Fact or fiction? Non-hormone medications can relieve hot flashes.
Menopause fact: "A woman shouldn't assume that the only available treatment is estrogen, or that her doctor is just going to write a prescription for hormones before she's finished describing her symptoms," Dr. Santoro says.

Several nonhormonal prescription drugs can be prescribed for hot flashes and sleep problems on an "off-label" basis (when they're prescribed for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration).

These include antidepressants such as venlafaxine (Effexor), fluoxetine (Prozac) and paroxetine (Paxil) and the blood-pressure medication clonidine (Catapres). Gabapentin, an anti-seizure medication that can cause drowsiness, may help improve sleep while decreasing hot flashes, according to a 2013 research review published in the International Journal of General Medicine.

Fact or fiction? Alternative medicine can help hot flashes.
Menopause fact: Some alternative treatments may help, but the jury's still out.

Acupuncture as well as deep, slow breathing and other stress-reduction techniques may provide relief, Dr. Chervenak says.

In fact, acupuncture was found to be as effective as an antidepressant in relieving hot flashes, with longer-lasting benefits, according to a 2009 study of 50 breast cancer patients at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Patients were randomly assigned to drug or acupuncture treatment for 12 weeks, then all patients stopped their therapy.

As for common herbal supplements, such as black cohosh, dong quai, ginseng or red clover, researchers have found little evidence for their effectiveness, according to a 2009 report by the NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).

If you do try herbal remedies for hot flashes, tell your doctor, because some herbs may have dangerous interactions with prescription drugs. For example, dong quai can intensify the effects of the blood-thinning medication warfarin and cause bleeding complications.

Botanicals like red clover are phytoestrogens, meaning they contain estrogen-like compounds that may raise cancer risk in some women who have increased risk for breast, uterine or ovarian cancer or are taking cancer drugs like tamoxifen, according to NCCAM.

Another "natural" method is to avoid substances that trigger hot flashes, which may include spicy foods or alcohol.

"Keep a symptom diary on what precipitates and makes flashes better or worse," Dr. Chervenak suggests.

"For example, if you see that a glass of red wine brings on a flush, then choose white wine instead," she says.