HOT Flashes!!! Do they continue for months or years? (not each one :) )

Parent Cafe
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<p>Regardless of the results of the NIH study in the early 2000’s, I have heard enough information that when the time comes for me (not there yet, but soon), I am going to do HRT in the form of the estrogen patch and whatever progesterone I need. The HRT pendulum is finally swinging back. I want strong bones and less belly fat in the these years! The breast cancer and heart attack risks were there in the NIH study, but mostly in those who started the estrogen therapy after being in menopause for 25+ years (the 70-79 age group). Re-introducing estrogen after a long absence is not good, however, having it shortly after menopause and continuing it produces many benefits (less weight gain, lower risk of type II diabetes, significantly fewer bone fractures).</p>

<p>and p.s.: HRT is specifically prescribed for night sweats and hot flashes, it helps with them immensely</p>

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<p>I knew I’d find y’all over here! Hmmm…maybe I need to rethink HRT. Guess I need to have my heart checked first. No breast cancer in the family, but lots of heart issues.</p>

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<p>When this thread started I was having occasional hot flashes which were tolerable. I also was using the Revival Soy products mstee mentioned upthread. In the intervening months they have gotten much worse, particularly during the night. In the summer I had the luxury of slipping into our pool when they hit; now I find myself stripping down to my bra multiple times a day. (Yes, I work at home.;)) I have taken to wearing tech running shirts whenever I am around the house; just looking at my usual winter turtlenecks makes me break out in a sweat. I’m going to order a wicking nightshirt if I can find one with long sleeves. I started taking black cohash (40 mg) about a week ago and that seems to be helping. I’d like to avoid HRT because of the high incidence of heart disease in my family. I had a dexiscan last year and my bones are in good shape though I have gained some weight.</p>

<p>I took part in a study called Cope Well with Physical Activity ([Women</a> between the ages of 40-60 needed for research study! ? Penn State University](<a href=“http://www.research.psu.edu/volunteer/41600]Women”>http://www.research.psu.edu/volunteer/41600)) that involved tracking activity with something like a fancy FitBit for three weeks and answering a lengthly survey each night. I found I felt more able to control all my symptoms on my harder workout days than on my easy days. I also learned that I wake up an average of 18 times a night. :(</p>

<p>I think most of my irritability comes from lack of sleep. Sometimes one hot flash causes me to wake up three times. First I wake up sweating, throw off the sheets, blankets and often my PJs. Then I wake up chilled and clammy and get back under the covers. Then the cat comes in and starts licking the salt off my sweaty face. (I am also tired of washing the sheets multiple times a week.)</p>

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<p>Mine started in my early 40s, periods got sparse then, too, and they tapered off in my late 50s. 61 now & still get one once in a blue moon. That sounds like a long time but the worst period was only for about a year or year & a half. </p>

<p>I found best thing to do for night was stick my feet our from under the blanket–!–yes–! – and also flip the blanket down from my neck & chest as soon as I felt one beginning. That cut it down a lot.</p>

<p>Also-- we keep the house cool in winter already; I used to wear wool sweaters all the time. Well, the year the HFs started up I switched to cardigans and zip-front sweatshirts. I could zip or button them more or less closed as needed. And I really did not need wool in winter for a couple years, except for socks. I <em>always</em> wear wool knee socks from Oct-Apr. The knee socks are not making you get HFs anyway. </p>

<p>I also wear all-cotton shirts–always have–tees & turtles. So I did not have a problem with synthetics making me feel too hot. Give cotton a try. </p>

<p>{My mother was ten years older than my MIL–my mother used to wear orlon turtlencks with short zippers in the back. When she got HFs, she would unzip the zipper & walk around like that.</p>

<p>Well, ten years later my MIL was walking around with an unzipped orlon turtleneck on, and I laughed! “I know what you are doing!!”}</p>

<p>My poor husband had to endure me turning the heat in the car off or way down-- I just could not take it. </p>

<p>On the bright side, your heat bill in the house will go way down, and your family will get in the habit of putting on sweaters! Haha</p>

<p>I did not go for HRT because I am a DES daughter & I had already been a guinea pig for hormones once. I do not go for soy anything because it mimics estrogen – why it helps you with the flashes – and exposure to more estrogen for more years than Nature intended is what gets you in trouble with breast cancer. Ask nuns; they consider BC to be an occupational disease. </p>

<p>Try to relax—it is just a passing thing and you will not be supporting Kotex any more! Best part of the whole thing–no more tampons, no more pads…Yay!</p>

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<p>“I found I felt more able to control all my symptoms on my harder workout days than on my easy days”

