Need info on hot flashes - Menopause Message Board

petnametina · 01-08-2007, 03:47 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I need to find some answers to these awful hot flushes. Can anyone tell me how often during the course of the day is normal. I am having around 8/10 per day. It is so bad that I have taken to wearing summer clothes and carrying a woollie where ever I go. I would'nt mind but it is January and cold here. My woollie is on and off like a yo-yo. Can't sleep at night either because of these things.

Thanks,

Petnametina

liverpool sue · 01-08-2007, 04:25 AM

hi. i don't think there is a 'normal' for hot flushes, they seem to be different for everyone.
mine started as small prickly feelings, which would come and go maybe 100 times a day. then they stopped when i had a period, and when they started again became less frequent but more severe. then they would ease off for a while, still there but not as often and not so hot. then i went through a spell when they were absolutely awful, clothes-ripping off chokingly hot, nothing to do but get outside or by a window and wait till they subsided. now, either i've learned to cope better or they're not as bad or the menopause supplement i take is doing it's job, whatever, they generally don't bother me.
i do think a change of what you wear helps, ie. no tights, light loose layers and like you say a jumper on hand. all my thick winter woolies are hanging in the wardrobe unused. and i sleep with nothing on now too, not something i ever did before.
hope this is of some help to you.

sue

petnametina · 01-08-2007, 04:47 AM

Thanks LiverpoolSue,

I need all the advice I can get at the moment. I'm not worried about going into the menopause, it's just these hot flushes I am finding it hard to cope with. I have a great partner though. When he feels how hot I am getting he fans me. I also sleep naked now to help at night but still get woken up with the sweats. Bedclothes off. Bedclothes on. It also feels as if my head is going to burst at the onset of a hot flush. By the way, we have nicknamed them my Warms instead of hot flushes. Bit of an understatement really as they are anything but Just Warms. I have also been suffering from really prolonged periods for the past few months with very heavy bleeding but thankfully they are easing off now. In fact I have'nt had one since the beginning of November. That only lasted for 3 days instead of 24 days. Marvellous! Unfortunately they have been replaced with these awful warms, closely followed by the chills. From reading other posts I have found out that these too seem to be quite normal. I just wondered if the amount of Warms I have are normal. Just to put my mind at rest. Thanks again for replying to me.

Petnametina.

liverpool sue · 01-08-2007, 05:07 AM

hello again. you don't say how old you are (i'm 54) but from your posting i would guess you're only at the start of all this stuff. trust me, you'll learn to deal with it. it all came as a shock to me, even though i thought i was clued up on menopause. i'd never even hear of perimenopause until i found this site, and found reading all the posts really helped and answered questions i didn't know where else to ask.
i decided to go down the 'no hormone replacement' route, and instead take a supplement from boots the chemist (i think i can mention the name). it's an all in one, three a day (which i take all at once) thing which contains all the stuff recommended on the 'natural solutions' thread at the top of this board.

petnametina · 01-08-2007, 05:32 AM

Hi,Liverpool sue,

I am 52. I have been having heavy irregular periods for about a year or two now. My cycle was always every three weeks and always very heavy but as I said about a year ago they became very unpredictable and so heavy that I could'nt keep up with the flow. The accidents I had were awful sometimes. I guess that was the start of things. I could cope with these though as I knew it was just a natural progression towards the full menopause. I have never worried about it happening and my Mum used to tell me all about her hot flushes and that they would go on for years. I took this with a pinch of salt as she always was one to exagerate. Bless her. I just was'nt prepared for the force of them when they appeared.

I have been taking Evening Primrose tablets off and on for the past year and they seemed to make the symptoms of the periods easier to deal with. Now though I think I will take your advice and start some natural remedies. I have no intention of taking HRT anyway as I have some other health problems that won't tolerate taking very much in the line of medication. Hiatus Hernia being one of them. Have to be careful not to take any kind of clinical drug that may interefere with it.

I tried going to the doctors for the pill at the beginning of last year as I have a new partner. That seemed to make things so much worse. I bled for 24 days for the first month. Heavily. Then 36 days the following month. More heavily. She then put me on a drug that was supposed to stop the bleeding but it did'nt work. I only had about 3 days off from the bleeding. I went back to see my doctor and she just wanted to double the dosage. I was out of there like a shot and threw the pills away.

I have'nt looked for the name of the tablets you are taking yet but I will. Anything that is natural and may work will be a godsend for me right now.

Thanks.

Petnametina