Medical Treatment for Perimenopause Symptoms:

Low Dose Contraceptives – These help control irregular bleeding, vaginal dryness and help reduce hot flashes.
Progestin Treatment – For women who can’t take oral contraceptives, this can help with bleeding problems.

Endometrial Ablation – This is when the uterus lining is broken down with a laser to help control heavy bleeding. Generally this is only used in the most severe cases.

Natural Treatment

Exercise – This helps preserve bone density, reduce stress, and helps you sleep better

Sleep – Without proper sleep, you will suffer more irritability and fatigue.

Reduce Stress – Stress is a killer, both literally and figuratively. Continued stress can cause additional health problems such heart attacks and high blood pressure but for women with perimenopause symptoms, stress will just make all your symptoms worse.

Eat a Balanced Diet – Since this is the age when the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease increases, it is important to get enough calcium and fiber in your diet.

Reduce alcohol and caffeine – These can cause hot flashes.

As with most medical conditions, everyone will have varying degrees of severity in their perimenopause symptoms. After consulting with a doctor, you will be able to determine what is the best course of action to take, but if you are willing to make some small changes in your lifestyle, such as eating better, doing yoga, exercising and getting a full 8 hours of sleep you can reduce the possibility of having very severe symptoms.

Photo is used courtesy of flickr creative commons and is the work of adria richards