Night Sweats Treatments

When it comes to night sweats treatment, it is important to be patient in finding the right route to relief. Because the pattern and severity of night sweats is different for each woman, every menopausal woman will have to determine what works best for her. What might work for a few weeks may not prove to be a long term solution. For some women finding relief is easy, while for others it might take a little more perseverance.

Night Sweats	In order to determine the best night sweats treatment, it is a good idea to begin by keeping track of the circumstances around which night sweats occur. For example, noting the time of the episode, current emotional state (e.g. stress level), food and drink consumed prior to bed, clothing worn, sleeping conditions, etc. This information can help a woman to determine what is triggering her night sweats, which may help her determine what treatment is most effective. Three approaches for treating night sweats A woman wishing to treat night sweats has three categories, or levels, of treatment available to her: (1) Lifestyle Changes, (2) Alternative Medicine and (3) Drugs and Surgery.
Night Sweats Overview About Night Sweats Definition Symptoms Who is affected? Causes of Night Sweats Hormonal causes Other causes Triggers Night Sweats Treatments

1: Lifestyle changes:

Lifestyle changes are the first level of treatment available to women wishing to rid themselves of night sweats. While these changes are usually cost-free and virtually risk-free, they do require the greatest amount of self-discipline.

Believe it or not, daily behaviors can have a significant impact a woman's experience of night sweats. For example, eating a spicy dinner or having one too many glasses of wine, increased stress due to work pressure or family obligations can trigger night sweats. Lifestyle adjustments are two-pronged: avoiding triggers and increasing overall health (some overlap in the two exists, as one would expect).

Lifestyle Adjustments:

Avoiding triggers: • Sleep in removable layers • Wear natural breathable fibers • Avoid constrictive clothing • Reduce consumption of hot drinks • Reduce alcohol and caffeine intake • Turn down the thermostat • Apply a cold wet compress to cool   down • Avoid spicy or hot foods

Increasing Overall Health: • Practice slow, diaphragmatic breathing • Eat a balanced diet • Increase Vitamin E intake to 800mg/day • Increase Vitamin B intake • Increase soy protein intake • Exercise regularly • Consider meditation, yoga, visualization   or other methods of stress relief

Making lifestyle changes is easier said than done. it may be possible to skip that extra glass of wine but virtually impossible to avoid work-related stress. It can also be difficult to suddenly and drastically change habits and preferences you may have had your whole life.

Moreover, while these changes will help alleviate many symptoms, they do not address the cause of night sweats: hormonal imbalance. Fortunately, alternative medicine treatments are available to treat the root hormonal imbalance that causes night sweats. These natural treatments for night sweats have a much lower risk of side effects, compared to medical hormonal treatments. Read on to learn more about natural night sweats treatment.

2: Alternative medicine:

Alternative approaches involve little to no risk and can be an extremely effective way to treat all 34 menopause symptoms.

This level of approach can involve several different therapies. Herbal remedies are the most prominent, though in addition women may turn to such techniques as acupuncture, biofeedback, massage, homeopathy, or hypnosis. All of these can be valid and effective options, though most women find that herbal remedies are the easiest alternative treatment to follow, as the others require a greater time and monetary commitment. In addition, herbal remedies are the only viable option to treat the hormonal imbalance directly at its source.

adding outside hormones, a woman´s body may become less capable of producing estrogen on its own. This causes a further decrease of the body´s own hormone levels.

By contrast, non-estrogenic herbs, as the name suggests, don't contain any estrogen. These herbs stimulate a woman´s hormone production by nourishing the pituitary and endocrine glands, causing them to more efficiently produce natural hormones. This ultimately results in balancing not only estrogen, but also progesterone and testosterone. Non-estrogenic herbs (e.g. Macafem) can be considered the safest way to treat night sweats naturally as the body creates its own hormones and doesn´t require any outside assistance.

A combination of approaches is usually the most effective route to take. Lifestyle changes combined with alternative medicine will most likely be the best way to alleviate the symptoms of this hormonal imbalance. While this approach is optimal for many women, others will find that they want or need to go to the third level of treatment.

3: Drugs:

Interventions at the third level involve the highest risk and often the highest costs. In the West, the most common drug therapy for treating night sweats is hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This may be a quick and strong way to combat hormonal imbalance; but, unfortunately, it entails the risk of serious side effects, including certain types of cancer.

In 1991 the National Institute of Health (NIH) launched the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), the largest clinical trial ever undertaken in the United States. The WHI was designed to provide answers concerning possible benefits and risks associated with use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This study was canceled in July 2002, after it was proven that synthetic hormones increase risks of ovarian and breast cancer as well as heart disease, blood clots and strokes. The findings were published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and to this date have not been disputed.

It is important to bear in mind that while all of these HRT drugs have the potential to assist in night sweats relief, they all carry side effect risks, some of which may outweigh any potential benefits. If symptoms are at the level of severity that a woman wishes to consider this option, it is wise to speak to a healthcare professional for guidance.

These three levels of approaches are not mutually exclusive. A woman may use different approaches at different times or any combination of them, depending on the duration and severity of symptoms. Today more and more women find that dealing with menopause symptoms is best accomplished via a combination of healthy lifestyle and alternative treatments.

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