For women- change of life

Parent Cafe
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<p>Well- my naturopath is out of town and Ive decided I can’t stand this ONE MORE DAY!
Ive been blaming getting overheated at night on my H, because he runs hot & on our foam mattress which absorbs and reflects all this body heat- but I think I am the biggest culprit.:o
I already sleep naked- I am hoping to get a mattress cover which could insulate from the foam- but those things will only help with sleep.</p>

<p>What can I do during the day? Put icepacks in my underwear? ( people live in Seattle because we don’t do well with heat- it makes us whinge)
I’ve already noticed that the smallish amount of alcohol I drink ( for medicinal purposes;)) seems to trigger flushes, but haven’t experimented to see if that is all alcohol or only scotch.
(& why does it cause that reaction?)</p>

<p>I had been drinking soy milk in my coffee, but after reading that it negatively affects people with low thyroid, I stopped. But then the hot flashes started.</p>

<p>We dont even have a full size refrigerator upstairs I can stand in front of ( but that is another thread)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1420133-help-fridge-choice-2.html#post15875233[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1420133-help-fridge-choice-2.html#post15875233&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Sorry you’re having this problem, emerald. I’m only having problems at night, but that’s with a regular mattress. I’m constantly throwing off the covers, getting cold, getting back under the covers, getting hot… After a couple of hours, I’ll head downstairs to the the coolness of the leather sofa. That usually does the trick.</p>

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<p>I carry a wee fan. And really mild baby wipes on the back of the neck do wonders. Put them in the fridge. I often go out with friends and we have wine. Sometimes three of us get hot flashes at same time. I have had them for oh eight years. Fewer now but at times it was ten an hour. I carry a fancy folding fan so I don’t have to use a coaster or menu when I go out.</p>

<p>I have gone the natural way. I have a puppy that loves to nap on my tummy, yeah that real
Y helps ;)</p>

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<p>I vaguely recall that alcohol affects the hypothalamus which in turn affects the body’s temperature regulation; sadly, it’s not just scotch that does this. When I went through surgically induced menopause my ice water consumption doubled. </p>

<p>Brookstone sells a bed fan that looks like a similar product I bought for a relative about five years ago. It goes at the foot of your bed and blows air between the top and bottom sheets. For her it provided great relief.</p>

<p>As for daytime, I do know women who wear (or wore) small ice packs tucked in various spots. There are companies that sell small contoured/curved ice packs for that purpose. What I did was to sew a half dozen little cotton flannel pouches to hold inexpensive freezer packs, then I laundered the flannel pouches daily. Some ice packs that look like a bunch of little pillows could be trimmed to fit. </p>

<p>I also kept several 3/4 full water bottles in my freezer to rotate during the day. It felt refreshing to roll one on the back of my neck or along my inner arms to cool down. Small table/desk top fans were a must, too, and coupled with the frozen water bottles they made life in the South tolerable. Personal misting fans were a help when I had to be outdoors.</p>

<p>My body powder use doubled or tripled during that time (talc, not cornstarch.) There’s a powder that combines talc and calamine powder that seems to last better than any other I’ve tried (type in “anti-monkey” at amazon or drugstore.com and you’ll find it.) I also revived a habit from my pre-central A/C days of dusting the bed sheets with baby powder. It didn’t help the temperature spikes but did make me feel more comfortable.</p>

<p>Maybe it’s just me, but I find wearing very light clothing to be actually cooler than going without. Vermont Country Store may still sell cotton batiste nightgowns. During the day, I preferred light cotton or well worn linen. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Been there! I also blamed my H. I finally got to the point that I went to my Dr and started on hormones. My D knew that if I was there I was in really bad shape. I am the person who has major surgery and won’t take pain meds beyond Advil or Aleve. It improved my quality of life. I know there are risks but I honestly felt like I was going crazy. I didn’t sweat but I got so hot that I could not sleep. It has been about 7 months and I feel so much better. I don’t know how long I will stay on hormone replacement but for now I feel like it is worth it.</p>

