Black Cohosh for Menopause Relief

As a woman begins the process of menopause, she will begin to experience a number of things, many of them not very pleasant. For example, things such as hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, headache, and joint pain, and memory loss, difficulty with concentration, irritability, and mood swings are all quite common. Obviously, no woman wants to experience any of these symptoms but unfortunately, most do. In addition, the level of the symptoms vary from one woman to another – some mild and some serious. Although there are many different treatments and remedies to consider, probably one that has proven to be highly successful is Black Cohosh. In fact, most women taking Black Cohosh for menopause agree the degree of symptoms is greatly reduced.

The official name of this herb is Actaea Recemoas. Coming from North America, women have been taking Black Cohosh for menopause for literally decades. The results are excellent! Interestingly, while experts and studies show time after time how beneficial and effective Black Cohosh is for treating menopause, the exact reason it works as well as it does is not clearly defined. Another interesting aspect of Black Cohosh is that you will find this marketed as food, not a drug. As a woman begins going through the change of life, her body stops producing hormones estrogen and progesterone. With that, the ovaries stop working and eggs are no longer made. Once her monthly menstrual cycle stops for a first 12 months, she is considered in actual menopause.

As these hormones decrease, the symptoms begin. The difficult thing about menopause is that not only does it affect the physical but the mental as well. In other words, while the woman has trouble sleeping, goes through night sweats, and experiences hot flashes, she also has to struggle with depression, anxiety, forgetfulness, and so on, all the more reason why so many women are taking Black Cohosh for menopause. For years, the standard way to treat menopause was with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). These synthetic drugs worked by replacing lost levels of estrogen, thus reducing the symptoms. However, in the past five years, new studies have been released that have given hormone replacement therapy a bad name. Although the symptoms can be controlled, there is now evidence that HRT causes a number of serious problems to include several forms of cancer. For that reason alone, women are taking Black Cohosh for menopause along with other natural remedies.

The great aspect of Black Cohosh is that it contains biological components that mirror that of the body’s production of estrogen. In fact, a number of studies performed even suggest that Black Cohosh lowers the level of luteinizing hormone that is associated with temperature fluctuations directly related to menopause. Today, many researchers are very excited with this finding, believing that this supplement has even more to offer that has not yet been identified.

The only debate about Black Cohosh is that experts do agree that more research is needed to fully understand all its benefits. In fact, a new study is about to get underway by the National Institute of Health to gain a better understanding of this plant and how it can help with menopausal symptoms. Now on the other end of the spectrum, there are other experts that are concerned that perhaps Black Cohosh is actually causing breast cancer cells to multiply quickly. This too is a part of this huge study to ensure there are no serious issues with Black Cohosh. Even so, women agree that any side effects are very mild and certainly nothing in comparison with the symptoms of menopause.