Think that’s a big market? You bet it is! Up to 80 percent of all women battle hot flashes during menopause, making a would-be treatment a billion-dollar dream for the drug industry.

But for women, that dream is more like a nightmare as they play guinea pig. Instead of being given safe, natural, and proven treatments for their hot flashes, they’re given unproven antidepressants, risky anti-seizure drugs, and even blood pressure meds… and almost all of them are being used off-label.

It’s a massive public health experiment that’s hurt far more women that it’s ever helped.

But you don’t need to swallow those pills, or face side effects, to get some relief, because the latest research points to a pair of easy, drug-free solutions: ordinary group therapy and self-help.

Researchers recruited 140 women who reported hot flashes and night sweats at least 10 times a week and assigned them to either group therapy, self-help, or no treatment at all.

The groups met four times a month, while those who got self-help had one meeting and a phone call with a shrink, but after that relied on a book and CD.

Six weeks later, 73 percent of the women who got self-help reported meaningful improvements, compared to 65 percent of those in group therapy, and 21 percent of those who got no treatment at all.

And six months later, those improvements held.

Of course, therapy didn’t quite work for everyone. But therapy isn’t your only option here, either, because there are other proven natural ways to get safe drug-free relief from the worst symptoms of menopause.

One recent study found that aerobic exercise can slash the number of hot flashes — and a recent follow-up finds that getting sweaty four days a week can beat the other signs of “the change” as well, including night sweats, mood swings, irritability, and more.

Other safe options backed by science include acupuncture — which beat sham acupuncture in one study on hot flashes — as well as a combination of St. John’s wort and black cohosh. And, of course, many women get through menopause with the help of custom-made bio-identical hormones.

An experienced naturopathic physician can help find which option is best for you.

Feel free to visit the drugstore — but don’t head for the pharmacy, and don’t fill that prescription.

Make a beeline for the supplements aisle instead, and reach for an inexpensive remedy that’s been used for centuries by men and women alike to help ease anxiety and get better rest.

It’s valerian root — and a new clinical trial finds that it can help beat the sleep problems that often accompany menopause.

Iranian researchers randomly assigned 100 women to either 530 milligrams of valerian root twice a day, or a placebo, for a month and found that 30 percent of the women who got the supplement had better sleep.

Thirty percent may not sound impressive — but it’s a dramatic improvement compared to the 4 percent of women on the placebo who reported relief.

What’s more, the women who took the supplement reported no side effects — unlike the sleep meds that can not only leave you groggy in the morning, but can also cause addiction as well as bizarre and often dangerous behavior.

If valerian doesn’t work for you, there’s still no reason to fill that prescription: Other studies have found that yoga, tai chi, acupressure, and cognitive behavioral therapy can all help men and women alike overcome sleep problems.

In some cases, you may need to experiment a little until you find a natural treatment that works best for you. In others, you may need to combine two or more.

For more tips on how to get better sleep – whether you’re a man or woman of any age – explore the Web site of the Health Sciences Institute. Enter “sleep” into the “find a cure” box and then find a comfortable spot to finally get the rest you need.

The chemicals are perfluorocarbons, or PFCs, known endocrine disruptors that can throw your hormones out of whack. You’ll find them in many of the products that claim to be waterproof, wrinkle-free, stain resistant, and non-stick.

And now, researchers say women with the highest levels of this stuff are far more likely to experience early menopause than women with the lowest.

Researchers tracked 26,000 women participating in the C8 Health Project, funded by Dupont as part of a settlement of a lawsuit over contaminated drinking water near one of the company’s plants in West Virginia.

The researchers found that women between the ages of 42 and 64 with the highest levels of one PFC in particular, PFOS, had the highest risk of an early menopause.

They also found that women between the ages of 42 and 51 years old with the highest levels of PFOS were 40 percent more likely to have experienced menopause than women in the same age group with the lowest levels, according to the study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The researchers say that’s because PFOS can lower levels of estradiol, which is a form of estrogen. And when estrogen levels fall, menopause can’t be far behind.

It’s something every woman goes through eventually… but women who experience early menopause face a higher risk later of heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis, cataracts and even gum disease… not to mention emotional stress and inner turmoil when they realize “the change” has come early.

But let’s get back to those chemicals, because PFOS isn’t the only PFC you need to watch out for.

They’re all bad news – for men, women and children alike.

PFCs have been link to immune system damage, cancer, hypothyroidism, birth defects, sexual problems and more.

And we’re all exposed to this stuff nearly every single day. In some places, they’re even in the air and water.

Unless you seal yourself in a bubble, you might not be able to completely stop all PFC exposure… and even then, the bubble itself might contain PFCs.

You just can’t win!

But you can take steps to protect yourself and your family by removing the riskiest products from your home. Environmental Working Group has a list of common items that contain PFCs, which you’ll find here.

It’s spring cleaning time anyway – make it a thorough one this year.

Non-bioidentical hormones are often given to women to help manage the symptoms of menopause and prevent osteoporosis, but I’ve found them to be as unpredictable and dangerous as a hungry coyote.

Researchers in Amsterdam recently began a study on tibolone, a hormone not available in the United States but widely used around the world. But we’ll never know what the full results of this study would have been. They had to pull the plug on the research early when they realized just how dangerous it was.

The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, included thousands of women who had survived breast cancer. But for them, the fight wasn’t over yet – thanks to tibolone.

As the study progressed, the researchers began to notice an alarming trend among these women: a higher risk of a breast cancer recurrence. Not a little bit higher, but a whopping 40 percent higher than the placebo group.

It’s not just a significant number — it’s a shocking one. I’ve always said the biggest problems with these things aren’t just what we know they’ll do – but what we still don’t know about them. And this latest research bears me out.

You see, non-bioidentical hormones are not shaped like regular hormones, so they don’t attach properly to your genes. Shape is important because once these types of hormones bind to your genes, the consequent vibration delivers the message. However, hormones that have an altered shaped cannot cause the proper vibration. That changes the messages your genes are sending to the rest of your body. And that can lead to these wild, unpredictable, and frightening results. What will we learn next about non-bioidentical hormones? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it
won’t come as good news to the millions of women who rely on them. And while tibolone isn’t prescribed in the United States, I believe some of the dangers and unpredictability of this product are shared by other non-bioidentical hormones that are commonly used here.

But there’s no reason to even fool with these, because there’s a readily available alternative. They’re called bioidentical hormones, and even folks like Oprah Winfrey have turned to them for help dealing with menopause. These safer, more effective and more natural hormones are, as the name suggests, identical to the ones already in your body. Not only that, but they can be custom-tailored to meet your body’s specific needs.

Sounds good, right? Not to Big Pharma. See, here’s the dirty secret about hormone therapy: the only reason that synthetic hormones exist is because the drug companies can’t patent the bioidenticals. It’s not allowed, because you can’t patent something that’s identical to what’s already in your body. That would be like trying to patent a nose or a toe.

So they had to make up their own kinds of hormones, different hormones, in order to make more money off them. Once again, their interests lie not in the best solutions – just the most profitable ones.

But you don’t have to fall for that old trick. And you don’t have to be a TV star to take advantage of bioidentical hormones. You just need to take a look at the May issue of Health Revelations, where I’ll have all the details for you. If you’re undergoing hormone replacement therapy (or considering it for the future), be sure to give that a read before your next trip to the doctor’s office.