She’s hot. She’s cool…
St. John’s Wort can cool down those hot flashes?! Yes, you may want to pay attention as a new study appearing in the February issue of Menopause, may help to cool those hot flashes.
If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you may recall that I wrote previously about St. John’s Wort and its potential role for improving quality of life, sleep disturbances and hot flashes. The latest bit of information suggests that daily use of St. John’s Wort extract among menopausal women resulted in significant declines in the number of daily hot flashes by as much as 50% through eight weeks of treatment compared to women taking only placebo. Daily St. John’s Wort also reduced both the length of time that flashes lasted as well as their severity. At the start of the study, women were experiencing moderate to severe hot flashes at least once daily. Importantly, women taking placebo also experienced declines in hot flash frequency, although not to the same extent as those taking St. John’s Wort.
What you should know…
St. John’s Wort, while generally considered safe, should be used cautiously. As I wrote last year, experts recommend against taking St. John’s Wort at the same time as alcohol, narcotics, amphetamines, tyrosine supplements, flu medicines and foods containing tyramine (e.g. yeast, aged cheese, eggplant, soy sauce). St. John’s Wort can also interact with prescription antidepressants, oral contraceptives and certain medications that thin the blood. More information about St. John’s Wort, its side effects and risks can be found here.
As with any herbal preparation, it’s critical to speak to a healthcare practitioner before embarking on therapy.
For more information on this study, as well as some comments by the researchers, check out Reuters Health’s coverage of the same study.
Read MoreKeep it cool: Sheex
[Image: sheex.com]
I am a huge fan of innovative solutions to keeping cool. Which is why I am a huge fan of Sheex. Disclosure: the company did not contact me to write about them nor have I tried the sheets. However, I have written previously about alternate use of fabrics that were originally developed for athletes to promote a cooler, more comfortable sleep for flashers and sweaters.
According to the website, the technology breathes twice as well as more traditional bedding and transfers body heat twice as effectively as cotton does. It also claims to have three times the drying power of cotton. I also like the fact they’ve taken the time to develop sheets for travel, so that you can keep comfortable wherever you are. What’s more, the company is owned by two women who were former basketball coaches, so clearly they understand women’s needs.
Granted, the sheet sets are expensive. But can you really place a price on comfort and a good night’s sleep? I’d rather spend a bit more money and a bit less time changing sheets or clothing because I’m drenched.
Hat’s off Sheex! Thanks for thinking of us! And let us all “sleep fit” and not fitfully.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: take care of your wants and needles
Thinking about trying acupuncture for those menopausal symptoms? Make sure they are the real deal!
Researchers say that non-invasive acupuncture, often preferred by the needle-phobic, will not have much effect on hot flashes and symptoms. In fact, in a small scientific study published in the online edition of Menopause, women with daytime and nighttime hot flashes and symptoms received laser acupuncture treatments or fake laser treatments once every two weeks over a three-month period. (Laser acupuncture (laser acupoint stimulation) is a technique that uses laser light that is applied to — but not inserted into — the skin to stimulate common acupuncture points.) Specific acupuncture points were selected from a series of 10 points and then individualized for each participant and her respective needs.
At the study’s end, no differences were seen between the groups in terms of menopausal symptoms.
Does this mean that acupuncture doesn’t work for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms? No, not at all. In fact, acupuncture has shown to be effective for alleviating hot flashes and the like. But you need real needles. If you are needle-phobic, speak a licensed acupuncturist or check out some of these wonderful links provided by the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I’ve a huge fan of acupuncture and don’t care for needles. Yet, my experience with acupuncture is that in most cases, it is virtually painless and may simply be associated with mild tingling or brief ache that quickly dissipates.
How about you? How has acupuncture worked for your symptoms?
Read MoreNeedling your way into the ’10s
As regular readers of this blog know, I’m a huge advocate of acupuncture. Yet, of late, there have been a lot of studies that suggest that acupuncture is ineffective for treating hot flashes. That is, until the ACUFLASH trial came along.
