For you young ladies, I hope this is taken care of before you go through this and for those of you finished, I look forward to someday joinging you.
WHY doesn't a major cosmetic company find a way to put an antiperspirant in their make-up. I cannot stand to have a hot flash and my forehead sweat, upper lip sweat, ets. At least if this makeup was available I could use it, have the ot flash, but not have to use a tissue to remove the pirspiration from my forehead and upper lip like I had been digging ditches in the 90 degree sun all day.
Thanks for letting me vent all!!!

Wow that must have been a good one.
My sweetie says I get a little crabby when I have one too. Hang in there. It's only for a few minutes.

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I've just figured out that's what I'm getting. I've always been an unusally warm person-I don't mind running out to the mailbox at the curb barefoot when it's 30 degrees out so these are HORRIBLE for me!
We women sure do suffer!!! lol

I wish they were only a few minutes, I've been a walking hot flash for years...and sometimes they're worse...

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I wish a I could just use a tissue when I overheat. I need a Bounty paper towel stuck to my forehead. My internal thermostat has been on the fritz for the last year and I can't wait for it to be over.

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The big problem is that you never have one when you are freezing!LOL

cashchik, I am glad that yours are only for a few minutes. They can last longer and come really close together

I used to sleep naked with the window open in the dead of winter and was still HOT!!!
The only thing that helps is time and that's not foolproof!!!

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Oh man-- I hear you sister!!! LOL Ever since my hyster, I have my own eternal summer. It's pretty bad when you are 35 having hot flashes!!

I hear black cohosh works wonders, and I just started a new drug called Estrace that my doc says will help.

Holly

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I sure do feel for you ladies and I am NOT looking forward to having the "vapors" one day!!

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have had them since i had to give up my estrogen patch(blood clots after surgery).My oncologist says the anti depressant EFFEXOR was great for hot flashes.

I keep saying I need a patch AND a pill... lol! I *hate* to sweat!

I've been taking Black Cohash for 20 years, and I'm really afraid to stop, I"ll be 56 very soon and have never had a hot flash, don't know if its the Black Cohash, or mind over matter, but I have friends and family members who suffer, I can only imagine it must be the pits.

Hot flashes wouldn't be bad if they were actually at their name states - Flashes - like lighting flashes - comes on quickly and then gone. They are not flashes - they are I came on in a flash, but I'm staying for at least 10 - 20 minutes until I decide to leave , and then I may be back again soon....we'll see how I feel. Hot flashes have a life of there own and must be male associative - a woman would not bring this upon herself or anyone else of her kind.
I's so like the poem written by a woman called I want a wife...

Ok now I feel totally lucky. Mine really do last for just a few minutes and I only have about 6 to 10 a day. I have however been having these for almost 5 years and they seem to have settled in for the duration. The only times they really bother me is when I'm sleeping and they wake me up or at work when I'm speaking to someone and feel like my face must be bright red and wringing wet.

Everytime I have a flash or night sweats I always remember back in about 6th grade the girls were shown a film called "Growing up and Liking it". Yeah well I'm not liking it so much right now.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Bless you Cashchik! I didn't realize I was so negative about this until my daughter was a teen and told me after we had gone to theat movie night at her school for the next few days all the girls were so excited and anxiously awaiting the day they started their period. My DD told them she was in no hurry because her mother had told her, "It's not called the curse for nothing!" My attitude has only gotten worse when it comes to menopause; I was thrilled to no longer have a period, but really want the hot flashes to go!!!

I completely agree. I have had several women tell me at the store I work at that they are full believers in the OTC medicines Estroven and Remifemin. One of the ladies is a very good friend of mine and works there. She told me the Estroven is fantastic and she recommends it to her friends going through this. I will definitely hook up on that stuff when my time comes, but hopefully (crossing fingers) not for quite some time now though.

When the hot flashes were really bugging me, I did some online research and ending up using a progesterone cream (I used Emerita) It took several weeks to kick in, but eventually calmed things down. I thought it was low-risk think to try.

