Menopausal women searching for new ways to cool down hot flashes have found a new prescription: antidepressants. Although this does not mean that all menopausal women are going through depression, none of these drugs are specifically approved for the condition, yet the number of doctors giving ?off label? prescriptions is on the rise.
Hot flashes are characterized by the sudden, intense, hot feeling on your face and upper body, and can be preceded or accompanied by a rapid heartbeat and sweating, nausea, dizziness, anxiety, headache, weakness, or a feeling of suffocation.
According to research, the use of antidepressants for menopausal women has become increasingly common due to the fact that women and doctors alike are seeking alternatives to menopause hormones. It has been observed that the use of hormone drugs for menopause has decreased significantly since 2002, after a government study that linked hormone use in older women may result to stroke and breast cancer.
There is no clear evidence why antidepressants seem to have a cooling down effect in the hot flashes of some women. The connection was made only by chance in the studies of women with breast cancer. There are some cancer drugs that can set off hot flashes, and researchers noticed that women who were also taking the antidepressants known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had fewer flashes.
There are studies which showed that the use of these and other serotonin-altering drugs to treat hot flashes in healthy menopausal women have shown disappointing results. On the other hand, Wyeth's Effexor and GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, have shown a meaningful benefit in high-quality controlled studies, as per a review published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Most women welcome the idea of relief more than they would receive from drugs. In one Effexor trial, the antidepressant users reported about 60 percent fewer hot flashes. By comparison, studies of hormones show estrogen reduces the frequency of hot flashes 80 percent. However, some women also complained of numerous side effects, such as constipation, dry mouth and nausea. According to Cynthia Pearson, Executive Director of the National Women's health, some women are fine with antidepressants and say, ?It helps and it makes a difference,? while others say, ?Forget it. I don't feel like myself.?
Different studies produce a variation of results in connection with the drug responses. A study of the antidepressant Zoloft which was sponsored by its maker, Pfizer, and published this month in the journal ?Menopause,? has reported that one-third of the subjects actually had more hot flashes while taking the drug, a third stayed about the same or experienced just a slight benefit, and another third reported far fewer hot flashes. Such finding is similar to trends shown in other studies of antidepressants for hot flashes, which include Prozac and Paxil.
Figuring out which type of women have the most to gain from taking antidepressant drugs is the real challenge but the number of women to be studied should increase in order to come up with significant conclusions. In the Zoloft trial, only 27 women were in the high-benefit group.
A very interesting trend emerged among women who were recently menopausal. These women who had just stopped having their periods turned out to receive the most benefits from antidepressant treatment. However, women who had been menopausal for a year and those who were just starting to experience the effects of hormonal fluctuations fared worse on the drug.
The biggest concern about antidepressant use for menopause is that the drugs may worsen some symptoms already common during menopause ? things like anxiety, sleep problems and loss of libido. And while the drugs have been used safely for years in people with depression, there's no long-term data on their use in healthy women with healthy brains.
Women who will opt to try antidepressant treatment for the relief of hot flashes should first consult professional medical advise. Regular follow-up is also necessary in the first weeks after starting the drug.
Hot flashes may seem relatively harmless, but when you consider that they can actually cause insomnia for a lot of women, you start to realise just how debilitating they can be if left unchecked. Their relationship with insomnia is when a woman experiences a hot flash during the night, which naturally wakes her up rather suddenly.
My grandma was the first person I can remember who used to suffer with insomnia brought on by her hot flashes - she'd explain all the details to us, describing herself as having "eyes like saucers" - which I now understand meant she was wide awake.
A friend of mine suggests that "women's bodies are programmed to awaken in the middle of the night so they can stoke the fire." Even Shakespeare's Macbeth entreats a physician to cure his wife's insomnia: "Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Race out the written troubles of the brain; And with-some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuft bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart."
Impact of Hormone Replacement Therapy
Yet, even though insomnia has been around for centuries, it seems to have just gotten worse. That's because many women dropped hormone replacement therapy after news that the risks outweigh the benefits. The abrupt withdrawal led to uncomfortable symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes and vaginal dryness - and sleeplessness.
Many women are now being plagued again with menopause symptoms and problems they thought they had left behind. But there are still a lot of options that can provide effective solutions to these issues.
Even though insomnia is a fairly common experience for post menopausal women, there isn't a "one size fits all" solution. As with every other symptom of menopause, you need to determine how it's affecting you, and what the best cause of action will be. Don't simply start popping sleeping pills to get through - they only offer short term solutions at best.
The first approach should be to consult with your health care practitioner or doctor and review your medical history. This can help narrow down your options and make your decision easier. For some women, some form of hormone replacement therapy may still be the best short term answer.
Is Insomnia Part of Getting Old
It's well known that as we get older, our sleeping patterns and habits go through changes. We tend to spend more time in the first two stages of sleep. Stage one is called transitional sleep, and stage two is light sleep. Both are non rapid eye movement (NREM) stages of sleep.
Stages three and four, deep sleep or Delta sleep, are the most restful. Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep, stage five, when dreaming occurs, occupies about 20 percent of sleep time.
As we age, particularly as we reach 50, we spend more time in sleep stages one and two, which means we tend to sleep lighter and are more prone to wake up prematurely. This has a knock on effect which makes us get tired earlier at night, and wake earlier in the morning. But we still have many options for improving our sleep.
First, you need to define your sleep pattern and problem. While one woman might have difficulty falling asleep, another might have trouble staying asleep. One woman might be awakened because of hot flashes, but someone else might wake up and then experience a hot flash. Other women might find themselves waking earlier and earlier.
Natural Remedies and Cures For Hot Flashes
While you have probably noticed that there are numerous herbal remedies for menopause and insomnia, you're probably wilting under a mountain of information. Some work, some don't - so buyer beware. Don't rely on sleeping medication too long - they should be seen as a short term solutions (at best) to help you get back into your routine.
How To Stop Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep
When hot flashes start to disrupt your sleep, the first thing you need to do is stop worrying about it, and look to what is causing them - find the triggers. Some women find that when they dream, that triggers a hot flash. By finding out what is triggering them, you are now in a much better position to deal with them - rather than taking sleeping medications to make you sleep through it.
It's definitely a case of finding out what your body needs, and working with it. Drugs and medications aren't the best thing at keeping your body in harmony.
Sometimes all it takes is changing your routine or diet. Spending a half hour in a darkened, cool room increases sleep hormones like melatonin in the body. Avoid stimulating activities before you go to bed. That hot shower at night can trigger hot flashes. Exercising late in the day might spike adrenaline, making sleep difficult.
Diet is also very important - what we eat has a huge impact on how our body works. Some speciality teas for example can induce hot flashes, so choose carefully and do a bit of research. Believe it or not, carbohydrates also increase your sleep hormones, so if you're on a low carb diet you may want to make a few exceptions in the evening. And warm milk can be a great help to induce sleep, but I'd recommend a non-dairy alternative like soy milk.
Both Naix & Wendy Jones are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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