ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS: HOT FLUSHES OF MENOPAUSE

Report #7261

Many women suffer from hot flushes when they start the menopause. They feel intense heat in their upper bodies, arms and faces, their skin then turns red and they start to sweat.

A flush usually lasts 4 minutes and is caused by a down setting of the temperature regulating part of their brain. When you have an infection and your temperature rises above 100 degrees, you sweat to cool off. At the time of the menopause, you sweat at lower than normal temperatures, such as 98 degrees. 65 to 85% of all women suffer from hot flushes which persists for 5 years in 60% and for more than 15 years for 10%.

A hormone called norepinephrine causes a woman to think that her body is overheating, even if it isn't. She then flips open the blood vessels in her skin, giving her the feeling of a rush of heat, and she starts to sweat. Yohimbine increases norepinephrine and causes hot flushes only in susceptible women. Clonidine, a blood pressure medicine, lowers norepinephrine and blocks hot flushes in some susceptible women (1). There still are not any good drugs to effectively lower norepinephrine levels in the brain, but here at least is a lead for future researchers.

The most effective treatment is to take estrogen which then raises the sweating mechanism of your brain back to its normal level of above 100 degrees. If a woman has had breast or uterine cancer and cannot take estrogen, she can try progesterone by pill or injection {20 mg pill of Provera daily or get an injection of MPA (Depo-Provera) 50 mg once a month.} Other treatments include a male hormone pill called Danazol (100 mg per day), a commercial preparation called Bellergal (ergotamine tartrate, belladonna alkaloids and phenobarbital twice a day) and clonidine (0.2 mg pills twice a day.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News