Fortunately for me, the hot flashes have calmed down quite a bit. I no longer break out into a dripping sweat and it's not obvious to those around me. But it does go on for years and is a royal-pain-in-the-hiney.

cj/

hi,
I had a radical hysterectomy 5 weeks ago because of uterine cancer. I now have hot flashes but oncologist doesn't want to prescribe anything.
Have you found something Estrogen free that works?

My husand thinks I am whacked out. Sweating buckets one night then freezing cold the next. He has forbidden me from touching the thermostat. Meanie!

My mother had me send her a Chillow (Discovery Channel Store has them, and I think some shops on Amazon), and that seemed to help her, so she had me send one to another menopausal friend, who really likes it. It's only any good for sleeping, but may be worth looking into.

My Auntie suggested the Patagonia tee-shirts (Coolmax, I think they are called?). They are sweat wicking.

I have 2 Chillow pillows. After a couple of hours the pillows get hot

I'm kind of surprised that many of you actually think these ..uuummm.. finish.
I'm quite used to being too hot now..but hey it started 20 years ago you know.

Hot falshes are the very least problem you can get during "the change".
If that's your only problem you should be happy.
I had painful muscle cramps 24/7 as well as the Hot Flashes.
The fierce muscle cramps had me walking bent over so I had to go get the Estrogen.
That did the trick nicely.
Took that 10 years and then when they decided it was bad I stopped.
Thankfully the muscle cramps did not return but the temperature unhappiness sure did.

The temperature unhappiness changed, yes, got less interrupting, but finish, no.
Instead of that boiling oil being suddenly poured over your head you get night sweats and YEP facial sweats.

You may also develope bone problems such as Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis, since you no longer have the estrogen that helps protects us from those. I developed both wihtin 2 years of stopping the prescription Estrogen.

Just thought you should know that problems form "lack of natural estrogen" don't finish.
Take your Calcium and D to protect those bones.
Also do whatever you can to protect your veins and heart because without estrogen the natural protection of those is also less.

Well that explains a couple things that I hadn't connected to menapause. Every once in a while lately I have been getting cramps in my side muscles and have been woken up by cramps in my calves and feet.
Both of which I have never had before.
My sweetie thinks my internal thermostat is permenently broken. I am either burning up or freezing and neither ever has anything to do with the weather or the actual tempature. The other night we were driving home and I had the window down with my head hanging out trying to cool off and he says "Everything OK Lassie?". I have to laugh but it sure isn't funny.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I have a Chillow, works pretty good. I also use Evening Primrose oil tablets. Take one tablet in the am and one a little before bed. I think they work great. Took about a week to kick in. Black Chohash or however it is spelled, causes liver problems in some women, so I stayed away. I didn't want any prescription meds or hormones, so I tried natural first and it did work for me.

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Mary

Those can be from lack of excercise, over-excercising, lack of calcium or lack of potasium or something else entirely.

BUT my "cramps" I was talking about when I posted above were not in the legs or feet.
Thiink in terms of a woman's monthly cramps and add sharp knives, never letting up 24/7 for a couple months, every day day after day!
I physically felt like I was having a painful miscarriage every day, but of course, I knew I wasn't/
According to my Dr it was my normal muscles trying to do what they couldn't do monthly anymore.. and they got confuses and simply kept trying.. UGH.. I can tell you I loved the relief the prescribed estrogens brought me.

But that was a long long time ago in the early 90's. After 10 years (yes years) I stopped the estrogen and the cramps did NOT reappear.
However there are still certainly odd days and defiantly some nights when I think I might just go up in spontanious combustion!
So I wouldn't count on the temperature problems ending after a period of time if I were you.
They might and they might not.

Oh my gosh, what a great thread!

I get flashes several times a day, it was fine in the winter because I just went outside for a few minutes and felt much better. But now...

I've never heard of Black Cohash or a Chillow are but I am certainly going to check them out.

Great info here, Thanks!
Mary

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Mary

I also used the natural method of progesterone cream and it stopped them completely. Though I did not have them quite as bad as some of the posters here have them.