ACUFLASH compared acupuncture in addition to self care to self-care alone over a 12 week period. The findings? Acupuncture plus self-care reduced the mean frequency of hot flashes by 48% in women compared with 28% of women using self-care methods only. This means that 50% of women receiving acupuncture experienced a 50% or greater reduction in how often their hot flashes occurred, compared to 16% of women using self-care. Significant reductions were also seen in hot flash intensity. Acupuncture also greatly improved overall reported quality of life. The difference in this trial compared to others exploring the effectiveness of acupuncture was that practitioners were able to both follow a standard protocol and add individual aspects to it – a key to finding quality in Traditional Chinese medicine practices.
In this latest study, investigators from ACUFLASH revisited study participants at 6 and 12 months, asking them about use of healthcare providers, medication and dietary supplements, and whether or not their daily habits had changed (e.g., rest, sleep, physical activity, coffee and alcohol, tobacco use). They also were asked if they had experienced any changes in menopausal symptoms, namely the intensity and frequency of hot flashes, quality of life and well-being). Additionally, women who had initially been treated with acupuncture and self-care were asked if they would recommend acupuncture to others and/or use it again.
Interestingly, at 6 and 12 months, significant differences between the study groups were no longer present; in fact, many women who had initially experienced substantial declines in hot flash frequency plateaued out. However, women who indicated that they continued to use acupuncture after the original study ended, experienced an even larger reduction in the frequency and intensity of their hot flashes through the 12 year period.
The investigators state that expectations of positive results and increased well-being definitely play an important role in reductions of vasomotor symptoms. However, they also suggest that adding self-care to acupuncture can contribute to a faster reduction in vasomotor symptoms and improvements in quality of life (which, they say, may be related to some cognitive-related triggering of mechanisms that contribute to menopausal symptoms).
One of the most important findings of this study is that in order to be effective, acupuncture treatments should be regular; they will not impart any long-term effects.
Personally, I’m all for needling my way into the New Year. You?
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: a poke and voila!
Researchers are suggesting that a single injection of an anesthetic into the sympathetic nervous system may shut down hot flashes all together.
What?!
Is this a bubble to be burst or a solution to celebrate? Only time can tell.
True confession – much as I try, I cannot locate the original study. So I am going to share what I’ve learned through what I can find and you can draw your own conclusions!
Theoretically, the new strategy involves injecting a local anesthetic into the sympathetic nerves in the neck to block norepinephrine. (Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that has been posited as a possible explanation for hot flashes, i.e. both norepinephrine and serotonin lower the set point in how the body regulates temperature, meaning that heat loss mechanisms can be triggered by subtle changes in core body temperature.)
In this small study, which involved 15 women, all experienced decreases in the severity of their hot flashes by as much as 80% for up to two weeks.
A larger study is evidently in the works to determine if this approach can help alleviate and possibly even eliminate hot flashes. Meanwhile, I am going to see if I can find more information. It’s an interesting strategy and one that could truly revolutionize the way that we address hot flashes if if proves to be true.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Nutrafem promises much…will it deliver?
Not gonna burst this one. At least not yet. Because there’s a new botanical formulation in town and the evidence supporting its effectiveness looks pretty strong!
Nutrafem® is a supplement containing a proprietary blend of phytoestrogens – namely Eucommia ulmoides bark (a deciduous rubber tree whose bark has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine practice for centuries) and Vigna radiata (mungbeans).
In a study that appears in the Advanced Online Edition of Menopause, Nutrafem was shown to reduce the number of hot flashes and night sweats that women were experiencing by 26% over a 12-week time period. What’s more, among the 156 postmenopausal women studied, symptoms were reduced in almost half of the women. At the start of the study, participants were reportedly experiencing at least 21 or more hot flushes or night sweats weekly, and at least a third of these were described as being severe to moderate.
Earlier studies have also been favourable, suggesting that Nutrafem also leads to significant improvements in general health, body aches/pains, energy and fatigue, and emotional wellbeing.
This formulation appears to be safe and reported side effects during use have been minimal. Importantly, both of the key ingredients have a long history of as food or herbal medicines; the mung bean in particular has been used to address effects of radiation during breast cancer therapy, such as headache, fatigue or sleeplessness. Additionally, while Nutrafem appears to activate estrogen receptors, it does not promote the proliferation of breast cancer cells.
I have high hopes for Nutrafem. Have you tried it?
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