New concerns about Ashwagandha?

[chaarlie_mulcahy]

Hey everyone,

I'm tremendously grateful to have found The Period Repair Manual, and have found Lara's perimenopause guidance incredibly helpful – life-changing, even.
Regarding Ashwagandha, which is listed as a supplement in the What Happens In Your Forties section; I've been taking it daily for a few months now, and someone recently suggested I stop taking it due to hearing about its potentially harmful effects.
I 100% trust Lara's guidance and wondered if she has any updated intel on whether or not Ashwagandha is a good supplement for relief of negative perimenopause symptoms.

The full article can be found here :
https://www.ergogenic.health/blog/ashwa ... and-apathy it suggests that Ashwagandha causes the opposite of the following :

• Increased sex drive, Increased REM sleep latency (takes longer to get to REM after falling asleep)
  Increased REM sleep latency (takes longer to get to REM after falling asleep)
  Increased sociability (likely mediated by increased Oxytocin)
  Peripheral vasodilation (outside the CNS)
  Analgesia (likely mediated by increased b-Endorphin)
  Anxiolysis
  Anti-depressant effects
  Reduced appetite
  Reduced aggression and impulsivity
  Interference with attention and vigilance at too high activation
  Increased secretion of Prolactin, Growth

I'd love to know if anything has changed in the guidance for this supplement, so I know whether to continue taking it.

Thanks so much!

[EssBee]

Hi,

A couple of comments:

1. The study that the man who wrote the blog post you linked to is from 1998, and I only see that study referenced aside from his personal experience--his blog post is new, the study is old

2. I have been taking it for over a year and feel much better on it than off it.

[chaarlie_mulcahy]

Ah gotcha, thanks for spotting that! And that's great to hear you're feeling good on it; are you taking progesterone or any other supplements?

[EssBee]

I'm taking several other supplements, the other one that seems to be making a significant impact is DIM because I also have PCOS and Milk Thistle. I just started the Milk Thistle this week because I haven't been sleeping despite taking magnesium at bedtime. The four nights (so far) that I have taken Milk Thistle at dinner time I have slept through the dreaded 3:00am to 5:00am time slot and felt rested in the morning. The sleeping thing for me seemed to be a blood sugar issue because of the perimenopause combination with PCOS.

I'm not taking progesterone or oestrogen.