Hot flashes are never pleasant and HRT is not always an acceptable choice. So what other options are there when those sudden feelings of heat with sweating and rapid heartbeat happen to women in perimenopause and menopause.
A group of researchers in China randomly assigned 72 women between the ages of 45 and 55 who had recently stopped menstruating to an eight week trial of taking either a traditional mix called Jiawei Qing’e Fang everyday or a placebo mix with no medicinal effect.
The study mixture has been used in tradition Chinese medicine for a thousand years for gynecologic diseases.
After eight weeks, both groups showed a notable decrease in the frequency and severity of hot flashes but the reduction was greater among women who used the herbal treatment.
The study was reported in the journal Menopause, and found the hot flash reduction “score” was 70 percent for women on the traditional medicine and 56 percent for women taking the placebo. Most studies find some improvement in women receiving a placebo, at least for 12 weeks.
While the study was too short and too small to make an absolute judgement on the benefit of the traditional Chinese treatment, it is another possible consideration among women in perimenopause and menopause who either cannot or will not take HRT.
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