Black Cohosh

I'm a newer hyster-sister (love the site!) and would like to add a cautionary tale on Black Cohosh.

I starting taking Black Cohosh to help with hot flashes etc. related to menopause. I followed the "no exceeding recommended dosage" line plus went 6 months on and 6 months off, also as recommended. The supplements were Canadian made which my friend in the health research industry said made sure that the capsules were the doses and concentrations they were supposed to be.

As I progressed into menopause, my cholesteral sarted to spike - must be hereditary says my doc 'cause I'm active with a healthy BMI. On to Lipitor to deal with the lipids with quarterly checks for liver functions. All was fine for the first 6 months but I then started another round of Black Cohosh 2 months before the 9 month bloodwork.

Well, all heck broke loose with the new test results! Liver functions started to rise well over over acceptable levels. Stopped Lipitor but not the herbal and levels continued to rise. No yellow tinge but "hepatitis" none-the-less. Yikes - no travel! had tickets to Bermuda! After 2 weeks off everything including wine, alcohol, herb, statin, Tylenol, blood levels started to stabilize. It took 7 months of avoiding everything that affects the liver to get my levels back to normal.

Research and doctor's forums have established that Black Cohosh may be toxic to some people. It has been found that the manufacturing process can cause some changes to occur in the herb that make it toxic to kidneys and the liver.

As with all in life, proceed with caution and make sure you check as many sources as you can for information. Many doctors don't even know what Black Cohosh is, but European and Asian women have been taking herbal supplements for centuries.

Take care in all things and cheers.

Now I'm starting to get worried. I just ordered a menopause supplement that contains black cohosh--not sure how much is in it. I seem to have trouble with medications in general causing many side effects. Has anyone had good results with black cohosh? Others have bad symptoms with it?

The liver warning is a good one with all herbal products.

There are different preparation methods that might make a difference. Remifemin is a German brand (they regulate herbal products) with about the most testing done on it. That's what I took for six months without problems, but I was also on Wellbutrin, so I think combined they did well for me.

Another worrisome thing is a suggestion (that needs more study) that if there are breast cells already shifting toward cancer, it might accelerate the process.