The antidepressant paroxetine is a good non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - estrogen plus progestin - is known to be helpful in reducing the hot flashes that are so common during the menopause. But HRT is linked with some worrying side effects, so there's been a search on for non-hormonal alternatives.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have been looking at a slow release form of the antidepressant paroxetine. They studied a group of 165 post-menopausal women, putting some on placebo and others on one of two doses of paroxetine for six weeks.

Those on 25 milligrams of paroxetine found it reduced hot flash frequency by about 65 per cent - or three flashes a day. The 12.5 milligram dose reduced them by about the same, while placebo only reduced hot flashes by 38 per cent, or about two flashes a day. Up to 30 per cent of women on paroxetine had no flashes at all by the sixth week of treatment. The researchers caution that use of paroxetine in the menopause remains experimental and the best dose is yet to be determined.

Source

Journal of the American Medical Association 4th June 2003