Posts Tagged "hot flashes"

Wednesday Bubble: Nutrafem promises much…will it deliver?

Posted by Liz on Nov 25, 2009 in herbal medicine, hot flash, nightsweats | 4 comments

Not gonna burst this one. At least not yet. Because there’s a new botanical formulation in town and the evidence supporting its effectiveness looks pretty strong!

Nutrafem® is a supplement containing a proprietary blend of phytoestrogens – namely Eucommia ulmoides bark (a deciduous rubber tree whose bark has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine practice for centuries) and Vigna radiata (mungbeans).

In a study that appears in the Advanced Online Edition of Menopause, Nutrafem was shown to reduce the number of hot flashes and night sweats that women were experiencing by 26% over a 12-week time period. What’s more, among the 156 postmenopausal women studied, symptoms were reduced in almost half of the women. At the start of the study, participants were reportedly experiencing at least 21 or more hot flushes or night sweats weekly, and at least a third of these were described as being severe to moderate.

Earlier studies have also been favourable, suggesting that Nutrafem also leads to significant improvements in general health, body aches/pains, energy and fatigue, and emotional wellbeing.

This formulation appears to be safe and reported side effects during use have been minimal. Importantly, both of the key ingredients have a long history of as food or herbal medicines; the mung bean in particular has been used to address effects of radiation during breast cancer therapy, such as headache, fatigue or sleeplessness. Additionally, while Nutrafem appears to activate estrogen receptors, it does not promote the proliferation of breast cancer cells.

I have high hopes for Nutrafem. Have you tried it?

Viva la sweats!

Posted by Liz on Nov 16, 2009 in hot flash, nightsweats | 0 comments

Night sweats, that is! I never thought that I’d write that but it does seem that having night sweats may actually save your life someday.

Reporting in the September/October issue of Menopause, Norwegian researchers followed up on over 800 women in menopause who had previously provided information about lifestyle and menopausal history (including vasomotor symptoms). Of the 73% of women who reported having hot flashes, 39% also reported night sweats. Women reporting both were shown to have a 28% lower risk of dying from any causes over the next 20 years. A reduced risk of dying remained even after the researchers made adjustments for past or current hormone use, body mass index, physical exercise and smoking.

Will these data make me stop the herbs and start sweating away my nights? No. But it’s good to know that vasomotor symptoms, such as night sweats, may have a role beyond “nuisance,” “disruptive,” “mood changing” and sheet-ruining!

Got sleep?

Posted by Liz on Oct 9, 2009 in sleep disturbance | 0 comments

How many nights do you lie awake, staring at the clock and just hoping for a wee bit of shut-eye?

If you are like many women in peri- or post-menopause, the answer is probably “a lot.” However, data presented at last month’s North American Menopause Society Annual meeting show that sleep problems do not change uniformly across menopause, which is why addressing them effectively can be difficult for some women.

Researchers examined the sleep patterns and symptoms of 286 women who participated in the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study. All participants completed daily menstrual calendars, which were used to track their experiences across the menopausal transition and rate the severity of all symptoms. For five years, they also provided the researchers with first-morning urine samples so that estrogen, fallopian stimulating hormone, and stress hormones could be measured.

The result? Depending on your sleep pattern, the relationship to certain factors changed. For example, nighttime awakening was mostly associated with age, being late in the menopausal transition (before moving into full-blown menopause), early menopause, hot flashe, depressed mood, joint pain and stress. Early morning awakening was associated with age, hot flashes, depressed mood, anxiety, joint pain, stress, and lower estrogen/higher FSH levels. On the otherhand, difficulty falling asleep was associated with menopausal symptoms in general, stress, and lower stress hormone levels.

However, regardless of whether women were having trouble falling asleep, awoke several times during the night or awoke in the early morning hours, sleep disruption was consistently associated with hot flashes, depression and stress.

In light of these findings, the researchers concluded that interventions to improve sleep might be more effective if they were targeted and focused, for example, towards night-time awakening and hot flashes, or difficulty falling asleep and depression, rather than clustered under the category of “sleep disruption” without examining exacerbating factors.

