Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Physicians argued about black cohosh a century ago, and the debate continues today. A 1986 Food and Drug Administration report dismissed black cohosh as having “no therapeutic value” and warned of its possible side effects. Other experts say the herb has many potentially beneficial effects but consider it too toxic to use. The Germans, meanwhile, include the herb in several prescription drugs to relieve menopausal discomforts.

Black cohosh overdose may cause dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, visual dimness, headache, tremors, joint pains, and depressed heart rate. For some, these effects may develop at relatively low doses.
In addition to the side effects listed above, the estrogenlike component of the herb may act just like estrogen itself and contribute to liver problems and abnormal blood clotting, as well as promote the development of certain types of breast tumors. Finally, pregnant women should not use estrogenic herbs.

Black cohosh’s possible effects on the heart are most worrisome. Anyone with heart disease, especially congestive heart failure, should not use it.

Potentially Potent

Black cohosh is a potentially hazardous herb that should be used cautiously. Otherwise healthy nonpregnant, nonnursing adults who do not have heart disease or estrogen-dependent cancers and are not taking sedatives, blood pressure medication, birth control pills, or postmenopausal estrogen, may use it for short periods in amounts typically recommended-but only with a physician’s consent.
If any of the side effects listed above develop, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience any unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Native Cultivation - Get to the Root

Black cohosh is a leafy perennial that reaches 9 feet. It has knotty black roots and a smooth stem with large, toothed, compound leaves and small, multiple white flowers that develop in midsummer on long projections called racemes.

Black cohosh grows from seeds sown in spring or root divisions taken in spring or fall.

Harvest the roots in fall after the fruits have ripened. Cut them lengthwise to dry.

When used safely, this herb may playa role in healing. Because of its possible side effects, however, it should be used only with the approval and supervision of your physiclan. Several studies show its early advocates may have been right about the herb’s potential to treat gynecological problems.

Menstrual Discomforts. Black cohosh has estrogenic effects, meaning it acts like the female sex hormone estrogen. The herb’s estrogenic action may lend support to its traditional use for menstrual complaints.

Estrogenic herbs must be used carefully, however.

Estrogen is a key ingredient in birth control pills. Any woman whose physician advises her not to take the Pill may have to avoid using this herb as well. She should discuss black cohosh’s estrogenic activity with her doctor before using this herb.

Menopausal Discomforts - Estrogen is also prescribed for menopausal symptoms, and herbs with estrogenic action can be expected to have a similar effect on these symptoms. Today in Germany, where herbal healing is more mainstream than it is in the United States, black cohosh is a key ingredient in three drugs prescribed for discomforts of menopause. The German text Herbal Medicine says the drugs “appear to be effective … We can, in many cases, manage without hormones, though … success is not instant. The drug has to be given over some time…” These drugs are not available in the United States, but the herb itself is.

When used to treat menopausal discomforts, estrogen by itself may increase a woman’s risk of uterine cancer. Taking another female sex hormone, progesterone, minimizes this risk. Any woman considering using black cohosh for menopause should consult her physician about using the herb by itself or in conjunction with progesterone.

Prostate Cancer - Female sex hormones slow the growth of prostate tumors. Physicians often prescribe hormones similar to estrogen for men with prostate cancer. Black cohosh’s estrogenic action may help manage this cancer, but men with prostate cancer should consult their physicians before using it.

High Blood Pressure - A study published in Nature shows black cohosh reduces blood pressure by opening the blood vessels in the limbs (peripheral vasodilation). The herb may help manage high blood pressure, but consult your physician before using it for this purpose.

Intriguing Possibilities - One study shows black cohosh has anti-inflammatory activity, possibly explaining its Indian use as a treatment for arthritis. Another report shows it reduces animal blood sugar levels, suggesting possible value in controlling diabetes.
More study needs to be done to determine whether the herb will prove useful in treating these conditions.

Other preliminary animal findings point to possible antibiotic, sedative, and stomach-soothing action.

Rx for Black Cohosh

For a decoction, boil [12 teaspoon of powdered root per cup of water for 30 minutes. Let cool. It has an unpleasant aroma and a sharp, bitter taste. Add lemon and honey, or mix with a beverage tea. Take 2 tablespoons every few hours, up to I cup a day.

In a tincture, take up to 1 teaspoon per day.

Children under age 2 and people over 65 should start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

The Indians Were Right

Family: Ranunculaceae; (includes Buttercup, Larkspur, Peony)

Genus and Species: Cimicifuga Racemosa or Macrotys actaeoides

Also known as: Squawroot, Snake Root

Parts used: Rhizome and Root

One of the 19th century’s most popular patent medicines was Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, introduced in 1876 to treat “female weakness” - that is, menstrual cramps. Pinkham’s Compound contained several herbs, and chief among them was black cohosh, long known among the Algonquian Indians as a treatment for gynecological complaints.

Pinkham’s product also contained an enormous amount of alcohol. During the 1 9th century, respectable ladies did not drink liquor. Many drank Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound instead. A reformulated Vegetable Compound is still available today-minus most of the alcohol and, ironically, without any black cohosh, the ingredient that may have had the greatest effect on menstrual pain.

Medicine for Indian Women

This herb was named black because of its dark medicinal roots. Cohosh is Algonquian for “rough:’ another reference to its roots.

The Indians boiled black cohosh’s gnarled roots in water arid drank the decoction for fatigue, sore throat, arthritis, and rattlesnake bite-hence one popular name for this herb, “snakeroot.” But black cohosh was used primarily by Indian women for gynecological problems and childbirth.

wild black cohosh grew most profusely in the Ohio River Valley, which was fitting because the herb was championed by 19th~century Eclectic physicians, whose medical school was in Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio. The Eclectics recommended black cohosh for fever, rashes, insomnia, malaria, yellow fever, and all “hysterical” (gynecological) ailments. The Eclectic medical text, King’s American Dispensatory, stated: “In dysmenorrhea [menstrual cramps], it is of greatest utility, being surpassed by no other drug”.

Non-Eclectic (”regular”) physicians remained unimpressed, but Lydia Pinkham sided with the Eclectics and included it in her Vegetable Compound.

Many Modern Uses

Black cohosh does not grow in China, but Chinese physicians use several related plants to treat headache, measles, diarrhea, bleeding gums, and some gynecological problems.

Homeopaths recommend microdoses of black cohosh for menstrual problems and childbirth.

Contemporary herbalists prescribe it to relieve spasms, as a diuretic to treat water retention, as an expectorant to help clear mucus from the respiratory system, and as an astringent, sedative, and menstruation promoter. Several modern herbals, in fact, call it “one of our best” menstruation promoters.