Menopause: Managing Hot Flashes

How can I manage hot flashes?

You can manage hot flashes by making certain lifestyle choices. You can also take daily medicine. Some measures help prevent or reduce hot flashes. Others can make you more comfortable when you're having a hot flash.

Lifestyle choices

Eat and drink well, and avoid smoking

• Limit alcohol.
• Drink cold liquids rather than hot ones.
• Eat smaller, more frequent meals. Digesting a lot of food can make you feel hotter.
• Eat healthy foods.
• Do not smoke or use other forms of tobacco.

Stay cool

• Keep your area cool. Use a fan.
• Dress in layers. Then you can remove clothes as needed.
• Wear natural fabrics, such as cotton and silk.
• Sleep with fewer blankets.

Reduce stress

• Get regular exercise.
• Use relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises, yoga, or biofeedback.

Medical treatment

• Hormone therapy (HT) can reduce or stop hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. It raises your estrogen level. Have regular checkups. This is because HT may increase the risk of problems in a small number of women. These problems include blood clots, stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, and dementia. Risk varies based on when you start HT in menopause and how long you take it. Using HT for a short time in early menopause has less risk than when it is started later in menopause.
• Estrogen-progestin birth control pills (before menopause) can reduce or stop hot flashes and other symptoms. They can keep your hormones from going up and down.
• Antidepressant medicine can reduce the number of hot flashes and how bad they are. It improves the brain's use of serotonin, which helps control body temperature.
• Clonidine may relieve hot flashes for some women.
• Gabapentin, an antiseizure medicine, may lower the number of hot flashes each day. It also may make hot flashes less severe.