Have any of you who have been castrated, chemically or surgically, taken Black Cohosh to try and reduce or eliminate hot flashes and night sweats? If so, did it work well, or some, or very little, or not at all?

I don't know about this, but I have heard that soy is good for hot flashes. Anyone?

I have never even heard of it!

I guess my hot flashes were not all that difficult to bear. For about month 3 to month 6 they were severe for me (breaking into a sweat, flushed face, etc) while standing and talkiing to my boss. But now (almost 5 yrs post castration) they are negigible. Hot flashes only last a few seconds, just a vague feeling of being too warm.

What bothers me more is the total screw-up of my biological thermostat. During the winter I am almost always too cold or too hot, and what I wear to bed changes almost daily. One night it will be a full flannel sleeper complete with feet because I am diabetic and me feet get cold, the next night I am completely naked. Meanwhile I have a state of the art heat pump and solid state thermostat so the temp in my house never varies more than 3 degrees F!

Actually when the hot flashes were at their worst, I welcomed them! They were a reminder to me that I had finally achieved my goal!

Andrew (imported) wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2002 5:56 pm Have any of you who have been castrated, chemically or surgically, taken Black Cohosh to try and reduce or eliminate hot flashes and night sweats? If so, did it work well, or some, or very little, or not at all?

Stole from:

http://www.menopause-online.com/cohosh.htm

BLACK COHOSH

(cimicifuga racemosa)

Other Names: Squaw root, Black snake root, Rattle weed

General Description: Black Cohosh is a North American forest plant which can grow up to 8 feet tall.

Parts Used: The rhizome.

Active Ingredient: 24-deoxyacteine.

Traditional Uses: The American Indians boiled the root and drank the resulting beverage for a variety of diseases of women. Hence the name Squaw root.

Current Status: Black Cohosh is fairly well studied in Germany, where it is used to treat hot flashes . Experiments have shown that the herb has substances that bind to estrogen receptors in animal models and lower LH ( a hormone which is elevated in menopause ) in both animals and humans.The herb was an official drug in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1926. Available in the U.S. as Remifemin?.

Precautions: There are no reports of toxic effects. Do not confuse with Blue Cohosh which may have significant side effects.



Also is used in herb preps for feminisation with case berry (seed) a anti androgen herb

So far the hot flashes have not been that bad but the night sweets, I know exactly what Charlie is saying, the other night I went to bed wearing sweets, socks pants top and had the chills. 4 hours later I was naked sweeting up a storm.

I think I will look into the black cohosh.

I have used them from time to time and foundd that they work alright, at least they did stop my hot flashes, etc. Hope they work for you..........:tongueout

With any herbal supplement, you need to look carefully at what it is supposed to do, and determine whether it will work for you once you are castrated. Your testicles are responsible for a lot of hormonal action, so once they are gone, some hormonal processes won't be possible in your body anymore.

For example, if you took something like Tribulus Terriestus, which elevates levels of LH, it would not be able to help you produce more testosterone since your testicles are the main organ needed to convert the LH into testosterone. If you still had testicles then that increase in LH would increase your testosterone. So testicles make all the difference in the effectiveness of an herb like Tribulus.

So it is wise to study the hormonal processes in the body (there is lots of info on the internet regarding this) then assess each herbal supplement according to YOUR body which may no longer have functioning testicles.