answer:I have found this varies greatly from woman to woman. The sweats are usually combatted pretty well by hormones from what my friends and family say, but also many people I know who use hormones for hot flashes and night sweats when they try to come off the drugs they go right back to the symptoms and discomfort, even many many years later. While I have other friends who suffer through for a year or two, no medicine, and then eventually the symptoms stop. I can’t figure out if the hormone replacement makes things worse in the long term, or if those women would have had trouble no matter what. Then I know many many women who fly through menopause without barely a negative, they just eventually stop having their periods. I would tell all women to get their thyroid checked while in menopause, especiallly if they are very symptomatic. I think the last stat I saw was 25% of women of the age of 45 have thyroid issues. Some of the same symtpoms attributed to menopause are also attributed to thyroid problems. They used to say eating soy helps, because it gves the body estrogen. Some women claim it helps, but the studies that have been done that I have read showed it doesn’t help.