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Cures for Hot Flashes at Night During Menopause

Menopause is a difficult experience for an aging woman. It is a time of aches, pains and body changes. One of the most frequent experiences for a woman in menopause is a hot flash. A hot flash is the sudden intense feeling of heat in the body. The lack of estrogen in the body causes the body to malfunction and misinterpret whether it is hot or cold. If the body thinks it is freezing, it will send a hot flash to compensate for that perceived coldness. Hot flashes are very uncomfortable but are treatable in widely different ways.

  1. Home Treatments

    • When living through menopause, it can be easy to trigger hot flashes. A slight change in body temperature may cause them. Wearing a few layers of clothing can be helpful, as you can always remove clothing if you feel too warm. A flow of fresh air through the house can be useful. An air conditioner or simply a few open windows can keep the air moving. Sometimes a cold drink will even help. Keeping yourself cool can help avoid the severity of hot flashes. Eating healthy will help regulate hot flashes. Avoid hot foods, caffeinated drinks and alcohol. Yoga, meditation, relaxation and other stress avoidance techniques help greatly. Deep abominal breathing, 15 minutes twice daily, can help minimize your hot flashes. You can even use this technique at the beginning of a hot flash. Not smoking or quitting smoking also reduces your chances of a hot flash.

    Medicines

    • Sometimes if the hot flashes are intense enough, medicine may be necessary. Hormone replacement therapy will replace estrogen in your body. This can minimize your attacks. Sometimes, progesterone will be used. This is a manufactured form of estrogen. Antidepressants also can be useful in treating hot flashes. Doctors may prescribe medicines called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. Antidepressants that use these include Effexor, Paxil, Prozac, Celexa and Pristiq. These antidepressants have been found to reduce hot flashes. They are not as effective, however. They also cause side effects like nausea, dizziness, weight gain or sexual dysfunction. Gabapentin or Neurontin, a medicine used to treat seizures and shingles, can be used to reduce hot flashes.

    Dietary Supplements

    • Dietary supplements are one of the most popular treatments for menopause. Black cohosh is a buttercup plant that has been used in Europe to treat hot flashes. Lately, it has become popular with women in the United States. It treats many menopause symptoms, especially hot flashes. Black cohosh has been linked to minor cases of liver damage, headaches, stomach aches, heavy legs and weight gain. Soy has been suggested as another natural supplement for hot flashes. Soy is a more common food in Asian countries, and it has been reported that women in those countries suffer fewer hot flashes than in other parts of the world. The soy compound is similar to estrogen, and this may be why it works. However, other studies have shown that soy has little to no effect.

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