night hot flushes

[dementedma]

recommendations to help with this please. I need a nights sleep which doesn't involve wrangling with the duvet all night.
Am 50, still having periods but tired, achy, sad and moody.
What can I take to feel better and sleep better?

[pinkfrocks]

HRT?

[Manda472]

I too am going through night sweats and am wondering the same. I'm 43 but 5 wks had major bowel surgery after being ill for a long time and think that maybe the trauma and pain I went through has put me into an early menopause. Is that even possible??? Periods before were ok ish but not regular like they used to be so maybe that was the peri menopause and the op mucked my hormones up.....
Another possibility is that I was still breast feeding my 3 yr old up until the day I was admitted to hosp and I haven't since as by the time I came out of hosp I'd lost so much weight I'd become a shrivelled up prune
Anyone have ideas for me? Is it worth me seeing the gp and having the tests done?

[DayLillie]

I had night sweats for 10+ years and did the following:

You lose the ability to regulate your temperature properly, so if you get cold and try and warm up, you get too hot and vice versa. It is best to keep temperatures of the room/bed as even as possible, whilst still allowing yourself to cool down.

Make sure you are properly hydrated during the day.

Don't go to bed too hot (eg from a bath or shower) or too cold (from sitting still all evening). Take time to warm up/cool down.

Wear a cotton (absorbent) nightdress with straps, so you can cool down if you get hot. I have cold feet, so wear fleece bedsocks that I can slip off with minimum waking.

Avoid having a big difference in temperature eg cold room and thick duvet. Have a warmer room (about 16c) and lighter duvet. In cold weather, put a blanket over the foot end and move it up or down according to what feels best.

If you are hot in the night, stick shoulders/feet/legs (bottom!) out of the bed as soon as you are aware.

Keep a glass of water by the bed for when you wake up as it helps cool and makes up for the sweating.

Fan in summer

Also, keep a spare nightdress handy for changing in the night. I was never sure what to do with the bed - getting back into a cold, wet bed is yucky but I never could bring myself to wake DH up and change the bed. A comfortable towel to sleep on might help with the bottom layer, but it was always the top that was the problem.

[TheOldWiseOne]

I would just like to add to this that I never had the type of hot flush that is normally described i.e. sweeping up to your face. I just "glow" and for hours at a time - then when I am not glowing I feel cold. My night times consist of waking to a feeling of having been microwaved all over - as someone said feet out seems to help and a very light layer on top - no duvet possible! It's a sod. ( this was before and after HRT )

[motherinferior]

They're driving me insane too.

[pinkfrocks]

I wouldn't put up with it.
I couldn't cope with hourly flushes as they were too embarrassing at work so went onto HRT and have felt marvellous ever since.

[Manda472]

Does the sweating start off at night and then go on to hot flushes during the day and night?
I'm only having them at night at the moment

[TheOldWiseOne]

I think the thing is that it can be so individual - I have watched friends have a hot flush which they say goes up through their body. I have never had one of these as I just am hot all over - it can be brief or it can last for hours. It doesn't sweep up - it is just there - all over.

Regarding my night ones I usually wake up with the "glow" and it may have come and gone through the night.

[DayLillie]

I only had them at night - used to wake up soaked.
I had one in 'slow motion' once when I tried anti-depressants. I could feel myself rapidly getting hotter and hotter and burning up, and thought I was going to pass out. I felt trapped in my overheating body, then I started to sweat and could breathe again.

During the day, if I exercise, I get really hot and sweaty and have to strip off and keep drinking water. I am freezing cold the rest of the time. If I go out into a stressful situation, I have to make sure I dress in something patterned and use lots of antiperspirant because I overreact to it. I don't have to do this much though.

[Manda472]

Ok so reading the posts I think I need to see my gp. Because of the bowel surgery I had a colostomy put in and I'm seeing the surgeon in 2 wks time so I'll see if the reversal is possible and then talk to my gp.
I thought I'd be sad about it, if this is what it is, but funnily enough I don't. Not wanting to drip feed but my 9yr old ds was ivf go number 1 and my miracle 3yr old dd was go number 10 so for me my fertility or lack of is/was a big deal