Berkompas wrote:
<snip>I wanted to send this info and ask if anyone
> else has tried evening primrose oil <snip> The writer of a magazine article I found is James F. Scheer, who contributes to at least this one magazine called "Better Nutrition". He says that the major job of EFAs is that they convert into protaglandins, powerful hormones that control lots of our bodies' functions: raise or lower blood pressure, stimulate or block digestive juice secretion, increase or decrease blood clotting, dilate or constrict blook vessels, stimulate or decrease steroid production and even control metabolic rate.<snip>

I've tried it, though I was only on a couple of weeks before I just got
pregnant -- who knows, maybe it helped? :-)  -- so I'm not taking any
herbal or nutritional supplements right now beyond a prenatal vit..

I was taking it because I'd heard in a number of places that it was
good, and it is recommended in the book that Scheer wrote with Stephen
Langer, MD (who's *supposed* to be a thyroid expert, but has been a
disappointment in phone consultations for some of us). {IMHO, Scheer's
the brains of that operation.)

According to my "Prescription for Nutritional Healing," by James F.
Balch, MD, Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) is known to help prevent hardening
of the arteries, heart disease, PMS, high blood pressure, infallamation
and pain, enhances the release of sex hormones, and lowers cholesterol.

What's interesting, and what Scheer and Langer say in their book,
"Solved, the Riddle of Illness," is that EPO basically addresses many of
the problems you find with thyroid disease, and that in many ways, EPO
and thyroid hormone do some of the same things, so that is why it can be
useful for thyroid disease.

My "Prescription for Nutritional Healing," does say, however, that EPO
promotes the production of estrogen, and that black currant seed is a
good substitute for people with breast cancer who shouldn't "promote"
estrogen in their systems. While estrogen is not inherently harmful to
us with thyroid disease, it can change our thyroid hormone dose
requirement, so that's an important note to keep in mind.

(When I talked with Dr. Langer, I mentioned EPO and he said he was
telling people to take borage oil now. Borage is basically in the same
family and does the same things as well.)

Mary