Hot flushes driving me to dispair

[Remmy123]

The last few weeks I have started getting hot flushes and many through the night - I can't sleep and I look like sh*t - I am usually a very cold person but now I am in a vest top in the house it's crazy!

I haven't started HRT yet but have an appointment with the doctor

I also have low iron currently which is very unusual and never had before so on iron tablets

will HRT help with these hot flushes as that and no period is my only real symptom?

what else can I take to help - typing while sitting here literally on fire 🔥 and not in a good way!

thanks

I'm sorry to hear about your husband.

For women at least, herbs like sage can take months to work as an alternative to HRT and they don't work for everyone. The BMS has a guide on alternatives to HRT for women who can't it, but they do say there is no real science behind herbs etc working.

Taking HRT even short term has the added benefits of heart and bone health and if anyone is suffering badly, it's probably a waste of time trialling herbs and other things, when HRT usually works very quickly.

Sage helped enormously. The tablets took a while to kick in but really helped once they did.
Breathing doesn't stop them in any way but breathing through them when they hit really helps. If you can, shut your eyes, let them roll through your body and let them pass. Don't get upset or stressed or fight them, as it makes them worse. It took me a long time to figure this out and it's not in any way intended to be dismissive. First line is to try and eliminate them of course but this helps to manage them when they hit.

Thanks.
I started walking more this year, aiming for daily walks. I have a frozen shoulder, so I can’t lift anything heavy atm and need to be cautious with my movements. I also do the exercises my physio gave me. I hope it helps.

Hi. If you reading this, may I ask where you buy your sage tablets?
Thank you for the advice and suggestions. Learning something new every day from here.

Definitely HRT, it replaces what you’re losing so fixes everything

Sage complex from Victoria Health. Shabir, the owner, is a very knowledgeable chemist and has great recommendations on menopause. Let me see if I can find something. Hold the line caller...

Scroll forward to 8 minutes 50 secs for menopause specific advice https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v7GIn_Ie-_E

Thank you @Ebok1990

@Ebok1990 I'm taking ibuprofen for my shoulder in the morning after breakfast and after dinner. Are there any interactions with sage? Should I wait?
Always forget to take them though.

I was adamant that I didnt want to go down the HRT route and managed for quite a while with menopace and sage tablets but all of a sudden they seemed to stop working. After months of being constantly woken up with hot sweats through the night and lack of sleep making me tearful, tired and tetchy I gave in. The Dr prescribed me Kliofem the oral HRT.
Within a week all my symptoms had gone and it seemed to suit me.

Have been taking for about two and a half years. Just over a year ago, I started bleeding lightly and knew it should be checked out. Off I went to Drs and he referred me to Gyny unit. Turned out to have some fibroids and polyps which they removed. Luckily nothing sinister from biopsy so carried on as normal.

Here I am just over a year later and I recently had a bad gallbladder attack with me spending an horrendous 25hrs in A & E. The CT scan revealed infection of gallbladder and stones so I am on hotlist for it to be removed. The scan also revealed fibroids had returned!! So awaiting for gyny appointment as well.
I have since found out after loads of research that HRT can cause fibroids as oestrogen feeds them. There has also been a link to gallbladder problems as well so am anticipating to be told to come off HRT. Not sure I could cope with night sweats on top of everything else at the moment so will wait and see what they say.
Would I have gone on it if I knew about the possible problems ahead?
Probably, as I was desperate for sleep but its something to be aware of.

So... why do I still have crazy hot flushes and night sweats during my period when I have a 100 evorel patch and HRT works miraculously to stop everyone else's flushes ?

HRT has been effective for lots of other symptoms, which I'm grateful for, but not hot flushes. Which I find odd as everyone says they are the primary thing it works for.

You can check this out but I think tablet form of HRT is the higher risk for gall bladder issues. The estrogen has to go through your digestive system including the liver and this can affect lipids.

If you continue on HRT think about transdermal types like patches.

I’ve come off HRT as I am through menopause but I found I was still suffering from hot flashes, particularly at night. I started taking Sainsbury’s own brand menopause multivitamin and they’ve stopped! Took a few weeks to kick in but I can finally sleep again without waking up drenched in sweat.

Yes you are right. Dr didnt suggest changing and when I said about coming off HRT but doing it gradually he said it can be done cold turkey which Im very unsure about. Will wait to see what they say at hospital.

when I started to get night sweats I decided to try sage extract tablets. They worked straight away.

I really don't know sorry.

Ooh helpful! Are these the ones ?

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-health-matters-womens-health-menopause-support-one-a-day-tablet-x30

I don't understand why they always put Calcium in these multivitamins. Calcium blocks iron and magnesium absorption. It drives me potty. Why put them all in the same vitamin? Surely vitamin producers must know this.

I will ask the pharmacist tomorrow. Thanks anyway.

Yes, those ones! Cheap as chips but are doing the trick. I didn’t know that about calcium and iron absorption though.

My gp in France recommended Abufene. It’s over the counter here, and works really well for me. I take it for a month and then start again when they start again.

https://www.soin-et-nature.com/en/9277-abufen-400-mg-hot-flashes-60-tablets.html

HRT helped instantly for me, I have evorel conti patches, so easy and no side effects!

Aren’t you meant to stay on it so you still have the hormones?

You can stay on it if you want, but I decided nearly five years was enough for me. The fact was, by the time I stopped, I felt as bad as I did when I first started taking it! My crippling insomnia, hot flashes, irritability and anxiety had returned and I had ballooned by 2.5 stone, to the point my breasts (already sizeable) were so dense that it made it hard to get a reading at my mammogram. My periods had stopped anyway and my GP thinks my body just reached its tolerance limit for HRT.

Ultimately it was all of the above and also worrying about the breast cancer risk as I got older and become obese through the weight gain that made me decide to stop. I feel great now! I'm sleeping solidly, my mood is positive and I'm no longer anxious, I'm losing weight and have more energy, and, thanks to the vitamins, the only lingering symptom of hot flashes seems to have disappeared too.

My GP is our surgery's HRT expert and she was fully supportive of me coming off. She thinks there's a lot to be said for NICE's previous 5-year rule of stopping, because you're artificially keeping your body in a stage that it has naturally passed through. But likewise she would absolutely keep prescribing post-menopause if I couldn't manage without it.

I am very happy to be off it, but I get it's not the right move for everyone.

The sage had no effect on me at all for hot flushes and I took it for 2 years. Good quality A Vogel brand too.

Same here. I suffered with menopause symptoms like I said before, I’ve also got an underactive thyroid and the only thing which worked was the HRT. I feel normal now and my sex drive is back.

I find A Vogel Sage tablets very good. My night sweats disappeared straight away.