Complementary and integrative medicine approach for climacteric disorders

Abstract

Introduction

Menopausal symptom clusters of vasomotor symptoms (VMS), sleep and mood symptoms may last for years and might lead to an increased risk of depression.

While hormone replacement therapy is still the most effective therapy for reducing VMS, which are the most prominent symptoms of menopause, the majority of women prefer to choose nonhormonal therapies, either because of medical contraindications or personal beliefs and turn to complementary and integrative medicine (CIM).

The objective of this presentation is to review the evidence on nonpharmacologic, nonherbal management treatments of CIM in climacteric disorders.

Methods

A systematic review of PubMed database was performed using the key-words: acupuncture, hypnosis, yoga, massage, homeopathy and menopause.

Results

The research of CIM modalities is evolving. The 2015 position statement of the North American menopause society (NAMS) recommended the use of CBT and hypnosis for the management of VMS. The most recent studies on the effect of acupuncture on VMS however yielded conflicting results: while NAMS concluded that acupuncture is not recommended for managing VMS, later studies produced a positive evidence both for managing of VMS and menopause-related sleep disturbances by this therapeutically modality. There is also some evidence that acupuncture, massage and yoga may alleviate symptoms of depression and that individualized homeopathic treatment may be more effective than placebo for depression in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that acupuncture, hypnosis, yoga, massage and homeopathy may be adopted as a part of multimodal approach in treatment of climacteric disorders.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.