  • in connection to that, I am way beyond the age, it has been 12 years. I have never had hot flashes. I do not exercise very hard, everything is moderate / slow. However, I love certain activities and stick to them on a daily basis. I exercise about 2.5 hours every day, no exceptions, on vacation or whatever other condition, including bad weather. I slow swim (used to rollerblade, but I am aftraid to break my bones, so I stopped) for about 1.5 hrs or slightly under (about 1.5 miles) and I walk 2.5 - 5 miles depending if I go once or two times. I also used to do weights for about 15 min., but not lately, planning to go back to that at some time. I was told by somebody that I do not have hot flashes because of my exercise habits, I do not know if it is true. Another note, my height is exactly the same, I do not know if it is a sign of no osteoporosis or it is not a good indication. I have never had a bone density test, I will not take any drugs, so there is no point testing. I make sure that I am outside for at least 1+ hr every day. I do not take any drugs, only vitamins.
    I am not irritable person at all, but I sleep very few hours. 3 - 5 hours is a norm for me. I am totally fine with this amount. In fact if I happen to sleep longer, I most likely will have a headache. I work full time and have no plans to retire, will wait until I am kicked out.
    I believe that lifestyle should be considered very seriously, more seriously than drugs.
    I also read that too much soy is not that good for you. I do not consume it, but I am not too much into protein foods at all. I just eat what I like and sometime it is junk. My primary intake are fruits, tons of them, fresh, frozen, dried.</p>
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<p>If you are thinking of going the HRT route, look into the bio-identical estrogen. In the NIH study they used equine hormones (yes, from horses) and perhaps that might have had some bearing on the results that came out of that study. The bio-identicals are molecularly identical to what is produced by the female body and are plant derived.</p>

<p>It is a complicated area because there is no set dosage that will work for every woman. Blood testing is needed to determine your current hormone levels in order to prescribe a dosage that is appropriate. Dr. Elizabeth Vliet out of Arizona is the expert in the field of bio-identical hormones. Her book “Screaming To Be Heard” is an excellent resource for women entering menopause.</p>

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<p>^I’ve gotten a half inch TALLER! No idea why. I was consistently 5’-8 1/2" until about two years ago. When the nurse first told me I was 5’-9", I asked if she was rounding off, but she said no. Every nurse after her has said I’m 5’-9" on the dot. Maybe it’s the running I do!</p>

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<p>I drank a LOT of soy milk, starting when I turned 50 and have been fortunate to have virtually no particular symptoms from peri or menopause, other than spotting just when I thought I was done with peri menopause and blood tests validated I was no longer fertile. </p>

<p>I did have got flashes a bit when I was in my 20s and put on steroid Danocrine for 18 about months, a steroid to mimic menopause prior to having endometrial surgery, to shrink the affected areas as much as possible. I just drank a lot of cool beverages and stayed in air conditioning.</p>

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<p>“I’ve gotten a half inch TALLER! No idea why.”
-I am half inch taller in a morning than in afternoon. My D. used to be much more than that (I believe around 1.5 inches). It is normal.<br>
Were your measurements taken at the same time? Also they could have changed their measuring thing.</p>

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<p>You guys are scaring me! I’m 50 and just want my periods to end. (My mother still has monthly spotting at age 75 and she is perfectly healthy.) My GYN did say that none of her patients who are runners had hot flashes, so if I ever do hit menopause, maybe there’s hope for me.</p>

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<p>Yes, I was looking forward to get rid of them also, they were real torture, feeling like my insides were cut by the knife for several days, horrible. I did not have a single one since they stopped, what a blessing. I bet, you, massmomm, will not have flashes because of your running, I do not think that you need to worry. I never even ran, I cannot run, I never could. The average age is 53 (or so I was told)</p>

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<p>Yep, those hormones come from horse’s urine!</p>

<p>I have been on BHRT progesterone for many months now. My GYN only prescribes BHRT (he gave up the OB portion of his practice and only does GYN now, and mostly women in transition so he spends a lot of time on studying the cutting edge of it). My progesterone was the first to go - and I was still having erratic periods. Everything else was OK… estrogen, bone scan. Earlier this summer I started having some intermittent spotting and was not concerned because I’d heard so many women talk about irregular periods, etc. So I went to my gyne again in late September (just saw him in March) after mentioning the spotting to my internist. He did some blood work and I returned a couple of days later for an ultrasound (ends up I had a polyp on my cervix which was causing the spotting - who woulda thunk?). I’d also started having some hot flashes in early September. He said my progesterone was on the low side, but still normal, despite taking the BHRT; but he also said my estrogen was below normal slightly and asked me how bad the hot flashes were. I told him they were tolerable at this point, and I’d rather wait and see what kind of pattern I’d develop with them if left to their own devices (and not while on estrogen). So we left it at that - until (or unless) they start to become more problematic, I’m going to stick with just the BHRT progesterone. </p>

<p>Since the weather has cooled down here in the last several weeks, the hot flashes have been more infrequent. They were never awful, and shedding clothing always made them very tolerable. I think I’m even throwing off the covers less during the night, and I’ve never woken up in a pool of sweat like I hear so many women do. But I do realize I’m very early in this process and all that could change in a week. </p>

<p>I do have a cluster of breast and ovarian cancer on my mom’s side of the family, and I have fibrocystic breasts which have required several biopsies (all have been clear); since I told my GYN back in September I was OK dealing with the hot flashes at this point, we never even had the conversation of my risk factors if he did recommend estrogen to me at some point. I also had a mother who had heart disease at a young age and had a silent heart attack in her mid 50s, and from what I remember, estrogen (particularly BHRT) actually protects the heart from heart disease, so at some point I may have to weigh whether I want the protection from heart disease, or breast cancer.</p>

