28/10/2025
Many women suffer from hormone fluctuations during menopause, with varying levels of severity, and whether that is hot flushes or night sweats.
What if women can’t take HRT to treat my hot flushes, or don’t want to?
One of the options your doctor may suggest, is that you try one of a number of medications that are really targeted at other conditions, but which we know may reduce hot flushes as a side effect.
Don’t feel that your GP is fobbing you off by suggesting one of these – there is good evidence that they work!
These include:
💊 Clonidine, a blood pressure medication, is effective at reducing hot flushes by around 50%. Unfortunately, however, side effects - most notably sleep disturbance - often mean it isn’t tolerated.
💊 SSRIs (eg paroxetine, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram and escitalopram) and SNRIs(eg Venlafaxine) are groups of drugs that are licensed to be used as antidepressants, but which can be around 50-60% effective in reducing hot flushes.
(Please note that fluoxetine and paroxetine may inhibit tamoxifen so should not be used together)
💊 Pain medications such as Pregabalin & Gabapentin, can moderate vasomotor symptoms by about 50-60% but may come with unwanted side effects such as brain fog and sedation.
💊 Oxybutynin, a medication used for an overactive bladder can reduce hot flushes by up to 70% and is normally well tolerated but can come with side effects in the form of headaches, dry mouth and dry eyes. It isn’t a good choice for older women as it can cause episodes of confusion in this group.
The British Menopause Society has a useful factsheet outlining non-hormonal treatments for menopause symptoms – copy and paste the link below into your browser:
https://thebms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/04-BMS-ConsensusStatement-Non-hormonal-based-treatments-SEPT2024-A.p
There is more information on both HRT & non-HRT treatments for hot flushes in our blog post - follow the link in bio 👆🏼, or find a link to the post on the home page of our website.
