For a couple of years I used a combination of progesterone cream and standardised black cohosh to alleviate the symptoms of menopause. This was so successful that I was eventually able to reduce the doses of each and finally phase them out altogether. Some nine months later I was again overwhelmed with flushes & sweats. I restarted the regime of progesterone and black cohosh, but this time my pulse rate and blood pressure shot up wildly and only stabilised when I stopped taking the black cohosh.
When it was hormone replacement time due to a hysterectomy my doctor put me on Promensil. It's actually available over the counter at Wal-Mart now for half the price one would get it for at a health food store. It works better for me than the prescription hrt or the compounded one from the Apothecary Pharmacy
i use natural progesterone and dhea, etc for hormone replacment with clients with fantastic results
This is only my two cents worth, but maybe there are some other women who
would like to know about the following possible solution.
I do know a little about Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy (NHRT) and
that one can:
1. Get a blood test (or saliva test) to check levels for DHEA-Sulfate, Estrodial, Testosterone and Progesterone and then,
2. If needed, have their physician order a prescription compounded (plant based) from a compounding pharmacies: I know of two such pharmacies: The Apothecary located just outside of Washington, DC 800-869-9160 or The Women's International Pharmacy 800-279-5708. These pharmacies ship everywhere.
I've been on NHRT for three years and all menopausal symptoms (depression, hot flashes, wrinkled skin, etc. have gone away). I suggest a book "Natural Hormone Replacement" by Jonathan Wright, MD.
I'm speaking from experience here. I have the solution to the dangers of synthetic hormones, and it's already available from http://www.ourhealthcoop.com Little known fact: Because of the artificial
hormones in the environment -- from animals fed on artificial hormones, from insecticides and other chemicals which have an estrogen-like effect on the body (called "xenoestrogens") many women are actually estrogen dominant, and suffer from a hormone imbalance in pre-menopause, which begins around age 35, and for some women even younger. At menopause, when the body's production of progesterone drops to zero, the imbalance is worse. The solution: natural progesterone. It's available through the coop, and taken transdermally (some people wonder how this could work. It's no different than the dangerous "estrogen patch." Hormones can be absorbed through the skin) about 1/4 tsp morning and night (a blob of cream about the size of a chocolate chip) will replace the amount the body naturally made before menopause. The cream is used in premenopausal women from day 14 to day 28 of the cycle. In menopausal women, it can be used for the first three weeks of the month, then off until the 1st of the next month to give the hormone receptors a rest.
Dr. John Lee, author of "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause" has prescribed natural progesterone cream for years and years with excellent results. He says the woman's body continues to make a certain amount of estrogen after menopause, but the production of progesterone drops to zero.
Using the progesterone cream restores a natural balance, and there are none of the risks associated with the synthetic hormones made from horse urine and the like.
3mg of Boron a day will certainly keep the pre/post and menapausal symptoms at bay.
I've been enjoying your newsletter for quite some time now. I have had excellent results with Black Cohosh - both in its raw, dried form and in the standardized version called Reminfemin - in addition to diet change. Reminfemin is very popular among women who do not want to go the conventional route with HRT. Black Cohosh root in its raw, dried form is very potent and should be used in small amounts at first with a gradual increase if necessary. I eventually stopped using Black Cohosh and switched to raw Don Quai. I also highly recommend the book by Susan Weed, Menopausal Years: The Wise Woman Ways.
acombination of black cohash, soy supplements, natural vitamin e at 400 one day and 800 the next, and a B complex 50 solved most of my problems. For a while I took a subtheraputic dose (5-10mg) of amitryptelline at dinner to help with sleep disturbances. CLA and evening primrose oil were also
helpful at times.
