If you are in your forties and don’t know what on earth is happening to you, why do you feel crazy, and why you wake up in sweats frequently, you are likely going through perimenopause. Your doctor MIGHT prescribe medication depending on your health condition. However, you can resort to natural remedies and herbal teas to control the random mood swings and hot flashes.
What is the difference between perimenopause and menopause?
Many women can’t tell the difference between menopause and perimenopause. I didn’t know either until my doctor declared that a woman enters menopause after the natural absence of a menstrual cycle for 12 consecutive months.
Perimenopause is the period before menopause, and it comes with common symptoms like hot flashes and mood changes. Other symptoms include vaginal dryness, weight gain, and hair loss. And most women begin to experience these signs in their 40s, sometimes earlier.
Perimenopause is when many women don’t even know what is happening to them. They question their feelings and can’t understand why they are sweating at night. So many of my friends have confided in me since I started writing about menopause. They genuinely felt like they were losing their marbles, didn’t feel themselves, and were perplexed about “night sweats.”
To give you an example, last month, I got together with a friend/colleague for brunch. After two years of social distancing, we were both excited to connect in person again and conduct good old lunch conversations. We had so much to catch up on and couldn’t wait to exchange stories and updates. I was describing how our pet (Romeo) passed away on Christmas. Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears, and she started bawling. I felt terrible and stopped talking. I’ve never seen her in tears before. She wiped her eyes and said, “I don’t know what’s going on with me. Maybe it’s hormonal. Maybe it’s menopause”!
Whenever a friend reaches out regarding this topic, they fuel me with inspiration and desire to seek solutions for perimenopause and menopause. For that reason, I picked one of the most critical questions women ask: How to naturally reduce symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats?
Seven herbal teas for menopause relief
Black cohosh root tea
The number one natural treatment for hot flashes during perimenopause and menopause is Black cohosh root. Many women swear that it’s the best option to reduce hot flashes. You can take it in pill form or as tea, but you can’t consume it if you take treatment for blood pressure and liver problems.
Ginseng tea
Drinking ginseng can also relieve different menopause symptoms. For example, a study showed ginseng could reduce the frequency and severity of night swears and hot flashes in menopausal women. You can drink ginseng tea every day to experience the benefits.
Word of caution: experts recommend against taking it as an herb since it may interact with heart, blood pressure, diabetes, and blood-thinning medications. As well it can cause side effects like headaches and agitation.
Chasteberry tea
Chasteberry tea can ease symptoms of menopause like bloating, headache, irritability, depression, breast pain, and hot flashes. In addition, this herb helps increase progesterone to maintain a balance with estrogen during perimenopause.
On the other hand, if you take birth control, hormone replacement pills, or antipsychotic meds, you shouldn’t take chasteberry. As well, avoid it if you’ve had hormone-sensitive diseases, such as breast cancer or have Parkinson’s disease.
Red clover tea
Red clover tea is generally considered safe and can treat hot flashes and night sweats during menopause. As well, red clover tea possesses phytoestrogens, a plant-based form of estrogen, which helps improve the hormonal imbalances induced by menopause.
Dong quai tea
This tea can ease pelvic pain some women experience in menopause. According to this study, Dong quai tea can improve and regulate estrogen levels for those going into menopause, and when combined with chamomile, it could reduce hot flashes by 96 percent.
It’s important to note that you can become more sensitive to the sun if you have fair skin. In addition, experts advise avoiding this tea if you anticipate surgery as it will interfere with blood clotting.
Valerian root tea
Besides using Valerian root to treat insomnia, you can drink Valerian tea at bedtime to reduce hot flashes and treat joint pain. Before taking it as an herb, please talk with your doctor and avoid mixing it with alcohol.
Licorice tea
To lessen the frequency of hot flashes, drink licorice tea. It can effectively lower overall stress, which is also common during midlife. However, licorice can have unfavorable outcomes if mixed with certain prescription medications like any other supplement or herb.
Are there risks in drinking these herbal teas?
Herbs are nature’s gift, but some have unfavorable effects on medications. Yet, they are a good choice to relieve symptoms when consumed in moderation; make sure to consult with your doctor first.
How to drink herbal teas?
Opt for organic and caffeine-free herbal teas if you prefer to drink tea to reduce perimenopause and menopause symptoms. You should also avoid consuming hot teas at night because they can increase the frequency of hot flashes and night sweats. Instead, you can brew the tea ahead of time and drink it cold.
Do I need to consult with a physician before taking herbal teas?
The best advice I can give you is to be brave and speak with your doctor about your symptoms. You might be embarrassed to discuss them at first, or you might brush them off. But, based on my experience, talking with my doctor was the best thing I did to understand my options better.
Your doctor can recommend the best treatment plan based on the severity of your symptoms. Some doctors may recommend HTR in the form of pills, patches, gels, or spray to help balance your levels. If you are not comfortable with HTR, ask your doctor about these herbal teas or suggest other natural remedies.
