Menopause symptoms: the most effective treatments

If you are bothered by menopause symptoms, what are you doing about it?

• Put up with the symptoms and wish them gone (the sooner the better)? New research shows that hot flashes and night sweats may last for up to 10-12 years. Can you afford to have a less-than-optimal quality of life for that long?  And why should you? Because you don’t know how to improve your symptoms? Because you’re afraid of treatments?  Menopause symptoms are manageable and you need to find out how.
• Spend money on products advertised as miraculous, natural, and safe, but delivering little or no real improvement? There are no robust studies for most over-the-counter products, so there’s no good information about the benefits and adverse effects of many herbals. Some herbals, like black cohosh and a handful of others, have been studied and show some effectiveness.  But you need to know if they’re appropriate and safe before you try them.
• Live a life of misery and suffer in silence because no one told you symptoms are manageable? There are effective treatments for hot flashes and night sweats, vaginal dryness, and problems with sleep, memory, and mood. There are prescription and non-prescription therapies backed by good research that show improvement of menopause symptoms with few adverse effects.  Please don’t suffer in silence!

 

There are so many therapies for menopause symptoms that you can try.

I’m not pushing you to take drugs. Despite being a pharmacist, or rather because of it, I don’t like drugs. Every drug is good for something but also has potential adverse effects.

However, when we need medications we should take them after assessing benefits vs. risk. For example, when you need antibiotics—to treat an infection that could otherwise kill you or damage your organs—you have to take them. Antibiotics have potential adverse effects—like killing the good bacteria in your gut and causing diarrhea—but you still take them because the benefits outweigh the risks.

You and your knowledgeable healthcare provider made an educated decision based on good evidence and science-based information.

That’s how you should approach the treatment of your menopause symptoms. You shouldn’t make a decision about your care without having the right information, or worse, when misinformed.

How do you do that?

By getting informed and educated about menopause, its symptoms, and its therapies.

A knowledgeable menopause expert and pharmacist like me can provide the science-based information to help you make well-informed treatment choices.

That means you shouldn’t take medications (including non-prescription, over-the-counter supplements and herbals, for example) without knowing why, how they are going to benefit you, and what the possible adverse effects are.

Because we are all unique, you should find out if the medications are appropriate for you given your existing medical conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, stomach ulcer, migraines, etc.), medical history, and other drugs you may be taking.

You should not make a decision about how to treat your menopause challenges based on fear, lack of information, or misinformation.

The best example is hormone therapy (HT), formerly known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and in Europe as menopause hormone therapy (MHT).

There’s a lot of misinformation out there. For sure you heard, read, or were even told by your not-up-to-date-with-the-latest-menopause-guidelines doctor that HT isn’t good for you. (Right! He’s not the one whose life has been turned upside down by menopause is he?)

If you are bothered by menopause symptoms then you may benefit from HT with very little risk, just as millions of other healthy women do. HT is still considered the most effective treatment for moderate to severe menopause symptoms and appropriate for most healthy women under 60.

Get the facts on hormone therapy: Don’t let your hormones rule your life. Thrive. Be the boss.

 

Teresa Isabel Dias is a pharmacist and Certified Menopause Practitioner (NCMP) who provides education and support on symptom management for women at work and at home so they’ll feel like themselves again and enjoy a vibrant and productive life.

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If would like to know how Teresa can improve your menopause transition then schedule a complimentary Discovery Call at MenopausED.org.