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Treatments For Hot Flashes and Night Sweats

  By | February 6, 2011 - 7:50 am | Articles
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It’s the classic symptom of menopause: the heat on your face and upper body, sweating, and rapid heartbeat known to menopausal woman everywhere as hot flashes or, the nighttime version, night sweats. While some women only experience a little warmth, others women’s hot flashes are accompanied by nausea, dizziness, muscle weakness, headaches, and a feeling of anxiety. Just because they’re common, though, that doesn’t mean you have to put up with them. Understanding the causes and treatments for hot flashes and night sweats can help you deal with this uncomfortable symptom.

Causes of hot flashes and night sweats

While just about every woman entering menopause knows what a hot flash is, not many can tell you exactly what causes hot flashes. As with most menopause symptoms, hormone fluctuations are the underlying cause, but it’s little more complicated than that.

Estrogen regulates not only your reproductive cycle, but also your body temperature. This hormone, along with testosterone (yes, even in women), affects the hypothalamus, the segment that regulates your body temperature. Without the normal amount of estrogen, your hypothalamus gets the signal that you’re too warm. Your body then starts doing it’s best to cool you off by getting your heart pumping in order to increase blood flow to the skin, where the excess he can be let off. That leaves you a pounding pulse and sweating like it’s 110 degrees out.

Treatment for hot flashes

The good news is that there are plenty of treatments for hot flashes. The place to start is with what you eat and drink. Stay away from caffeinated beverages, alcohol, and spicy foods as much as possible. Decreasing the fat in your diet may also help although the effects are slow to show up. You might also want to try increasing the amount of vitamin E and omega 3 fatty acids in your diet by eating more nuts, olive oil, and fish like salmon and trout.

Herbs for hot flashes

Natural remedies for hot flashes are also available. Herbs for hot flashes include licorice root, black cohosh, red raspberry leaves, chasteberry (Vitex), spearmint, motherwort, and wild yams

Evening primrose oil can also help stave off hot flashes, but this may only be because of the essential fatty acids it provides.

Products for hot flashes

If adjusting your diet and using herbal remedies doesn’t help, consider a product for hot flashes that includes natural progesterone. These products are made from plants rich in phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) and have been shown to help some 80% of women who use them. Besides helping with hot flashes and night sweats, products like these have also been shown to lessen other menopause symptoms like insomnia and loss of libido.

With time, the intensity of menopause hot flashes decreases and eventually they’ll stop altogether. That said, in around 30% of women, hot flashes can keep happening for years before and during menopause. If you’d rather not put up with regular hot flashes and night sweats, but aren’t willing to resort to traditional medications, look into some of the herbal remedies or progesterone creams available.


Other sites that may interest you

Menopause - PubMed Health
Menopause (journal) - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Introduction to Menopause


The 4 Top Menopause Remedies For You to Consider

  By | February 6, 2011 - 4:29 am | Articles
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Menopause is an unfortunate reality for all women as they get older and with it comes many painful and irritating symptoms. The purpose of this article is to give you some information on a variety of herbal and non-herbal treatments available that may be of help to you dealing with any symptoms you may feel. These include:

o Phytoestrogens- Phytoestrogens are compounds that come from plants. These compounds are often used as a treatment for menopause because they have a similar genetic make up to the naturally occurring female hormone estrogen.

o Wild Yam Creams- Whilst there is little medicinal evidence supporting the use of wild yam creams as a treatment for menopause is inconclusive, wild yam creams are still a highly popular over the counter remedy. Diosgenin is a compound in wild yams that can be synthesized in to progesterone, however the human body does not have the enzyme capable of this synthesis.

o Herbal Medicines- Herbal remedies are also wildly popular in treating menopausal women. They may not be useful in treating menopause per se, but a naturopath or herbalist can prescribe herbal treatments to help alleviate symptoms associated with menopause.

o Progesterone Treatments- Progesterone is a naturally occurring female sex hormone. It declines during menopause and some studies suggest that many menopausal symptoms are a direct result of an incorrect ratio between progesterone and estrogen levels. Progesterone remedies are normally taken in the form of a cream. Progesterone treatments can often be taken with other hormone treatments.

Menopause can be a painful and irritating time for women but there are a variety of treatments you can consider that may help alleviate your suffering. I have listed four popular treatments above and you may want to consider trying one or all of them to see which of these treatments work best for you.


Other sites that may interest you

Hormone replacement therapy (menopause) - Wikipedia the free ...
Premature ovarian failure - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Menopause: What is Menopause? Menopause Symptoms ...


Natural Progesterone Side Effects

  By | January 26, 2008 - 12:14 pm | Uncategorized
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Natural progesterone side effects are of concern to anyone new to the idea of using natural progesterone as a therapy. In recent years, natural progesterone has enjoyed increased popularity and usage among women. Users are interested in restoring hormonal imbalances without the use of synthetic hormones and other pharmaceuticals having potentially very dangerous side effects, including various forms of cancers.

