What are the causes of atherosclerosis in middle-aged and older women who do not have the “three highs”?

       The song “Come home often” sings that “Mom is ready for some nagging”, “some nagging” is still normal, but too much “nagging” is mostly related to cerebral arteriosclerosis, which most people This is something that most people tend to ignore. The author clinically sees many middle-aged and elderly women who do not have “three highs” on routine physical examination, but some of them show nagging, or bad temper, or paranoia, or poor sleep, or significant memory loss, or limb numbness and limb pain, etc. Further examination reveals serious atherosclerosis, and many of them develop into stroke paralysis or vascular dementia before seeking medical help. Or vascular dementia before seeking medical treatment, which is too late. Recently, we saw a 48-year-old woman surnamed Wang, who had a sudden stroke from exertion years ago, and she was still young enough to recover, but she became a vegetable. Because the patient’s vascular atherosclerosis is serious, the collateral circulation is difficult to establish, compensatory repair is almost equal to zero.  The “three highs”, namely hypertension, hyperglycemia (diabetes) and hyperlipidemia, are indeed the main causes of atherosclerosis. Many middle-aged and elderly women do not have the “three highs” but suffer from this disease, which is related to the decrease of estrogen level in women. Studies in the United States over the years have found that the incidence of stroke is significantly higher in menopausal women than in men, which is the main reason. Estrogen is mainly produced by the ovaries and is associated with the reproductive endocrine system as well as other systems such as neurological, cardiovascular and skeletal. In addition to regulating blood lipids, estrogen can also reduce atherosclerosis by protecting vascular endothelial cells, inhibiting vascular smooth muscle proliferation, and improving blood coagulation and fibrinolytic system. Although these diseases are more common during menopause, in recent years there has been a trend of rejuvenation and increase due to poor lifestyle and food safety issues. Because there are no abnormal findings on general physical examination, patients often think they are healthy and become paralyzed, which leads to a major disaster.  However, large-scale clinical trials have failed to prove the effectiveness of replacement therapy, and long-term use may increase the risk of breast cancer and endometrial cancer. According to Chinese medicine, the decline of estrogen in women around the time of menopause is due to the physiological condition of “deficiency of the Ren pulse, the decline of the Taichong pulse, and the exhaustion of the Tiankui”, as well as the pathological changes of kidney deficiency and imbalance of yin and yang in the body. Therefore, arteriosclerosis is closely related to the estrogen produced by the kidneys. Chinese medicine treats these diseases by warming the kidney essence and regulating yin and yang, which is better than using estrogen alone, because estrogen belongs to the kidney essence level, and “yang transforms qi, yin forms”, so yang is the master of yin. The master of Yang support, Zheng Qin’an, has said: “If you know a few, once you see a Yang deficiency, you should consider this formula in two light and heavy, and prevent it in advance, so that it will not become a pure Yin without Yang. I am afraid that the cubic intention is good, but it is too late to catch up.” Foreign studies have shown that it is more effective for women to start applying estrogen near menopause than after menopause, because at this time, Yang is still sufficient and it is easy to get results by supplementing kidney essence. We use Chinese medicine to treat this disease. For those with low estrogen level, the effect is more obvious after adding cinnamon and sapodilla on top of sperm tonic drugs such as wolfberry and cuscuta, while for those with severe atherosclerosis, sperm tonic drugs should be used with caution when phlegm and stagnation are the main pathogenesis.  Because of social and cultural reasons, Chinese mothers are under more pressure in life and it is difficult to confide in them, and we have found that there are more of these diseases in our clinic for many years. Of course, we should also try to reduce the causes of premature ovarian failure by living a regular life, being emotionally optimistic, improving the structure of the diet, and maintaining a moderate amount of exercise.