Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Alternative Therapies => Topic started by: mancmum on January 30, 2022, 02:42:32 AM
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Hi All
Just wondering if anybody has tried Ashwagandha for menopause - sleep/insomnia, hot flushes & night sweats etc?
Like a lot of women, I haven’t had a good nights sleep for years - the best has been about 6 hours, which has probs happened twice in the last 5 years.
Of course, we all know how that affects our mood and coping ability etc.
Has anyone triedAshwaganda for these at all? I understand it can take about 6 weeks to work fully, but I’d love to hear your experiences and how long it took to work (that’s if it did) and how effective it was.
I’ve just started taking a sports nutrition Ashwagandha one that Holland & Barrett stock that had black pepper with it to help absorption - the brand is USN - and from looking online, it has good reviews.
I’ll update here as I go along (I’ve only been taking it for 2 nights) but would love to hear other ladies experiences. And yep, I’m posting this at 2.41am sat in the kitchen with my knitting, trying to feel sleepy enough to go back to bed ☺️😞😢
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Yes I have. It was part of a mix made for me by a herbalist following an hour long consultation. I can't remember all the ingredients, but I know there was also valerian.
I had to stop taking HRT because of unwanted affects (mostly uncontrollable high blood pressure). I saw a herbalist to deal with what I thought were the effects of stress (I was super weird even on the HRT), like insomnia, palpitations, mad flushing, meltdowns, anxiety, etc. I took the mixture for about a year, but began feeling more myself after six weeks or so. If you can afford it, I'd strongly encourage you to see a herbalist who works directly with unprocessed herbs because that makes a huge difference.
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Thank you Elk Warning :)
The symptoms you describe sound a lot like mine. I’ve started the ashwagandha capsules three days ago and I think I may have felt the tiniest of odd streaks of calm, but that might be a placebo effect on my part ;).
I know generally it takes weeks to take effect. I’m also trying to cut out all forms of caffeine - even decaf - as if I d that sends me loopy too!
Thanks for the advice about a herbalist though - I may just seek one out🙌.
It’s a total bitch when we have to go through this, isn’t it? And generally do it ourselves in the dark 😞.
I hope you are the other side of your symptoms and life is good 🙏
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I felt the effects of Ashwaghanda within a couple of weeks, most markedly on palpitations. I've worked with a few medical herbalists in the past and would say their capacity to be intuitive is almost as important as knowledge and skill. It can take a while to find the right fit for you and the right combination of herbs. If you get a good root Ashwaghanda from a quality brand like Solgar, all the better, but you can check what you have. Placebo can be powerful, but, erm....maybe a bit too soon to say! 😂 I hope you continue to trust this route you've chosen for yourself. That's powerful, too! Good luck.
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Thank you postmeno3
I agree, I’m being a bit optimistic, but I’m a bit desperate, as I bet we all are. 😞. I’ll just pitch in & see if it works 😉
I’ve also noticed I have dreadful days if I have the slightest bit of caffeine the day before. For example, I had a good quality de-caff tea yesterday mid afternoon, and I’m a mess today - just about holding it together . So todays rooibush & peppermint. Even green tea sets me off 😳
May I ask whether your symptoms have subsided now? And was it the herbal remedies that worked best?
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I was with two superb medical herbalists years ago in trying to treat what was then considered M.E., but it's been a complex journey of many years to come to realise it was most likely a misdiagnosis and was a total hormonal crash at the age of 51, the years prior to that most likely a pretty dire peri. These misdiagnoses are becoming more frequently recognised, especially by Newson etc.
Those herbalists helped a lot, but the M.E. diagnosis had muddied the waters and the direction we took. I tried with a medical herbalist fairly recently again, but she was coming from a business angle and not the heart. I am almost a year into minimal dose systemic and topical HRT which is probably too low to be showing much change at all. I decided to just introduce the Ashwaghanda as I trust it to treat the palpitations which it has in a way that the HRT had not. So, that's really interesting. With everyone's range of scenarios, it's impossible to do anything other than carve our own trail through it all. I think it's mostly a long haul either way, with replacement or balancing approaches, but I do recommend you try to find a medical herbalist more by word of mouth than even the register. Ask around if you can. Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture might be worth considering, too, if you want to stay with complementary health. Good luck!
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Thank you for your honesty, postmeno3, and I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with misdiagnosis 😳. I hope you are in a far better place now?
I have dallied with sourcing a herbalist, and given your reccomendation, I’ll upgrade that.
I think I’ve made a rod for my own back. At age 57 and three years clear of periods, I decided to try hrt patches. Truth be told, my symptoms weren’t that bad & were gradually lessening. So probs coming to the end of the transition? However Using hrt made me was worse than before, I’ve have stuck it for 3 months & am gradually weaning myself off over a couple of months by cutting the patches - by quarters rather than half. I think that’s what spiked the anxiety bouts. But I’m determined to stick with it, see it through to be free of the patches & get back to where I was pre-patch use.
And I know now, if I hit a rocky patch, what works to reduce the worst of the symptoms.
And I’ll deffo seek out a herbalist . Thanks for your advice 🙌
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No worries. Trust your instincts. 😊
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No worries. Trust your instincts. 😊
Thank you - great advice and means a lot :)
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I know this post is late.
I took ashwagandha KSM 66 for well over a year, I just stopped it on the 12th July, no withdrwals.
