Looking for relief from hot flashes? Doctors from the NYU School of Medicine have reevaluated all of the available menopause treatments and have created a useful guide to help your doctor determine the best treatment for you.
"Hot flashes are the leading reason menopausal women seek treatment during menopause," said study author Dr. Lila Nachtigall, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University's School of Medicine.
Menopause symptoms happen because of declining levels of estrogen that generally begin to drop in a woman's late 40s or early 50s, but can last for over a decade. This estrogen reduction causes some acute symptoms, like hot flashes, sleeping problems, sexual dysfunction, depression or weight gain, but also some more long-term health problems, such as an increased risk of heart disease, breast cancer and osteoporosis.
For years, doctors prescribed hormone-replacement therapy to replace the missing estrogen in a menopausal woman's body and fend off these symptoms. But studies later showed that this treatment may increase a woman's risk of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer, leaving many women looking for an alternative.
"In our research, we found a growing trend away from prescription hormone therapy in women with mild to moderate symptoms and an increasing trend towards lifestyle modifications and complementary therapies," said Nachtigall at the Association of Women's Organizations in Washington D.C.
There are other good options out there. In fact, Nachtigall suggests that hormone-replacement therapy should be used only in women with the severest symptoms of hot flashes.
To help guide doctors and patients in choosing appropriate treatments for menopause symptoms, Nachtigall and her colleagues developed a flowchart that takes into account the severity of a woman's symptoms and which treatments she has used in the past.
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For example, a woman with mild symptoms can try exercise, quitting smoking or cutting the caffeine from her diet first. If these simple lifestyle changes don't make a significant enough impact, a woman could then try an alternative supplement, like red clover or black cohosh. Nachtigall looked at previous research and determined that red clover has been shown to be effective and safe enough to be tried before more risky treatments, like hormone-replacement therapy.
Whatever treatment a woman decides to use, however, Nachtigall hopes that all women take an active role in their medical care. It is important that they schedule an appointment with their doctor to discuss their symptoms and talk about the pros and cons of all of the treatment options.
"Women should be involved in deciding which option is best for them and weighing the risks and benefits of each treatment for both the short- and long-term," she said.
