There was a relative, that when she was in her early 80's, started having strong hot flashes, mainly at night. Once she was traveling and started having hot flashes, but she also suddenly couldn't talk, but she could think and was aware of her surroundings. Turned out she was having small seizures (not grand mal) and the hot flashes was a symptom. It took several years for it to progress to that point. Now that she's been on antiseizure medicine, she has not had any more hot flashes. (Once she took herself off of the medicine-without dr. approval-because she didn't think she was having seizures. After 2-3 days and the hot flashes returned and she started feeling out of sorts. So she went back on and has stayed on it, and been fine since).

Also I am in surgical menopause due to endometriosis and I get pretty intense hot flashes. I cannot take estrogen because endometriosis feeds off estrogen. But there is an herbal supplement specifically for women who can't take hormones. It is called Pycnogenol. Ask your dr about that and see if it is ok for you. ( I tried it and after 2 weeks, it started bothering me and had to stop). However I do try Green Tea and it seems to work. I use the decaf. version but there is caffeinated also. It worked so gradual that it took some time (over a year) before I started noticing a difference. That was recommended to me by a friend. And I'm a tea lover anyway.