A pill used for nerve pain offers women relief from hot flashes, Mayo Clinic researchers report at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
They say the agent, pregabalin, decreased hot flash severity and frequency about 20 percent more than did a placebo agent. Thus, pregabalin appears to offer about the same benefit as gabapentin, an older, related drug, as well as newer classes of antidepressants.
“Hot flashes are a major problem in many women, and for those who opt not to take hormonal therapies or antidepressants, pregabalin appears to be another treatment option,” says the study’s lead author, Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
While pregabalin offers about the same benefit as gabapentin, women who use it only need to take two pills a day, versus three for gabapentin, he says. Side effects can occur with the use of either drug. However, in this study, they were not severe enough that participants stopped using the active study drug any more often than did patients who were taking placebos, researchers say.
Dr. Loprinzi has pioneered the field of nonhormonal hot flash therapy, which he began researching decades ago to help breast cancer patients using tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen treatment that creates symptoms of menopause. He is the first researcher to test the use of antidepressants, compared to placebo treatment, for hot flashes.
Below is a link to an edited youtube video with Dr. Loprinzi.
In a few months, I will be 70 years of age. I took PremPro for hot flashes. About 8-9 years ago, my doctor told me she was taking me off them due to risk factors. She prescribed Efforex, which did help with their severity. But then my insurance company decided not to cover them and I could not afford to buy them on my own. Other antidepressants made me sick to my stomach so I have suffered for several years with the hot flashes that happen around the clock. I am on medication for hypothrodism and wonder if there is some connection here. My Mom had an aneurysm and cirulatory problems and several years later died of sudden massive heart attacks without ever being diagnosed with heart disease. My Dad had a pace maker for many years due to an irregular heart beat. I have to assume he died from a heart attack because I came home one morning to find him dead. I have had several EKGs over the years as well as stress tests and even a couple echocardiograms (having had bouts of shortness of breath and pain that starts in the middle of my chest and shoots like a knife into my spine and lasts 15 to 30 minutes) None of these tests have revealed any heart disease. However, I am wondering if it is possible to have some blockage. I had a friend that broke out in a severe sweat. These same tests on him revealed nothing wrong. Yet his wife insisted they do a cath. Shortly thereafter he was in the operating room having triple by-pass surgery. I am wondering if other women have my problem and have any been able to find some relief or had the hot flashes related to some other problems. I welcome any response if you have encountered this misery that seems to continue into my older age.