Black Cohosh Efficacy for Reducing Menopausal Symptom Severity
Menopause occurs when women transition into late middle age, around the age of 51 years (reviewed by Leach and Moore, 2012). During this transition many women will experience a significant decline in quality of life due to the emergence of menopausal symptoms. This decline can be caused by the natural aging process or a medical procedure, but the symptoms are generally the same regardless of the cause. Menopausal symptoms arise when the ovaries gradually become unresponsive to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), thereby producing less circulating progesterone and estrogen. The symptoms include hot flashes and sweating (vasomotor), vaginal atrophy and dryness, and loss of libido.
Most women (? 85%) can expect the duration of menopausal symptoms to last between 5 months and 10 years, with an average of about 3.5 years (reviewed by Leach and Moore, 2012). Given the duration of these symptoms and the sometimes significant impact on quality of life, there is a need for effective ways to manage symptom severity. Historically, the approach offered by physicians was to compensate for reduced levels of circulating estrogen and progesterone using hormone therapy (reviewed by Borrelli and Ernst, 2008a). Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was widely used until several randomized clinical trials revealed that the health risks associated with prolonged HRT treatment outweighed the benefits for women experiencing mild to moderate symptoms.
Exogenous estrogen has primarily been used to reduce vasomotor symptoms and urogenital atrophy, but its efficacy is highly variable between women and hot flash episodes (Notelovitz, 2006). Close to 20% and 10% of women experiencing hot flashes due to natural or surgically-induced menopause, respectively, experience estrogen unresponsive hot flashes. In addition, although HRT has been shown to be effective for reducing the severity and frequency of hot flashes for most women, there is no consistent evidence suggesting that a women's quality of life will necessarily improve (Luoto, 2009). Given these limitations and the discovery that HRT significantly increases the risk of breast cancer, total cancer, venous thromboembolism, and stroke (Prentice, Manson, and Rossouw, 2009), it should come as no surprise that HRT is no longer recommended for treating menopausal symptoms for most women.
Since HRT has fallen out of favor there is a need to discover other treatments that can reduce symptom severity. Native Americans have historically relied on black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) to treat menstrual irregularity and some contemporary physicians have been recommending the herb to patients unable or unwilling to risk HRT therapy (reviewed...
self-absorption. This becomes a time of self-reflection and if all bodes well a time of increased creativity (Erickson & Erickson, 1997). However, should there be increasing family or financial stress, if there has been problems with their husband or children or they find themselves with looming bankruptcies, the likelihood of depression increases tremendously (Robinson, et.al., 2001) and the maladaptations of overextension and rejectivity (Erickson & Erickson, 1997) can lead
Some of the more common tests include Estradiol, FSH and LH. Women can also request the assistance of obstetricians, who can identify changes in the vaginal lining as a result of decreasing levels of estrogen (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2010). The highest concern with women is represented by the possibility of the menopause symptoms to be in fact indicative of a more severe health problem. This concern is best
While some people may also seek treatment for minor symptoms like hot flashes, it is when more serious symptoms occur that women should see a doctor. Osteoporosis occurs in the first few years of menopause whereby rapid bone loss is experienced thus making bones both weak and brittle. Many treatments are available including drugs such as Boniva. It is thus extremely important to consume more calcium during these years
Menopause: A Short History From Human Anatomy and Physiology, Spence and Mason, 2nd Edition from 1983, comes this description of Menopause. At about age 50, the ovarian and menstrual cycles gradually become irregular. Ovulation fails to occur during many of the irregular cycles and in most women the cycles cease altogether over the next several months or at most, a few years. The cessation of the menstrual cycle is referred to as
Although many of the symptoms commonly associated with menopause would suggest that women undergoing the change of life are no longer interested in sex, nothing could be farther from the truth. Many postmenopausal women "find it liberating to stop worrying about pregnancy and periods," (Mayo Clinic 2010). The BBC (2010) agrees: "some women find they enjoy sex more after the menopause. Freedom from worry about unwanted pregnancy can release
transitions and symptoms that menopause can cause. The writer also explores things that can be done to ease the transition of menopause. There were five sources used to complete this paper. When mankind was created, somebody made a mistake. As it stands menopause hits women right about the time that her children enter their late teen years. What a recipe for disaster. Menopause is a process that is either reached
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