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Q. I am in my early 60s and I am miserable with hot flashes. My doctor has taken me off hormones because he is concerned about the risk of blood clots and heart attacks. (I do have high blood pressure.)
Now that it is so darned hot outside, my frequent hot flashes are even harder to bear. This is no way to live! I would appreciate any information on how to alleviate this problem.
A. Non-hormonal approaches for easing hot flashes include Pycnogenol (French pine bark extract), black cohosh and St. John's wort. Doctors may prescribe drugs such as gabapentin (Neurontin), paroxetine (Paxil) or venlafaxine (Effexor) to ease symptoms.
We discuss all of these approaches in much greater detail in our Guide to Menopause.
Readers offer many practical suggestions in their comments on an earlier column: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2011/01/24/natural-ways-to-cope-with-hot-flashes/
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I feel your pain. I have had unbearable hot flashes myself for the last four summers. I have taken all three of the prescription drugs mentioned. Each one had awful side effects. Most women have reduced hot flashes after five years. I am on summer five and my flashes are not as bad as before. I have made the several changes which have increased my comfort. Around the house I wear as little clothing as possible. Tank top, no bra, and shorts.
I wear ventilated shoes or sandals. I allow my hair to air dry unless I have to meet the public. I don't look very good in this outfit, but I am MUCH cooler. I set the window AC low enough to increase my comfort and don't apologize for it. I do a minimum of cooking or eating hot food. I use a small lightweight box fan that I can easily reposition and carry and I set it to blow on me while I work, eat and sleep. I sip cool water throughout the day. I do the bulk of my work very early in the morning during the coolest weather. Best of luck.
I have chosen to remain on HRT despite the risks as I want some quality of life. I am 63 and when the Dr reduced the dosage 25% after I had been on it 5 years it was like I had gone off it cold turkey. After 6 months I couldn't stand it any longer and went back on the original dose. Life was hell without adequate estrogen. I have to work and do not have the option of sitting home alone with ac on full blast and wearing no clothes etc.
Brain fog is a real problem with low estrogen and that is not good in the workplace. Using "natural" substitutes for hrt is hit or miss and I need the consistency of a prescription. I do not use generic HRT drugs for this reason also as my doctor told me the amount of drug in them can vary quite a bit.
I am now 65 yrs and still have occasional hot flashes. Thankfully the night sweats have stopped. I haven't taken HRT for several years and I used to worry about what I could do to alleviate the discomfort. That was until earlier this year when it was reported that medical research has found that if you have hot flashes and they go on for several years you are less likely to get breast cancer. Now if I have one I just tell myself that it's great because I'm less likely to get breast cancer! If I'm with other people when I have one I just share this information and it seems to ease the problem. Do hope that this can help you a little bit.
Very good suggestions PJ, I am not yet in this stage of life but it is good to know these things for future benefit as well as to past on to others.
I run to the sink because most of my heat seems to rise to my head. I put cold water, from the tap, on my face, neck, upper chest, arms, and most importantly my head. Forget about any hairdo, but I find cooling down my head, particularly, seems to stop the flash dead in its tracks.
Wearing a wet stocking, or two, around my neck, helps when I am physically working. We keep the thermostat on 80, even so had a $366 electric bill, cannot afford to set it lower. With the house fans, I would be comfortable if not for the hot flashes.
Forget about losing them, I am 73, stopped hormone therapy at 65, had flashes thru the therapy but did not want to raise my low dose, much worse after, now 8 years. My sister never went on hormone therapy, flashed until her death at the age of 68.
OTC, I use change o life, a supplement. I am out at the moment and can truly tell a huge difference. Hope this helps.
For hot flashes I've been taking cinnamon tablets and Effexor, and it does help. Having suffered with hot flashes for 18 (-/+) years it is finally starting to dissipate somewhat. My mother had strong hot flashes too and they do say daughters follow their mother's footsteps in this matter. Of course not every woman, but most. My strong advice is to stay away from HRT.... I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and my doctor sort of indicated it probably was due to taking HRT medicine for years.
It isn't worth it to keep taking HRT medicine and risk getting breast cancer. I was lucky that it was caught in the beginning, but that isn't the case for many women. Cancer isn't any fun especially if not caught at the beginning stages.
Oh how I feel for all of you. I am 81 year old. Had a hysterectomy at 37 and have been on premarin for 4l years, so far. The dosage now is 0.3 and works well. I know we are all different but I feel the risks are worth the comfort.
Nancy, please note that I have had breast cancer twice and still had horrible hot flashes.
I have been on bio-identical hormones. These are plant based.
These have worked great. I'm 68 and have had hot flashes since I was 48.
I agree with DJR.. Bio identical hormones work very well and keep my hot flashes at bay.
i was on prempro for about ten years my doctor took me off on dec of 2010 i have taken everything i know to stop the hot flashes. I heard about this produce called i-Cool i going to try that and see how that help. My flashes seem to getting worse not better but when i drink silk soy milk and drank green tea it does help.
PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: THE PRODUCT CONTAINS A SYNTHETIC SOY ISOFLAVONE AND CAME OUT BETTER THAN PLACEBO IN THIS STUDY:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21163595
I am 62 years old and was on 4 different kinds of HRT for about 12 of the last 15 years. This was effective in controlling my violent hot flashes and associated panic attacks. For the other 3 years I have been on various homeopathic remedies, acupuncture, cooling herbs, natural phytoestrogens, progesterone cream, and any sort of denial that I can possibly think of. The only thing that has given relief is HRT, but a year ago I had a hysterectomy due to endometrial cancer and I am not willing to suffer the risks HRT any longer.
There are many posts to this list about the heat of hot flashes. My questions is has anyone found any sort of relief for the panicky feelings of suffocation of the skin or of tumbling down a bottomless pit that come 30-60 seconds before each hot flash? That's the most miserable part.