Uny & everyone... I've been having the worst hot flashes lately... I'm under incredible, unbelievable, excruciating (i.e. bad) stress due to aging mom issues. Don't know if this is making things worse.
Anyway I've had hot flashes on & off for I think 3 yrs now. They come and go. Lately they only come. Grrrr. I almost bust out in tears when they hit. I literally drip with sweat. The worst part is of course losing sleep from the night sweats -- hot & cold, hot & cold.
Any natural remedies?... Does the Female Formula help with hot flashes? I researched it but haven't seen much info about FF on the forum.
[Full disclosure here: I have been taking progesterone (wild yam) cream and DIM for months. I smugly thought these had it under control, since I've gone months at a time with no flashes. I know how you feel about supplements, Uny, but... GRRRRRRR]
Going through an intensely painful time now. This is just pushing me over the edge.
Hoping to start the new year somewhat dry,
Bundles
Here's a big, thick, handmade quilt of love and understanding to wrap yourself in (and a fluffy pillow of 'peacefulness' for your weary head & brain).
Thank you for the blanket, Uny! I teared up just reading that; and one of the weird things lately is that I haven't been able to cry. This is very off-topic but i'll summarize: Although Mpm doesn't have alzheimers, she is slipping away physically and mentally and emotionally/psychologically, due to an undetermined neurological problem. It is the slow agonizing process of losing the person i have been closest to in the world. (plus of course seeing her suffer)... And I'm out of town trying to help manage her care needs.
The 'aging parent' thing is something very few of us are prepared to handle (it bashed me to smithereens a couple of years ago).
I'm sorry to hear that, Uny. Yes, it has been devastating. I lost my father a few years ago to pancreatic cancer. It was horrible -- though fast. This has been sooo much worse.... I'm telling you if I didn't have my faith, and wonderful brothers, I would not have made it this far.
Are ya psychic, Uny?!... You are so right about my adrenals. I've been a serious coffee drinker most of my adult life, but lately have been an addict; and my New Year plan is to wean myself off of it. It has gotten to the point that I drink it all day long, just to function. Obviously a huge 'duh' factor w/ my fatigue problem. I'm talking several cups in the morning, a 5-shot drink at Starbucks in the afternoon, followed by one or two more cups.
I was wondering how to wean myself off the caffeine, but it sounds like these herbs will be a big help... Plan is to switch to half caff for a few days (using teeccino. it's a delicious herbal coffee substitute), then maybe just teeccino for a few days, then switch to just teas. Maybe it will be much easier w/ the FF and the ashwagandha.
i'm off to place the order with you and then to order the Ashwagandha ... Big, huge, tearful, warm, fluffy hug and thanks, Uny. 8^)
Aw Bundles I'm sorry you're having such a hard time, I know how any little physical thing that might be wrong with us is sooooo magnified when we're under stress.
I think the Kola Nut tincture would greatly help you to break your caffeine addiction. I was diagnosed with migraine headaches when I was 10 years old and in my younger life tried many different things to no avail. As a teenager I started using Excedrin Extra Strength. They really did help at first but after a few months taking them I had to take them for just a regular headache and I was getting those regular headaches almost everyday. About 8 years ago I found out that the Excedrin had caused what they term "rebound headaches"! At that point I had an addiction to them where I had to take 2 every 3 hours all my waking hours just to keep the normal headaches away.
Uny told me about the Kola Nut tincture to break the addiction to Excedrin, it was addicting because of the caffeine in them, Kola Nut is natural caffeine. This stuff has allowed me to go down most days to only 2 Excedrin a day! I have to take it more often than every 3 hours but hey, its well worth it to get me off those Excedrin. I've never liked coffee so I don't have that to deal with but I'm thinking the Excedrin addiction is every bit as bad.
So, my answer is Kola Nut tincture, I'd get the 4oz. bottle and take it with you wherever you go. My mistake at first was that I'd be away from home and the Kola Nut was at home so I'd have to resort to the Excedrin. After the first few times I wised up and put some in a 1/2oz bottle to take with me at all times.
You keep wrapped up in Uny's quilt of love and add my love to it. I'll keep you and your mother in my prayers Bundles.
Much love and blessings.