Of course, the greater implication here is that sleep-associated disorders during the menopause do not fall under the “one size fits all” approach and are better treated with individualized therapy. This is not to say, however, that certain interventions, like yoga or acupuncture can’t help address the cluster of sleep issues, hot flashes and stress, etc. Still, it’s best to consult with your practitioner before embarking on your own approach to solving the sleep woes. Personally, I find that I will be awake for hours in the nights preceding my menstrual period, regardless of the use of herbs, exercise or meditation. It just “is.” Yet, I’m glad to know there might be a better approach to addressing my specific woes.

What about you? What are you doing to get sleep?

Wednesday Bubble: Cool like dat

Posted by Liz on Aug 26, 2009 in hot flash, nightsweats | 3 comments

Hey Ladies! Wondering how to rid yourself of those hot flashes forever? Just a drink of ‘GEM Keep it Cool’, and voila, your hot flashes will disappear! Heck, Marie Osmond swears by it.

Evidently, ‘Keep it Cool’ works on irritability and night sweats as well.

A glance at the nutrition panel shows that ‘Keep it Cool’ contains black cohosh as well as a proprietary blend of adaptogen herbs. ( Adaptogens are agents that theoretically, boost the body’s ability to fight off physical, chemical, or biological stressors by raising its resistance level.) GEM also makes drinks that relieve stress, boost mental acuity, promote bone strength and prevent aging.

If only it were that easy. Cool like dat….not!

One drink a day.

What do you think? This bubble’s bursting so wide that I can hardly stand it.

Wednesday Bubble: Maca what?

Posted by Liz on Aug 19, 2009 in herbal medicine, Uncategorized | 0 comments

I love it when I run across an item that’s perfect for a Wednesday bubble; whether or not this one is “burstable” remains to be seen. There are accumulating data supporting the use of a Peruvian herb known as “Maca,” which reportedly balances hormones and consequently, alleviates certain perimenopausal symptoms.

In scientific communities, Maca is better known as Lepedium Meyenii (or more recently, Lepedium peruvianum Chacon ) and is a plant in the mustard family. In Norway, Maca is considered a medicinal substance and requires a prescription.

There have been a lot of claims about the aphrodisiac and energizing properties of Maca. For this reason alone, I am quite skeptical about whether or not the science behind the plant’s use in menopause is sound. Nevertheless, I did find several evidence-based, published studies examining Maca in peri- and post-menopausal women:

In two of the largest studies, a standardized, concentrated Lepedium peruvianum formulation (Maca-GO®) was compared to placebo tablet in 168 women who were in early post-menopause; treatment was provided for up to four months. Significant, beneficial changes were seen in balancing and normalizing hormones (estradiol, progesterone, follicular stimulating hormone and lutinizing hormone) and reducing menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats.

In a much smaller, four-month study among perimenopausal women, all participants received Maca-GO® for two months and then a placebo tablet for two months. Two months of the active tablet resulted in anywhere from a 74% to 87% reduction in frequency of hot flashes and night sweats, as well as improvements in sleep interruption, nervousness, depression and heart palpitations. The authors, while acknowledging what is known as a placebo effect (i.e., “I want to believe it works so it does”) suggest that Maca-GO acts a hormonal toner. In this study, as in the one mentioned above, a balancing of hormonal levels was observed.

There is a new supplement called Femmenessence™ with two product lines – MacaPause for postmenopausal women and MacaLife for perimenopausal women. Like many other supplements, both claim to support the body’s ability to balance hormone and by default, address the many troublesome symptoms associated with menopause. Recommended dosage is twice-daily 500 mg capsules for the first four months with a one week break every two to three months. The manufacturer also recommends that women first speak to a healthcare practitioner before using Femmenessence.

As I’ve written time and again, the one-size fits all’ framework doesn’t work too well when it comes to hormones, let alone any other disease. Nevertheless, I am curious about Maca. What about you? Have you heard of or tried Maca? What were the results?