A Crone's Alternative?

 

As I begin entering the Crone stage of my life, I have been experiencing the natural, "normal" life changes which many of us as daughters of the Goddess do. Those of you who may have gone through or are presently going through this can definitely relate to some or all of these issues ~ night sweats, hot flashes, dryness in and throughout your entire body, and, of course, the moody and sometimes edgy demeanor. UGH! Not fun my friends to say the very least!

Since I already have a family history of breast cancer in my family with my mother being diagnosed a few years ago, (that and the fact that every woman I have ever known in my life who had taken hormone pills had decided to go off of them because, eventhough they may do the job, they had experienced some horrible side effects), I personally refuse to go on hormone pills. So instead I began to look for other alternatives. For a couple of years I used Estroven. Estroven is an all natural hormonal supplement with its' main ingredient being the herb Black Cohosh. Black Cohosh is excellent for curbing the hot flashes down to a maximum and, yes, it does work wonderfully for that symptom.

Then, I saw an advertisement for the Amberen product. The manufacturer, Lunada Biomedical, claims that Amberen guarantees relief from the following caused by menopause:

*  Hot flashes
*  Weight Gain
*  Sleeplessness
*  Irritability
*  Low Libido
*  and more ...

Okay, let's start with the hot flashes. I have been taking Amberen for the past 7 months now and I can honestly say that it does the job. Sleeplessness? Well, I suppose if you stop drinking liquids after a certain time before going to bed it works okay for that as well for some, although I personally have not noticed this. Irritability? I have found that it has indeed helped me tremendously on that end. In fact, I can tell if I miss a day or two because I actually do begin to feel irritable and easily annoyed. Now, what about the claim of helping you to lose weight by bio-chemical balance? LOL, not a chance. Atleast I, myself, have not personally noticed any weight loss at all since taking this product. And, so I must say that this claim is complete and utter bull. Of course, I do not feel that there is actually any such thing as a pill that automatically loses the weight for you (other than the "little yellow pills" that your doctor may prescribe to you should he/she deem it necessary), and exercise is a definite must. On a more positive note; however, I have noticed a huge difference in my body hydration ~ Very grateful for that perk!

However, I have decided to continue to use Amberen because for me it has done, for the most part, what I needed it to do. And, it is the best thing I have come across thus far. Mind you, this is merely my own personal experience with this particular product and I realize that everyone's chemical make-up is different and may easily differ from my own. But, in this witch's humble opinion, it may just be worth a try?  :-)