Message #3033 - Vegetarian Magick (Rcvd) Date: 04-06-96 02:19 From: Rain To: Maiya Subject: Herbs and Menopause ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @RESCANNED 93:9000/0 @MSGID: 93:9187/1 3102b471 @TID: GE 1.1+ On 04-05-96 Maiya wrote to Rain... M > the rosemary, ginsing and soybean intake in my diet, and shortly after The ginseng and soybeans pobably did the trick. Rosemary really hasn't been shown to help, and of course it shouldn't be overdone anyway, as large doses can be slightly toxic. (There have been cases of fatal rosemary poisoning, but that would take an awful lot; I suspect the people who died were ingesting the oil, not the herb.) M > that time that I began taking Evening Primrose Oil on the advice given M > to me M > in a self-heal herb store in Victoria, B.C., and the problem subsided M > within about 2 months. No problems since. I'm glad this helped you, but would like to add two caveats: 1. Menopausal symptoms come and go, and they may have gone away by themselves; there's honestly no research I'm aware of that supports EPO for menopausal discomforts. Or maybe soemthing else hormonal was going on? EPO does help prostaglandin-related cyclical discomforts like PMS--in fact, it's pretty well taken PMS out of my life, and I don't even use the oil, just the common roadside weed. (Yellow evening primrose here can grow head-high and about as wide as I can reach; one good big plant is a year's supply, if I can get to it before the bugs who like to eat it do. And it sure makes the car smell fabulous on the way home. ) 2. Keeping your estrogen level up, whether by natural means like herbs/exercise/regular sex or by taking estrogen, does say a lot about whether you're going to have osteoporosis and heart disease after menopause. That's another reason I choose plants with a proven estrogenic action when treating menopausal symptoms. (And a good reason to take calcium and get enough vitamins C and D, of course.) M > Years ago, I bought a "Self-Heal Herbal Wheel" from a health food M > store, and M > and it lists black cohosh, rosemary and mistletoe as being Well...I know you know this, but it might be worth a reminder for anyone lurking here: Just because you get a piece of information in a health-food store, whether from personnel or one of those charts/wheels, doesn't mean it's accurate. There's just nothing I've seen to back up any of these but cohosh for menopause, not even much in the way of folk usage. (Though if you run across a study that supports any of the others for that purpose, I'd certainly pay the postage and copying costs to get a copy if it. As I say, I try not to miss anything new.) M > That sounds like an extremely interesting project! What database M > program are you using? I'm writing it in the database program included in MS-WORKS, but will have to transfer it to something non-copyrighted before marketing it. Any good suggestions? I need something easy, inexpensive and searchable. M > When it is completed, are you going to make it available M > general use, or keep it strictly for registered practitioners? I M > would be M > very interested in buying a copy, if possible, when it is completed. Anyone will be able to buy It, though it'll be marketed mostly in professional publications. I'm flattered you want one, but you may have awhile to wait...it's a bigger job than I suspected when I got into it. Each screen takes hours to research and at least two hours to write....and that's *without* an adolescent cat using me for a jungle-gym while I write. M > P.S.: Where do you live, Rain? Your BBS origin doesn't give my that M > info. Louisville. And you? We're just into daffodil time here, though it may snow again tomorrow. * OFFLINE 1.58 * Godzilla: Hefty Hefty Hefty. Barney: Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy. --- Renegade v10-05 Exp * Origin: Sanctuary - Gay / Straight Friendly - 502 636.0806 (93:9187/1) @PATH: 9187/1 0 9100/0 9000/0 9004/0