Do those vitamin pills stop your hot flashes. I think I'm beginning to have them, and they are no fun!! What do you do to ease yours.

merryroseflaxen.

reply to someone's quesiton about menopausal supplements.

.......

They help but not completely. I didn't want to take hormones, but my flashes got completely out of control and my dr put me on Effexor XR. He said although it is technically an SSRI antidepressant, that it was newly approved to decrease menopausal symptoms in women who didn't want to take hormones. It has helped immensely.
However, the evening primrose oil and black cohosh helped quite a bit, especialy at first. I didn't have good luck with the soy isoflavones, they seemed to overpower my system and messed with my cycles, which were messed up enough to begin with.
Hope this helps.


Hair today/hair tomorrow/hair always

Taking the multi that I mentioned is a start, but taking 1000 to 3000 mg of evening primrose oil really helps, especially if you have bad PMS to go along with it. The black cohosh is good too, both help to even out your hormone levels.


{moderator removed portion of name, thinking it was posted by mistake~Amazon}


Hair today/hair tomorrow/hair always

Do all SSRI's help or just Efflexor? I'm about to go to my gyn, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about what she'll say -- Go on hormones. I've been trying soy -- That might be the wrong thing for me,too, as I do have PMS.

merryroseflaxen.

Doc said he had just been to a GYN seminar and that they endorsed the usage of Effexor XR speficically for treatment of hormonal fluctuations in perimenopausal women. According to him,safe to use herbals along with it. Has cut down immensely on PMS, I was the B*tch Queen!!!!!! Now just once in a while it flares up, not nearly as bad.
This was from my family doctor, too, by the way. My GYN is the same age as me, and don't know if he didn't want to feel middle aged or what, but kept brushing off my complaints, telling me I was too young for all that. HELLO!!!!! I think I know what I'm feeling, after all, my mom was done with menopause by age 45, and I'm 42!!!!!
Tell your GYN about the Effexor XR and tell her you do NOT want hormones.
I have to run, I'm late for a lunch appt, but will try to find some links about the effexor and flashes and post them later this afternoon!!!! Then you can tell her where you saw it, etc, that it's not just hearsay!!!!


Hair today/hair tomorrow/hair always

There is not message

merryroseflaxen.

http://secure.caregroup.org/obgyn/ask_doc_questDisplay.asp?id=44

http://pinksunrise.com/hotflash/loprinzi.htm
(This one tells about this head honcho doc at Mayo clinic who did the studies re: Effexor and hot flashes decreasing by sixty percent!!!)

http://www.breastcancer.org/res_news_asco_0500_3.html

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/women/breastcancer/559289

http://www.nci/nih.gov/clinicaltrials/results/hotflashes0500 - This is a link to the national cancer institutes's page re: effexor trials

http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/women/12/15/hot.flashes/

These should be enough. I am taking Effexor XR 75mg at bedtime. He started me on 37.5mg at night for a week or two, which really made a big difference, but then I got used to it and went up to the larger dose. Had some cotton mouth and lessening of appetite for a few weeks, but it also goes away. The only other side effect I had, which was kind of weird, was old memories coming up, thing from when I was a little kid, nothing significant or earth shattering, just little things I hadn't thought of in over thirty years!!!!!That calmed down too.
Hope this helps, it has made a big difference in how I feel!!!!! Of course now that it's been zero here for a week, I kind of miss my hot flashes!!!!!!




Hair today/hair tomorrow/hair always

I don't know how old you are but don't let them tell you that you are too young to be having symptoms. I started having some symptoms at 35, which were brushed off as just run of the mill "female troubles" by the GYN. As I got older, they got worse, by 38/39 I KNEW what was going on, but was 41 before the family doc gave me the Effexor XR, and it was the first time I had mentioned my troubles to him!!!!!! He picked right up on it. Of course he had been an OBGYN until his malpractice premium costs made him decide to downscale to family practice, so maybe he was used to hearing this sort of thing????


Hair today/hair tomorrow/hair always