Anyone ever heard of post-op hot flashes?

Nrdsb4
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:10:18 +0000

I had neck fusion surgery about a month ago. From day one post-op, I have been having hot flashes which are making me absolutely miserable. Within minutes of them subsiding, I get freezing cold, covered with goosebumps, and have to retreat beneath a blanket. As soon as I warm up just a bit, here comes another hot flash. I haven’t really slept well the past two weeks. When I was on pain medicine and muscle relaxers, they sedated me enough to get at least a bit of sleep, but now that I am off all the meds, I just toss and turn all night long.

I was not having hot flashes before my surgery. I am certainly of the age where it would not be inconceivable to begin having peri-menopausal symptoms, but I thought it was just such a coincidence that these began immediately post-op. I am a nurse and have never heard of this happening. I googled it and have found some anecdotes of this in both men and women after they have had various major surgeries, but the only hits on it I got were personal stories on various health message forums, nothing in the medical literature.
Have any of you heard of this happening? I was going to ask my surgeon about it at my follow up, but unfortunately, I neglected to write down my questions and forgot.

Anyway, I now just want to find a great portable fan that can help me get through these hot flashes as my husband says coming home to a house with the AC on in December is driving him crazy.

Can any of you recommend a great, small fan which can be used for this purpose? I googled it, and you just get thousands of hits. It reminds me of trying to buy a mattress.