Help with Hot Flashes

I feel your heat! I am 68 and still getting them. Ceiling fans help. Buy a “cooling towel”. Walmart and Bed Bath and Beyond sells them.

Hi @ardillo46, I'd like to welcome you to Mayo Clinic Connect. You've come to the right place. As you will see, I did move your discussion to the Women's Health Group so that we might draw in some of our members dealing with hot flashes. You can find the group by clicking here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/womens-health/

I'd like to invite @airey2, @cmd03, @mader62 and one of our mentors, @hopeful33250 to the discussion to share their thoughts and insight. While we aren't medical professionals, we can share our experiences and possibly shed some light on some things that could help.

Can you tell me @ardillo46, how long have you been experiencing the hot flashes? Do you remember changing anything in your diet or daily regimen when you noticed they were getting stronger? Have you had a physical lately to address them?

@ardillo46 HI Welcome to connect we aren't DR s to diagnose I'm now 77 and took Black Cohosh all my life It is a naturel estrogen.you can research it for yourself just put it on the search I still get hot flashes and use it ,never had cancer.The HRT can lead to cancer check it out with your Gyn

@ardillo46 Welcome to Mayo Connect. How did you find us? Any way, but we are glad you're here!

I have had hot flashes all my life. Not so sure they aren't related to thyroid or adrenal or pituitary, or a combination of all! After my hysterectomy in 1999, I have continued to have them, but have had no hormone replacement therapy. I dress for a hot flash most of the time, and bring extra layers. Drink cool liquids. Hand fans as needed. Cooled fruits.

Seeing you are at the age range for perimenopause, my suggestion would be a complete physical and bloodwork to see exactly where you are at. Your trusted medical team would be the best source for how to proceed from there, based on results and any other health concerns. Be patient, as it takes time for your body to make changes. Not what you want to hear, right?

Will you let us know what you decide, and how we can help you further, please?
Ginger

Hello @ardillo46,

I can understand your concerns about your hot flashes. I take it that you are entering menopause? Has your doctor confirmed this with a hormone blood test?

If so, there are options for treating hot flashes. As you mentioned, though, some of the treatments, like hormone replacement therapy, do increase the possibility of cancer down the road. Is there a history of cancer in your family?

As @amandaburnett mentioned, it would be good to discuss this with your doctor and report any other symptoms and/or problems that you might be having. For example, do you have any digestive problems like diarrhea or other GI issues? What about other areas of your health in general? Some meds have a side effect of hot flashes. Have you begun any new meds?

I have started having hot flashes over the past year or so. I don't know what it is due to. I actually never had them when I went through menopause so I now know what everyone else was going through. I am 65 and can't figure out what this could be due to. I did not realize that so many other people had them post menopause. I went through menopause quite late (57) but about 2 years ago I had a surgery on a prolapsed bladder which is done laproscopically and it is customary with this surgery to do a hysterectomy. I use an estrogen cream vaginally 3 times a week post surgery as recommended by my surgeon. But whether I use it or not I still get the flashes. They did not begin right after the surgery but sometime later. My hot flashes often come when I am anxious about something or stressed and also seem to happen with some regularity after eating,particularly after dinner. They are often accompanied by nausea and dizziness as well. I have talked with a couple of doctors about them but no success in finding a cause. I hope you will at least be comforted by the fat that this is more common than you might have expected. I do wonder if it is one of those things with women's health that just has not been studied that much or gotten much attention. Seems like there are a lot of women's health issues that go unexplored for whatever reason. I started looking into this just a bit and came across an article in Journal of American Medical Association from back in 2008 that found hot flashes were more prevalent in older women who went through menopause later, in older women with higher body mass index and in those who had had a hysterectomy among other findings. The link to this article is
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/414566

Maybe our moderator knows if there is anyone at Mayo doing any such research.

@baxtersmom Hi Gail,
You made an interesting observation about the hot flashes after eating. I'm wondering, @ardillo46, if you have noticed this correlation as well? When I mentioned to my doctor that many of my hot flashes were occurring after meals, he suggested it might be a blood sugar problem. Sure enough, when my A1C was checked it did show a number above the normal range. There are a lot of reasons for certain symptoms. it is good to check it all out.

it's time for my check up but with the stay home or covid my appt is months away. i have a little fan next to the bed also a ceiling fan. nothing different in diet my boyfriend cooks with pepper alot of it. i had a hysterectomy in 2011 and they just got worst the last 4 months.

thank you

this is whats happening to me and it feels as thought it will never stop. im still having flashes in 2020 . i had an hysterectory in 2011