Menopause Discussion > Personal Experiences
Tell us how you have coped with FLUSHES
Sandra Snow:
I started with the menopause at 49. The flushes were mild for the first year. Hardly noticeable. The second year they hotted up. I went on HRT. It was fantastic. I felt like my old self. I was was told I had to come off it by the time I was 60. On two occasions I tried to come off it. Just stopping the tablets is disasterous. On the third attempt at 57 years old, I came off gradually over months. I spent 4 months with the sweats even more intense than when I first needed to go on HRT. Now I continue to have hot sweats in the same way as my second year of flushes. No different. I am absolutely convinced that HRT delays the menopausal symptoms. I am now 62 and have had a blood test to see where I am at? The last one being the intense star flower oil. None have worked.
The only way I can sleep through hot sweats is to take an antihistamine tablet, one that says "may make you drowsy". I do this once per week just to get back on track.
ptsheldon:
Thanks for that really thought I was going mad!!
I can't take HRT but my consultant has wrote to my doctor suggesting other medication I'll arrange an appointment.
How long will you be taking the medication for, if I can ask
pease:
I am on my third menopause - having come off HRT after 20 years (with a one year break that was awful). I feel better this time, but the hot flushes are still pretty bad 5 months after last HRT dose. So I am going to try H&B St John's Wort/Black cohosh combination. I have ordered 2 months' supply (half price on line!) and will report back.
Pokahontous:
I am 49. Have had the hot face/flushing/and flushes for about 1.5 years now. How I "cope"...riiiiight. Coping with them certainly isn't a choice; a better way to say would be that we put up with and deal with them. Mine have been HORRIBLE. I practically cannot go anywhere without a fan and/or an ice pack. I have several fans: in my bedroom, in my living room, in the kitchen, at work on my desk (2; a small one for "good days" and a larger one for "bad days"). Whenever I flare up it is almost ALWAYS my face. My face burns and burns like an oven is right in front of it. Sometimes both sides, and often it's just one side - and if it's one side, the ear is severely hot too! It. Is. AWFUL. And because I suffer from anxiety too, any situation where I am even the last bit overly happy or sad or angry, increases the flushing and burning like you would not believe --- enter the ICE PACK. I have ice packs at home and at work - several. And when the burning is so bad that even a fan doesn't help much, I use an ice pack. So embarrassing to go in to a meeting at work and have to bring a small fan and/or an ice pack. And of course with everyone looking at me, it makes me anxious and embarrassed,so it makes my face even hotter! I half joke about it in the meeting -- or sitting at the doctor's in the waiting room -- saying, funny little things -- but really, I am MORTIFIED. The hot "body" flashes are another thing. They don't happen too, too often, and usually I just have to quickly unzip a layer of clothing and take it off (like a sweater/jacket); sit in front of the fan and I'm fine. Like I say, most of the time it is MY FACE. And once it is "exposed" - like going into a meeting or an appointment (doctor), or getting upset or angry, it "sets it off" for quite some time - sometimes hours - before it "settles down" with ice. And on top of this, when my face is burning hot, I'M FREEZING. So I have a fan and ice on my face and a blanket wrapped around me shivering (if I'm at home). I hate this and cannot wait for it to end! Sorry, had to pause there to take off my zip up sweater and turn on the fan - I'm getting overly warm just writing this! And speaking of sweaters (and I mean sweaters as a top - not a sweater you put on to go outside or if you are a bit chilly); I mean sweaters as tops (like instead of a t-shirt or blouse); I NEVER wear sweaters. I can't. I would, I'm sure, spontaneously combust and be forced to rip it off and be wearing just a blouse so am forced to only wear light items like t-shirts and other light fabric. No, I only wear sweater jackets if I'm chilly so that I am able to unzip them and rip them off at the first sign of a flash. Okay this is my first post and I have to get ready for work so I will end it here. I hope to hear from others to see if I am the only one with hot burning face/ear issues. Sometimes it is not the whole face, sometimes just little "areas" on the face - and the ear - it "picks" a side usually too. Sighhh....thanks for listening.
Cadgwith Girl:
I started having hot flushes in late December 2017. At the time I thought I had got flu, but thinking back to a conversation I had had with a friend on Christmas Eve, who had been telling me about her going into perimenopause, it dawned on me that I too was now having perimenopausal hot flashes. I am lucky enough to be able to say that I have never really suffered from the dreadful drenching night sweats that other women talk about. Or maybe I never got that far because I did a lot of research into menopause.
I was fortunate enough, that for some inexplicable reason, I held onto a book called Natural Alternatives To HRT by Dr Marilyn Glenville which belonged to my mother. God knows why because I was in my early twenties at the time. The book fascinated me and if I recollect correctly, I think it helped me to research solutions to the awful PMT symptoms I used to suffer. Anyway, I dug this book out and started reading it avidly taking in everything it could offer. Her latest book is called Natural Solutions To Menopause.
Upon following up the recommendations to cut out/dramatically reduce sugar and caffeine intake I managed to completely stop having hot flashes! In addition to this, I was taking tinctures of dong quai, agnus castus and black cohosh and later on sage capsules. Within a few months I was able to stop taking the tinctures and sage capsules. I can even have an occasional decaf latte and not get a hot flush so long as the latte is prepared with decent beans which have not been chemically treated!
I know this works for me because a few months back I started drinking my favourite drink which is Belvoir ginger cordial with sparking water. Within a matter of days, I started to have minor hot flashes and couldn't work out why they had started up again. Until I realised about the sugar in the cordial. I had totally taken it for granted that I would be okay and forgotten all about the need to pretty much elimininate sugar in any form. Just as a side note to this - I can't take artificial sweeteners as they give me panic attacks plus I hate the taste of them.
I have since learned that I cannot drink decaf coffee that comes from a jar either because the hot flashes will return with a vengance as I'm currently being reminded. Despite my endless research into all things menopausal, I am very easily apt to forget, along with brain fog, as to what the culprits are that cause hot flashes. These days, generally, I have virtually no sugar in my diet, save the odd tiny thing in sauce dressings for salads. And even then I tend to make my own dressings to really keep an eye on what I put in the dressing to make it tastier e.g. a tiny drop of maple syrup for french dressing.
Dr Glenville's book is not for the faint-hearted but if you persist with properly following what she recommends, you may find, like me, that you will eventually succeed in eliminating hot flashes! In addition to this, I regularly follow Eileen Durward's weekly menopausal video blog. She also has great tips and advice on coping with all the evils of menopause. Hope this is of some help.
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