Hi.If anyone who regularly uses Ashwagandha and/or Maca Root, I would love to hear of their experience taking these.
I have recently read that both Ashwagandha and Maca Root are natural ways to help rebalance hormones in menopausal women. I am not sure though, if they adversely affect thyroid meds. I am hypo and most likely have Hashi's (not formerly diagnosed but suggested). I currently use NDT.
After much consideration and advice, I have decided not to go down the HRT route and have decided to research natural ways to help rebalance hormones instead.
I don't know anything about maca root but a quick Google search shows some conflicting information, as is often the case. This one I looked at mentions that maca contains a good amount of iodine and iodine, of course, is something that we hypos have to be careful about. Iodine used to be used to treat overactive thyroid before the current radioactive iodine treatment, so it's probably important to find out how much iodine is in any maca supplement and bear in mind that in the UK iodine is easily obtained from a normal diet and that levothyroxine contains approx 62mcg iodine per 100mcg levo. The RDA of iodine for an adult is 150mcg daily.
Yes i take both. The ashwaganda to help with the heart palpitations from perimenopause and the maca for the hot flushes. Both have definitely helped. I also take DIM and Black Cohosh.
I’ve taken Ashwagandha for a long time (two brands and different doses), it helped with my sleep. I’ve noticed no difference regarding my thyroid hormones. I recently tried a blend, which includes maca and I reacted the same way I do to caffeine consumed in the afternoon, it is too stimulating and stops me from sleeping. I attribute this to the maca as none of the other ingredients seems to have similar properties. I took it only a handful of times so no idea about impact on hormones.
Thank you. I was thinking of taking Ashwagandha as a replacement to hrt as there are claims it is supposed to rebalance oestrogen and progesterone naturally. I don't want to use hrt even though it's been recommended to me for bone density loss, I am sensitive to anything soya based and hrt can cause weight gain, so not keen on that at all.
I’d think you’re safe to try Ashwagandha if you want to see what it can do for you. Ive been recommending it to people dealing with anxiety and sleep problems as it is supposed to help in various areas. I am now taking an adaptogenic blend, which includes Ashwagandha at a low dose as I don’t need the sleep support any more🙂
I’d recommend a brand with the pure extract and no fillers and if you’re interested I can let you know which one I’ve found to work best.
Sounds like it's working for you. I have read pretty conflicting information about it. Have you noticed weight gain whilst using it?
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