Menopause Part I: Diagnosis and Non-Hormonal Therapies

Today’s episode features Dr. Renee Eger! Dr. Eger is an Assistant Professor at the Warren Alpert Brown University SOM, and is a North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Certified Menopause Practitioner. She is talking with us this week and next about menopause.

The ACOG PB 141 on Management of Menopausal Symptoms is an excellent resource for all therapies in use for menopausal symptoms. We’ll cover some additional resources for hormonal therapy on next week’s episode. The high yield points for today include:

-Menopause is the cessation of menses for 1 year. The average age of onset in the US is 51.
-Lifestyle modifications are first-line therapy for both vasomotor symptoms of menopause (VMS) and genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GUSM), formerly known as vulvovaginal atrophy.
-Paroxetine 7.5mg daily (Paxil) is the only FDA-approved non-hormonal pharmacologic treatment for VMS.