Hot flashes have a major impact on women. Learn how a single injection of a local anesthetic offers another solution to medication.
How do you lower hot flashes if you don’t want to take medication? Approximately 80% of women have hot flashes and many prefer not to take medications, and due to breast cancer and other medical conditions, some women cannot take them.
Now, a totally non-medicine approach in the journal Menopause in August 2014 has been developed to stop hot flashes. It involves using a local anesthesia to block a nerve called the stellate ganglion, which is located in the neck. The doctor uses fluoroscopy to see the tip of the needle and be sure the anesthesia in injected in the correct place.
Women experienced lower hot flashes in frequency and intensity
Forty menopausal women with at least 28 moderate to severe hot flashes per week were studied. Half got an injection of saline (placebo group) and Nerve Block Cools Hot Flashes for 6 Months the other half got an injection of local anesthetic. The treated group had a 54% greater reduction in the frequency of hot flashes compared with the placebo group (4%) and a reduction in intensity of the hot flashes. The women receiving the local anesthesia also reported feeling less depress after the treatment. The benefits lasted the entire 6 months of the study. There were no serious complications and serious complications in general are rare for this procedure.
This treatment won’t be for everyone, but if you are a woman diagnosed with breast cancer or other medical reason not to take estrogen, or just prefer not to take it, stellate ganglion block it is one more effective option you can consider.
What do you think about this type of treatment? Write to info@MyMenopauseMagazine.com and let us know.
