August 16, 2016 -Hot Flash Duration

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Anchor lead: New data on hot flashes point to a greater duration of menopause, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Some women with hot flashes during menopause experience 7 or more per day, with profuse sweating, sleep disruption, and profound fatigue.  That’s according to a recent study that categorized women based on number of hot flashes, and also revealed that women can experience them for many more years than previously thought.  Wen Shen, a menopause medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Shen: We used to say that the menopause duration was on average four or five years but now we’re moving it to more five or ten years and realistically, in my clinical practice that is what I’m seeing. There are very few women who are ready to come off their hormone therapy at five years.  Usually they start experiencing severe symptoms and have to go right back on it again.  :29

Shen says if women aren’t able to take hormone therapy there are other options.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.