Low dose oestrogen can help hot flashes

Low dose oestrogen patches can ease hot flashes in women going through menopause.There has been an ongoing debate on the efficacy of hormone therapy in treating menopausal symptoms in women. Many people believe that oestrogen supplements can help in relieving menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes whereas others hold that such supplements can lead to serious side effects. Symptoms of menopause include osteoporosis, abnormal vaginal bleeding, mood swings and hot flashes. It is said that the lowest dose of oestrogen in a patch - 0.014 milligrams per day - is effective for easing menopausal hot flashes.To test the efficacy of low dose oestrogen in easing symptoms of menopause, researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey studied 425 healthy postmenopausal women with moderate to severe hot flashes. These women were given patches containing micro-dose oestrogen (0.014 mg per day) or low-dose oestrogen (0.023 mg per day), or placebo. The results showed that the micro-dose oestrogen patches could prove helpful to women going through menopause. After 12 weeks, the severity of hot flashes was significantly reduced in both active treatment groups as compared to the placebo group. At that point, over 41 percent of the women receiving micro-dose oestrogen were experiencing at least 75 fewer hot flashes daily, while this was the case for only 24 percent of the women given placebo patches. There were no differences in adverse events among women on active treatment compared with placebo. Thus, the micro dose oestrogen patch can prove valuable for many women initiating menopausal hormone therapy, combining effective symptom relief with minimal side effects and maximum patient acceptance.