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<p>I do have a thing of baby powder from a trip to eastern washington.
I also suggested to H that I get a wading pool to set up in the backyard. i dont know how I will get out of it, but in case we have a hot summer, it might come in handy.
I have some light linen shirts but I think I will get a woven nightgown.</p>

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<p>Have you considered bio identical hormones? My doc says I may not even notice when I go through menopause.</p>

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<p>I am not dealing with overheating so much…occasionally wake up a little hot on my neck and chest , but that’s about it…I am concerned about my raging mood swings and ( sorry if TMI ) sex drive.
What are bio identical hormones busdriver11 ?</p>

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<p>Emeraldkitty, if you are hypothyroid, go to your endocrinologist and have your levels checked.Perhaps an adjustment of your medication will help. When I started taking my thyroid meds my hot flashes disappeared!
I realized that you said you have a naturopath…there are natural thyroid hormones as well. I tries those first, but my thyroid condition is a bit more complicated so they did not suffice. But for typical hypothyroidism, the natural thyroid replacement should work.</p>

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<p>lje, I can explain in a few hrs when I’m at my computer. Too painful to type it on my iPhone.</p>

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<p>Have all that. :frowning: Unfortunately I live in SE Texas and my husband is THE OTHER WAY. Wants to keep the house HOT. Ugh. I have a fan blowing on me constantly, and I whine a lot. :-/</p>

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<p>I’m not ‘there’ yet as per the recent hormone panel. But, I’m battling some symptoms. Mainly low energy and foggy brain. I have gone through weeks at a time where I just feel feverish…like I’m about to get a flu but it never progresses. I’ve noticed I’ll go through phases where even the smell of red wine give me a pounding headache…and then at other times 2 glasses in the evening are just wonderful</p>

<p>I’ve tried the memory foam toppers (from Costco) a couple of times, and took them back because they really made me sweat. We have a feather/down topper and then a wool topper over that. I know it sounds really counter intuitive but it is wonderful for temperature balance. They seem to breath. Also, I put these out into the sunshine on really hot days and let them ‘bake’ for the day. It seems to just draw out any ‘ickiness’. </p>

<p>I take 2 milk thistle/artichoke/tumeric complex tabs every evening. These support liver function and seem to regulate my system in general. I take a high quality liquid multi-vitamin twice a day (it’s so much easier and way way cheaper than all the individual pills I was taking) I’ll and add extra magnesium (CALM brand) before bed if I’m having trouble sleeping.</p>

<p>It seems to be a highly variable state of being…</p>

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<p>My doctor suggested 400 units of Vitamin E twice a day (with mixed tocopherols). It has really helped me. Recently I cut back to one a day hoping I was maybe done, and noticed that they came back almost immediately.</p>

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<p>How much exercise do you get?</p>

<p>When I used to have those issue (fortunately now a thing of the past), I notice that my hot flashes would come when I was sedentary (obviously the state you are in while asleep), but that when I got up and walked around on my way to whatever remedy I was pursuing - the hot flash would dissipate. I did some research online and discovered that there is evidence that women who exercise a lot tend to have less of a problem. I don’t know if it is a direct correlation or whether it is also connected to body weight --I’ll bet that women who exercise a lot probably also have less body fat than those who don’t. </p>

<p>In any case, “more exercise” is one of those home remedies that can’t hurt and is good for you in other ways, so something that might be worth exploring. It did seem to help me at the time.</p>

<p>The other self-remedy that really worked for me was simply frozen juice bars. I’d get up at night, go to the freezer, pull out a frozen juice pop, and by the time I had finished eating it I felt pretty cool. I don’t really know if it fixed the problem or not – you will definitely cool yourself down during a hot flash by eating something cold, and they are called “flashes” because they dissipate over time anyway – but that was basically what worked the best for me. Plus it was an easy & inexpensive fix to implement. (Of course, you also have to stand in front of the open freezer door while reaching for the pops).</p>

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<p>As far as the question about bio-identical hormones, basically it is hormone replacement therapy that is the same, at a molecular level, as is in your own body. No more horse urine therapy like the good old days.</p>

