Medication Listing For Menopause Symptoms Treatment

Medications like: short-term, low-dose hormone therapy, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants such as fluoxetine and paroxetine (for example, Paxil and Prozac), the high blood pressure medication clonidine, and the antiseizure medication gabapentin (Neurontin) and paced respiration will reduce hot flashes.

Heavy periods caused by low progesterone levels (after getting an exam to exclude other possible causes), can be relieved with the hormone progestin. Other options are: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the levonorgestrel (LNg) IUD, or birth control pills. Some women choose permanent surgical treatment like removing the uterus (hysterectomy) or using heat energy to damage and scar the wall of the uterus (endometrial ablation) for severe blood loss.

Vaginal dryness, irritation and thin skin can be solved with lubricants, estrogens creams, rings, or tablets. This way less estrogens is absorbed into your system through the vagina, thus, the risks associated with ERT decrease.

Hormones therapies will help improving or eliminating some of the menopausal symptoms. Before menopause, low-dose estrogens-progestin birth control pills or low-dose HRT (estrogens-progestin) will reduce heavy menstrual bleeding and other symptoms. In the postmenopausal stage you could consider low-dose HRT. An alternative to the HRT could be BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy) which is thought to be more similar to the human hormone than the one created in the lab from wild yams or soy. Yet, both the therapies produce the same risks so this kind of treatments is best to be used on short terms.

Alternative treatments

The risks produced by hormone treatments are well known so a few alternative options are given:

• - Black cohosh, an herb used widely in Europe , nowadays in U.S; for treating hot flashes was not proved to be helpful or safe in to many studies and also it is not better than placebo. The use of this herb on short term (no longer than 6 months) is approved by the NAMS (North American Menopause Society). Long term effects have not been studied yet.

Other supplementary diets exist also but they have not been studied enough: dong quai, licorice, chaste berry, evening primrose oil and wild yam (natural progesterone cream).