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I want to emphasize that I have simply found a way to handle many of the symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, insomnia, and palpatations, without resorting to estrogen replacement therapy. The herbs work differently from estrogen (which is imposed on the body) so women with PD may be able to tolerate them better. It would be interesting to find out. The particular combination of herbs I use are for particular symptoms. Motherwort and hawthorne are specific for cardiovascular problems -- they help with the night sweats and palpations, and with regulation of my blood pressure. Vitex (chaste tree) promotes progesterone formation. Black cohosh is specific for estrogen formation; I've also taken Dong Quai. Each woman needs to read about the side effects (for example, you shouldn't take licorice if you have high blood pressure) and find the combination best for her. I also take Vit. E and G.L.A. (found in evening primrose oil, black currant oil, and borage oil capsules) daily. The latter seems to help with my fibrocystic breast disease problems; I'm sure that a low fat diet also helps. After a year on the above regimen, one cyst that had enlarged shrunk to half it's original size; you could see it on the mammogram film. I really highly recommend the little book by Susun Weed; it is an inexpensive paperback from Ash Tree Publishing. You can ignore the "new age" stuff if that's not for you. I hope this helps someone.