menopause - hot flashes | Arthritis Information

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just wondered how many here are like me, menopausal, and having hot flashes, also wondered how you choose to deal with them.

I am drinking a large glass of organic soya milk every day and it really is helping.  (theorganic one in my supermarket has the highest soya content)

anna
anna_uk39254.4804282407

Hi Anna,

I have bad hot flashes and take a soy isoflavone supplement that has helped a lot.  I can't do the ERT with breast cancer in my family.

Take care

I am menopausal since my hysterectomy 18 months ago. No hot flashes yet.
I am also concerned about ERT because I am overweight and my gyno doctor
told me that fat cells actually produce estrogen rather than store it as once
thought.

Hi Anna,

I'm menopausal too and have bad hot flashes. Especially in the summer. I can't take anything, not even supplements, because of a high breast cancer risk in my family. I keep the air conditioning cranked up all the time, and if I'm sitting in one place for any length of time then I put a fan in front of me also. A girlfriend suggested holding small ice packs on the temples for a few minutes. She read it on the internet somewhere. Sometimes I just stand in front of the freezer with the door open. Only when my husband isn't home, of course. Naturally, he thinks I'm over-exaggerting. I've tried to explain feeling like a furnace burning from the inside out, but he doesn't get it.

 

 

 

 I've been having hot flashes for a couple years now and was on ERT  for about a year and they really helped, but when I had a heart attack I was taken off them pronto. Now I'm just pretty much miserable and my hubby says you could "hang meat" any time of the year in our house.lol...He turns the electric blanket on his side of the bed to get warm when he goes to bed and it's in the 90's here. My A/C is on 68 to 70. Sorry global warming but I'm leaving my footprints all over the place. I have to have relief or I think I will  melt...

 I've heard "black kohash" (sp) from the health food stores help but I've not tried it. Oh, I'm 53 yrs old

genesis39254.5535416667I'm only 36 and have gone through menopause really early. Started at 32. I've been on HRT for a couple years now and I'm happy with the results. Due to my age and decreased bone density my doctors felt liek the benifits of HRT far our weighted the risk.i am 41 and 6 mths ago i started having hot flashes and irratic periods . now the periods have stopped . the doctor put me on estraderm patches and it has been great . no more hot flashes.

Anna,

I was sent straight thru menopause when I had chemo associated with the stem cell transplant.

I can tell you Flax Seed Oil Capsules stop hot flashes.  When I told the Rhuematogist he said I was the 3rd person to tell him that so he believed it.

If you have breast cancer in family check with doctor before using it.

I have had great success with it.

LuAnn

I am on HRT and it has been wonderful as far as helping me with all menopausal symptoms. I take the low dose and so far, so good.

I went through menopause several years ago, but it seems like it lasted forever, especially when perimenopause causes some of the same symptoms in some people.

I had a hysterectomy at 30, but they left my ovaries, so I  didn't think I'd know when it hit. Boy, was I wrong!

Miles2go, I, too stood in front of the open freezer. A LOT! Cool showers in the middle of the night, when I woke up in a pool of "glow." (anyone else ever heard that? my Grandma said, horses sweat, men perspire and women "glow")

Anyway, both "miles" and LuAnn mentioned supplements. No one ever told me that could be bad if you have a strong family history of breast cancer. My Grandmother, Mother and 3 maternal aunts all had it. And my PCP told me, during the worst of the menopause symptoms, that I should take Flaxseed Oil and Soy Isoflavons. I still take them every day. Guess I should research that.

I'm beginning to wonder if the hot flashes ever stop. This seems different, though. But the night sweats are awful.(And un-ladylike)

Good luck, Anna. Hope you don't suffer too badly.

Hugs to all,

Nini

hi all, so flaxseed oil and soy isoflavines it is then.     
cant take hrt.    anna

Anna- hi hope you are feeling better now, where do you buy your soya milk and what brand.

