What Causes Hot Flashes and Night Sweats?

One of my favorite words, is emunctory.  Whether naturopathic physicians use this word or not, this is the underlying focus of naturopathic treatment.  An emunctory is technically, “a body organ or duct having an excretory function”. In other words, it is a way for “things" to get excreted from the organs and then, from the body. The “things" that NDs are focused on are toxins, waste products, and other icky stuff that we don’t want circulating in the body.

This is the reason why I make many of my recommendations. It is the reason I ask lots of questions about my patient’s poop, sweat, pee, skin, and menstrual blood. I want to be sure that emunctories are open and releasing the inevitable toxins.

Today I woke with a brand new thought about menopause. I thought about the uterus as an emunctory and what happens when the uterus stops functioning as an emunctory - It stops producing a monthly discharge, which is one of the ways that the body releases toxins. When one emunctory closes up shop, another one needs to take over. What happens if the liver, kidneys and/or lymph are not functioning optimally and can’t pick up the slack? Well, the body might come up with a new strategy to release toxins. For example, hot flashes or night sweats! A good liver cleanse or lymph treatment or a change in diet will often greatly decrease or completely eliminate menopausal symptoms. But I have never thought about it in this light.

My devotion is renewed - to the vital pathways of elimination, to our dear emunctories - I raise a glass of apple cider vinegar or lemon and fresh spring water!

Want support for your emunctories? It's a naturopath’s favorite thing… come see us!

Dr Ajana A Miki