Hot flushes.. what helps yours?

[Kneejerk]

What helps you, sage? Black cohosh? Something else?

I'll give anything a go as I'm not on hrt and don't need to be (as advised by my gp)

Thank you

[PollyPerky]

Why does your GP think you don't need it if you are having peri meno symptoms?

[80sWaistcoat]

HRT for me.

Friend who can't have HRT, medical reasons, has v bad hot flushes. She says that meno pace , exercise and avoiding red wine are helping her, but she still gets them, just not as bad.

[Kneejerk]

Hi Polly, it's a mutual decision. I'd rather be free of hrt after a number of issues.

Agree with pp, red wine has an effect :-(

[PollyPerky]

I wonder if your GP has been less than positive about HRT? Has he explained what the absolute risks are for you, given your medical history? It seems a shame you are being denied safe and effective treatment and having to scrabble around trying to find something else that may or may not help.

Consultants agree that for women under 60 the benefits of HRT outweigh all the small risks.

See link

thebms.org.uk/_wprs/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HRT-Guide-160516.pdf

There is also a training guide for GPs on HRT which is worth looking at .

www.gp-training.net/training/tutorials/clinical/gynaecology/hrt.htm

[Kneejerk]

Thank you for the links, they are interesting. I should clarify that the only reason I was popped onto hrt was to reduce the flushes, but I feel the bleeds and mood swings are not worth it.

I'd rather have flushes. I'm not fussed about the risks too much.

[MatildaOfTuscany]

That's bad luck for you OP (I was the same with the contraceptive pill - the mood swings and depression were so bad I couldn't take it. Mercifully I seem to have lucked out with HRT.)

I guess you know all this already, but wear cotton/ use 100% cotton bedsheets, separate duvets of different togs on yours and your DP's halves of the bed (if you have a DP), and some friends of mine have found wool blankets rather than duvets helped.

[PollyPerky]

I've posted a link on several threads here over the last few months to a patient leaflet issued by the RCOG on 'Alternatives to HRT'. If you put that into the advanced search on Talk here it should come up. It shows what may work and what doesn't or is risky.

[AdaLovelacesCat]

smoking weed really helps..

[Deux]

HRT but my patches are oestrogen only, not combined with a progesterone.

Fabulous results very quickly.

[Kneejerk]

Adaloveslacescat, how does weed help?

Deux, does the oestrogen only still make you bleed?

Polly perky, am looking at alternatives

Thank you

[Fontella]

Flaxseed Oil.

Used to have a tablespoon full straight out of the fridge every morning. Tastes like shit but noticeable difference for me within days.

Recommended it to a friend and it did nothing for her.

If you don't want to go down the HRT route (I didn't) it's hit and miss trying all the different 'natural' remedies. Flaxseed oil was the only one that worked for me.

[Deux]

Knee jerk, you need to take some form of progesterone. I used Utrogestan capsules for 12 days to induce a bleed after being on oestrogen only for about 8 weeks.

My doctor has said I can go up to 12 weeks and then take the Utrogestan. I was a bit worried about the progesterone but I didnt have any side effects from it.

The progesterone in Utrogestan is bio identical and isn't derived from testosterone which I believe some are and those can create more side effects. However the bleed I did have was really heavy and quite crampy and painful.

I think my next step is to have a Mirena coil fitted to deliver the progesterone.

My GP thinks Mirena + oestrogen patches is the gold standard of symptom relief and convenience. I'm just hoping I'll tolerate the Mirena otherwise I'll go for the long cycle oestrogen patch with Utrogestan.

[Auntpodder]

I had hideous hot flushes when I was on Zoladex for breast cancer treatments (so, no HRT for me). At night a Chillow (about £18 from Amazon) was enormously. Acupuncture can help some people (it did me, I think)...

[Auntpodder]

enormously helpful... gah...