Willow
...Willowley is right, the herbal solution for getting off coffee is Kola Nut (and this is another one I have personal experience with :::grin:::). At three different points in my life I've had a major caffeine addiction (the worst was when I was restaurant manager working swing shifts...I was drinking around a case-- yes 24-- of diet pepsi a day, and at least a pot of coffee. Sadly, I didn't know about Kola Nut then...so I suffered through the withdrawal with excruciating pain from the headaches (and the inevitable 'flatness' and lack of energy). The last time I was up to 2 pots of coffee daily, I used Kola Nut (actually, I used the Brain Formula, which has Kola Nut in it...since then, I've relapsed, and used just the Kola Nut)...wow, it WORKED! I didn't have ANY headaches, nor did I have to horrendous 'emotional flatness' (more details on the 'flatness' below)
The great thing about Kola Nut is, that it makes it super-easy to break the 'coffee cycle'...it provides the physical relief (no headaches); it helps with the inevitable 'flatness' AND it breaks the coffee/taste/habit cycle (at least it does for me). It's FAR easier for me to wean myself off a tincture than it is to wean myself off of 'comfort coffee habit'...I just end up forgetting to take the tincture. In the beginning, if I forgot the tincture, a lil' headache would remind me - but the more I stayed away from coffee-caffeine, the more I forgot to take the tincture. I really believe there's something different about the 100% natural caffeine in the Kola Nut than what we get in coffee...the Kola Nut prevents the withdrawal symptoms, but does not give me the same 'buzz' as the coffee or soda, and it seems much easier to wean off of the Kola Nut (and for some reason, it seems much more gentle on the adrenals).
And of course, a bottle of Kola Nut is a heckuva lot cheaper than Starbucks every day (and it's doesn't make your breath smell like the bottom of a coffee pot).
>>>Are ya psychic, Uny?!... You are so right about my adrenals.<<<
I've been accused of being psychic before, lol! But methinks it's more just paying attention to every little detail & nuance, putting together puzzle pieces and not being afraid to 'jump in there'... and in this case, having 'been there done that felt that'. (yet the cleaner & healthier we become, the more our discernment increases...and I have developed noticeable empathic qualities over the past few years)
There's also a couple of other "assists" you might want to consider/add - those are the Adrenal Tincture and/or Cayenne (if you're not already taking the cayenne). Cayenne gives energy by increasing circulation...and it's proven to relieve anxiety! (yay). curezone.com/upload/_N_Forums/Natural_Heali/CayenneAnxiety.doc The Adrenal formula works like the Ashwagandha (the primary herbs are all adaptogenic, like the Ashwagandha), meaning that they don't ramp up or ramp down anything, they work with your current level of stress and help your body adapt to whatever stress/hormone level you're experiencing. Adding those might be 'over budget', if so, you could get a sample of Cayenne Tincture and give it a try (for a penny..or of course, you can use the Cayenne powder), but you'd need to take the Adrenal tincture for several days before seeing/feeling any substantial relief, so a sample of that may not be enough for you to sense it's action.
Also, if Adrenal stress is coming into play, there's the option of adding some type of herbal 'calmer' or sedative...these can also make one sleepy (which is great for getting a sound sleep at night) - but you can take smaller doses during the day to 'take the edge off'. My favorites for 'taking the edge off' are Passionflower, Kava, and/or Wild Lettuce. Perhaps you'd like to try a sample of them?
Caffeine/drug withdrawal and emotional/mental/physical "flatness": Ahem, we have to deal with this honestly to be successful. Caffeine IS an addictive drug, it's addictive qualities are no different than any other addictive stimulant. Yet there IS a huge difference...and that is we don't view it in the same way we view an addiction to cocaine, ampthetamines, meth and other poisons, because caffeine addiction is firmly ensconced in our society. We tend to 'understand' when someone that has been using/abusing "speed" for years/decades can't overcome their addiction in a week or two...but we think we should just be able to 'put down' the coffee in a couple of weeks, and carry on as if nothing has changed. But just like any other addictive stimulant, successfully overcoming an addiction is NOT as simple as just going through a week or two of withdrawal!! The better prepared one is, the higher the likelihood of success...so here's some data to help you along the way:
First things first, check out these articles:
http://chetday.com/nocoffee.html
Here's some things that aren't covered as well as they should be in those articles:
--whenever we ingest virtually any type of a stimulant, it affects (increases/stimulates/alters) the level of various neurotransmitters & brain chemicals...particularly dopamine, serotonin, norepenephrine, acetylcholine, glutamate & the GABA neurons These are primarily are emotional "feel good" neurotransmitters and norepenephrine impacts 'energy', GABA affects calmness (overstimulating GABA neurons/receptors wears out their ability to calm us).