FOR MENOPAUSE. FLAX OIL [2 TABLESPOONS DAILY] WORKS FOR MOOD SWINGS AND FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE ON MOST PEOPLE I KNOW WHO HAVE TRIED IT. IT TASTES PRETTY BAD, BUT USED AS A SALAD DRESSING IT IS PALATABLE WITH ADDITION OF SOY AMINO SPRAY AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR. THE GREAT THING IS THAT IT IS
GOOD FOR YOU AND IT HAS NO SIDE EFFECTS LIKE MEDICINES DO.
Love to read your articles. Direct and to the point. Stopped using Premarin after taking it for 5 years - awful side effects. Now use the co-op's Menopause tablets - works great for me, plus a progesterone/wild yam cream (when I remember to apply). Black cohosh works great for hot flushes.
I've been taking natural progesterone cream for many years. I've had a bone density test that says I have gained bone (most unusual) and the only thing different from what I had been doing previously was taking natural progesterone. I've been walking in the woods, about 3 to 4 miles a day for
decades and I believe that contributes to staying healthy but I had still lost bone till I started the progesterone cream.
Menopausal stuff that works for me:
Progesterone creame(co-op's is great!) phyto estrogens such as soy products, clary sage essential oil, sage, DIET Lots of organic fruits and veggies, occasional chicken, fish (usually salmon) a couple times a week and no red meat. Rice and pasta and beans, yogurt, fiber in the form of flax seeds, rice bran ( I make a muesli consisting of raw organic oats, rice bran, lecithin,flax seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, raisins, other dried fruit and a little sucanat and soy milk) LOTS OF WATER, DECAF once or twice a week Very occasional beer or wine. Avoid trans fats and processed food --use olive oil after cooking, and chocolate (well..once in a while..........) I really believe diet can be a BIG HELP. (I also take calcium/mag and Sam's)
Don't forget the progesterone cream is a great help with post menapausal symptoms...it takes a little while to notice a difference...but it will help if you stay with it.
When menopause hit me I never took any hormones. I did try various herbal blends that I received from a naturopath. A good one online (I get no money for this!!) is Herbal Healer. But what I found most
helpful was daily exercise--walking or running and yoga.
Regarding products for PMS and menopause, I have been taking a product for nearly 5 years called Something for Women, from OneLife USA out of Palm Beach Fl. Owner is a breast cancer survivor who took control of her health during that crisis and came up with a very effective antioxident and women's formulas.
I have stopped taking my perscripted HRT, this past May. I find that Our Health Coop's menopause formula is helpful, but does not relieve hot flashes and night sweats, which cause sleep interruption. (I find Valerian works well for inducing sleep) The moods, the body aches the weight fluctuation is all helped somewhat by the combination of Menopause formula, Sam's formula, HGH, Liquid calcium and
Joint complex. (I also take E, coQ10, DHEA & Libido) I think all gives me a feeling of overall good health. I notice when running out of something the balance of well being is impaired. Mostly I feel fatigued or a low grade depression when I'm not on my total regime of supplements. I have also tried the progesterone cream, I don't notice anything with the cream.
I have been using Wise Women Essentials Progesterone Creme for at least 2 years to help with out-of-whack hormones (including many of the symptoms mentioned in Dr. John Lee's book "What your Dr. may not tell you about pre-menopause/menopause" - actually two books in one). I am really pleased with the results! It does warrant your looking into the book and the
creme.
I've been taking tinctures of Black Cohosh (3/4- teaspoon 2x day), Vitex (Chasteberry) (1 tsp. 2x day), and Dong Quai (1 tsp. 2x day) for many years. I still have hot flashes and night sweats but not often and not severe. What I DON'T have is insomnia. I've noticed that if I don't take my tinctures for a week, I sleep poorly.
I also experience the dryness of eyes and vagina associated with menopause. I take evening primrose oil for both (internally and as a suppository vaginally). It works!
I stopped taking premarin about five years ago. I started having hot flashes so I went to the grocery store and bought some stuff called...hot flash formula. I've tried several natural type menopause formulas. I've used the menopause formula from Our Health Co-op and found it very effective. When I run out and my order hasn't arrived, I take two capsules of Red Clover and two capsules of Black Cohosh every morning....seems to work just as well.
