So hot and miserable

[AntimonySalts]

Good evening ladies,

I'm not sure where else to turn. I am so hot. It is unspeakable. Not hot flashes - it's all the time. I feel as if I'm dying now, and I know it will be even worse in an hour or so, when I go to bed.

Bed involves lying there with a fan on, the window open (despite noisy main road), and a thin cotton sheet. Wearing nothing (goes against the grain, but still). I put the sheet on. I wake up, boiling hot. I remove the sheet. I get cold. I put it back on. I get hot. Remove it. Get cold. And so on, for the whole of the night. Not sharing a bed with anyone, so I'm not getting heat from anyone else.

I've posted this in Menopause, because I'm sure it's peri (I'm 46 - GP has sent me for bloods to rule out a thyroid problem, as she says the symptoms are similar. I had the tests a week ago, but haven't heard anything, which suggests they are normal: she said she would assume peri if nothing else showed up) - but can anyone offer any advice at all? Please????? I just want to sleep.

HRT isn't for everyone as some women don't need it. Others are unable to use it (just adding this before someone jumps on these comments!)

But.....there still seems to be - even amongst women- this idea perhaps that it's bad, or taken by vain women who want to'preserve their youth' or whatever. I think these arguments were started by men, decades ago but they seem to have infiltrated our psyche!

Only 10-15% of women use HRT yet 75% of women have quite bad meno symptoms and maybe around 20% for 20+ years.

It's also obvious that a lot of women never make the connection between their health issues and loss of estrogen and don't bother to ask for help (and most GPs don't have a clue anyway.) So they end up on ADs, beta blockers, drugs for arthritis, headaches, insomnia, osteoporosis, anxiety, etc when perhaps all they need(ed) is HRT!

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Just catching up...

Queen: ADs, beta blockers, drugs for arthritis, headaches, insomnia, osteoporosis, anxiety. Yes, to all of those, bar beta blockers. And I used to the happiest and most cheerful person on the planet. Now I am a mass of hotness and pain and anxiety. Ugggghhhhh.

There are so many useful posts here. Dorje, I am glad HRT has worked for you. Hope it has the same effect on Jellycat.

I am thinking that I might give it a go. GP said I was possibly on the young side (nearly 47), though my mum was going through peri when she was my age. She of course soldiered on without anything except magnesium tablets, and has advised me to do the same .

Furry, thanks for the link. I have bought one! Anything is worth a go. The frozen towel last night wasn't very effective, as I forgot to wet it before I froze it

last summer was shiteymcshiterson for me.

...everlasting niagra random periods
hot, so so hot. No one would come in the car with me in the end because of the air con....dh had his coat on one day and i was still MELTING
the crying...oh the crying, my dog did die so I know that did not help, but really, I am not a cryer.
my bones were also killing me slowly
and the migraines were returning

Anyhoo I finally went to the GP , I am a NHS avoider at all costs, but she was so helpful and kind, except for refusing me HRT because of the blood pressure and migraines....which we resolved (white coat hypertension) and migraines are NO excuse
Eventually I ended up with a new Mirena coil and that has banished the monthly bloodbath, or finally beaten my womb into submission and some vagifem pessaries to keep the area from fossilising

I had a Menopause clinic appointment as well ...they recommended the vagifem, but I will say they were a little too keen to heave ho me onto antidepressants for my liking, someone less stubborn might have been easily swayed, but I did feel that ADs would be an added extra and an OTT starting point, I felt that starting at the beginning and replacing what was missing might be simplest and so far what I have is suiting me

No more hot flushes My bones are still killing me though so I might go back and ask about that...unless anyone here has recommendations? I already take Vit d supplements which has improved them a good bit.

So have a good look at what's available and see what they offer that suits would be my advice.

@QueenoftheNights, the reluctance on my part was because I didn’t get on with the pill (tried 3 different types and had problems with constant bleeding, horrendous headaches and depression) so I was hoping I wouldn’t get to a point where I felt I needed HRT. But I have been finding these hot flushes absolutely intolerable. So I really hope I can cope with this. I picked up the patches today (I’ve got Evorel Sequi) and put the first one on this afternoon so I’ll see how it goes. I’m weirdly excited!

I have been so smug until now 'ooo look at me, sailing through the menopause without a care'
I'm lying on my bed with a large fan on full blast and a flannel wrapped around ice on my forehead and worrying I haven’t locked the house up properly.

The heat within me is unreal. First time I've felt anxious on a regular basis too.

I am having a generally rotten time at the moment but I've always been positive and optimistic but can't muster it recently.

Not had a period this year as far as I recall after 2 years of fortnightly bleeds.
Not enjoying this week.

MsHomeSlice I tried to get myself Mirena coiled. It was a jolly uncomfortable way to find out that they couldn't fit one due to prolapse following the Birth from Hell. I had wanted something that would act as a contraceptive (though how likely am I to become pg at nearly 47?) as well as sorting out the effing periods. Brilliant that yours has cooled you down...

jellycat, two awful experiences with the Pill (25 years apart) are a major thing that worries me about HRT - though I'm a bit reassured by posters who say that HRT hormones are identical to our own, rather than artificial Pill ones. I will be very interested to hear how you get on.

Yet another hot and miserable night. DP put a big fan on for me until I thought I had better turn it off as he needed to be up at 5 for work and it was very noisy. I then resorted to the flannels again, but still felt as if I was going to expire.

Luxury, you have all my sympathy!

Drink an 8oz glass of freezing cold water before bed, have a cool bath and put loads of ice packs in your bed with you, works a treat.

How on earth can anyone be bothered with ice packs and wet packs etc when there are safe methods to help all of this? HRT.

I'll be getting HRT if it's suitable for me, that's for sure. My symptoms have come on suddenly and due to the aforementioned bad time I'm having I didn't realise at first.

I won't suffer unnecessarily and I was struck by a pp posters thoughts about older women than I taking pills for this and that.

Queen I am on HRT but still need the ice packs etc, although had my three month review today and she has doubled my dose so that may help. Most of my symptoms were better, even on the lower dose but I still have the hot flushes and itching so fingers crossed the double dose does the trick.

I've overheated my whole life. I imagine I wasn't supposed to be on HRT from age 12. Things like ice lollies & wearing wet clothes have been bliss (& someone can try those things today without having to wait for results of the experiment with 60 different types and doses of HRT which seems to be the norm on these threads).

How can anyone wear wet clothes if they are doing a job? Or use ice packs if they sleep with a partner? Is this about going into work wearing a wet T shirt?

Don't forget that issues with hrt are mainly discussed on forums; loads of women get on great with their first choice and don't join a forum to talk about it.

Funny enough, I was wearing a wet shirt while sitting at my office job today. I got it soaked so I could go for a comfortable fast walk in the sun an hour earlier. Could have had an icepack too.

OP was talking about problems in bed at 9pm. If she has a freezer, she could have reached for an icepack then & there. A lot easier than reaching for HRT prescription she didn't yet have or hasn't figured out the right sort out.

@AntimonySalts, so far so good- surprised to be somewhat less unbearably hot and sweaty today. Didn’t expect to be feeling any effects so quickly but I definitely feel different already 😮.

have been on HRT for a few years (am 54) primarily because of the hot flushes which were ruining my life and my job. Every so often I stop taking it to see if my periods have stopped and if the hot flushes came back. this time I lasted about 6 weeks before I had to give up and go back on it again. the continous one this time and after a week the flushes are receding.
I was also prone to horrendous UTIs and going onto HRT helped with that.

why would you stop using HRT to see if your periods have stopped?