Mapping the primrose patch--a practical approach to herbal therapies in the menopause.

Women suffering post-menopausal symptoms will often seek alternative therapies. No alternative therapies have been shown to be more effective for hot flashes than estrogen replacement; nonetheless, there are more than 40 products on the alternative medicine shelf, which claim to bring relief to women in the climacteric. Patients will benefit from physician knowledge of the herbal remedies that are now heavily marketed, and apparently widely used, without FDA oversight.