This is VERY important to understand...and the best "in a nutshell" way to explain this:
Normally & naturally our brain chemicals can range on a scale from 0 to 10. Naturally, they'll never go lower than 0 and never higher than 10 - zero is major/horrible depression, and ten is best 'feel good' day you've ever had - using this example, 5-8 would be average/normal (I'll use one braine chemical: dopamine, as an example). So we normally have this 0-10 scale...let's say the stimulant cocaine pushes dopamine to (???) 50, and a cup of coffee pushes dopamine to 12-15. Dopamine is the major "feel good" chemical...so humans are not only full of energy when they're using cocaine (due to the stimulant properties), but everything seems totally wonderful (any one that's experienced cocaine will confirm this). And this increase in various energy/feel good brain chemicals is primarily why cocaine is so insidiously addictive. It's a piece of cake to get through a week or two of physical withdrawal...but after having your dopamine levels pushed/stretched to totally unatural levels for months/years, when the cocaine is gone, the "5-8 level" that USED to feel normal, now feels like the pits of "flatness hell"...and it takes MANY months (maybe even a year or more) for a normal "5-8" to FEEL normal again...and that's if they don't relapse even once in all that time. CAFFEINE IS NO DIFFERENT IN THIS REGARD....the only difference is how far out of balance the drug caffeine pushes our brain chemicals out of balance. When the physical wd's are over (and even during them), on some level we feel 'flat'; nothing seems wonderfully joyous or truly funny; energy levels seem to plummet or be non-existent, and we don't "feel" alert or bright/brilliant - nor do we feel 'inspired'. But most people don't realize this, and after a couple-three weeks, they think: "I've got this beat, that coffee sure looks/smells great (and what can one cup hurt?)...so I think I'll have just one cuppa".....and that ONE friggin' cup of coffee makes us feel like ourself and 'back to normal' again...with an extra spurt of energy, too! It's SO subtle, not like cocaine or other drugs...but the addiction is NO DIFFERENT than any other addictive drug. (Yes, I have indeed 'been there done that'...years ago with cocaine, and several times with caffeine. You can trust me on this one, for sure & for certain....IF you stay away from it, you WILL feel like yourself again...your natural energy and all the 'feel good' chemicals will rebalance themselves, and you'll feel MORE WONDERFUL than you've felt since you started using)....and Kola Nut makes this process SO MUCH EASIER (and much more "do-able"). Can you ever have coffee/caffeine again? I say yes, but ONLY if you treat it like any other addictive substance - say to yourself:
a) I know I'm about to ingest an addictive drug that harms my body and totally alters my brain chemicals (that "society and the PTB" have caused me to believe is 'normal')
b) I know that when the effects wear off, there will be a rebound period when I crave more
c) I perceive this "one/two cups of coffee situation" is worth suffering through the rebound period, and I am SURE I am strong enough to not allow myself to become an addicted slave to this addictive drug again.
--stimulants artificially raise our blood sugar: a) this makes us feel less hungry (so when quitting coffee, we have a tendency to always want to snack, because our blood sugar is much lower than what we're used to feeling). Of course, the stronger the stimulant, the more severe this is. Amphetamine, cocaine & meth addicts are virtually always underweight because they're never hungry. b) What happens when our blood sugar level is increased but there's really no sugar of any kind doing it? It messes with our insulin levels & insulin receptors drastically....the blood sugar is high, so the pancreas creates insulin to lower the blood sugar but there's no actual sugar raising the blood sugar! So this can 'wear out' our pancreas and contribute to insulin resistivity (which causes weight GAIN, amongst other things arrrgggh). Cayenne is very beneficial for insulin resistivity, as well (yay again :)
I've just completed another post with all kinds of coffee/caffeine information: curezone.com/forums/fm.asp be sure to check it out (particularly the pix of the spider's webs...WOW).
Bundles, you CAN get off the coffee! You'll be MUCH healthier, and with the Kola Nut it won't be long until you start feeling MUCH better, getting more rest, and find your mind clearing and able to handle more "incoming", more-better :)
Healthiest of blessings!
Unyquity
Thank you Wings!! I love it: "Break up with Starbucks, like a bad boyfriend sweetie"
Who wants a boyfriend who doesn't give free refills?
LOLOL.... snort
Howdy, all!
Hmmm, well, I've had to think a bit about how to respond to this one (seeing that 'Wings used to be an active forum moderator, and has done a large percentage of the IP, and is a role model or once was when she was IPing)...and I woke up with the words "no respecter of persons" flashing in my brain...so I'm going to respond like I would to any other poster (particularly since, by your post 'Wings, it seems a bit of your natural healing spirit & IP knowledge may have somehow escaped you). As always when I post to anyone, this isn't necessarily 'for or at' you specifically (although parts may be), it's for everyone's benefit & learning.
