I was taking Premarin when I was put on Tegretol. I started having hot flashes like there was no tomorrow. I found out that Tegretol is matabolized through your liver as are hormones, so the Tegretol eats up the hormones.

My GYN took me off Premarin and told me to take over-the-counter meds like Estrovin (these contain natural ingredients) I am still having the hot flashes though not as many.

Is anyone else having this problem? If so, what has worked for you in stopping hot flashes?

I took Tegretol for many years but never equated it to being directly related to my hot flashes. I did go through menopause earlier than I probably would have without the epilepsy and AEDs. We tend to go through menopause earlier or can. Most meds are metabolized via the liver, but that doesn't mean that they all have an effect on each other automatically. I have never heard of nor read anything like that, and I do not understand the mechanism of a process like that. Some meds do negatively affect others but not all and not because they all were metabolized by the liver. That's news to me if so. Back to our question re hormones. I do know that Estrogen lowers the seizure threshold and makes us more vulnerable to having a seizure. Progesterone does the opposite. I asked my Gyn to prescribe my hormones separately. I asked for the lowest dose of estrogen and the lowest Progesterone that would do the job and hopefully lessen the chances of having a seizure due to the estrogen. You may try that, but I didn't stay on HRT a long time and am glad I didn't due to the effect they seem to have on the development of breast cancer. I decided that the increased seizure activity and risk of HRT weren't worth it and stopped taking them. Phoebe

Thank you for responding. It was my doctor that told me about the Tegretol and Premarin. Since I am not on HRT anymore, I will have to stay with the over-the-counter menopause meds.