How have you coped\dealt with night sweats?

[Fab53]

I am having the most horrendous night sweats. I'm 53. I used to have them a while ago, went to the GP thinking I was premenopausal but turned out I was Type 2 diabetic. I now have my diabetes under control having been given Mounjaro and losing almost 4 stone. I am on HRT but have been forgetting to put my patches on, but will restart them today. Does anyone have any tips for coping with them in the meantime please? Thank you.

Your patch should work very quickly.
My flushes etc improved within a few days of starting hrt.

Exercise is also supposed to help, according to research- brisk walking, swimming- for an hour a day- or whatever you can do!

Pre-HRT the only thing that helped a bit was having a fan blowing on me all night, wearing cotton pjs or sleeping naked. But nothing actually sorted them until I took HRT. I am on patches too and they went within a week or so of starting. I sometimes go a day or so late in putting a new one on but doesn’t have an impact.

if I were you I’d get a better system to remind you to change your patch and/or speak to your GP about increasing the strength, maybe your need a stronger dose.

I tried loads - bamboo pjs, sleeping on towels, Japanese cooling blanket.

only thing that really sorted them was hrt

The only thing that worked (and it worked very quickly) was HRT - the patches. Pop one on and switch twice a week. Then worst case you forget for one day but there’s no time you don’t have one on as it’s a straight switch. I do mine on the same two day every week.

Fab53, congratulations on getting the diabetes under control and restarting your patches — for the nights while the HRT is catching up, a few large towels or a spare duvet cover stacked at the foot of the bed lets you swap the top layer in seconds instead of wrestling with a full bed change in the dark, which a lot of mums on here find is the one thing that keeps them actually getting back to sleep. Pairing that with the room set as cool as you can stand and a small fan left on overnight also tends to take a lot of the edge off.

There is some suggestion that antihistamines may help with hot flushes. An easy enough thing to try.

Are you on Amlodipine ( blood pressure drug) by any chance. Just asking because I am, and I have put 2 and 2 together after my hot flushes re surfaced ( I’m 59, not on HRT). It is a side effect of the drug.

I've started getting these. I was on gel then patches but they did nothing to help my aching so I stopped using all hrt. This was about 2 years ago and I'm now 54. The sweats aren't awful and are short lasting. I found this spray from Avon worked well. It was called Adapt Icy Cooling Elixir for peri-menopause. Of course they discontinued it as soon as I found it. I used to spray it on my face and neck and it helped instantly.

The HRT will help quite quickly, but when I first started getting them - albeit fairly mildly - long before I started HRT, I found Omega 3 was surprisingly helpful.

I think my night sweats resolved within a week of starting HRT so you need to get into the routine of applying your patches on the correct days.Use an alarm on your phone or similar to try and remember. If you find it doesn’t work I would imagine you need a higher oestrogen dose or further investigations for night sweats.

Hi. I'm not no, I think it is not putting the patches on.

Something that helped me was switching to a wool duvet, it helped regulate my temperature. Sympathy to you, it’s awful, HRT helped me.

I got a cool pad you put in the fridge then sleep on - bliss. Also Avène spring water spray. Keep it by the bed and spray on you when you need to. It’s so cooling and feels lovely.

HRT stopped mine in about a week, I use gel, either way you have to remember.

Get a face cloth and rinse it in cold water, wring it out and put it on your body. Really helped me make it bearable.