Ways to Handle Hot Flashes

According to Mayo Clinic, hot flashes are most often caused by hormonal fluctuations associated with menopause and affect more than 75 percent of menopausal and post-menopausal women. Some women have a few a week and others have several per day. Lasting up to 30 minutes, hot flashes are known to make you sweat, turn your face red and increase your heart rate. How you handle these episodes depends on the severity and frequency relative to your lifestyle.

Lifestyle Changes

• Exercising regularly may reduce the number and severity of menopausal hot flashes.

  Adjusting your lifestyle is the first line of defense when hot flashes begin. Although menopause lasts an average of seven years, up to 50 percent of women experience periodic hot flashes for years afterward.

  Breastcancer.org encourages women to track what they are doing when a hot flash occurs to see if patterns exist. This record keeping increases awareness and may establish that any or all of the following may trigger a hot flash: hot showers and hot rooms, drinking alcohol or caffeine, smoking, stress and spicy food. Once a link is found, modify that behavior to see if hot flashes diminish. Other lifestyle changes that make hot flashes easier to handle include consistent exercise to manage stress and weight, daily deep-breathing exercises, dressing in cotton layers, lowering a room's thermostat, drinking cold beverages, and perhaps even sticking your head in the freezer on occasion.

Natural Remedies

• Some women believe vitamin E helps to control symptoms of hot flashes.

  Minimal research exists to support the use of vitamin and herbal supplements for hot flashes, but some women do believe they get relief by using these over-the-counter products containing red clover, soy or black cohosh, as well as vitamin E, according to a 2009 New York Times article. Soy and red clover, in particular, contain compounds similar to estrogen called isoflavones, which may help reduce hot flashes. These products come in the form of teas, tablets, capsules, creams and gels, and according to the same New York Times article, dietary supplements targeted to manage menopause created a $337 million business in 2007. Women who have had breast cancer should be especially careful about supplements that contain plant estrogens like isoflavones. No one should use herbal products without consulting your physician.

Prescription Medicines

• Avoid estrogen therapy if you have had breast cancer or blood clots.

  Physicians recommend that women taking prescription estrogen or progesterone to manage hot flashes take the minimum effective dose for a minimum length of time. If you have had a hysterectomy, you may take estrogen alone; otherwise, you will need to take a combination of estrogen and progesterone. Non-hormonal prescription medications that have provided hot-flash relief for some women include antidepressants such as Paxil or Prozac, clonidine (typically used for high blood pressure) and gabapentin (typically prescribed for seizures and shingles), according to Breastcancer.org. These medications are generally not as effective as hormone therapy and side effects may outweigh any benefits.