80 percent of menopausal women complain of hot flashes of varying degrees of severity, while for some the hot waves significantly interfere with their daily functioning/ShutterStock
The period of menopause in women - menopause begins in the fifth decade of a woman's life, on average between the ages of 45 and 55. This period may occur earlier, 'early menopause' and even occur later.
Menopause is characterized by the cessation of secretion of sex hormones, especially estrogen, by the ovaries.
Ovarian activity gradually decreases and eventually stops.
One of the most prominent and common symptoms of a decrease in estrogen secretion and entry into menopause is the appearance of hot flashes.
80 percent of menopausal women complain of hot flashes of varying degrees of severity, while for some the hot waves significantly interfere with their daily functioning.
"In the past, hot flashes were treated as a cosmetic disorder, today we know that this is not true and hot flashes have serious health consequences," says Wala Health
Prof. Yoav Peled
, director of the Menopause Clinic in Belinson and the Center for Women's Health in Hod Hasharon.
"Heat waves harm a woman's quality of life and harm her quality of sleep and all that implies. Many studies show the connection between the severity of heat waves and damage to income, an increase in arteriosclerosis, damage to memory, increased consumption of sick days and more."
What exactly is a heat wave?
Prof. Peled: "A heat wave is characterized by a feeling of heat that bursts from the chest, rises to the face and is usually accompanied by sweat, flushing, and the feeling of a fast pulse. If the heat wave occurs during sleep, the woman wakes up. Sometimes the heat wave is followed by a cold wave - this is actually a 'fever' of the body's temperature control center.
"We all have a heat balance system located in the brain in an area called the hypothalamus - this is the thermoregulatory center, whose role is to absorb the temperature from the outside and activate the body's cooling mechanisms when the temperature rises (such as sweating) or reduce heat emission from the body in case the temperature drops .
In most cases, the thermoregulatory center works as it should and reacts adequately and properly to changes in the ambient temperature.
The thermoregulatory center is mainly controlled by two important substances: estrogen and neurokinin.
"Before menopause, when there is enough estrogen, it works in sync with neurokinin and there is a proper balance in the activity of this center. When the level of estrogen decreases during menopause, the balance between estrogen and neurokinin is disturbed and the thermoregulatory center goes out of balance and reacts inappropriately to minor temperature changes , which normally would not cause it to be activated.
"The system comes into action because there is supposedly a change in temperature, the blood vessels expand, the blood pressure drops, the heart reacts with accelerated heartbeats and increases its rate to maintain the blood pressure - which actually causes a heat wave that the woman feels.
"In the past, hot flashes were treated as a cosmetic disorder, today we know that this is not true and that hot flashes have serious health consequences"
"When this process occurs during the night, the woman as mentioned wakes up - during a heat wave there is also a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the brain and therefore the brain wakes us up, because it understands that something is wrong. This is a very common phenomenon that leads to sleep problems, which greatly affects the functioning of that woman throughout All day".
What is the existing treatment for this phenomenon?
"To date, the main treatment for this syndrome has been the administration of the hormone estrogen. There are also quite a few different non-hormonal treatments, but they are significantly less effective than estrogen, and some of them also have significant side effects."
So why not treat with estrogen?
"There is no doubt that the correct and effective treatment for this syndrome is to supplement the deficiency in estrogen. However, there are many women who are not interested in taking hormones for various reasons, such as a fear of cancer, or a preference for treatment with natural medicine without hormonal treatment. In addition, there are women who cannot take hormonal treatment due to underlying diseases From studies that have been carried out, we know that only about 10 percent of women take hormonal treatment during menopause.
"Until recently, the non-hormonal treatment options for the syndrome included natural treatments such as yoga, avoiding caffeine, alcohol, wearing comfortable and breathable clothes and introducing sports activities into the routine of life.
In addition, we treated the FDA-approved antidepressants that have significant side effects.
There is also a herbal medicine called Simidone - but it is less effective than the estrogen treatment."
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"The drug manages to reduce the symptoms by about 50 percent and the side effects are tolerable, so this is a real revolution in the treatment of this syndrome"/Giphy
About eight months ago, a new drug for the treatment of hot flashes was approved by the FDA.
This is actually the first drug in the world for the treatment of hot flashes and sweating during menopause that does not contain hormones.
The drug is marketed in the United States and Europe and is currently undergoing registration procedures in Israel in preparation for its upcoming marketing here.
The new Veozah treatment involves taking one 45-milligram pill once a day, with or without food.
The pill must be taken at the same time every day.
If a dose is forgotten, the patient should take it as soon as possible and return to the regular schedule the next day.
The effectiveness of the drug for the treatment of moderate to severe hot flashes was tested in two clinical trials that included 3,000 women with an average age of 54 years from the USA and Canada. The drug significantly reduced the number of hot flash episodes in them compared to a control group that received a placebo drug, which does not contain an active substance. The researchers monitored after the women treated for a year. The most common side effects included abdominal pain, diarrhea, insomnia, back pain, hot flashes and an increase in liver enzymes.
"The drug contains a molecule that blocks the action of neurokinin on the thermoregulatory center in the brain and restores the balance even in the absence of estrogen, As happens during menopause," adds Prof. Feld. "Restoring the balance prevents hot flashes, night sweats and sleep problems.
"According to studies done on the new drug, this is real news for women who do not want or cannot be treated with estrogen. The drug manages to reduce the symptoms by about 50 percent and the side effects are tolerable, so this is a real revolution in the treatment of this syndrome."
More on the same topic:
Menopause
heat waves