Hormone changes can affect allergies – and vice versa. Sometimes hay fever or eczema or hives suddenly disappear when menstrual periods dwindle. Or, more rarely, allergies first appear at the time. Or unsuspected exposure to foods or airborne allergens aggravate the sweetening and warm flushes that make menopause so trying for millions of women.

Menopausal sweating and flushing are routinely blamed on the drop in ovary activity that occurs naturally between age 45 and 53 (give or take a few years). And for many women, that’s the sole cause. But William H. Philpott, M.D., a psychiatrist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, feels that those symptoms won’t disappear until any foods or chemicals to which the woman is allergic are avoided.

Dr. Philpott thinks that allergic reactions can suppress estrogen production, particularly in menopausal women. In fact, Dr. Philpott recommends that a doctor investigate and treat any allergies before prescribing estrogen replacement. Because Depression and Anxiety are often incorrectly dealt with as an expression of menopause rather than being treated in their own right, menopausal women may want to read the entries on those topics.