64, flushes galore!

Thanks for your suggestion Pollaidh. The truth is that I'm so scared that even just a sniff of oestrogen will increase my migraines. They have been just awful since the age of ten and recently they have started to improve. I have often thought about going to my GP who I know is sympathetic and has offered to try me on it but I always chicken out. On Menopause Matters some ladies have found HRT has made their migraines worse and some have got better. I know my flushes are very debilitating but not as debilitating as migraine. Thanks for the hug Nonu, much appreciated. Hi fellow hot flusher Granny23, think we may be in for the long haul together! Thank you Cari, will look out for the Q&A in the autumn.

Hello Hotmama - just a suggestion, but perhaps you might try a second opinion on the HRT front. There was an excellent item on Woman's Hour some months ago (10 January 2014 and it is still available) called Everlasting Menopause where Sheila McClennan (who started Menopause Matters) talks about HRT long term use. I have used it for 15 years - and it has transformed my life. A sympathetic GP should allow a full discussion of risks and benefits and the quality of your life.

I had some hot flushes before I started on HRT and some more after I stopped, then nothing for around 8 years until I was prescribed Pramipexol. I immediately started to experience hot flushes 2 or 3 times a day, but hoped that this would reduce or disappear once I became used to the drug. No such luck. The problem is compounded because DH feels permanently cold (a feature of his condition) He sits, wearing a big jumper, huddled over the fire in the front living room while I am stripping off and opening all the windows through the back.

You do have to be careful with phytoestrogens (plant oestrogens); while some say that they can have protective qualities, other sources think that they still contain oestrogen, which can encourage breast cancer tumours (very common in older women) that "like" oestrogen.

(No, I am not a medic, but have had breast cancer and was a speaker and Ambassador for CRUK so have learned a lot. It has made me very careful!)

I do feel for those of you that are still having all these menopausal symptoms - I have horrific memories of them - I am now 68 - until I started on HRT. And that is another issue...

HOT I send you a ((hug)). I can report thankfully that I am all over that now , but still have my memories!

Happy pills available from your nearest health care provider, My DD"s best friend takes them from time to time , she quite rightly points out that if you injured your body you would go to GP so what is the difference if it is stress.

I know when my mother passed[God rest her] I was in a terrible state so went to docs who prescribed HAPPY PILLS for a short period of time, to ease me over and it worked IMO

It's been great reading all your messages, thank you. Hummingbird, thanks for your post. Flushes have been really terrible today, coming about every half hour. I must have been very bad in my past life to deserve all this! Still, there are many people far worse off than me. Nonu, you could be right as I've had a lot of stress lately,
. Father in law died and we've cleared his house and sold it, just the two of us, we've done probate and inheritance tax ourselves, moved my mentally ill mother in law down from London to a care home near us and are also in the process of buying a new house! So stress levels pretty high at the mo. Lead me to the happy pills pretty please!

That's okay, Lona. I can only talk from my experience as well, and that of all the other vegetarians and vegans I know.
Same with Agnus Castus. It worked for me, and both my sisters. Unfortunately, I did not tell them about it until after they had both had hysterectomies. I was on the list for having one and decided to give Agnacast one last try, having been given a prescription for some acid beginning with 'a' that was supposed to slow down the bleeding. Three months later my periods were much better, no pain, no hot flushes,etc.
This was when I was about fifty. The specialist said he'd never heard of it, but to carry on with it if it worked as he'd rather not give anyone a hysterectomy. I stopped taking it after my periods had stopped. The hot flushes came back, so I started taking it again and they went away.
Kept on like that for a few years. Agnacast comes in a pack of 90, so enough for three months. That is, if they are still around.
All anecdotal, Jess. How remiss of me.

To one Hotmama from another - I'm 61, and still flushing past myself! I was on HRT for 10 years, but came off it at a 60. I understand that that the major HRT trials did not look at the effects on women over 60, so my GP wasn't happy for me to continue. The first few months were dreadful, but it's just about bearable now. I do use Gynest cream though - I hate that dried up feeling!
I've always been at the mercy of my flippin' hormones!
Hope you feel better soon

Nonu I find a stressful thought or incident can be a trigger. This can be a real pain in a work environment if e.g. someone is putting a tricky point in a meeting.
So its possible that learning deep relaxation or meditation might help people to be less reactive.
I presume "happy pills" whatever they are, is not a serious suggestion

I've started with the menopause and get hot flushes from time to time. I put the fan on and the quilt is on...then off...then on...etc.

