Non-Hormonal Oral Therapy

Non-hormonal oral medication are prescribed medicines that don’t contain hormones. They can improve aspects of peri/menopausal symptoms for some women. They can be particularly useful when MHT is contraindicated, or when a hormonal option isn’t wanted. They tend not to be as effective as MHT, especially for treating multiple symptoms, but they still have a role to play and can still be effective in some women.

The most commonly prescribed non-hormonal medicines include medications such as  selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs),  gabapentinoids and oxybutynin. These medications are licenced for other conditions but were noticed to improve hot flushes and night sweats in some women, likely due to a mechanism of action in the thermoregulatory centre in the brain which regulates body temperature.