I should have had breaks but it helped me sleep and addressed cortisol, so I didn't.
I was worried about withdrawals as people on Reddit got irritable etc, on breaks, but I am ok, maybe as I take other stuff like 5-htp, l-tyrosine, l-theanine, mag glycinate.
It seemed to take a few weeks to kick in but was worth it when it did.
I look forward to starting it again, whenever I find out how soon I can, I posted that question on r/ashwagandha, a subreddit.
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hi mancmum, just wondering how you got on with the ashagandha, did it work for you?
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Are there any good brands/ types or of ashwangandha capsules or powder?
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Hi Nas,
I bought the pukka brand, Wholistic ashwagandha. There is a small mix of iodine in there too. I started progesterone last night and again awake from 4am/ Most people sleep when the start the progesterone part of the cycle but not me. So instead of waiting till I stop HRT,( soon)I decided to start the ashwag. So I will let you how I go with this product.
They had a fab product called pukka womankind but they have stopped making it. I took this while I was peri-M was brilliant and worked straight away. fingers crossed for this product. x
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Hi Madeline,
Yes if you could let me know how you get on, that would be great. I’m keen to give it a go, but as usual, so many types, brands etc to choose from!
I like Pukka too. What a shame they stopped doing the womankind. Can you get it on Amazon maybe ?
Good luck 🤞 x
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Well I can honestly say it has worked from the first night!!!! I took 2 tablets in the morning and come 4 I was yawning my head off....so much so I went to bed 2 hours earlier :o 9.30 pm...slept straight through :o :o :o.
so took it today aagin the morning and here I am again, dragging myself around exhausted...so bed early again for me.
Tommorrow have decided to take it around lunch tme, and hopefully The timimg for bed with be a bit better.
So yes , its working...cannot believe it. Its pricey though That I will say. 35 euro in heres health shop.
Its supposed to help with anxiety but tbh I cant see that yet :-\....I started progesterone and it always makes me so angry at everything and everyone but Im hoping to stop HRT next week so hopefully that will be the last of the wicked witch ;D
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my daughter has taken Ashwaghanda for years for anxiety and she swears by it x
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Thanks discogirl, fingers crossed .
The only downside I have notice is that I have an insatiable hunger on it the past 2 days....Ive googled it and alot of people have said the same, it makes you hungry aaarrrrgghhhhh.
Hope you are doing ok discogirl on the 3 pumps , maybe you should try this ashwag, maybe it will help with the anxiety xx
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hi madeline
i do feel better on tbe 3 pumps and ive started taking the utrogestan orally as well.
i had thought about taking tbe ashwaghanda but i take amitrypline and it interacts with it unfortunately
my daughter uses the ashwaghanda off and on for years when her anxiety is bad and it really helps her.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
take care xx
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Hi Madeline,
Is it the Pukka 60 capsules you have bought? You can get them
on Amazon for about £25 or so?
Blue and green container?
Hope they carry on working for you and you have a good sleep tonight xxx
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hi madeline
i do feel better on tbe 3 pumps and ive started taking the utrogestan orally as well.
i had thought about taking tbe ashwaghanda but i take amitrypline and it interacts with it unfortunately
my daughter uses the ashwaghanda off and on for years when her anxiety is bad and it really helps her.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
take care xx
That a pity that is would affect the amitrypline...would you think of changing that tablet to something else? soetime we build up an intolerance.
Im glad lowering the dose of oestrogen is helping you...its hard to know if we are coming or going on this HRT, jeepers.
I notice the affect immediately if I upped mine or dropped the dose.
best of luck with it all discogirl xxx
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Hi Madeline,
Is it the Pukka 60 capsules you have bought? You can get them
on Amazon for about £25 or so?
Blue and green container?
Hope they carry on working for you and you have a good sleep tonight xxx
Hi nas, unfortunately as Im in ireland, amazon charge huge delivery on the likes of these vitamins and drugs so its still cheaper at home, but thank you for the heads up.
The ashwagandha I bought is actually in in a round pretty cardboard box light blue in colour with green flowers on it. Very pretty packaging, so its not in a bottle IYGM. xx
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hi madeline
i do feel better on tbe 3 pumps and ive started taking the utrogestan orally as well.
i had thought about taking tbe ashwaghanda but i take amitrypline and it interacts with it unfortunately
my daughter uses the ashwaghanda off and on for years when her anxiety is bad and it really helps her.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
take care xx
That a pity that is would affect the amitrypline...would you think of changing that tablet to something else? soetime we build up an intolerance.
Im glad lowering the dose of oestrogen is helping you...its hard to know if we are coming or going on this HRT, jeepers.
I notice the affect immediately if I upped mine or dropped the dose.
best of luck with it all discogirl xxx
hi madeline
i really want to get off the amitrypline. im only on 10mg a day but ive been taking it for a year and its a nightmare to get off. causes rebound insomnia xx
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Thats hard alright discogirl. I was on Citalopram before 5 then 10 then 15mg but I hated the feeling so came off them. For me it was the headaches coming off them was awful. sending kisses xx
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Thats hard alright discogirl. I was on Citalopram before 5 then 10 then 15mg but I hated the feeling so came off them. For me it was the headaches coming off them was awful. sending kisses xx
thanks so much for your support madeline xx
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Hi all.
This is an old topic but I started an ashwaganda supplement a few days ago and just keen to know if folks from this post stayed on or found it helpful?