 

pin
I buy Alpro organic plain soya milk and have one big glass every morning and that's in addition to what I put in my cereal.
I tried some cheaper brands and it didnt seem to hve same effect so checked soya levels and the cheap stuff seem to hve less.
Also I cant stand the stuff with additives (vitamins and calcium) in it, it just doesnt taste right.
I also do my shopping at Waitrose (theres a huge one near us) and they are very good for the wheat and dairy free stuff, much better than the other big supermarkets.
hope you're feeling better.
anna


I just toughed it out.  No HRT, no special anything.  Figure it's a natural part of aging (though an annoying one) and I'd live through it.  And I did!

 

island woman
you're as tough as old boots!!!!
anna
genesis,
ive just looked up black cohosh on the internet.
its supposed to be good for hot flashes and possibly rheumatoid arthritis!!!! how about that then!!! worth a try?????
anna

 

  Well all righty then Anna!!! You try it and let me know what ya think!

Just read your message about black cohosh and sometime ago I read an article in the Daily Mail about liver damage linked to black cohosh.  If you go to dailymail.co.uk and do a search it will bring up all the articles that was written about it.

Anne

London UK

I've just started using wild yam cream.  I was taking Remifemin for about 2 years and thought it seemed to help, but after reading about black cohosh I though I might give my liver a break and try something else.  Wild yam is supposed to be really good and I have a freiend who swears by it so I thought I'd give it a try.ann
thanks for info on black cohosh.
how long have you been on enbrel ... are you getting good results?

pammy
i think wild yam cream is worth a try

anna

I have hot flashes too.  I couldn't use Soy since I'm allergic to it.  I did some saliva testing (recommended by my Nurse Practitioner) and found out that while I was menopausal, most of my symptoms were due to the progesterone being too low.

There was a compounding pharmacy in town that made mixed up a natural progesterone cream based on the results of my saliva test.  It has worked really well for me and has reduced my hot flashes significantly and I generally feel better with it as well.

 

Hi Anna,

I've been on Enbrel almost a year now with great results but I have to be very careful what I eat as dairy products, red meats, veg high in vit C, sugars etc all effect my condition - my Dr says I'm in remission with my medication. 

Back in Feb I had a really bad UTI and was in hospital for almost a week.  The doctor said it was a common female infection but I believe it was linked to the fact that I ate quite alot of wholemeal bread which has yeast in and the bread I was eating also had another mould rising agent in the bread.  I found out that if you are taking Enbrel you should not have any unpasturised milk or cheese or anything that has mould in as it will cause an infection (I'm sure not a lot of people know this).

Red wine really helps, so at the weekend I usually have a little of what I shouldn't and the red wine stops any stiffness occuring.

How are you doing on Enbrel?

Anne, London UK

 

When my menopause began early (about 46) I was put on HRT.  I was having mood swings - like a dog with a bone, and unusual for me, hot flushes and dreadful night sweats.  The HRT worked it's magic for me for several years.

I was off it for about 3 years  by the time I won a prize in the RA lottery, but sweating (or glowing) - came back in full force, especially on any hurrying, or physical exertion.  I think it is the methotrexate, when I started that, along came the hot flushes.  Different to the menopausal ones though, these now are all mostly on my head, face and chest.

My menopausal ones started at the tip of my toes, worked it's way up to the top of my body, and then worked it's way back down again.  The journey took about half an hour.  Then an hour or so later, wham - another one.

I find that wearing loose cotton clothing is very helpful - and wiping around my face and neck (and funnily enough, my wrists) with a baby-wipe is very cooling.

Hope you can get some relief soon.
hi ann
thanks for your info about enbrel... i was wondering whether to start taking some cranberry supplement to help with uti's before i start the enbrel... at the min I am waiting for my first delivery before i can do the injection.

hi jeanne
i agree totally about the mtx... certainly seems to make those hot flashes a lot more interesting...


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