Menopause symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, mood changes and sleep problems can be a significant disruption.
Some people are turning to supplements to manage those issues rather than using treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration, such as hormone therapy. But, experts say, menopause supplements aren’t necessarily helpful. And, in some cases, they can be dangerous.
The rising popularity of menopause supplements, experts say, highlights a lack of access to evidence-based options, rampant misinformation about hormone therapy and gaps in our knowledge about menopause — even among specialists. Current menopause treatments
"The primary treatment — and the first-line treatment — should be hormone (estrogen) therapy, especially for moderate-to-severe menopause symptoms," Dr. Anna Barbieri, assistant clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, tells TODAY.com
"There is just nothing as effective and nothing that has as wide-ranging effects and benefits as hormone therapy," Barbieri adds.
Effectively managing hot flashes, most often through hormone therapy, may have long-term health benefits , too, Dr. Lauren Streicher, medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, tells TODAY.com. Health
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Not only do hot flashes last seven years on average (and often longer for Black women), but we also know that "hot flashes are associated with cardiovascular disease, brain fog during perimenopause, potentially declines in cognitive function down the road and multiple other medical problems," Streicher says.However, some people should steer clear of hormone therapy due to other health conditions. That includes a current or past hormone receptor-positive cancer (primarily breast and endometrial cancers), as well as a history of stroke, blood clots or cardiovascular disease, Barbieri explains.If someone can’t or prefers not to take hormone therapy, that’s where non-hormonal options come in. Those include the off-label use of antidepressant medications and the recently-approved drug fezolinetant .There are also all kinds of […]
For some women, hormone therapy isn’t an option. Are menopause supplements any better?
