How do you cope with hot flushes affecting sleep

[Cape21]

I have coped with the blood flooding, the lack of sex desire, the weight gain, the emotion swings, the skin issues, hating being touched. Now it is like a nail to hammer me against the deck, the hot flushes early morning, depriving me of sleep. The lying outside of bed clothes on the edge of the bed hoping to catch a chilling breeze. Working the next day and clinging on to being a professional as well as a mother and wife. Think this is going to hammer me down. Lack of sleep, fear of another wave of heat overtaking me, will I make it through the day of work, will I get swamped in the middle of a meeting. How are you all coping, how can this be, Surely there is more to life more help available. I thought the embarrassment of flooding blood at work as I walked down a corridor with a colleague would be the worst of it. I am now rethinking this with hot flushes and lack of sleep

Silk duvet and a fan on all night. Throw the covers off till the heat passes. The fan feels lovely. When you're suddenly absolutely freezing, back under the duvet.

HRT helps.

Separate duvets and a flat sheet under the duvet so you can throw the duvet back and sleep under the sheet. I've heard others mention a Chillow pillow but haven't tried it.

I tried everything. HRT was the only thing that worked.

Silk pillow case is your friend.

When you wake up mid flush just turn it over and because of the silky fabric it feels icy cold on the underside.

So soothing and cooling next to your skin.

When that side gets hot flip them over again. That got me through many a night.

Dyson cool me fan on floor next to bed aimed at my face, super quiet and doesn't bother my husband, and those cheap cooling towels. I'm now on HRT so no hot flushes but I still like my fan on low.

This was quite a good recent thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/menopause/a4416364-The-very-useful-menopause-is-sh-t-hints-and-tips-thread

(I liked the tip about two gel cooling pillows)

A John Lewis cool pillow was the best £25 I’ve spent, slept loads better and even if it does warm up, switch it over and it’s cool again.
Tie hair back if your hair covers your neck.
Summer weight duvet. Fan if nothing else works or in hot weather.
Identify any triggers and limit them, spicy food, sugar and alcohol etc
Good luck

HRT!! Life changer

Thank you! I dont know where to start as am overwhelmed that people made effort to help. Just f e d up with the whole thing and thinking straw that broke….me about to come

HRT. I've managed to cope pretty well with fairly minimal menopause symptoms for years but have found the last two years almost unbearable with night sweats and insomnia. A wool duvet helps a lot. But HRT is the only thing that's knocked it on the head.

Another vote for HRT; certainly worth discussing with your GP.

Another vote for HRT here. oestrogen patch, progesterone pills, testosterone gel, oestrogen vaginal cream. No booze, regular exercise (in my case, walking at least 5k a day, plenty of Pilates, ballet barre, yoga - you can get good YouTube content and do all these at home if getting to classes is not your thing - but regular exercise to help with muscle tone, flexibility, strength and generally clearing the head). I can't manage without coffee in the mornings but I try and stay off caffeine after about 4pm.

Bear in mind that it's hormone replacement therapy - it's just topping up your levels to what they were when your body was your friend! Look up the NICE guidelines on HRT/menopause, make an appointment with your GP. Don't give up! it will get better!

Thank you all. I have been doing the light bed linen and silk pillow and i sleep in a cold room, but last night they started at 11pm and went on every 45 minutes till i got up at 6am. They still carried on after that but i went for a run in the frosty wolf moon so i didnt notice them as much. I am shattered with lack of sleep and GP appointment thursday. I just want my sleep back

My GP prescribed HRT for me, he was great, asked what i had researched asked my view. I was open to options. But refused anti depressants as had recent experience due to a trapped nerve. I chose the pain over sleep and fog,. Am bewildered that the answer is to sleep not deal with root cause of why i can t sleep. For me a good result hope all of us feel the same

After several tries with HRT.

Female GP suggested Black cohosh and red clover tablets. Works a treat after a while.

I find drinking a lot of tea made with fresh sage leaves helps - you need to steep in boiling water and leave to cool so you can bolt it down quickly as it tastes disgusting. Also running a cold bath at bed time and leaving it there all night so you can get out of bed and jump in it until you are freezing also helps.

HRT was the only thing that worked for me. Was exhausted through sleep deprivation before I started it.

I've just started hrt, and this was one of my main reasons. Lying awake in a puddle of sweat (I've taken to sleeping on a towel!) for half the night! That and the homicidal rage pushed me to see the doc for hrt.

I slept on towels and used a top sheet so I was covered enough to sleep but without the extra heat of a duvet. Through that part of menopause now, thank goodness.

Before I went on HRT the game changer for me was a wool duvet. I got one from baavet. Basically it regulates to your temp. The medium is an 8-12 tog.. literally the first night I slept in it I woke up without sweating and felt warm and cosy.. very odd feeling after boiling and sweating then freezing cause I had thrown the duvet off me

I had exactly the same problem. Cycling between boiling hot and freezing cold at about 30 minute intervals all night. And working at a senior level in a challenging workplace. It was a nightmare to say the least.

HRT helped but I had to stop taking it. So back at it.

I wore only cotton nightdresses. 100% cotton sheets. Ceiling fan and bedside fan that had a remote control. Silk duvet with cotton cover.

Cooling pillow (at least it said it was). Window open.

DH really had to be understanding.

It gradually got better but I had my ovaries removed recently and it came back. I guess they were still producing something.

I hope the HRT helps OP. It is really a problem when you need to be on top of things at work.

I keep a cold wet flannel at the side of the bed, as soon as I feel it rise in me I lay it over my shoulder as I lay on my side. Just keep moving it around from shoulder to shoulder. My biggest problem is during the day, I can be on a teams meeting and it just happens, I go bright red and there's nothing that I can do. I just say it's my age and make light of it now, stops any embarrassment.

They do stop for a while then come back again. I don't have any other symptoms now so I don't really think it's too much to have to cope with, a wet sheet and keep changing my bed us manageable.

Op thats hard going I feel for you. Had alot of sweating my sleep is erractic. Just waiting on new female gp to start. Im 49. Im exhausted some days. Hard in the workplace as you say. My coil great zero bleeds.

I think the OP @Cape21 is okay now as she updated her post a couple of weeks later and said she'd got HRT.