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[jeni]

   Do you think there is a link between what you eat in the evening and at what time and thus a night of sweats?  Wondering because our evening meal time has slipped to slightly later and I have had more heated nights, but that could just be my age.   

[newstart]

Hi EB

Yes - I think there is a link - and I'm sure there's been lots written about this before.  In my experience, spicey food and red meat seem to make night sweats worse, so does drinking alcohol of course, and eating late at night too.

Patricia

[sarah bird]

Hi Elderberrywine,


Newstart is quite right, there have been previous postings on this....but anyway the gist of it is ,that its best not to eat a large meal within 3hrs of going to bed as this does indeed seem to make night sweats worse.

oops just noticed that I have said this  quite recently if you check back through this thread !

love Sarah b x

[Sparkly]

Hi Everyone,
                 Here is my method of coping with poor sleeping.....! Generally speaking I'm luckier than most but do seem to feel easily hot at night and don't sleep that brilliantly. On bad nights i have whipped my pyjama top off and carried on tossing and turning. The other night I woke up with my pyjama top on the floor and absolutely no memory of taking it off. OH insists it was nothing to do with him.
Love
Karen

[Taz2]

Thanks for the tip Sparkly.... trouble is - I have never worn anything in bed 

Hope that you get a good night's sleep tonight

Love Taz x

[Kimfrayne]

Hi,
found your web site a few weeks ago and found what you were all saying very interesting.

I thought you would like to hear my experiences.

I had a hysterectomy, but they left my ovaries 18mths ago, I also had a back and a front repair. The back repair failed and I had it done again 5 months ago. Since then I have suffered terrible hot sweats at night and started getting the occasional hot flush in the day.

Because of previous problems with my health I have been seeing a Kinesiologist for some time now. So back I went with my new symptoms.

A kinesiologst tests you as an individual and advises what herbs etc she thinks will work best for you and in what quantities.

She has me taking Star flower oil [Boots own], a tincture which contains sage and another that contains milk thistle. I also take vitamin E, and Eye Q [Omega 3 & 6], some kelp and a mulit vit which contains a probiotic. [The latter relate to previous problems I have had with my digestive system.]

And low and behold with days the night sweats - where they do exists are a former shadow of their former selves, the hot flushes in the day have all but disappeared and I am sleeping so much better.

However she has warned me, that there is a long way to go yet - I am 47 and this has probably been coming on for the last 12 to 18 months. She has told me that my body will be going through changes for sometime yet. She has advised me how to tweak what I am taking in order to cope with some changes, but that I may need to go back and be reassessed in the future as my body changes to test what it will need then.

Not cheap - but what price can you put on a good nights sleep?

[Taz2]

Hi Kimframe - it seems as if nobody has welcomed you to the meno/madhouse so I am doing that now 

Your post is very interesting - I'm not sure whether anyone else has mentioned kinesiology on here but I am pleased that it is working for you. Quite a few ladies on here have taken starflower oil and also the milkthistle and sage but, unfortunately, it seems as if the effect gradually wears off. However, from your post, it seems that there may be a way of "tweaking" the dosage.

I gave in to HRT in the end and must admit that I wish now I had started taking it at least a year earlier than I did as nothing else seemed to work. I am 54 and have been having meno symptoms for the past three years I think.

Great to hear from you and please keep posting.

Taz x

[barking sands]

Last year my chronic sinus problem worsened --ironically, the only time I could breathe freely was while I was exercising or during a hot flash. Someone on another topic was asking if there was any upside of menopause!

At any rate, between the night sweats and not being able to breathe, I was desperate for a good night's sleep. So every so often, I'd treat myself to an anti-histamine before going to bed. It never cleared up the congestion, but it did zonk me out. I'm sure I still had night sweats but either I slept through them or went back to sleep immediately.

It's not recommended to take them continuously (and they probably would lose effectiveness) but once a week, sure. The ones I took had Diphenhydramine (the anti-histamine) and Phenylephrine (nasal decongestant) in the tablets. The box warned about causing drowsiness. I took one in the afternoon once and fell asleep at my computer!

[Taz2]

That's a good tip barkingsands. The diphenhydramine is a sleeping tablet in it's own right so that is the reason why you slept so well. You can buy these without the decongestant component for nights when you are not "bunged" up    

As you say it is good to have something that works for those times when you just have to have a nights sleep.

Taz x

[Sparkly]

Just out of interest, what exactly is poor sleeping? Can it be defined? I come from a family of early risers so it's predictable that I am going to wake up early but I would just love it if I could sleep til 6am. Unless I am doing anything I will generally be in bed somewhere between 10 and 10.30 so I would say asleep by 11 but I am always waking around 5am. Obviously that is 6 hours so could be a lot worse but I just wish I could sleep til 6am!

Karen
x

[Taz2]

Hi Karen - it seems as if your own natural sleep-need is about 6 hours so, therefore, if you want to wake at 6 I would say don't go to bed until at least midnight. Give it a go and see what happens 

I seem to need about 5 hours at the moment. Poor sleeping for me is when I used wake up every half hour or so. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and one of the triggers for this is poor sleep. You need to have been asleep for an hour and a half before you get into "restorative" sleep - when your muscles etc are being repaired - so it stands to reason that if you wake up before the hour and a half you are not getting the benefits you should.

I think that, no matter how much you love your partner, sharing a bed has a lot to answer for in terms of disturbed sleep too 

Love Taz

[maureenl]

After many years of night shift im still finding it very difficult to get into a sleep pattern...been on days for 5+ years now....any tips would be greatfully recieved

[Sparkly]

Hi,
How do I cope with poor sleeping? Badly! I had a disturbed night last night when I was sleeping in at work so you'd think I'd drop off like a log tonight, not a chance. It's 2.35am and I haven't slept a wink. I'm sweating like crazy and I'll be going down the HRT route if this continues.

A big part of the problem is that life has to go on. My daughter has been in hospital with pneumonia and I have to be at her place at 8am to help her then back at work for 1pm til 5.30pm.

I've come down and put tv on and I'm going to pretend I don't even want to go to sleep and see if that works.

Love
Karen

[dippyitus]

Get a warm chocolatey drink and that big fluffy fleecey blanket and curl up on the sofa with a soft lamp on and pick up hubbies fishing mag - works every time......

[lillybee]

I have had night sweats for 4 years. I find wearing a cotton nightie or pj's helps me as it absorbs the sweat. I use brushed cotton sheets for the same reason as other cotton just stays wet. In summer I lie on a big bath sheet and when I get really out I strip off and just lay on that. I hate being wet as that makes me shiver, it is a vicious circle. My GP gave me sleeping tablets and I take one when I am desperate. We are looking at air conditioning units at the minute but a bit bemused by the choices. Also I keep telling myself after 4 years it must be coming to an end soon, I live in hope