But the thing that I really don't like is the very vivid dreams I have. They seem like they are real and can be upsetting/disturbing. Does anyone else have these?

I've found that hot flushes returned with the hot weather - but I was sweating when everyone else was cool -ish. I'm no longer on HRT either and I do remember my consultant a Professor Studd (don't laugh!) telling em that the menopausal symptoms hit you after you stop HRT.

Thank you Annaries, I can only give you my experience.
Soya caused me to have hot flushes, and large painful lumps on a certain part of my anatomy , and my friend, who was told by her oncologist not to take soya, is postmenopausal, and has had cancer twice.

I m with you on your post JESS.

I do hope I am not out of order here but sometimes wonder if hot flushes are caused by stress and maybe a little course of HAPPY PILLS may help.

Just saying!!

Boring isn't it. And no evidence that any of the herbs etc actually do work.
Check the Cochrane Collaboration website before wasting money is my motto.
Also - if you have been told HRT is not for you, why try something less well researched...?
All I can suggest is to be as fit as possible and as slim as possible. Learn to do deep relaxation and practice daily.
I tried BP - beta blockers and ace inhibitors for my BP and they both made me feel as if I was being stalked by someone with one of the big lights they use on film sets. Much better on amlodipine.

Annaries, thank you for that link. I was impressed with the evidence about improved cognitive ability too, so I shall continue to take my menopace tablets!

At 63 and 8 yrs after last period I too still have hot flushes but I think mine are also related to food! I can go for days (and nights) without any and then suddenly they start again.

Annaries, thanks for the fact sheet. For anyone wanting to read it, there is a useful summary at the end if you don't feel like ploughing through all the detail.

I'm 62 and have been having hot flushes since my periods stopped age 53. I've tried all sorts of diets. Once I was advised that ladies from the Indian subcontinent did not suffer from hot flushes, so I subjected my DH and DS to an exclusively Indian diet. We tried it for several months and, needless to say, it didn't have any effect. I think the ladies of India, have hot flushes but don't notice them because it,s always hot there. My hot flushes begin in the late evening and carry on all night. Oh to be like my mother, who only suffered from hot feet. The thought of carrying on like this until I'm in my eighties is horrendous. I'll keep you informed.

Lona, a fact sheet on soya for you to read.
www.viva.org.uk/safety-soya-fact-sheet

Yes, apparently they used to give it to monks , yoga.
However, it's a hormone balancer, particularly useful if you have come off HRT and are having difficulty adjusting. Not that I did, I took it instead of HRT. It worked. Not much sexual desire when I was sitting on a toilet overnight with blood pouring out the first couple of days every period.

Liz46 I stopped having soya milk as it made me very hot! It isn't recommended for anyone who's had breast cancer apparently and I understand that it is/contains plant hormones.

I am 68 and have been having day and night sweats since the age of 50, sometimes every 30 minutes. I have come to the conclusion that I shall always be a hot person. During the recent warm weather I have been helped by the use of a Chillow, which I read about on Gransnet. I have just bought a second mini one too. I have one beside me and one under my pillow at night or on my lap during the day. They are amazing and after the initial set-up are permanently cold to the touch. Putting in the fridge 15 minutes before bedtime makes them even colder - bliss!
www.chillow.co.uk/

Just done a Google search on Agnus Castus and one of the things it mentions is that it used to be used to reduce sexual desire. I have enough problems with that without taking something that will reduce desire any more Think I will put up with the hot flushes instead, they usually only happen at night now so it's better than it was, although if I follow my mother's pattern, they will still go on for years yet. She was still having hot flushes when she died in her 80's

That's a good way to look at it Rosequartz! Sorry you are also sufferingLiz46. One school of thought is that when you come off HRT you have to go through it anyway as HRT only delays it. Don't know if that's true. Only answer is to stay on it until you die if your GP will play ball.