Got Hot Flashes? Many Women Pursuing Natural Treatment

nytimes.com:

AFTER six years on a prescription estrogen patch that alleviated her hot flashes, but did nothing to address her midlife 25-pound weight gain, Martha B. started searching for a natural alternative to treat her menopausal symptoms.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Dancingwater]

One thing I've used with success to deal with night time hot flashes is the ChiliPad: http://www.chilitechnology.com/ which is a mattress pad with adjustable temperature (down to 46 degrees). It's really been a lifesaver for me, as well as an energy saver. I like solutions that don't involve changing my body chemistry, and it's amazing how a full night's sleep helps with the rest of my symptoms.

[Skylarstar]

I'm 52 and am officially through menopause. Yeah! I never had a hot flash, unusual mood swings or any other menopausal symptoms. I still have that estrogen glow and thick long hair. I've just started sprouting a few grey hairs.

I would never use hormones anyway. I've been a vegetarian since I was 25. I've been living on soy products, veggies, fruits for more most of my adult life. Both my mother and older sister are meat eaters and had a terrible time with both their menstrual periods and menopause.

So much more research needs to be done on the effects of diet. But then the medical and drug establisments would lose a mint if we just ate healthy and exercised.

Many Asain cultures don't even have a word for menopause. Wonder why? Just look at their soy and veggie based diet.

[alieninvader]

I'm 46 and a vegetarian. I hope my experiences are like yours. Thank you for your post! A hot bowl of miso soup sounds really good right now!

[KIMBER]

I am the only vegetarian in my family, and the first woman in my immediate family not to have problems with my menstrual cycle or now menopause.
My mother had intense hot flashes that made her stop anything she was doing. At age 49 I began to get a very slight flushing feeling a few times a day, but they didn't begin to compare with anything other women in my family, or other women around me, experienced.
A couple tablespoons a day of organic cold pressed flax seed oil and a homeopathic compound that says MENOPAUSE across the label, by major homeopathic brand (which I won't plug here) that you can find in most health food stores has done a marvelous job in stopping even that small manifestation in its tracks, at zero risk and drastically lower cost than synthetic hormones.
Ask for help at the health food store, do research. This is a natural transition and not a disease that requires pharmaceutical intervention.
I won't take synthetic hormones, they're dangerous, and they prolong the problem - if you keep taking them, you don't have hot flashes, but if you stop, they start again, and that cycle will go on until you break it - just the sort of dependency the manufacturers like to cultivate.
The single most effective thing I'm sure is being a vegetarian in the first place; it's been know for a very long time that vegetarians have a much lower incidence of problems associated with menstruation

[avicenna]

A great resource of evidence-based information (in regards of the effect of sex hormones) for women of all ages can be found at the website for the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research www.cemcor.ubc.caa).

[Vickster]

I've found that a tea made with the roots of licorice and sarsasparilla (the latter providing root beer with its distinctive flavor) relieves hot flashes.

[hulagirrrl]

Licorice is said to help with some of the menopausal symptoms, the black licorice that is.