Doctors and health care professionals may discourage women who have personal medical histories of deep vein blood clots, active liver disease, and breast cancer, for example, from using HRT. If these women were to take regular doses of estrogen and cyclic doses of progesterone, they could suffer a complication or, in rare cases, a recurrence of their prior medical condition.
If you choose not to take HRT for either medical or personal reasons, you need to adopt other means of protecting your bones, brain, skin, and heart as you age. As you consider alternatives to HRT, it’s important that you remember the full range of symptoms and conditions you may need to combat. Some of the most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are:
- Hot flashes
- Mood swings
- Decreased sexual drive
- Difficulty concentrating
- Heart palpitations
- Migraine headaches
- Irregular and/or heavy periods
- Dry Eyes
- Involuntary urine release and bladder urgency
- Insomnia
- Panic attacks
Some of the health issues that women face as they age and their natural hormone production diminishes dramatically in menopause are:
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Cholesterol imbalances
- Osteoporosis
- Loss of muscle mass
- Vision problems related to macular degeneration
- Decreased cognitive functions
- Nonhormonal Medications
Many women use nonhormonal medications to combat the initial symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, depression, mood swings, and fatigue. Medical treatments and preventatives for some physical conditions such as cholesterol imbalances, high blood pressure, bone loss, and vaginal dryness also are available.
Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Hot flashes are the perimenopausal and menopausal symptom many women report as the most bothersome. Hot flashes and night sweats are types of vasomotor symptoms some women experience as their natural hormone production slows then stops in the years preceding and following menopause. Hot flashes can be mild flushes that spread across the face and neck and pass quickly, or they can be debilitating waves of increased skin temperature that can last up to thirty minutes and leave a woman drenched in sweat and exhausted from the experience. Night sweats can interrupt sleep or cause insomnia, and lead to fatigue, exhaustion, and a diminished attention span and cognitive function. In other words, vasomotor symptoms aren’t minor inconveniences for many women—they’re serious conditions with both physical and emotional side effects.
Although estrogen is considered by many doctors to be the best choice for the relief of vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause, some other medications are available to diminish their impact. Progestin, progesterone compounds, and progesterone creams have shown some effectiveness in reducing the frequency and severity of hot flashes, as have low doses of clonidine and methyldopa, medications traditionally used in the treatment of high blood pressure. Some studies indicate that some antidepressants, for example, venlafaxine hydrochloride (marketed under the name Effexor), prescribed in very low doses, may offer some relief from vasomotor symptoms.
