CHINESE HERBS--AN ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT FOR HOT FLASHES

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：潮热（HF）是 美国绝经期妇女的主要投诉， 绝经后头两年的患病率为58 - 93%。 他们 会影响日常功能，特别是当它们扰乱睡眠时， 导致白天疲劳。 潮热可以持续许多 年绝经后，提出了相当大的问题， 数以百万计的女性。 雌激素治疗是最有效的治疗方法 在西方医学中可用。 然而雌激素，不管有没有雌激素， 对于某些女性来说是禁忌的，特别是那些有乳房或乳房的女性。 生殖系统癌症 其他女人不能容忍的一面 与激素治疗（HT）相关的影响，或关注是否 HT可能会增加患乳腺癌的风险。 由于医疗选择很少，许多妇女寻找其他方法来缓解她们的痛苦。 绝经期 他们尝试“替代”疗法。 尽管女性正在进行这种实验， 关于草药的信息，还没有系统的研究， 治疗HF的草药 中草药用于更年期已经有几千年的历史了 包括HF在内的问题。 其中一些草药成分 雌激素的活动，但不知道这是否可能是他们的 作用机制。 如果是这样，一个重要的问题是， 这些外源性雌激素可能会给那些非常 服用草药的妇女，因为她们不能服用HT。 这项研究的目的是研究两种方法的效果。 中草药制剂对高频频率和强度的影响 使用双盲、安慰剂对照交叉的绝经后女性 研究设计. 所有女性都将记录HF。 一部分女性将 记录治疗前后的HF 研究的阶段。 建议测量血清雌二醇， 雌酮，在活性和安慰剂阶段之前和之后，以及其他指标 包括阴道成熟指数和血脂 程度.

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): Hot flashes (HFs) are the predominant complaint of menopausal women in the United States, with a prevalence of 58-93% during the first two years postmenopause. They can impact on daily functioning, particularly when they disrupt sleep, leading to fatigue during the day. Hot flashes can continue for many years postmenopausally, posing a problem of considerable magnitude for millions of women. Estrogen therapy is the most effective treatment available in Western medicine. Yet estrogen, with or without progestin, is contraindicated for some women, particularly those with breast or reproductive system cancers. Other women cannot tolerate the side effects associated with hormone therapy (HT) or are concerned whether HT might increase the risk for breast cancer. Given few medical choices, many women look for other ways to ease their passage through menopause. They experiment with "alternative" remedies. Despite this ongoing experimentation by women, and much anecdotal information about herbs, there has been no systematic examination of herbal remedies for HFs. Chinese herbs have been used for thousands of years for menopausal problems, including HFs. Some of the component herbs are known to be estrogenic in activity, but it is not known whether this might be their mechanism of action. If it is, an important concern would be whether these exogenous sources of estrogen might pose problems for those very women who take herbs because they cannot take HT. The objective of the proposed research is to examine the effect of two Chinese herbal preparations on the frequency and intensity of HFs in postmenopausal women using a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study design. All women will record the HFs. A subset of women will have the HFs recorded physiologically before and after the treatment phases of the study. It is proposed to measure serum estradiol, estrone, before and after active and placebo phases, and other indices of estrogenicity including the vaginal maturation index, and serum lipid levels.