Chinese Herbs & UConn Medical Study

Hormone Replacement Therapy Alternative Using Chinese Herbs

UCONN HEALTH CENTER STUDY

Treating hot flashes can be a big problem for menopausal women who have had breast cancer. Hormone replacement therapy is not recommended for these women, finding ways to deal with frequent, long-lasting, or intense hot flashes can be difficult and frustrating.  

UConn Health Center is studying Chinese herbal medicines to see if they can help end or reduce hot flashes.

Chinese herbs, formulated for each woman by Herbalist Laura Mignosa of the Connecticut Institute for Herbal Studies, will be compared to an anti-depressant found to be effective in treating hot flashes and a placebo.

Participation involves two months on each treatment, weekly questionnaires and periodic visits to the Health Center. Women with a history of breast cancer, currently taking tamoxifen, or experiencing premature menopause from chemotherapy, may be eligible.

ABOUT UCONN'S STUDY

 Chinese Herbal Medicine has been around for thousands of years and is used everyday by millions of people for all types of disharmonies. Laura Mignosa, Nationally Certified Chinese Herbologist has studied extensively in China and the U.S. to bring this knowledge to her practice and her teaching. She also leads educational tours to Beijing each November to show people the integration of Western and Chinese Medicine.

Laura has been treating women with night sweats, hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, vaginal dryness, anxiety or irritability for over 10 years. This study is centered around breast cancer survivors who are taking Tamoxifen (a drug believed to prevent a reoccurrence of breast cancer) and are suffering from these symptoms. Chinese Herbal Medicine is not a silver bullet, but most women respond well to the treatment which involves taking about 12 pills (made from a tea concentrate) a day. Typically, she has observed about a 70% drop in hot flashes and other symptoms.

Laura explains that Chinese Herbs work so well because of the long history of using groups of herbs to counteract any potential side-effects in treatment. Each person presents in a different way and she treats according to how you feel, not what diagnosis you have been given.

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