Compounding the concern about natural progesterone side effects is the continued reluctance of mainstream medical practitioners to promote and prescribe the use of natural progesterone among patients. While the effects of natural progesterone and hormonal imbalance has been studied for a number of years, the last 30 years has seen a significant increase in the costs related to medical studies and trials, as well as pharmaceutical testing. These days, a great deal of medical research and testing is conducted in close relationship with pharmaceutical companies. It is very possible, and highly probable that these companies may not be so eager to promote a treatment with a product (natural progesterone) for which there can be no patent, and thus no significant financial gain for any pharmaceutical entity.

So what are the possible side effects of using natural progesterone?

First, let’s make the distinction that natural progesterone, which is made from wild yams, is bioidentical to progesterone manufactured in a human body. It is not a synthetic hormone. Possible side effects are often the result of the dosage used.

If taken in larger than recommended doses, progesterone may contribute to hormonal imbalance and thus cause bloating, increased breast tenderness, increased headache, increased menstrual cramping, increased weight gain and increased mood swings. In addition, natural progestrone creams are absorbed through the skin and accumulate in fatty tissues. Over time, it is possible that this may cause disruptions in the adrenal hormones such as DHEA, cortisol, and testosterone.

Many women use natural progesterone with no side effects. When first using natural progesterone creams, it is advisable to consult a medical professional, and begin by using the lowest recommended dosage until you find the dosage that works best for relieving your problematic symptoms.

Although natural progesterone side effects may be cause for concern, natural progesterone provides relief for a number of women safely and naturally. Educating yourself about its benefits and uses, and consultation with authorities within the medical and health community will help you to make the best decisions regarding your health issues, and find the greatest possible benefits of using natural progesterone therapy.


Other sites that may interest you

Andropause - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
menopause.html
North American Menopause Society - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia


Why Wild Yam based Progesterone may not benefit you

  By | January 16, 2008 - 2:19 pm | Uncategorized
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There is a divide in the world of progesterone. On one side are those who believe that wild yams provide the perfect base for progesterone products and on the other side are those who believe that wild yam is of no benefit to humans when used in progesterone formulas.

A yam is a tuber which is grown in Central and South America as well as in certain parts of Africa and Asia. Yams are similar to sweet potatoes (and are often confused as such) but they are in fact a different species of plant.

Wild yams contain diosgenin which is a plant steroid. Our bodies are unable to metabolize diosgenin from wild yam into progesterone; it must be processed by chemical means in laboratories. Obviously this detracts from the “natural” claims of wild yam based progesterone. A product simply can not be classes as natural if it has undergone chemical processing in a laboratory!

In stark contrast to the misleading claim of wild yam being a natural basis for progesterone, NatPro is made from the soya bean and this is actually identical to the progesterone that your body manufacturers itself. No chemical altering and no processing. This makes NatPro all natural compared to the non natural wild yam forms of progesterone.

Wild yam actually stopped being widely used in 1976 when it was found that diosgenin should not be used a principal sterol to synthesize progesterone. Why did people start realizing that wild yam was not beneficial to people? Simply because it was discovered that they do not contain progesterone in their extracts.

It is important for a progesterone cream to have a certain amount of progesterone in it. The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology stated in a study in 1999 that this level should be at least 30 milligrams per gram.

Wild yam based progesterone creams were found to have as little as 5 milligrams per ounce. Some even had none at all!
The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology even stated “the creams that are made from Mexican yams are not metabolized to progesterone by women”. Thankfully people are now realizing that wild yam based progesterone is of no benefit to humans.

As mentioned, Natpro uses progesterone which is derived from the soya bean. Being identical to the progesterone found in the human body, soya bean extracts form the perfect base for progesterone creams.

The website Quackwatch.com which keeps track of frauds, myths and misleading information concerning medical products, states that dioscorea villosa, from which the wild yam based cream is supposedly made, is not a source of progesterone and in fact is may even be estrogenic. They claim that the plant is useful in a lab but not in humans.

Quackwatch also go on to say “Not only is there little reason to suppose that Wild Yam Cream would be helpful for the medical conditions for which it is being promoted, but it doubtful that it ever could be as useful as synthetic progesterone.” It should be noted that these comments were made by a qualified doctor and therefore by someone who knows both sides of the story.

It is even said that there is a danger that menopausal women who use wild yam based progesterone could forego or even stop their hormone replacement therapy due to the sometimes deceptive promotion of wild yam based progesterone.

The greatest danger posed by this product and its deceptive promotion is that it will lead many menopausal women to forego or even discontinue appropriate hormone-replacement therapy (HRT).

Wild yam based progesterone is not recommend for women due to the fact that it is not natural and undergoes chemical processing before being sold to the public.


Other sites that may interest you

Climacteric (human) - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Menopause - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Menopause | What to expect during menopause | womenshealth.gov