Menopause - Hot flashes: a daily inconvenience

Some menopausal women find their lives really unconfortable du to hot flashes. At work and at home, day and night… they occur without warning and can last for almost an hour. Please respond to the hormonal rebellion!

At the office, for an appointment or a dinner with friends, no respite: hot flashes occur without warning and often ruin the lives of women. Depending on their intensity, they are not experienced or handled in a similar manner.
The most common symptom of menopause

Menopause occurs between 45 and 55 years. With her, functional disorders, disorders called climacteric, so sometimes they appear. Of these, hot flashes are one of the most characteristic and most early menopause in Western countries. The ovaries produce fewer hormones, the deficiency that can trigger hot flashes, sometimes exacerbated by stressful situations.

They usually appear before the end of the menstruations. Other events, such as fatigue, vaginal dryness and weight gain, are more insidious. If hot flashes are non-existent or very moderate with one woman in two, the other half suffers from such events sometimes very painful.


Redness, heat and… fed!

Cluttered by a feeling of intense heat that suddenly invades the neck, the neck, then went to his face, flashing possibly accompanied by redness and sweating. It lasted between 30 seconds and a minute, and are often followed by cold sweats. These episodes that repeat sometimes up to 15 to 20 times a day may cause some women to the point of preventing them from working.

During the night, sweats take over, wake up women, requiring them to change, even change the sheets, sometimes insomnia. These "mini-heat waves" passengers are not dangerous but can become a real source of fatigue and depression.

However, they are very different from one woman to another, both in frequency and intensity, and often lived in a very different way according to the women. According to some studies, they also vary depending on the country, food and socio-cultural level. They can disappear spontaneously after 4 or 5 years on average, but it is estimated that half of women with real hot flashes keep for a long time, until a decade if they are not treated . Apart from small hot flashes, which are often enhanced by avoiding stressful situations or wary of sudden changes in temperature, approximately 30% are troublesome development require treatment.
Treatments range

The most effective is the hormone replacement therapy for menopause therapy (HRT), which can be started only after the complete cessation of menstruations. By bridging the lack hormonal, it wiped out almost 90% of hot flashes, in a few days. However, it presents Kontraindikationen stringent, and the different studies showing his involvement in breast cancer, it is recommended that if the quality of life is significantly disrupted. It must be started with a minimum effective dose and for the shortest possible period of time.

A synthetic progestin, the tibolone, represents a good alternative treatment, such as for women who suffer from breast pain with THS. However, it is a little less effective, and has the same contraindications and complications that THS.

The phytoestrogens, derived from soybeans, are non-hormonal treatments used quite frequently, although their effectiveness varies widely, and there is little research on the risks associated with long-term consumption.

In case of contra-indications of hormones, some psychotropic (drugs acting on the central nervous system), including antidepressants, can be effective.

Finally, some studies show that exercise can decrease hot flashes and other disturbances of climacteric.

Remember that in addition to these disorders troublesome but safe, menopause is a risk period, the cardiovascular, bone and weight gain. Regular physical activity and a balanced diet are essential anyway. If, in addition, they decrease hot flashes, why deprive yourself!