Non-Hormonal Treatments To Treat Flashes

Although hormone therapy, antidepressant therapy, and newer medication classes just reported in the news can stop hot flashes, doing simple natural things can treat hot flashes as well. NAMS states hormone therapy remains the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms, especially should be considered for menopausal women within 10 years of their final menstrual periods.

And for those women who are interested in the newest alternatives not yet published, consider clinical research trials at Women’s Health Practice

1. Bright Light therapy, also known as chronotherapy when combined with specifically awake therapy, has mostly been studied for depression and seasonal affective disorders (SAD) and found to be effective for both.

2. Sleep improvement with light and wakefulness treatments is also well established. To the extent that light therapy would improve sleep secondary to hot flashes, it would improve overall health and mood in women with hot flashes. Chronic pain syndromes, such as chronic back pain, have also been treated with light therapy with some success. The therapy can be as simple as spending some extra time outdoors on a sunny day, or as complex as light shined on the ear drum for specific amounts of time per day.

3. Exercise. Several Cochrane reviews concluded that there was insufficient or poor evidence or yoga as a treatment for hot flashes although reports do indicate women report tolerating those hot flashes better when they exercise.

4. Weight management. Weight, cardiovascular, and overall mood and appearance can improve with the use of exercise. To the extent that either exercise improves your BMI you are physically less hot, and to the extent that exercise releases heat a woman is less likely to sweat or feel heat from hot flashes. However, in contrast to weight management for those overweight or obese there is very limited evidence from clinical trials to support the use of dietary modification for improving VMS.

5. Acupuncture. Acupuncture has not been found to be consistently helpful in treating menopausal symptoms or hot flashes. In some studies acupuncture was able to relieve some of the severity of the hot flashes, but not the frequency. In other studies acupuncture gave relief of menopausal symptoms, but the treatment effect was not long lasting. Many of these same therapies have been found to be beneficial for reduction of muscular and joint pain and thus benefit you in many ways.

6.Supplements. Herbal therapies, this is best discussed with your health provider and find out what formulas are both safe and effective for you. The helpful herbs include black cohosh, ginseng, dong quai, kava, red clover, St. John’s Wort, Chaste tree, ginkgo biloba

7. Devices. Wearable cooling devices, fairly easy to use at night for sleep on the forehead, some come in the version of watches which don’t have the effectiveness of overall body temperature adjustment. Studies don’t show the number of hot flashes changes, just the response to them.

8. Clinical Hypnosis. Hypnosis works to reduce hot flashes, and can be performed with a specialist or accessed via one of many available apps.

9. Clinical cognitive behavior therapy. In the NAMS position statement they showed that clinical cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) helps hot flashes. It is possible to self administer the strategies, but the best research shows that the most effective hot flash CBT is from clinical psychologist. The treatment involved psychoeducation (physiology of VMS; how thoughts and emotions affect the perception of physical sensations), training in relaxation and paced breathing, and cognitive and behavioral strategies to manage VMS (identifying and challenging negative beliefs about VMS; monitoring and modifying triggers of VMS; relaxation exercises). Yoga can fit into CBT as one piece of hot flash control.