Also, for those reading that aren't familiar with Dr. Schulze and his IP recommendations, Dr. Schulze, Dr. Gerson & Christopher ALL forbade the oral ingestion of coffee/caffeine on their program. Schulze recommended those with true neuro-muscular diseases to use his Nerve Regeneration formula (a blend of herbs, including the stimulants ephedra, kola nut & green coffee bean) in order to 'wake up' nerves that are degrading or dying/dead, and didn't poo-poo Bizer about one cup of coffee daily in some situations. Since MD is oft-times referred to as a neuro-muscular disease, initially 'Wings & I decided that one cup of coffee daily might be beneficial. Later, we came to the conclusion that her MD and muscular degeneration was not related to nerve degeneration, so the stimulant herbs were taken off the table.
Since compiling the response to this post (and the one to Bundles), I see quite clearly that a LOT of information has come to light in the last 20-25 years (since Schulze was in practice), that indicates quite clearly that roasted coffee bean coffee has far more harm than it could ever have beneficial qualities...and I am sure that if this information was available 'back then', Dr. Schulze would never have suggested that even one cup daily was acceptable. Dr. Christopher and Dr. Gerson cured neuromuscular diseases without the use of orally ingested coffee, so there's no reason to ingest caffeine orally in order to heal oneself of anything (Dr. Christopher was strongly against the use of any addictive herb).
I'm doing Female Formula + St. John's Wort + Nerve Sedative and it really does help with the whole menopausal gig. Make sure you're on IF#1, too, whether you add IF#2 or not. My hot flashes were getting so bad I was in tears, too, so you're not the only one. Ashwaganda is looking really good right now, too. It will be on my next herb order. Does the stress aggravate the menopause or the menopause aggravate the stress? It's probably one of those chicken v egg things. I'm thrilled (of course) to hear that the FF, SJW, & NS are working for you to relieve & bandaid symptoms (the FF is actually more than a bandaid, for sure). But of course, the CURE (which is what we strive for in natural healing), is to address & eliminate stress issues at their root cause (not just band-aid the symptoms).
From below you said: I got down to 2 cups of coffee for the day and that's it. Even with Superfood I can't shake myself awake in the mornings without coffee. So, I understand you're drinking 2 cups of coffee to start the day (maybe more throughout the day?), and then using herbs to counteract the various stress reactions you're getting from the caffeine? That's what I call 'herbal abuse'. (And yes, I'll admit it, I've been guilty myself of using Kola Nut to stay awake when my body desperately needs sleep...to the detriment of my health/body - that's something I did far too often in the first few months of the forum when I was desperately trying to get everyone answered...but I also know/admit it was a great 'wrongness').
And the panic/anxiety/heart palps you reported (and hospital visit)? This was happening WHILE you were drinking coffee every day? and you hadn't/haven't stopped ingesting one of THE most likely of physical causes? :::sigh:::
#1 Rule (as I guess you remember) - STOP ingesting substances that make you sick!
I'm going WAY out on limb here and assuming you do not know of the relationship between coffee/caffeine and abnormal/speedy heart rhythms & anxiety/panic? The images below are from wikipedia (certainly not a source that we can trust for health & truth, but this information is valid and documented through other research. First, the typical side effects of caffeine/coffee:
Next, typical signs of caffeine overdose (they say 300mg of caffeine = overdose. 1 cup of drip-brewed coffee contains up to 175 mgs of caffeine - so two morning cups could certainly put you/anyone at overdose levels):
What does caffeine really do to our brain chemicals & body?
In 1995, NASA’s Dr. David Noever and his fellow researchers at the Marshall Space Flight Center studied the webs spun by common house spiders (Araneus diadematus) dosed with several drugs, including LSD, marijuana, benzedrine, chloral hydrate and caffeine. The more toxic the drug, the less organized the web the spider created.
The spider on marijuana drifted off before finishing the job. The spider on benzedrine, an upper, worked energetically but without much planning. The spider dosed with chloral hydrate, a sedative, soon fell asleep.
To the surprise of Dr. Noever et al, caffeine did the most damage of all the substances tested. The spider dosed with it proved incapable of creating even a single organized cell, and its web showed no sign of the “hub and spokes” pattern fundamental to conventional web design.
What does the web of a caffeinated spider (which can hardly be accustomed to the jolt of a morning latte) have to do with human behavior? Unlikely as it sounds, it may be the most vivid illustration of caffeine’s disorienting effect....
