Patient Education
Reframing menopausal symptoms as natural changes that signal a new stage of a women's life, may, for many women, make those symptoms easier to tolerate. At least one study has shown that understanding the physiological basis for menopause has significantly decreased the discomfort that women associate with menopausal symptoms (Hunter 1999).
More recently the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to reduce the impact of hot flashes and night sweats (Ayers 2012, Mann 2012) and that this effect is mostly obtained through changing a patients beliefs about their control over hot flashes/night sweats and their beliefs about night sweats and sleep (Norton 2014)
Be sure to include the following types of information when communicating with your patients:
What symptoms they can expect. Also explain that some women do not experience any symptoms.
How symptomatology varies across cultures and ethnic groups.
An explanation of the association between menopausal symptoms and other medical conditions (depression, diabetes, heart disease, others).
The fact that effective, non-pharmacological interventions exist and have been used effectively by millions of women.
Instructions on regulating core body temperature and dealing with vaginal dryness as described in the following sections of this unit.