When You Don't Like It Hot: Tips For Dealing With Hot Flashes

One of the most common struggles for women who are entering menopause is the frequent hot flashes. They can occur at any time, no matter where you are or what you're doing. This often leads to anxiety in social situations and public environments. If you're looking for options to manage and minimize your hot flashes, there are several things you can do. Here's a look at some of the treatments you can talk to your doctor about in the hopes of keeping your cool.

Changing Your Lifestyle

One of the most significant things you can do to manage your menopausal symptoms is to evaluate your current lifestyle and deal with the things that are worsening your symptoms.

Get Frequent Exercise: Daily workouts can reduce the frequency of hot flashes. Talk with your doctor about the best workout options for this, though. Intense or strenuous activities can actually trigger a hot flash, so it's best to stick with low-intensity workout regimens.

Control Your Weight: Excess body weight can raise your core body temperature. This may cause hot flashes to occur more frequently, because your temperature is already higher. Keep your weight within a healthy range to help combat this.

Balance Your Diet: Eating whole grains and nutrient-packed fruits and vegetables can help you manage hot flashes. Diets like this reduce your intake of saturated fats and cholesterol, which is better for your heart and your overall health. Skip the hot sauce and caffeine as much as possible, since they might worsen symptoms for some people.

Seeking Hormone Replacement

If lifestyle changes aren't enough for you to keep the hot flashes at bay, you'll want to talk to your doctor about the possibility of hormone replacement therapy. Most women who use this type of treatment take a combination of estrogen and progesterone.

If your doctor has recommended a hysterectomy, you might take just the estrogen. If you haven't had a hysterectomy, you'll have to take progesterone in addition to the estrogen. Since estrogen can cause your uterine lining to thicken, progesterone serves as a necessary barrier against this. This protects you from the risk of endometrial or uterine cancer.

Your doctor may suggest estrogen therapy in one of a variety of forms, depending on what works best for you. There are oral medications, topical creams and even patches for this type of therapy. Your doctor will help you find the lowest possible dose to help you manage the hot flashes until your body progresses through the menopausal developments enough to move beyond them.

Hot flashes don't have to be the silent, anxiety-causing threat that's lurking in the back of your mind all the time. With the help of your doctor and the lifestyle changes recommended here, you can reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes through your menopausal stages.

To learn more about hormone replacement therapy, contact a clinic like Genemedics Health Institute.