Women’s Herbal Wisdom

(Page 3 of 7)

March/April 2005
By Linda B. White, M.D. 
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If a low mood predominates the days before menstruation, you might want to consider St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). More than 20 studies show this herb improves mild depression. Preliminary reports, including one published in the

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International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine in 2003, suggest it can help premenstrual mood problems. One small study found benefits from only 300 mg of standardized extract a day — one-third of the average dose used in depression studies. Another study, published in Advances in Therapy in 1999, found St. John’s wort (one 300-mg tablet of standardized extract three times daily) reduced psychological and physical symptoms of perimenopause. Caution: St. John’s wort lowers blood levels of several drugs, including oral contraceptives. Check with your health-care provider before taking the herb.

Nourish with Nutritive Herbs

Nutritive herbs are good for women at all stages of life, including pregnancy. Kari Radoff, a clinical herbalist at Apothecary Tinctura in Denver, recommends blending vitamin- and mineral-rich herbs as follows:

Equal parts nettle leaf, alfalfa leaf, raspberry leaf and oat straw
1/2 part red clover blossoms
1/4 to 1/2 part horsetail

Boil water, turn off heat, and add 1 tablespoon of the dried herb blend for each cup of water. Steep, covered, for at least 20 minutes. Strain and drink 2 to 4 cups a day.

Although most herbalists consider these herbs safe for pregnant women, check with your health-care provider to be sure.

A PREGNANT PAUSE

Pregnancy is a time when women must be very careful about what they consume, as many substances cross to the fetus’s circulation. Most of the herbs discussed in this article influence reproductive hormones, so if you’re pregnant, don’t take them, nor any other herb with strong medicinal effects.

Love Your Liver

The liver metabolizes hormones into forms that can easily be eliminated by the kidneys and intestines. Herbs that improve liver function can bring hormone levels down to manageable levels.

Herbalist Brigitte Mars, a professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo- rado, recommends liver tonics, such as the roots of burdock, dandelion and yellow dock, to manage acne, nausea of pregnancy, breast tenderness, premenstrual syndrome and other conditions of hormonal imbalance. She advises pregnant women to avoid burdock seed, although the root is safe to use. Take these herbs as teas or tinctures (1 to 2 droppersful two to three times a day).

Most herbalists give their blessing to nutritive herbs when they’re taken as teas in moderate amounts. Nutritive herbs are rich in vitamins and minerals, and include red raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus), nettles (Urtica dioica), alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and dandelion. Rosemary Gladstar, author of Herbal Healing for Women, and founder of Sage Mountain Retreat Center and Native Plant Preserve in East Barre, Vermont, stresses that women should use the whole plant. That means eating the herb as a vegetable (dandelion and nettle leaf can be steamed) or brewing it into a tea.

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