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Menopause

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Original poster

What do hot flushes feel like

40 replies

Topsyandtim123 · 06/08/2023 20:39

I am peri-meno, I have had test with high FSH last year but no symptoms. I have started to feel very warm on my face, it come quickly and is only on face. it is a slow heat and I sort of sweat (just feel slightly tacky not sweat) but I really feel it on my eye lids and forehead. Is this a hot flush or am I just hot? I never see anyone say how they first started.

OP posts:
Whattodowithallthebooks · 06/08/2023 22:06

I feel hot all over, hot feet too, can get panicky, get palpitations with it sometimes too.

Sittingonasale · 06/08/2023 22:08

MotherOfCatBoy · 06/08/2023 21:48

Mine started at 44, warm face, feeling flushed, sweating upper body - need to remove a layer etc. I didn’t mind them that much, even in work, I was just open about them. But at night - my God! Hot all over, irresistible heat from the chest out, building to every pore sweating, including fingers and toes. Got on HRT for 2 years as I couldn’t sleep.
Came off it afterwards, flushes came straight back, but I’m 51 now and it’s eased off a bit though they still happen. I generally sleep much better. Triggers are hot drinks,
hot food, hot weather.
Over time I noticed they are frequently accompanied by two weird but consistent precursors- I get suddenly thirsty - if I find myself reaching for cold water I know I’m going to flush a minute or two later; and also there is a sudden sense of anxiety that I never had before - like a plummeting lift of existential doom. I’ve learned to shrug it off as after the flush it’s gone again but it’s the oddest thing.

. I don't think I was tested even though I had similar symptoms.
Awful sense of anxiety and dread but this was happening quite regularly. I had to keep calling my mum to stay with me at night.

They put me on Amytriptoline in the end as well as antidepressants as I was also getting back pain.

My anxiety was so bad this last year though that I stopped eating and lost 3 stone in a few months. I also had really bad nausea so went through a lot of tests for different things which made me stress more so a vicious circle.

I'd get sudden bouts of feeling warm, agitated and pacing around, fast heartbeat and feeling dreadful. BP often went high, sometimes a mild temperature. I learnt to do deep breathing and calm myself a bit.

The Amytriptoline + Fluoxetine has definately helped and I'm much better than I was.

PuppyMonkey · 06/08/2023 22:08

Oh yes, the doom is a definite thing from what I’ve read. Lord knows what that’s about - bloody hormones.

MotherOfCatBoy · 06/08/2023 22:11

Exactly. Who knew!

Findyourneutralspace · 06/08/2023 22:18

Im still struggling to work out if mine are actually flushes. I feel I’m more affected by heat when I exercise, I wake in the night all sweaty with nightmares, but I’m not sure if it’s peri. I’m 46 but this has gone on since my mid 30s with no other symptoms that’s I can tell

Missymarple · 06/08/2023 22:18

Mine started at 42 and it was like a rolling heat from my feet upwards that no amount of layer removing did anything to help. I just told myself that it would pass and to hold on till it did. Mine were mostly at night so I'd have a mad scramble to get the duvet on again when I cooled down and was absolutely frozen. HRT sorted it right out thankfully.

Zoraflora · 06/08/2023 22:19

For me its like a flicked switch and this burning heat starts in my chest and rises, my face doesn’t go red but feels like it is. My scalp also feels really hot.

I feel all flustered, overwhelmed & panicky, cant think straight type of feeling. I think thats the worst part of it.

WithIcePlease · 06/08/2023 22:25

PuppyMonkey · 06/08/2023 21:45

I'm six years in. It goes:

feeling of impending doom.
Intense heat around chest throat.
Massive wave of hot flush.
sweatiness.
perfectly okay again.

still get them 2/3 times a day. If it’s a heatwave much more (love this crap summer).

the feeling of impending doom is by far the worst thing.

The impending doom! I think that's it for me too. I can recall my first one in a cab and I thought I was going to have a stroke. I've never had headaches so that's what I presumed when I had the odd feeling in my head.

Daffodilwoman · 06/08/2023 22:29

There are lots of symptoms of peri menopause. Not all women get all of the symptoms. I’m on HRT but before I took it I had terrible night sweats. They woke me up every night and I really struggled to get back to sleep- it was exhausting. I had terrible anxiety, brain fog and started to feel drowsy at work. During the day I would suddenly get hot, then it would pass.

Original poster
Topsyandtim123 · 06/08/2023 22:37

I have noticed that I am not sleeping as deeply as before, but not having any hot flushes at night yet. I noticed them after drinking hot drinks which is what one poster mentioned above. As mentioned earlier, it’s very hard to find info on the early hot flush experience before they develop into full on ones.

OP posts:
caringcarer · 07/08/2023 00:25

Yes, bad luck OP because that is a hot flush and they get worse too. My face went 🟣 and the sweat was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

minipie · 07/08/2023 00:45

Findyourneutralspace · 06/08/2023 22:18

Im still struggling to work out if mine are actually flushes. I feel I’m more affected by heat when I exercise, I wake in the night all sweaty with nightmares, but I’m not sure if it’s peri. I’m 46 but this has gone on since my mid 30s with no other symptoms that’s I can tell

I’m exactly the same. Much sweatier than other people (and than I used to be) when I exercise. And sweaty at night, even on cooler nights. But nothing in the day. Had this for a year or two, I am 42. Is it peri? No idea.

Ourladycheesusedatum · 07/08/2023 07:46

Topsyandtim123 · 06/08/2023 21:37

I have always read about the worst ones, for example night sweats and sweat pouring from face and all over body. wondering if what i described is the beginning and if this is the start how long until it goes up from slight heat and feeling like what I described to full on flush? Never any info on first noticed hot flush stuff.

The meno brain makes it so I cant remember when it started for certain.
Probably around 38, but I was busy with a job and children and a social life.
Kids have left home, I'm part time cos I simply cant work full time and my social life is severely curtailed. :- also see "she's a crabby one today and hates people"

On the night sweats, I've not had many, but oh God they are terrible. Love that at midnight and 2am and 4am I'm up changing the sheets, and the next morning I'm ordering a new pillow. Happy to not have that every night, but I dont know when its going to happen. If I could figure it out, I could sleep differently.

Slavica · 07/08/2023 07:54

I had my first one about three years ago, I am now 48 and have yet to skip a period. I have other symptoms of peri, but the hot flashes have been mild and manageable so far, and feel exactly as you describe them. I don't sweat with them (yet). Apparently my maternal grandmother really suffered from bad ones for many years, my mom, on the other hand, did not.

Original poster
Topsyandtim123 · 07/08/2023 19:10

Thanks for all the responses, it seems so different for everyone and good luck all of you in the thick of them.

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