Do you have hot flashes?

[MdmMim]

In the winter: make a snow angel or rub snow on your arms.

In the summer: stick your head in the freezer for a few minutes. A friend told me about this--I thought she was nuts--but it definitely helps.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I had them when I was pregnant and they were horrible, you have my sympathies

Nothing helped me at all.

 

[MrsPete]

I think I've had two hot flashes.

Both times I was just piddling around the house and SUDDENLY I thought to myself, "Wow, it's hot -- who's been messing with the thermostat!" and by the time I'd had time to think that thought and to realize that the heat wasn't even on . . . the hot flash, if that's even what it was, was gone. Note: I am not one to notice a change in temperature until it's rather extreme. I'm the one who, only after someone else says, "It's really cold in here", realizes that it IS really cold in here.

The first time I was in my bathroom, which has two heat vents and does get super-hot, but it wasn't super-hot before or after. It didn't occur to me that it might've been a hot flash until the second one, which was only a week later.

This was a good two months ago, and I haven't had another one.

So . . . here are my questions . . . does that sound like real hot flashes? They weren't bad at all -- they were over in literally seconds.

If they were real hot flashes, does that sound like I'm going to get off easy and be the person for whom menopause is just a small inconvenience, or is it like having a baby: You get a couple hours of easy contractions that fool you into thinking, "THIS is labor? This thing's gonna be a piece of cake", and then you realize that you were just warming up for the main event?

 

[PatsMom]

I've been having them for about 10 years. Seems like they will never end. I especially hate them during meetings with clients and at night when I am trying to sleep!

I didn't even consider HRT because my sister had uterine cancer. When I was diagnosed with bladder cancer I asked my doctor about starting HRT under the theory that if I had bladder cancer, I wouldn't get uterine cancer. Doctor thought it best not to start - she keeps telling me they should end soon. I wish I believed her.

 

[T*Bird]

I always have at least one hot flash when I'm having my hair done. That cape thing that drapes over you and snaps behind your neck......a recipe for disaster! I want to rip it off! I have to start trying to nonchalantly flap the cape up and down to create some air. It wasn't so bad when I had a middle-aged lady doing my hair, because she could understand and laugh with me. But now I have a 20-something stylist and I'm sure she thinks I'm crazy!

 

[Feralpeg]

Love your sense of humor! You kind of have to laugh at this stuff, don't you? I also had a hysterectomy, at the same time as my BC surgery. (8 years ago) The hot flashes started just days later. Plus, I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years, so that added to the hot flashes. I think that they may be a little better, but I still get them. I used to be very cold-natured, and I still do "freeze" a lot. I can be freezing one minute and fanning the next. And don't get me started on blow-drying my hair! It's rare that I can do finish it without having to stop and lay on the bed under the ceiling fan. It's drives me crazy when I shower and dress and then break out in a sweat before I even leave the house.

Thanks! You've got to laugh at this kind of thing. The alternative is not good!

I find that I will flash any time I'm under stress. If I am talking to someone about something intense, I will flash. It works well for me. Normally, the unpleasant conversation ends quickly when they notice me turn beet red with rivers of sweat running off my body. I will also flash when I need to use the bathroom. This is unfortunate since the older I get the more I need to use the bathroom. I could drink less, but I need to replenish all the fluids I lose through the sweat when I flash. It's a vicious cycle!