Menopause Treatment
If your menopause symptoms bother you, talk to your gynaecologist or nurse. Your doctor or nurse can suggest medicines to help with your symptoms. All medicines have risks, and your doctor can help you figure out which medicines are best for you.
- Low-dose hormonal birth control may help if you are in the years leading up to your final period. These may help stop or reduce hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and mood swings. They can also help with heavy or irregular periods. You should not use hormonal birth control if you smoke. Hormonal birth control, especially combination birth control pills and possibly other forms of combination hormonal birth control like the vaginal ring or skin patch, can raise your risk for blood clots and high blood pressure, and the risk is higher for women who smoke.
- Menopausal hormone therapy helps treat menopause symptoms after menopause, but it can raise your risk for blood clots, stroke, and some cancers. Learn more about menopausal hormone therapy. If you decide to take menopausal hormone therapy, use the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time that helps your symptoms.
- Two non-hormonal medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may help treat certain menopause symptoms. One low-dose selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a type of medicine usually used to treat depression, is approved to treat hot flashes in women who do not already have mood or anxiety problems. A medicine that acts like estrogen in the body is approved for the treatment of painful sex caused by menopause. You can also talk to your doctor about other medicines approved by the FDA for depression and anxiety that may also help with menopause symptoms.
- A hormonal medicine, with the generic name prasterone, is approved by the FDA to treat women who experience pain during sex caused by vaginal dryness after menopause. The medicine is applied in the vagina once a day.
- Over-the-counter (OTC) products can treat vaginal discomfort, dryness, or pain. A water-based vaginal lubricant can help make sex more comfortable. A vaginal moisturizer can help keep needed moisture in vaginal tissues and make sex more comfortable.
- Certain prescription medicines may help with vaginal discomfort, dryness, or pain if OTC products don’t work. These include estrogen creams, tablets, or rings that you put in your vagina (see information on topical hormone therapy).
- Menopausal hormone therapy pill or patch may help if you have severe vaginal dryness.