Your healthcare provider may consider other prescription treatments for some of your menopausal symptoms, depending on your situation and needs.

For example, antidepressants, anticonvulsants or antihypertensives (blood pressure drugs) can be useful to manage menopausal symptoms for some people. Whilst most of these treatments aren’t intended for treating menopause symptoms, there is evidence to support their use for specific symptoms.

Some antidepressants, particularly SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and SNRIs (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors), can help to reduce hot flushes. For example, the SSRI venlafaxine is the preferred option for women taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as tamoxifen (a breast cancer drug), where it can reduce hot flushes and also improve fatigue, mental health and sleep disturbance.

SSRIs may take six to eight weeks to have the full effects; however improvement is often seen within one to three weeks, but some women experience side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, fatigue and changes in sexual function, that mean they stop taking the treatment.

Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant that was originally used to treat epilepsy, and clonidine is a blood pressure drug. Both have been found to help with hot flushes too.

Gabapentin is started at a low dose and increased gradually to monitor for side effects. Clonidine is also started at a lower dose, as at higher doses it sometimes disrupts sleep.

These prescription treatments may be worth discussing if other treatment options aren’t able to provide relief.