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<p>BTW the way they get the horse urine for making that stuff and Premarin (bc) is—they tie up pregnant mares so they can’t move much in their very clean stalls and they catheterize them to collect the urine. So if you use that stuff you are supporting a company that has hundreds if not thousands of mares spending their pregnancies in this state.</p>

<p>Then they take their foals from them so that they will be able to get pregnant again sooner.</p>

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<p>I was having a massage a few weeks ago, when the weather was still warmer. I started out face down; my massage therapist (MT) asked me if I wanted the ceiling fan on, and I told her no, because at that moment I was fine. Sure enough, about five minutes into the massage I started to get a hot flash. My MT is deaf (communicates through hearing aids and reading lips) so in order to verbally communicate with her during a massage, I have to sort of roll over and get her attention so she can come down by my face and read my lips. I knew it was going to be just a couple of minutes before she was down by my head, so I thought I’d wait till she was there, then inform her I needed the fan turned on. She started to work on my back, and before I could say anything to her she said to me, “Do you need me to turn on the fan?” And I nodded my head vigorously! After the massage I asked my MT how she could tell I was having a hot flash, because as far as I could tell, my skin doesn’t flush, and she said because my back started to break out in a sweat! So now we know - oh, and she doesn’t use the heating pad with me anymore, either.</p>

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<p>Quote, from me last night in this thread

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<p>Well, I was wrong there… I just went back and read this thread and I had indeed posted here! I realize now the prickly feeling I was talking about and feeling was not hot flashes. Sometimes (mostly during the night or early in the morning) I will have these prickly feelings just prior to a hot flash now, though. But there is a huge difference between what I was going through last winter and now. And my blood tests show that, too!</p>

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<p>Well, I just want to share something new I learned from the endocrinologist last week. I’ve been on BHRT for 7 years because of severe night sweats. Perimenopause started at 32 for me, doctors didn’t know why I was spending every night drenched in sweat. Turned out that people with hypothyroidism are at high risk for early menopause, but since hypothyroidism wasn’t diagnosed until I was 38, I just suffered as I watched my menstrual cycle change.</p>

<p>At 38 I got pregnant, after being treated for the hypothyroidism! Didn’t realize I was pregnant until pretty far along because my periods had been so irregular. </p>

<p>Never had too many hot flashes, but night sweats have been a continuing problem. My mom had really bad ones, too. Genetics can play a part.</p>

<p>But the new information… I thought that a time would come when I could just go off the HRT with minimal symptoms. Turns out, not so!! Endo said that when I stop HRT I’ll experience 3-6 months of symptoms. Maybe more. What a bummer!!</p>

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<p>I’m not sure if this has been discussed:</p>

<p>[FDA</a> approves the first non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes associated with menopause](<a href=“http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/newsroom/pressannouncements/ucm359030.htm]FDA”>http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/newsroom/pressannouncements/ucm359030.htm)</p>

<p>The CNM I see told me that SSRI’s have a side effect of stopping hot flashes. Now that this one can be prescribed for hot flashes, you could say that its side effect is stopping panic attacks!</p>

<p>I’ve been having flashes for a couple of years and they started as just a “temperature regulator” out of control. Sometimes I’d be hot, sometimes cold. Now, I’m mostly hot and worry about what I’ll wear to work in case I wear too much and can’t strip it off! My nights are OK but I have trouble sleeping that I never had before. </p>

<p>I can’t read that “how do you wear your leggings?” thread without feeling a hot flash coming on!</p>

<p>It’s gotten better, but I’m considering some kind of medication to make me more comfortable. The CNM also told me that the vag needs estrogen, and that atrophy and uncomfortable dryness will be the inevitable result if/when estrogen drops too low for too long. When that starts happening to me, sign me up for HRT!</p>

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<p>So what have you ladies done with your leftover supplies? Unfortunately, we are Costco members, so I bought this stuff in bulk, and now have quite a supply left over. I hate to throw it all out! This may sound bizarre, but is there a place you can donate it to? What kind of place would accept this kind of donation?</p>

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<p>Homeless shelter might really appreciate it, I’d think.</p>

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<p>My theory is that a couple hundred years ago women probably didn’t have hot flashes… Why would I think that? Well, I’m almost 52 and I still have regular periods. Back when I was in college all of us in our dorm room ended up having our periods at the same time within a couple of months of living together. Something to do with the pheromones in the air. A year and a half ago I went on a mission trip. There were 12 high school girls and 5 women. All of the women were over 50. Within 4 days all of the women were having our periods and none of us had expected it. We were really surprised especially the lady who was in her 60’s! It had to be the pheromones. I have the same problem when my high school nieces come to stay for a visit. Doesn’t matter if I just had mine a week ago if they are having theirs, I’m going to get mine again:( So my thinking is that back years ago multiple generations used to live together and so perhaps the pheromones from the younger women kept the older ones from having hot flashes.</p>