About a year and a half ago, I decided to replace it with Soy. Natrol produces a 100 mg. capsule (60 in a bottle) for about $7.00. So far so good......except for a fluctuating body temperature, but who cares. It's a cheap price to pay (both the $7.00 and the fluctuating body temperature). My G.P. and Gynecologist (both with Kaiser) are pleased with my choice, though they will not elaborate on why, but both currently look at me like I'm a Guinea Pig.
I have been using black cohosh for years. I do not have any menopausal symptoms at all. i tried several other products, but find black cohosh to be the most effective and cheapest!!!!
I went off it some years ago after reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause by John R. Lee, M.D. The book was recommended to me by a friend who had been the number one salesperson of oncology drugs for a major pharmaceutical company, and who switched to marketing natural products. Also, as a horse lover, I did not approve of the way Premarin is manufactured. Black cohosh was extremely helpful to me during and after the tapering off Premarin. I have read that one should not take it for more than 6 months at any one time. I was, and still am, taking plant based Progesterone, now ordered from the coop.
I have used the black cohosh for over six months and am still having the hot flashes.. I am using the co-op's menopause and so far no change in the hot flashes.. I have had the hot flashes over 18 years and everything I have tried from the health food store does not work.. I had a problem with the birth control so the Doctors wouldn't prescribe HRT.. I am open for suggestions..
You asked about success in staying healthy without the use of HRT's. At age 50 I had been taking Premarin (hysterectomy at age 38) for 13 years and a thyroid supplement for 17 years. I abruptly stopped taking both and went into an immediate and very uncomfortable menopause. A wonderfully
knowledgeable chiropractor, Dr. Michael Ramsden, was able to regulate my body so that I have subsequently enjoyed consistent good health.
First, he used, orally, the necessary hormones to balance my endocrine system. He also gave me a list of supplements to use daily, including 400 mg of vitamin E, twice daily (he started with 200 then built to 400 twice daily), supplemented by vitamin C and a balanced all-purpose vitamin, i.e., Centrum, which put an end to the menopause symptoms that I had uncomfortably experienced for 2 weeks.
Fast forward, now, at age 77 I have subsequently added other anti-aging vitamins, i.e, CoQ10, Ginkgo Biloba, MSM, Bilberry, SAM's Formula, Soy Isoflavones, etc. I have also continued with the exercise program begun at age 50. You can see my recent photograph at www.angelusfellowship.org which shows the wisdom of following the simple program that Dr. Ramsden prescribed for me 17 years ago.
I took black cohosh, b-vitamins and vitamin E... The night sweats were better but when I added evening primrose oil they began to get MUCH better... Not sure if it just took a while for the black cohosh to kick in or if the evening primrose oil helped...
I have had good results with Black Cohosh. Best help has come from the herb Dong Quai and Flax meal. I highly recommend both. Since starting flax meal, my menstral cycle has become regular once again, and sex drive has returned. Hooray!
The Womens International (compounding) Pharmacy has a natural hormone replacement available but it must be prescribed by a physician. A Normal Biestrogen dose is:
E 3 Estriol 2mg E2 Estradiol .5mg Progesterone 100mg
per day. It is also available in gel or cream form. I have taken half of this dose for years with great results. One months supply cost $ 45.00 taking 1 pill in the morning and one in the evening.
If only one pill per day is taken it is a 2 month supply.
Years ago I read where coffee brought on hot flashes in menopausal women. When I stopped drinking coffee it helped big time. When I went back to the coffee drinking habit hot flashes came back big time.
This may sound a little crazy and may not work for many women, but I take UNIVERSAL Natural STEROL
Complex from the GNC store. For some reason it has been working for my menopause. I know it is supposed to be used for weight lifters, but since I am almost 60 and an active person it gives me energy and helps my health.
Black Cohosh is wonderful! I had used it for a couple of years and then quit. I was fine for a couple of years and thought I was through the menopause symptoms, but the sleeplessness returned.
