone levels were no longer in flux.
Today, a year on, Amy feels better than ever and is a devoted “seed cycler” who, when friends, colleagues and clients tell her about their hormonal woes, always suggests nutritious seeds. “I know it sounds crazy,” she laughs. “But it works! Seed cycling is inexpensive, easy and has saved me the headache of expensive hormonal therapy and worry— literally! ” —Juli Fraga
— Sara Gottfried, M.D.