I work for a company that makes a natural herbal based menopause relief formula. It's got ashwagandha (sensoril), HMRlignan, vitamins, and minerals. I'm around a 30 year old male so I haven't tried it, but what I'm reading makes it seem pretty good because it's non-hormone based and ashwagandha seems like a pretty good adaptogen to use overall. My personal feeling, again as a man, is that menopause should not be painful and difficult and my mother said that she didn't have a bad time other than night sweats but she doesn't really associate that with menopause. She was a very healthy eater though and always had a rich garden of greens she'd eat from and was active and not overweight. As a nutritionist, I believe that most problems people are facing are from general lifestyle mis-steps such as not eating enough fruits and vegetables, not sleeping enough, not exercising enough, and being stressed. I would look at those areas before self-diagnosing myself as suffering from any malady because those are much more impactful than anything else. I hope that helps, David

I'm glad you have some relief from your back pain. Hopefully your surgeon will have some answers. I would think with all of the hospitals we have in our area, someone would have an answer for you. Take care!

Jeff, not a horticultarist and don't even play one on tv, but, far as I know the nodes are the sections of plant and the internodes are the borders between them. I find the distinction useful so as to be unambiguous when discussing things like pruning - no way to undo a cut.... The cheaper (< 25c) words don't make this distinction so I try to avoid them. edit: oops, checked wikipedia and I got it backwards. so maybe none of the words are good. internode is the section of plant/stem, node is where they join. doh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_stem#/media/File:Plant_nodes_c.jpg Daniel

My DSIL had an abdominal carcinoma and had it successfully treated (he's been in remission for about 7 years now) and his oncologist told him to start smoking marijuana to get his appetite up because he was always too nauseous to eat. He got a medical card and was able to use it, and he still uses it to keep weight on. He works in a Federally funded position but he's been told by his supervisors that they won't drug test him. He's very, very fortunate in that he works for a very compassionate agency. I've found that the CBD oil causes me gastic effects, so I bought some tincture-which is really, really nasty tasting. I mix it in a shot glass size of water and chase it down with a cup of water to rinse the taste, and that helps me a bit better than the oil. And as I mentioned., smoking helps me to sleep. I did learn that there is a difference in the strain of THC, apparently the sativa strain is one that gives the greater ephoric 'high' feeling, and indica strain is more relaxing. So the guy at the dispensary sold me an indica strain with high cbd. It was kind of mind blowing going in to a pot store-the smell is kind of overwhelming-but the staff were very, very knowledgeable and followed very strictly to the rules-always checking my id, even though I'm obviously well over 21! When I bought the pot to smoke I had to get a pipe and it was only $3! The gram of smoke was $3. You could have knocked me over with a feather-I was completely expecting to spend over $60, figuring a pipe would be a minimum of $20. CBD oil is much more expensive, I guess it's due to the manufacturing process. But I really, really wish that the Feds would deregulate it and let States run it on their own. I know of so many people who use it now for pain relief, and even a lot who use it instead of drinking a cocktail. And no, crime HAS NOT risen in our State as a result.