Ena Walsh
Primary Hypercholesterolemia in Postmenopausal Women: Herbal Treatment Compared to Conventional Treatment and Management
Abstract
The current medical paradigm is that hypercholesterolemia is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The aim of reducing cholesterol in the blood is to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and thereby reduce cardiovascular mortality. There are changes in cholesterol metabolism and other risk factors after the menopause, however, the relationship between these and increased cardiovascular risk is not straightforward.
European and UK Guidelines on treatment of hypercholesterolemia use an assessment of cardiovascular risk to evaluate whether asymptomatic people should be treated by cholesterol reducing drugs. There is controversy surrounding the evidence for primary prevention of hypercholesterolemia in women. This dissertation is focused on the treatment of hypercholesterolemia in postmenopausal women without evident cardiovascular disease.
The aim of this dissertation was to determine the treatment strategy of practicing Western Herbalists and how they view primary prevention of hypercholesterolemia in postmenopausal women. Literature from a range of databases and publications was reviewed and evaluated. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with a small number of Medical Herbalists practicing in the Western tradition. Themes and responses from interviewees were clustered, classified and integrated into the dissertation.
Results indicate that the herbalists actively treated the target population and were satisfied with their treatments. All herbalists report their primary approach is to treat patients on a constitutional basis, which means that their strategy is to treat the underlying problem rather the symptoms alone, and thereby guide their patient to better health. However, in some cases patients were treated symptomatically. Herbalist’s treatment strategies were influenced by orthodox diagnostic approaches and by the science underpinning the orthodox understanding of cardiovascular risk and treatment.
The literature review indicated that there was considerable controversy over drug treatment of the target population; the research indicates that herbal medicine may provide an alternative for these patients.
