Perimenopause anxiety.
From: Herbmednurse.aol.com
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 17:13:44 EST
To: herb.lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Herb] panic/anxiety and perimenopause
I seem to be getting a lot of perimenopausal ladies lately, with complaints of increasing anxieties where none existed before. I guess I figured that with the bigger changes in the ebb and flow of hormones (like puberty backwards) at this time, that these good-one-day-not-the-other as due to hormones. Has anyone else experienced this as well? Most of the ladies are on vitex or vitamin therapies to alleviate the down side of menopause. Is there anything else, herbally, that may do the trick to helping them? None of them are on any psych meds, and really don't feel that it's a 'psych' problem; but more part of the changing hormonal picture. Some have had a harder time handling any type of stress; as this just compounds the picture. Any suggestions? Passionflower, scullcap? No one wants anything sedating. Oats?
tia,
diane
From: Herbmednurse.aol.com
I should add that the 5 county area that these women live in have had the reformulated gasoline that is rife with estrogen-like compounds and is contaminating underground water with serious consequences.
From: psilver.cix.compulink.co.uk (Pat Silver)
Try Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca).
From: "Niamh" niamh.nmcginley.fsnet.co.uk
I like Rosemary and Turnera for this as well as what has been mentioned already and of course Cimicifuga where indicated. Vitex isn't always the thing, doesn't fit every hormonal picture IMO. Liver and adrenal support might be better.
Níamh
From: Herbmednurse.aol.com
>Vitex isn't always the thing, doesn't fit every hormonal picture IMO.
Niamh;
this is kinda interesting; as I've read the same thing with some people who may be depression prone, to have it exacerbated with the use of vitex. But I've noticed with a lot of ladies with the big emotional swings - vitex seemed to even that out along with the cycle. They also seemed to exhibit signs of progesterone deficiency more, too.
Maybe adrenal support is the hot ticket??
From: Henriette Kress hetta.spamcop.net
Evening primrose oil and the like might be good... start them at 2-3 capsules a day, tapering off to the usual 1x/day after a month or two. They're expensive, yep, but they're sort of worth it, for a surprising array of problems.
There's lots of herbs for anxiety (currently kava seems to be the queen of the heap), but if exogenous (not-own) estrogen is a factor, I'd go for liver herbs, every time.
From: "Pamela Quayle" herbgatherer.hotmail.com
>Vitex isn't always the thing, doesn't fit every hormonal picture IMO.
Just yesterday I was reading the proceedings from the Medicines of the Earth Conference last year and Aviva Romm had said that several herbalists were reporting adverse effects on depression with the use of Vitex. The speculation was that it occurs in women who are already deficient in estrogen and dominant in progesterone. I usually associate the possible causes of depression with those of panic and anxiety. Might be worth checking out to see if it's adding to their life style challenges.
The more I work with menopausal issues the less I believe in Vitex and the more I believe in supporting the adrenals, the nervous system and the liver.
From: luna ladyluna.pa.net
Herbmednurse.aol.com asked:
>I seem to be getting a lot of perimenopausal ladies lately, with complaints of increasing anxieties where none existed before.
>Any suggestions? Passionflower, scullcap? No one wants anything sedating.
Henriette Kress hetta.spamcop.net> suggested:
>There's lots of herbs for anxiety (currently kava seems to be the queen of the heap), but if exogenous (not-own) estrogen is a factor, I'd go for liver herbs, every time.
Good question, and I'm looking forward to reading tomorrows digest to read everyone else's suggestions.
How about motherwort? (Leonuris cardiaca) It's one of my personal favorite herbs... Good liver-tonic bitter, calming and grounding without sedating, strengthening to the heart, grows almost everywhere, is easy to identify.
The Latin name means "heart of the lion", and the fact that it grows almost everywhere makes it very useful to me in the way I work with herbs Not a flashy herb, but a very useful one, IME.
I take about 5 ml tincture of the fresh plant as needed. Smaller persons might get results with less... but I'm unaware of any contra-indications for its continued use over a period of months or years. Your experience may vary, of course. For these women, maybe it could be even more beneficial if combined with dandelion root or burdock root to support the liver even more?
Best wishes,
Luna in PA, USA
From: Herbmednurse.aol.com
> For these women, maybe it could be even more beneficial if combined with dandelion root or burdock root to support the liver even more?
thanks for your tips.... I know most of them are following a 3 gm. a day of EPO, B vit complex with C, and most are also on vitex and dong quai combo. Quite a few take a dandelion root/burdock root tincture as well.
One tried chamomile tincture, but it left her too sleepy while driving.
One tried a valerian/passionflower tincture, but that did the same.
Some are using nettles; none like licorice (?) majority are sleep deprived, too; as they have families and hubbies on 2nd or 3rd shift so sleep cycles are bad.
They don't want to sleep, just to calm any 'storms' during the day. I know that a lot of them have been pushed prozac and the like by the docs; - none - of them want to get on that bandwagon. It's not a depression thing; it just seems a lot of overload-getting-older-perimenopause stage. Most are around 47-51.
