We were talking to the alternative practitioner Ina Asmus-Brütt. She said, among other things, that the biggest problem of women between 45 and mid-60s is that they are very quickly put on the track of psychotropic drugs. There are 3 parts and we will report more the coming days as well. Thank you Ina, for the insights into women’s health from the perspective of an alternative practitioner.
Susanne Liedtke: I am here today in the offices of Ina Asmus-Brütt, an alternative practitioner from Elmshorn, because I would like to present again how women’s health is presented from the perspective of an alternative practitioner. Ina, I am very happy that you were willing to be here for an interview today. Thank you very much that we can be here with you, I am very happy.
Ina Asmus-Brütt: Nice that you are here, Susanne.
Susanne: And tell us how you became an alternative practitioner.
Ina: Yes, it was a very exciting path. I was in nursing, worked in the intensive care unit for a long time and then realized at some point that I would like to work more preventively. I always had some access to naturopathy, already through my grandmother, who went to the naturopath a lot, and then it developed that way, on my way.
Susanne: And that’s been the case for over 20 years now.
Ina: Yes exactly, 24 years ago now and yes, I always have the feeling that I have found the right job for me then, because I go to work every day with joy. It’s always fun.
Susanne: Yeah great. Do you have a special focus?
Ina: My focus in the practice is already metabolism and hormones and that also for over 20 years. This is always a topic that has accompanied me, because I also have many women in the practice.
Susanne: That would also be the next question I would have, with which issues do women between 40 and 50, 55 come to you?
Ina: Most of the problems are that they simply have the feeling that something is changing hormonally, that they also think they are already in menopause, but deny everything and say it’s not that far yet. Then come the complaints such as sleep disturbances, palpitations, perhaps sweating, irregular cycle, yes, loss of libido is a big issue. They simply notice that they no longer feel comfortable in their skin.
Susanne: And do they come directly to you? Or what is the career of a patient who comes to you?
Ina: Most of the patients are very desperate because they simply don’t feel well in their bodies anymore and they are on their way to a psychosomatic clinic or on their way to a psychotropic drug because they often have mood swings and can’t sleep anymore. And they are simply at the end of their tether and can’t see a way out. And therefore, often a door opens for them, where they simply realize, okay, here we now find space and room to be able to break down one or the other.
“THEY’RE JUST HAPPY TO HAVE SOMEONE THERE TO LISTEN TO THEM FOR A CHANGE.”
Susanne: Can you say approximately how many women come who are already taking psychotropic drugs versus…?
Ina: It’s about half and half. So there are incredibly many women who are already really under medication and there is of course the problem of slowly phasing them out so that they also get confidence in their body again, that is the biggest problem. The confidence in the body has been lost, because you simply have the feeling that you have something, but the other side always says that you actually have nothing. And then you get into such a conflict and simply have the feeling that there is something wrong with me and it will probably be the psyche after all.
And then to have the confidence that it’s actually really physical and that I can, if I get the body or the hormones back on track, so to speak, come back to my own self, that’s the greatest balancing act that has to be done.
Susanne: And how do you get that out of the women? Do they open up when they come here, is it so that everything comes straight to the table, or how do I imagine that?
Ina: Well, it often takes a bit of time, but they are simply glad that someone is there and listens to them and also really notices these complaints and doesn’t just say, oh yes, that’s the way it is and it’s related to the psyche, they have too much stress and are too burdened. So that is… it is not perceived, it is simply not perceived. I don’t really blame the general practitioners or the gynecologists, they don’t really have time for it, because the system we have doesn’t allow them to listen to all these things. Or the women are pushed relatively between 40 and 50 again into a hormone story, into a pill or into a hormone spiral, that is also again an issue.
Susanne: You just mentioned the keyword gynecologist, general practitioner, how is the interdisciplinary cooperation between you and, let’s say, the conventional doctors?
Ina: It is always a difficult topic, I would like to work closer together, because I simply have the feeling that we could achieve much, much more for women if we would listen to each other. I like to listen sometimes, but with doctors it has become difficult.
Susanne: How long is a normal appointment, if you can call it normal at all, when a patient comes to you?
Ina: Well, the first appointment is always an hour, up to one and a half hours, where we then really have time and can talk through everything, I look at all the values that they bring with them, they often really bring a large folder with them, where we look at everything in detail and then sort it out together, so to speak, and look in which direction I should simply look at it again from my point of view.
… To be continued in a next blog post. You can also find the whole interview on our YouTube channel.
Best regards and see you next time
- 2nd part of the interview: ” We women are highly sensitive beings and we usually know how we feel and what is good for us and what is not good for us. And to strengthen that, I just think that’s so important, that’s the be-all and end-all, so that we can just grow old happily and healthily, otherwise it doesn’t work.” Ina Asmus-Brütt
- Part 3 of the interview: “The biggest problem with women from 45 to their late or mid-60s is that they’re pushed incredibly quickly into the track of psychiatric drugs.” Ina Asmus-Brütt
Photo: Alina Asmus
