Hot flushes

[Elephant4]

There don't seem to be many posts about hot flushes oddly. I thought there'd be loads here.

I'm heating up so much like a fire is inside me - so many times a day. It's just constant. And at night. It sort of lasts for several minutes and happens several times an hour.

This started in March. Then stopped. Started again in September. Then stopped and has been going now since just before Christmas. It seems to last for about a month and then go.

Is this the menopause? I'm 47.

Sounds like perimenopause to me. Unless there's medical reasons why you can't take it, I recommend HRT. NICE guidelines say GPs should prescribe on the basis of symptoms alone (blood tests are notoriously unreliable because hormone levels fluctuate wildly during peri). Your GP may well be prepared to prescribe over the phone.

Mean time layers are your friend - sheet, wool blanket, summer duvet. Remove/ reapply as required during the night. And resign yourself to daily changes of PJs/ nighties.

PS the month of sweats, month back to normal thing is precisely because of the fluctuating hormones.

Why is it peri menopause rather than menopause?

Is the menopause constant hot flushes and more?

I can’t take HRT as mum had breast cancer and died young due to high oestrogen levels from the old pill. So I want to avoid HRT.

Firstly, if you are still having periods, at 47 you are almost certainly in perimenopause. Menopause is defined as the time after your periods have finally stopped. You have reached menopause if you've had two years without a period under the age of 50, and one year without a period if you are over 50.

Hot flushes tend to start in perimenopause and continue through menopause. They can last long beyond if you are very unlucky.

HRT is the usual clinical option and is very effective. Even if you don't fancy the idea it's worth talking to your GP. It could be that the type of breast cancer your mum had doesn't preclude HRT.

Other options are supplements. This is the approach I took as I didn't feel my symptoms were severe enough for HRT.

Now this is only anecdotal and I'm a sample of one, but I'm sure that taking Menopace Plus supplements stopped my flushes within a couple of weeks, however mine weren't very severe, more like overheating than actual flushes. I also take a red clover and isoflavones supplement which I get from Boots. I'm out the other side now and don't have the overheating issue any more, except for occasionally getting too hot in bed.

As a pp says, layers are your friend both for clothes and in bed.

Thank you so much for this DramaAlpaca

I haven’t done much research as COVID is eclipsing everything at the moment. So I’ve been suffering in silence.

Mum died too long ago for us to know details about her cancer. I don’t want to go digging either as it will resurface traumatic memories that I’ve buried.

I’ll give the supplements a go and do a bit of research of my own now too.

Thank you.

You are very welcome @Elephant4, best of luck.

I'd just like to agree with everything both @DramaAlpaca and @CaraDuneRedux have said.

I fully 'get' your concern over cancer BUT you wouldn't be refused HRT by a specialist on the grounds of your mum's history (sorry to hear about that.)

There would also be no proof that your mum died from the Pill. I've discussed this type of thing with my own consultant who says there is simply no way that either HRT or the Pill can be proved to the cause of any cancer. There are many reasons for b cancer, hormones being only one factor. It might however be worth you asking to be screened more often or even have genetic testing if your mum died very young.

Also, estrogen now is totally different to the Pill or even the old types of HRT.

At 47 you can safely use HRT up to the age of the menopause (final period) which is 51.

Ok. I’ll keep that in mind. We don’t have proof of what made Mum ill, it’s true. And I’m sure HRT is different now and oestrogen supplements.

It’s a relief just finding this section of Mumsnet.

As someone who started hot flushes at 52 and now still have them at 59 I really wish I had gone to see a menopause specialist to have got advice and medication. I have seen my doctor a few times, but each time I’ve come away not knowing much more than when I went in.