I guess I’m perimenopausal, heck if I know since I still have a period every 4-5 weeks. But I’m having the hot flashes like crazy now, along with sleep disturbance and the dreaded mood swings. I bought 2 different bottles of Black Cohosh, one is 80 mg capsules and the other is 200 mg capsules that smell very organic, to put it nicely. The 80 mg ones don’t seem to do much good, and the 200 mg ones cause intestinal disturbance (yeah, it’s diarrhea) on a regular basis, but seem to help with the symptoms. I have heard some heartfelt success stories related to Black Cohosh, I just wish I had the same results. Am I taking too much, or not enough? Who can help this poor, addled 51 year old Doper? Just looking for personal experiences, not medical advice (hi, QtM!). I hope to hear from you soon, although most likely I’ll forget that I even started this thread…
Here’s a link to clinical trials and other info on black cohosh. Even though the jury is still out, I recently decided to give it a try. I’m taking 40 mg (standardized extract) per day - no intestinal upsets yet. My hot flashes have decreased but this could be entirely coincidental. The hot flashes seem to come and go, but if they don’t come back, then I’ll try cutting back on the dose and see what happens. The last set I had were particularly bad - maybe 8 or 10 an hour, complete with dripping sweat. Lovely.
I’ve been perimenopausal for maybe 1 1/2 years now. I still haven’t made up my mind about hormone replacement therapy.