...Nearly 80% of the world's population uses caffeine, and 25% of the population is diagnosed with a mental disorder. Clinical studies indicate that there may be significant overlap between those figures, and that many people diagnosed as mentally ill are in fact merely suffering from caffeine poisoning. Caffeine also exacerbates the symptoms of patients suffering from organic, non-caffeine-induced mental illness.
As a small, lipid-soluble molecule (like alcohol, nicotine, and certain antidepressants), caffeine is one of the few substances capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier, which is critical to maintaining cerebral homeostasis. Once it has penetrated this barrier, it is capable of affecting its victims' thoughts and behavior, sometimes to an alarming degree.
Because self-awareness is one of the first casualties of a toxic brain, caffeinism victims may not even suspect they are ill or (if they do) that caffeine is at the root of their symptoms. caffeineweb.com/
For sure & for certain, caffeine/coffee is a drug, and a very addictive drug at that! The correct term (NOT the politically correct term) for those that regularly ingest addictive drugs is....drug addict.
Folks, we HAVE to face the facts and learn/know the truth in order to be able to overcome what we need to overcome to ensure our health.
Eat "clean," babe. Now that Christmas is over I bet a bunch of us are feeling post-sugar-overload withdrawals. Love yourself through it. You're dealing with a life-threatening illness and you're suffering from "holiday post sugar overload withdrawals"? ...meaning you chowed down on white sugar/poison over the holidays? PLEASE tell me it isn't so! (and that I'm mis-reading/understanding). I sure hope that the phrase "I bet a bunch of us" didn't mean that you actually ingested massive amounts of poison/toxins over the holiday season.
Yes, if we fail, we should still love ourselves...failing due to lack of knowledge is one thing - but "failing" when one intentionally & knowingly ingests "foods" they know are poison, simply to be doing what everyone else is doing or because they don't want to choose to refuse what they know is harmful to their body? Well, yes..."love" is in order always, but in the case of the latter, it should be seriously tough love. When someone said to Schulze, "well, I guess I kinda fell off the program", he replied, "NO! You didn't 'fall' off, you LEPT off!!"
Ingesting substances we KNOW are harmful poisons is a willful & intentional "failure" (for every action there IS an equal & opposite reaction - every action has a consequence)... and we can't expect any "spirit" to absolve us and undo Universal Law when we willingly & intentionally break the Law. It doesn't matter the 'dose size', or what kind of taste-tempting "treat" (insert Uny gagging here) we might deem it to be...poison is poison, and poisons always compromise our body, our mind, our spirit and our health.
I did triple shots at Starbucks every afternoon for awhile, on top of the pot of coffee I drank at home. Break up with Starbucks like a bad boyfriend, sweetie. Your withdrawal headaches may be killers for a few days. White willow bark tincture is helpful. Be sure to tell everyone around you what you're doing because you might feel like eating nails. Lololol, good one!
But there's no need to suffer through 'withdrawal headaches' if we use Kola Nut (or Brain Tincture works - it has Kola Nut in it -) to get off the coffee/caffeine.
I got down to 2 cups of coffee for the day and that's it. Even with Superfood I can't shake myself awake in the mornings without coffee. Wow, 'wings, that would be really tough to read coming from anybody, but coming from you it's even tougher (and it grieves my heart to you say such a thing). Suffice it to say, you (and anybody else) CAN break any addiction to any addictive substance.
Oh! Superfood is another thing you want to be on for stress. It's got loads of B vitamins which are essential "stress calmer-downers." Agree 100% :)
And exercise. I've started working out. I'm sure you mean you started working out again...you were always working out daily when you were doing the IP...right?
Fitness nuts are always saying how exercise helps with stress. Guess what- they're right. Yep - agree again (a great tip)...exercise does relieve stress. I can't begin to copy/paste the amount of times Dr. Schulze uses the words "exercise & stress" together >>> get LESS Exercise and have MORE STRESS...High stress levels and lack of exercise...get more exercise and have much less stress<<<
But :::wink wink::: guess what else? lol, we don't need no steeenking 'fitness nuts' to tell us how to heal from disease...we've got the works and protocols of the greatest, most successful healers that ever lived. All we have to do is get 'er done :)
Try these things and report back, 'K? Let us know how getting off the coffee goes...we're all here to help whenever you need it :) Be sure to check out this post curezone.com/forums/fm.asp for more 'ammunition for the fight'!
Healthiest of blessings,
Unyquity