Traditional western medicine has been restricted in the ways it could support women who come to their doctor with classic menopausal complaints-hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and memory or concentration difficulties. For these women, the options have been limited to two: 1) hormone replacement therapy with medications containing estrogen and progesterone, the hormones the ovaries quit making at the time of menopause, or 2) live with it.
Today, however, women are demanding more choices-ways they can be more comfortable without having to rely on synthetic hormone therapy. Setting aside traditional medical therapy, natural remedies have become increasingly popular for those women who want to make menopause a smooth but natural transition. In a three-part series of articles, I will discuss the various herbal remedies for menopause and help you make an informed decision about what's best for you.
One of the more popular herbs for menopausal symptoms is black cohosh root, harvested from a shrub-like plant native to parts of Eastern North America. It has been used widely in Europe as a treatment for menopausal hot flashes and is gaining in popularity in the USA. The way black cohosh works to control hot flashes is interesting and worth the discussion. Unfortunately it DOES involve a mostly painless mini-lecture on menopause and why hot flashes occur. So, if you're up for it...
When a woman approaches menopause, her ovaries basically give out and fail to produce the usual amount of estrogen and progesterone, the hormones normally produced cyclically in menstruating women. The brain, sensing the relative lack of female hormones, starts sending out chemical signals in an attempt to entice the ovaries to "pick up the pace a bit" and produce more hormones. These brain chemicals are called Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH). Women in menopause have lots of these hormones in their bodies. Scientists believe that fluctuations in the higher levels of LH in particular are what causes hot flashes.
Enter black cohosh. When taken for menopausal symptoms, the herb attaches itself to some of the same receptors in the body that estrogen does and tricks the brain into thinking it's really estrogen. The LH levels are reduced and hot flashes are improved. Easy, huh?
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