So.........back to the black cohosh regimen. It worked great, and I am still taking it every day. Sure beats horse urine!!! (I've had better sense than to ever indulge in that stuff!)
Just a brief warning note on use of black cohash by women who have been diagnosed or are at high risk for breast cancer- according to Dr.Susan Love- author of two books on breast cancer and one on hormones - who is a preeminent breast surgeon and researcher of alternative therapies for cancer treatment and menopause- warns that black cohash stimulates the production of estrogen in women and for those of us with breast cancer histories this could be potentially dangerous. I personally find soy (in a powdered drink formula developed by the Revival company- not mlm- to be working just fine form me at 53 and no symptoms at all so far.
I have been using liquid Black Cohosh for several years, two weeks on and two weeks off. To say that it works is an understatement. Without it, I am irregular at best with flows so heavy I can't leave the house. And I am not a nice person to be around (my husband and sons will attest to that)! With
Black Cohosh as a regular part of my regiment, I maintain both by regularity and my sanity. I also add Primrose daily to my routine but I have found that one without the other is only a portion of the solution. Thanks for the opportunity to share.
Upon reading your latest newsletter regarding Menopause, I would like to comment on the Health Co-op's product, Menopause. I've been taking it for about 6 months now (and not all that frequently either) and while I have not reached that allegedly miserable physical state of affairs as yet, I thought I would 'head 'em off at the pass', so to speak, and get a jump on all those nasty symptoms we women have to go through for the sake of 'maturity'.....so THAT'S what they call it! HAH! Anyway, I have noticed there is a reduction in the duration and frequency of the moodiness and hot flashes (I prefer to call them POWER SURGES) that I was experiencing, albeit mildly, before. My twin sister has just completed 12 months of being period free (the peri-menopausal stage) so I reckon my turn is just around the corner.
I have used Black Cohosh for many, many years with wonderful results. In the beginning I added Vitex also evening primrose and vitamin E. Exercise (walking) is important as is a reasonably "healthy" diet.
Just to let you know that I was on Premarin for at least 10 years for Menopause Symptoms, and found great relief with it, but then when I retired and lost my Medical Insurance, I found that I could not afford it on a monthly basis, so I looked for an alternative method and tried soy products which did not give me the relief I was looking for. I then tried Black Cohosh and was thrilled to find that it gave me the same results as the Premarin, and the cost of a months supply was affordable. I took Black Cohosh for 1 year, 2 pills per day and then went to 1 pill per day and now I am only taking 1 or 2 pills per week. I would recommend it to anyone needing Hormone Therapy. I no longer suffer the terrible Night Sweats and the Mood Swings, of course I do take Multi-Vitamins daily
I’m only 35, but due to my thyroid disease I am suffering from adrenal weakness which has resulted in low testosterone. The deficiency was diagnosed through blood work. Without my oral supplement, I have no gumption, no sex drive, no feelings, no emotions, no strength, no energy. As soon as the doctor diagnosed my deficiency, my husband and I began researching this hormone to learn all we could. We read a fine book entitled “Testosterone, the Hormone of Desire,” by Dr. Susan Rako. In her book, Dr. Rako discusses the need for more than just estrogen supplementation in post-menopausal women. Menopause results in the loss of many hormones; doctors can’t give back just one!
I found Black Cohosh increased my inters and pleasure in sex. That in itself is worthwhile.
I've been using the co-op progesterone for over 6 months, but recently added the menopause formula. It has given a very noticeable bonus in reducing night heat and improving in sexual response. the two work better together than separately for me.
My wife had been taking the co-op's menapause fomula until she ran out and it seem to help her to be much less afected by PMS she also uses progesterone cream we are ordering more menapause formula right now. We also seedmed to have more sex while she was useing the pills.
The Menopause formula from the co-op works as well as any we have tried at half the cost. It hasn't solved my problem 100% but I do not want to be without it.