[PollyPerky]

Knee I was just going to post the same thing as Deux - has your dr not suggested the Mirena? I was offered that as the gold standard plus a separate oestrogen? No bleeding usually with it.

Deux can I ask how long you have been doing long cycle? I do the same.

[Benison17]

I know this won't help everyone, but it definitely worked for me after four years of horrendous and miserable hot flushes: Sage tea once or twice a day. I just gather a handful of leaves from the garden, rinse them, pour boiling water over them, then wait for the tea to steep and cool a bit. I'm now supplementing this with sage tablets (www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GO73708/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1%29&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 - so one sage tea and one tablet a day. I can't quite believe this is working for me - it may work for you. Hot flushes not completely gone, but far, far less vicious and last for much less time. I hope this helps someone else. I had to persevere for a number of weeks before I felt the benefits, but so worth the wait and effort.

[Aroundtheworldandback]

Menopace Plus helped till it got really bad. HRT then helped not just with flushes (completely disappeared) but with sleep quality, meaning I had the energy to keep fit which had a knock on effect to my life generally.

[BIWI]

Boots Menolieve
But mainly cutting right down on carbs, especially alcohol

[Piscivorus]

I find that reducing carbs in my diet makes a big difference.
I had started low carbing as I am very overweight and was guessing that I wasn't suffering menopausal symptoms as my fat cells were slow-releasing oestrogen.
When it got to last Christmas and I got about 3 days into pigging out eating carbs I could not believe it, mood swings, hot flushes, night sweats, the full gamut of symptoms. When my eating improved so did the symptoms

I believe low carb diets have a positive effect on PCOS so must have some effect on hormones although I don't know what

[PurpleAlerts]

I took soya flavins and sage leaf tablets- black cohosh didn't do much for me but I know others who have said it helped.

I too cannot take HRT due to significant family health issues ( also didn't want to start having periods again which were truly horrific) and felt these supplements really helped. I also took calcium and magnesium which seemed to help with the sleep problems.

There are some on MN who are very dismissive of alternative remedies but they obviously don't have genuine medical reasons not to take HRT. They worked for me.

[Piscivorus]

Ooh cross post with BIWI!

[PollyPerky]

Anything alternative is anecdotal. Do look at the patient leaflet on alternatives to HRT by the RCOG (linked to on this site.)

Also, this is from a previous link in this thread, and is from GPs training doc. (There are women who are suffering who have been told-erroneously- that they cannot have HRT.)

Absolute contra-indications

There is no absolute contra-indicationg to the prescribing of HRT in post-menopausal women. Extra caution may need to be exercised in the following situations:

Active breast cancer / undiagnosed breast lump
Active thrombo-embolic disease (phlebitis does not constitute thrombo-embolic disease)
Undiagnosed vaginal bleeding
Untreated/uncontrolled hypertension
Coronary artery disease
Breast Cancer

[PollyPerky]

Purple you do know that there is no-bleed HRT available? Family health issues are rarely relevant unless it's a really strong history of breast cancer in a mother (under 40) and the BC gene. Glad you have found something that helps .

[BIWI]

... and that is exactly why I turned to alternative options, Polly.

I'm also not in favour of medication like HRT if you can achieve similar results by a simple change of diet.

You have to question what carbs are doing for us if they can exacerbate the horrendous symptoms of the menopause that some women suffer from.

I'll happily go without spaghetti and rice if it means I get a good night's sleep without any flushes.

[PollyPerky]

I agree with you BIWI.

But then there are some women - me and others- who did every single thing that was supposed to help- including diet, sage tinctures/ tea - etc, and it had no effect .

HRT is not 'medication' it's 'replacement' - ie supplementation. It's not a drug , it's a hormone that is being topped up.

TBH flushes were the least of my worries, though working with clients it was embarrassing to be flushing on the hour.

It's the longer term risks from loss of oestrogen that are more of a concern for me personally, given my family history ( heart disease) and HRT taken within 10 years of the menopause reduces the risks hugely.