Please help- hot flushes shivering palpitations night sweats

[Wordsaremything]

i feel as if I've aged 15 years in the last three months. Just turned 49. Bloods done a while ago to rule out anything else. All that fine.

Symptoms are really ramping up. Cycle irregular ( can cope with that) but the hot flushes seemingly provoked by the tiniest stressor have been miserable in the hot weather esp at work where the air con is broken and a long commute on packed trains.

Now getting night sweats and palpitations alternating with a strange creepy/ shivery feeling all over my upper body.

So tired, largely due to constant nights of broken sleep.

Not keen on hrt. Just paid a fortune for goose down duvet and high thread count cotton bedding - do I need to rethink and get a wool duvet? I sleep naked (alone thankfully can't bear the thought of another body in there with me!) with windows open around house to try and get a draught - but then end up freezing with the sweating.

I had another terrible night last night and I could cry! This is not like me at all. Normally power on through physical discomfort but this is fast becoming intolerable.

Advice, sympathy? Please???

Whatever and Biwi - thanks for those tips. I drink lots of water during the night. Flannel idea is a good one. How about a hot water bottle filled with iced water or is that too extreme?

Is it worth splashing out on a wool,or silk duvet I wonder? I like to have some weight in the duvet - can't sleep under a sheet or a very lightweight duvet. My lovely new down duvet is intolerably hot.

I could power a small town if they wired he up to the national grid

I think the contrast between the iced water and your very hot skin will be too much to bear! Even a damp flannel, which by the time it got used was room temperature, was a shock on my hot skin

I used to be a pyjamas, jumper, two pairs of socks hot water bottle duvet and blankets person year round

Now thin vest top, sheet and an ice pack ?

It's been a kind of metamorphosis

The other thing, which probably seems obvious, is to keep your bedroom as cool as you can. Not a problem with the way the weather is at the moment!

My night sweats are so bad I now have eczema under my boobs :(
I'm miserable.
Keep my window open
Light weight duvet
Just wear pants
No idea what else I can do :(

suzannefollowmyvan I wasn't talking about correlations as these can be taken with a pinch of salt in terms of causality and consequence. I was talking about evidence based data such as randomised controlled trials. If you haven't done so already - do have a read of this paper "Prevention of diseases after menopause" which discusses some of these. Can be found to download from the International Menopause Society website: www.imsociety.org/world_menopause_month.php and in full here: informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/13697137.2014.933411?src=recsys& (don't know how to do a link apart from like this!).

Not sure about the trade-off cancer thing. I mean any mutations (which can lead to cancers or susceptibilities) which occur post-menopause are not subject to selective pressures and can't be something we have evolved to tolerate or adjust to.

Badders123 and the rest of you who are suffering - sorry I don't know your history, but unless you have medical contra-indications pelase consider HRT - why suffer needlessly for years (who knows how many?).

I've tried pills and patches...I am still bleeding so they just mean I haemorrhage each month :( my bloods are also normal.
Once my periods stop I will definitely take it.

Others on thread already gave reasons.
Life is full of trade-offs, deffo.

I had a full hysterectomy so was plunged into the menopause, I struggled taking "natural" supplements from Boots with soy isoflaves and magnesium. These helped but didn't take it all away. I eventually went to my doctors and am now on all the natural stuff and low dose patches. It's changed my life back to bearable. I still,have a few hot flushes but one every few weeks and I can sleep at night. I'd read everything I could before going to my GP.

Hi Wordsaremything, i am sorry you are going through this and want to tell you about my experience. I had my first hot flush in aug 2013 while out for dinner then another one half an hour later. I realised on the second it was menopause related as the restaurant was cool. I then noticed i had a flush abt 20mins after drinking coffee and as i have a low sugar diet i noticed that it i did eat any sugar at all, fruit, choc, ice cream, dried fruit, i would wake up dead on 3am without fail. So agree with BIWI re diet as in my experience i knew if i had any sugar i would wake up. So if i had abit knowing i wd wake up, i had what i wanted as i had set myself up for the 3am wake up. I gave up alcohol in 2012 as i started getting a headache after one glass of wine so am not tempted by alcohol at all. I take tea pigs chamomile tea every night x2 teabags and that helps me get back to sleep if i wake up for the loo. I am also gluten free as have coeliac disease and a friend of mine read somewhwre that coeliacs suffer less than those who eat gluten. In aug 2014 i had my blood tested to see if i was perimenopausal and my gynea said i had reached my menopause given my hormone levels. I sat there in shock as i didnt feel i had really suffered. I told her abt avoiding sugar and if i didnt then i woke up and she didnt seem at all interested in my theory but i wanted to shout from the rooftops to all women having night flushes to try thr no sugar stance as if it helps then its very little to give up and alot to gain. I have a feather down duvet and whether i have this or not its the sugar that makes the difference. So avoid alcohol, fruit, choc, ice cream, anything with sugar, even carrots. Even tomatoes and see if this helps. Give it 2 days and then if it does help see if you can introduce carrots and tomatoes. I avoid as much sugar as poss to keep my weight where i want it to be. Good luck. Ps hrt not sn option for me as i would be scared as who knows what it will do to my body. In 10+ yrs time if i have a cancer diagnosis i would always wonder if it was the hrt. Will keep an eye on your thread.

I agree with lifestyle measures helping and they should be tried first. I have followed almost the same diet as you Chick for 20+ years due to various intolerances. Hardly any sugar, no booze for decades, no gluten, only water and herbal tea to drink etc(all a complete pain when trying to eat out until recently). That is why my peri symptoms were non existent until 53 when my periods more or less stopped. So yes, I agree that diet can work for some people. BUT when my oestrogen fell right away I started hourly flushes and other symptoms. Even now I sleep badly now and then, and that when using a low-dose HRT.

