Panic time! It's
those Hot Flashes!

What are those hot flashes anyway?

They are the most common and troublesome symptoms reported by women during and after perimenopause.

Unfortunately, you can't escape them using conventional medicine.

Millions of women enter menopause each single day. For more than 80 percent of these women, those hot flashes persist for more than a year; 9 percent of women older than 70 years report experiencing hot flashes.

For some women, hot flashes are inconvenient but not troublesome; however, about 25 percent of these women report severe symptoms that interfere with sleep and daily functions.

Hot flashes occur in many, but not all, women undergoing menopause.

They vary in severity, from a sudden sensation of warmth to acute drenching sweats and bright red flushing. Duration ranges from a few months, to a few years or not at all.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

While hot flashes are not quite understood fully, they are thought to occur because the body's estrogen levels are decreasing or fluctuating.

I know that it's totally embarassing when you're the only one sitting in a room fanning, especially when you're the lone female. It seems the guys are giving each other that look.

But No! You don't have to ingest (HRT)a pregnant mare's urine! Besides, it's been proven to be much too dangerous.

While hormone replacement therapy (HRT) works well for many women because it elevates estrogen levels in the body, the risks of heart disease, breast cancer, pulmonary embolism and stroke uncovered a few years ago by the Women's Initiative study has made HRT a last resort for most women.

This has prompted many women to search for other options.

Alternative Natural Medicine

Besides choosing plant-based alternatives to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also recommended is stress management, diet, exercise and nutritional supplements to support and work with a woman's body, not against it.

Prayer, meditation, yoga and tai chi can all be used to control your body's stress response and reduce menopausal symptoms.

In a 2004 study reported in Cancer Investigation, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, found that the herb, black cohosh, appeared to reduce those hot flashes.

It's been reported that black cohosh yields up to 80% improvement in hot flashes.

In the 1870s Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was a popular cure-all for virtually every gynecologic ailment including menstrual, menopausal or pregnancy-related problems.

One of the key ingredients of Pinkham's remedy was black cohosh, an herbal preparation now recognized as relieving menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, sleep disturbances and anxiety.

The usual dosage is 40 drops of the extract twice daily for 6 to 8 weeks, or one to two 20-mg tablets twice daily with liquid (not to be chewed or sucked).

Natural Health Care

It's now known that Asian women never suffer from the effects of menopause symptoms that other women do. Why not?

In general, the average amount of isoflavones consumed in a typical Asian diet is approximately 50mg/day.

Soy has been safely consumed by hundreds of millions of people without complications, with the possible exception of soy allergies.

In contrast to herbal alternatives to HRT, soy has been thought to lower cholesterol, make blood vessels more elastic (increase vascular elasticity), and slow osteoclast activity in bones.

It is also an excellent source of protein, and is lactose-and cholesterol-free.

Personally, I know that all of the above are excellent means of alleviating those hot flashes.

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