<p>I go to the Longevity Clinic in Kirkland, and emerald, if you ever listen to Dr. Mixon of the Longevity Clinic on Saturday, I think he’s on both 570AM and 770AM. He talks about what he does, and he is amazing. I listened to him for years before I went to a seminar.</p>

<p>At the clinic, what they do is measure eight different hormones in your body, and give you the amount you need if you were at your optimum (not normal range) level at the age of thirty (without bringing back your period, if you don’t get it anymore). Hormones play a huge role in so many things, from sleep to mood (particularly things like depression and anxiety), preventing heart attacks, weight gain, healthier hair and skin, mental acuity, and certainly the misery from menopause–which is more of a byproduct. Many people (particularly traditional doctors) don’t believe in it, but they are wrong, wrong, wrong. I went to a Longevity seminar, took a mega blood test and found all the things I was lacking in, and have been taking those hormones for the last two years. And I will never stop now that I’ve started. My sister was so depressed, she didn’t want to even leave the house. She had no energy, no joy for life, so tired and depressed. She had a massive boost from the bio-identicals, to the point that they helped her thyroid levels so much that they had to lower her dose of thyroid medication, just because her hormone levels were increased.</p>

<p>No matter what someone has heard about hormone therapy, here are some indisputable facts. The number one cause of death for women is from heart attacks. This is after menopause, commonly attributed to lower estrogen levels. Raise your estrogen levels, you lower your heart attack risk. But you have to measure all the hormone levels and compensate for them, not just estrogen, as it is safer and healthier. If for no other reason than that, I’d be looking at them.</p>

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<p>My doctor says to quit any caffeine as it triggers hot flashes!</p>

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<p>Calmom, Im going in for a complete knee replacement in two weeks & it really could have been done last year, so I don’t get as much exercise as I would like.
I do go to water aerobics 4x a week, but aside from that, not a lot of exercise.:(</p>

<p>Thats quite a testimony busdriver! I will definitely look into it.</p>

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<p>emerald, you should listen to my sister, now there’s a testimonial. She didn’t even want to leave the house to go to Walmart, she didn’t want people to look at her. Now she’s getting up at 5am every morning to work out for two hours with a trainer. Seriously! I didn’t have that sort of improvement, but apparently her levels were so low, when they were brought up, it was a huge leap.</p>

<p>Since you live in the area, it really is worth listening to Dr. Mixon for awhile, then if you like him, going to a free seminar and see what you think. I refuse to suffer the way most people do. I want to lose weight the easy way, my hair isn’t thinning anymore, I’m not mildly depressed all the time, I sleep through the night, I’m just not going downhill like I was anymore. It is such a cheat! I lost 8 pounds in the first few months, down to 124 without any lifestyle change, when it usually kills me to lose weight. But I admit, due to pure sloth, I did jump back up there a year later.</p>

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<p>First, I sympathize completely. Menopause was the worst 20 years of my life!!!</p>

<p>Second, there is a brand of pajamas called Hot Mama that are made from some kind of fabric that wicks the moisture away from your skin at night.</p>

<p>Stay strong.</p>

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<p>We got a new mattress from Costco with a foam padding built into it. I found it unbearably hot, but H was fine with it. After some experimenting, I put a 100% cotton quilt folded in half so it’s doubled, beach towel a regular mattress pad covered by a 100% cotton mattress pad under the bottom sheet allows me to enjoy sleeping on the bed now. You may not need the 5 layers I chose but it made a world of difference for me. </p>

<p>I’ve no experience with hot flashes, just hot when everyone around here is (which in HI is often). Keeping well hydrated, minimizing alcohol consumption and exercising are keys for me and those of us living in warm climates. I think drinking lots of soy milk in peri menopause may have helped temper any menopause symptoms. We switched to rice milk as we’ve read soy isn’t good for those with thyroid issues. I don’t drink caffeine, so have no personal info on how it’s consumption/abstinence affects anything.</p>