Velvet for Women

While velvet antler extract is regarded as the ultimate primal tonic for men, it is also widely prescribed in Russia for women, especially for treating menstrual problems and alleviating the symptoms of menopause.

Western medicine, particularly in the United States, promotes the use of hormonal replacement threay (HRT) for women at menopause, which involves giving small doses of oestrogen to women in order to compensate for the dramatic drop in the amount of oestrogen being produced by the ovaries. It is a very controversial therapy, with studies showing that in the short term HRT may banish the debilitating effects of menopause but as reports show, it may unleash greater health risks such as thrombosis and uterine cancer later in life.

Women seeking less invasive ways to balance the hormonal system during menopause, which can be a time of intense physical and psychological stress, may be interested to know that in Russia pantocrin and rantarin are officially recommended for menopausal problems, as well as for delayed and abnormal menstrual cycles.

Fulder states, "Pantocrine was found very useful in reduced sexual function and menopausal disorders of circulation, in depression and psychological problems, and pain in the joints." He goes on to say that some of the menopausal women treated in this way even started menstruating again.

According to Brekhman:

"A number of reports particularly stressed the therapeutic effect of pantocrin in various kinds of sexual disorders in men and women, especially associated with climacteric syndrome."

Women taking velvet have reported diminished symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome, even to the point where periods pass by almost unnoticed. They have also reported heightened sexual interest, an intensity of erotic dreams, and a sense of being in touch with deeper reserves of vital energy.

While pantocrin given to young male mice caused an increase in the size of their sexual glands, similar experiments were carried out in Russia by Brekhman and Taneyeva to investigate the gonadotrophic action of velvet extract on female mice. During these experiments they discovered an increase in the weight of hte uterus and ovaries of the mice, and also an increased number of oestrus cycles.

Whether the effect is on male or female, velvet appears to have a profound strengthening and balancing influence upon the hormonal system. As Teeguarden states, "pantocrin has been proven to be beneficial to metabolism, to the heart, central nervous system and brain, to the reproductive system."

For thousands of years women in China have traditionally been prescribed velvet antler for infertility and "female reproductive debility." They take it to increase fertility, they during pregnancy to ensure the health of mother and baby. They are given velvet during childbirth to aid in the baby's delivery, and after childbirth as a general tonic to increase lactation and restore and rejuvenate the mother's energy and health. In combination with herbal blood tonics such as dong quai, velvet is an invaluable addition to the woman's pharmacopoeia.