I appreciate that some women find any risk of breast cancer unacceptable. However, if you look at the stats - there is a very good graph on Menopause Matters- you will see that a moderate intake of alcohol, being overweight, and being inactive all constitute a HIGHER risk of b cancer than HRT. The link that Bellaciao posted to the International Menopause Society information gives all the stats and the pros and cons.

Everyone who uses HRT weighs up all the pros and cons and it's about quality of life for many women.

Great post amicissimma! .....and taking HRT is not "admitting defeat"!! I'm also actually glad that I suffered debilitating symptoms (of flushes and sweats) during the peri-menopausal stage - because it meant that I read up about HRT and now have taken it for quite a few years - and hopefully protected myself from some adverse health problems later. Those who do not suffer symptoms at the crucial stage - and therefore do not take HRT - may end up with conditions related to oestrogen deficiency - yet be unaware that oestrogen replacement might have prevented these.

It would be interesting to have more research into the factors which predispose women to debilitating menopausal symptoms ?

Amic indeed I consider myself very fortune to have escaped with only relatively mild symptoms!

My understanding is that (assuming it isn't needed to relive debilitating symptoms) the risks of HRT outweigh the benefits.

All the lifestyle stuff, Suzanne. All the unhealthy lifestyle things make it worse, on avg. On avg the healthy lifestyle things alleviate.

Doing the right lifestyle things doesn't guarantee an easy ride, though.

What I wondered about was the long-term impacts of healthier/unhealthier choices. Obesity changes the chemistry of your body, for instance. Once you put your body out of chemical kilter for a long spell then cumulative damage can get going, & maybe can't be undone. So could long term obesity make symptoms worse (not just obesity at start of perimenopause or obesity at a specific age, etc)

Same with lack of activity; low physical activity changes the chemistry of your body. Nobody does that kind of science to let us really know for certain, though, unethical on people and I dunno which longitudinal datasets would yield answers. I wondered about the Breakthru Generations study, though.

It's really nice to think we can control how hard menopause hits us, but I'm not sure if we're just fooling ourselves that anything besides the drugs is a definite way for us to take control.

Once you put your body out of chemical kilter for a long spell then cumulative damage can get going, & maybe can't be undone

I think that sounds plausible

also it seems to me that menopause is a time when your body is in a state of 'flux'....all your organs and tissues are adjusting to functioning with changed hormone levels.
Estrogen does start to decline in the 30's as the store of eggs is depleted, so to an extent there is some background adjustment going on for several years before hand.
But there is still a sharp drop at menopause

any stress at this turbulent time may have a particularly strong impact, I saw this coming down the line towards me and I took steps to reduce sources of stress.
Had I not been able to do those things I suspect I would have suffered much more.

Of course this is all speculative and anecdotal.

This is the risks v benefits as shown on Menopause Matters by consultant gynaes.
Hover your cursor over the scales and they tip in one direction or another

HRT risks v benefits

You will also see the same info if you research the BMS and the IMS websites and a paper which shows prevention of diseases linked to low oestrogen. Bellaciao linked to it in a previous post. Very worthwhile read.

I remain of the opinion that humans have evolved such that the reduced estrogen levels we experience after menopause are optimal for our bodies.

Our estrogen exposure is already far higher than women would have experienced through much of our evolutionary history.

Clearly some women suffer badly at menopause, they are ill and need treatment, but menopause isn't inherently pathological

or to put it another way debilitating symptoms at menopause are a sign of underlying imbalances/dysfunctions which have been exposed by the extra physiological stress of menopause

Science, not opinions, shows that the symptoms of menopause and female diseases like osteoporosis are caused by loss of oestrogen. I prefer to base my choices on science and the knowledge and advice of consultants who have advised me.

Every bit of research on HRT shows that women who use oestrogen -only HRT have LESS breast cancer than women who have never used HRT.(Figures are on Menopause Matters as a graph) The risks of HRT appear to be linked to synthetic progestogens when used with oestrogen at high levels, and many women using HRT choose an alternative- natural progesterone.

Oestrogen alone does not raise cancer risk - and if anyone cares to read the paper that Bellaciao linked to, there may be a case for using HRT as a preventative of diseases that are linked to lower oestrogen post menopause.

Menopause is not an illness or a disease- read any reputable book or paper written by drs and this is quite clearly explained.

Amicissimma - you can rest assured that I am very thankful that my symptoms are - at least currently - minimal. I don't consider people who take HRT weak at all.

I would like to add that i completely understand why women turn to HRT. The symptoms described in some of the posts are horrendous and debilitating. And there is no indication whether the symptoms will last for weeks, months or years. We have to do what we feel is best and its a personal decision. Amicissmma, thank goodness HRT works for you.

The point that Bellaciao made is that HRT may actually help prevent disease and the link she left shows that although drs are not actually saying it ought to be used (yet) as a preventative treatment for all women against diseases of old age, the thinking is heading in that direction. Women who use HRT are protected against plaque in the arteries ( 50% less than women not using it), osteoporosis, have a better lipid (cholesterol) profile and often a better distribution of body fat (less apple shape which is linked again to heart disease and certain cancers.)

It's funny isn't it how if a man needed testosterone because his declined faster than his peers, I doubt is other men would try to dissuade him or bang on about the small risks , or encourage him to try other methods whilst he suffered for years and years. For some reason HRT is an emotional topic amongst women - and it ought not to be.