Women's Health
New help for hot flashes
A daily pill joins a variety of nonhormonal options to treat menopause's highly disruptive hallmark symptom.
- Reviewed by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
Do you have your private summers?" In generations past, women knew exactly what this question alluded to: menopausal hot flashes and night sweats far more awful than their alluring "private summers" nickname would suggest.
Yet there's nothing singular about this phenomenon, known medically as vasomotor symptoms. Hot flashes and their nighttime iteration, night sweats, affect an estimated 80% of women and last an average of seven to nine years. For a third, these bursts of intense warmth, sweating, and flushing last more than a decade, according to the Menopause Society.
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About the Author
Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
About the Reviewer
Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
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