Menopause, menopause part 9

The herb recommended for use in the second phase of menopause (postmenopause) is black cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa. This is a period when there is an increased release of lutropin (LH) and therefore an increased release of progesterone and androgens.

In Poland, there is a stink bug - Cimicifuga foetida L., which can provide raw material with a similar chemical composition and use.

The pharmaceutical raw material is the rhizome with roots. Group of active ingredients of black cohosh: resins, coumarins, ranunculosides, terpene lactones, gums, tannic acid, isoflavones (formononetin), triterpene glycosides of saponin nature (actein, cymigoside, macrotin, racemoside, 27-deoxyactein, salicylic acid, isoferulic acid, cinnamic acid and alkaloids (cytisine, methylcytisine). When determining the dosage, attention should be paid to cytisine, which stimulates the respiratory and vasomotor centers, increases the secretion of adrenaline, increases blood pressure, and also eliminates the symptoms of nicotine craving.

But due to the presence of cytisine, preparations prepared from black cohosh, after an overdose, cause poisoning, the symptoms of which are: nausea, vomiting,

increased heart rate, dilated pupils, convulsions, headaches and dizziness, also death due to paralysis of the respiratory center.

Lactones combined with alkaloids and phenolic acids have an antibacterial effect.

Bed bug isoflavones and triterpenes inhibit the release of lutropin (LH), inhibiting ovulation and production of the corpus luteum and production and release of progesterone.

In men, black cohosh extracts administered for more than 30 days also inhibit release lutropins (LH) in the pituitary and thus inhibit the production and release of testosterone by Leydig cells (in the testicles) - anti-androgenic effect.

Isoflavones have an estrogenic effect (acting on ER-beta receptors).

Dosage recommendation:

Black cohosh dry extract (Cimicifugae racemosae): 250-500 mg daily.

The dose should be adjusted to the individual organism.