Did I just have a hot flash?!

[TheWorminLabyrinth]

I'm 44, have thought I am peri for a while now, periods come every 23 days instead of every 28 days and last 2 days instead of my usual 4. Have had a few other very mild symptoms over the last year or so including a recent spate of ectopic beats which (until further investigation) has been put down to anxiety and peri. I am also 6 weeks into a course of antidepressants for bad anxiety, which had really been helping.

Woke up this morning and couldn't get back off to sleep and then anxiety started building - unusual as it has been a good 3 weeks or so since I have had any serious anxiety or panic but I ignored it and assumed antidepressants can't completely eliminate my anxiety disorder! However, it built and built so I had to get up and come downstairs. On my way downstairs I got this absolute intense rush of complete panic and then a really strange sensation in my entire body, like a creeping explosive prickly heat that started in my back and spread everywhere and was then gone within 2 minutes, along with the sudden anxiety. Bizarre!

Have I just experienced a hot flash?!! Sorry for the long post - :-)

Yes I think you did. To me it always feels prickly and creeping. Earlier this week I had been sitting in the house freezing in several layers when one hit me and I ended up in the garden in my vest, having abandoned each layer on my way out of the house. Mine always starts across my shoulders.

I have a history of anxiety and it feels really different to a panic attack, if that helps?

Thanks for replying!

Yes, it was very different to any of my usual panic symptoms, which of course made me panic even more thinking what the hell is this, this must be something really bad! I also had a run of three ectopics in a row, which I never have in the morning as a rule. It was horrible and pretty much as you describe, like an explosion of prickly crawling feelings which I only identified as a burst of heat once the panic started to subside. Yuck!

Am at the GP on Tuesday to discuss my progress on the antidepressants so I am going to bring up HRT too!

Can you explain ectopics please?

Ectopic heartbeats. It's an early beat from an abnormal part of the heart, followed by a pause then normal rhythm resumes. Apparently most people have them, but not everyone feels them. I'm waiting for a 24 hour monitor but so far have been told mine are likely stress/anxiety and perimenopause.

Oh that is really interesting for me too, as I have been experiencing weird heartbeat sensations which are like an extra beat, only one and I always think of, did I feel that or imagine it?

Untangling anxiety and perimenopause seems to be a minefield.

You can feel them at the pulse in your neck, although if you are prone to health anxiety I wouldn't recommend getting into that habit (I speak from bitter experience!). They are apparently most commonly harmless but they feel really horrible.

If you are British, you had a “hot flush”. Only American ladies have “hot flashes”!

I generally just felt really, really hot. My sister used to go purple in the race. No particular heart symptoms that I remember though.. just intense heat.

I'm 75, went through the menopause at 42. Am on amlodipine for hypertension, and it actually says hot flashes. So mine have never stopped. Purple in the race,eh! Yeah, I expect I would,I only stopped running a couple of years ago, because of some health issues. But,yes,you have owned your first hot flush/flash.

Haha, I know, I don't know why I put flash, instead of flush! It sounds more dramatic maybe 😂

Welcome to hell OP. You're off.

Nooooooooo 😭

For me, you know the feeling of blushing with embarrassment? It was like that, but in my torso. From what I can gather, mine were mild compared to a lot of women.

If you wake in the night with a general feeling of despair and hopelessness that you can’t really put your finger on, well, that’s common too.

I always say I feel like a kettle with no off switch. So the heat start low down and then builds up through my body until it feels like my head is going to explode from the heat. Then the sweats start.
Its such a glamorous time of life 🤣🤣

I don’t think so, because a hot flush isn’t about panic and the feelings are a few seconds of intense heat, not panic.

They can include panic like feelings as your heart beat speeds up, also if in public, when you go red and suddenly really hot, embarrassment kicks in sometimes, which can cause mild painic attack.It is awful but won't last forever.I had perimenopause symptoms for about 7 years,then about a year after menopause.I think it varies for women.Just make sure you have a coat you can take off quickly, when you overheat.Take deep breaths and tell yourself,it's ok, I am just hot .

Wow this sounds absolutely horrendous, eugh! Dreading it!

Ectopic heartbeats are the main symptoms of my peri menopause, and I've been having them for 3 years.

Even HRT hasn't stopped them.

"Prickly and creeping" is a good description. I've been trying to find the right words to describe how the start of a hot flush feels.

I've started HRT now so I'm hoping mine will reduce/stop but I had a horrible one the other day. I was wearing my oodie as I'd been freezing all day and was on the phone to a client (WFH) when the hot flush hit. I couldn't get the oodie off over my headset so had to sit there sweltering while the client wittered on and on and on. Never again, I'm not getting trapped in an oodie again.

This is how I get them - doing nothing in particular then suddenly beads of sweat start running down my back and front of my torso 🤣

Brief high rush of heat linked to a 'scared' emotion like anxiety (causing cortisol rush) fits the bill for HF.

It's the cortisol rush that induces the HF. Mine come when I'm frustrated about something, especially if unsure (little scared I won't figure out a solution) about what to do next, especially used to happen when sedentary and concentrating on some problem.

it's not horrible. Just inconvenient. I suspect mine are reducing lately.

It's helpful if you figure out what kinds of thoughts tend to trigger them, so can build up a strategy to self-observe and try to stop your thoughts escalating to trigger the emotions that can bring them on. Like DIY CBT maybe?

Cortisol does not cause menopausal hot flushing,it's low estrogen, and the hypothalamus. Pre menopause, mine started at my diaphragm and worked up to my head very quickly. They didn't last a few seconds, sometimes in warm places,cafes shops,I thought I would pass out. Hrt from the start for 17 years. Stopped a few times pre surgery,hot flushes back in a couple of days. Moved,new GP wouldn't prescribe any more. It co incided with one of the scares. So they continued. When I was working, just explain to my colleagues, nursing, plastic PPE and hot hospitals, lovely.

Just popping back in to update on my lovely symptoms! Just had another hot flush this morning. It started with a run of ectopics, about 10 in a row, which was horribly scary, then the hot flush started. It was all over within about a minute but it's really unpleasant. Does this sound normal to those of you who have gone/are going through it?

Shameless bump

It does sound normal unfortunately and all your symptoms sound like classic perimenopause. It’s awful but HRT works very well.

It got to the stage I was having hot flushes about every hour in the night! Completely unsustainable. Plus the anxiety and a whole myriad of other symptoms/

All stopped within a few weeks of starting HRT thank goodness.

Thank you for replying.

I did bring it up during my appointment earlier this week, but the GP said she didn't want to prescribe HRT until I had had my 24-hour holter monitor. She said it would be irresponsible to start me on hormones until heart issues had been ruled out. ARGH!!!!