USA Today reports that “when … things don’t work, and when women are miserable (not everyone is), most doctors will offer a prescription” and “the first choice – except for women with a history of breast cancer or other health conflicts – is still hormone therapy (estrogen, often combined with progestin).”
According to Michelle Warren, medical director of the women’s health center at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, estrogen “reduces hot flashes by about 90% and ‘it’s actually very safe, but that’s not getting across to the public.'”
In a review published recently in the journal Climacteric by the International Menopause Society, the Times notes that “the report is bluntly dismissive of non-prescription remedies, saying: ‘Substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health and other non-pharmaceutical sources has failed to show any benefit of over-the-counter therapies compared to placebo for (hot flashes), and the safety of these compounds is not confirmed.'”