Menopause - how did it affect your sleep??

Once hot flushes kicked in my sleep deteriorated. For a year or more I would wake frequently in the night and then wake at 3am and stay awake. My daughter bought me a weighted blanket before Christmas last year and miraculously I have slept every single night since, if I wake I go straight back to sleep again. It's changed my life!

I do not take any medication for the menopause, though am quite tempted to discuss with the Docs, my sleep is very erratic and I will often wake up with sweat running down my forehead. I sleep around 3 - hours at a time between waking, and will often resort to sleeping downstairs in the cooler livingroom (which is also much much quieter) - It seems to work for me.

Restless legs in the day time and beginning of arthritis and I would wake up drenched with sweat very unpleasant. I would have to get changed and I was unable to sleep again. I was also very emotional at the time seemed weepy quite a lot. I was prescribed HRT but everything they tried at the Women’s hospital made me ill. I just had to put up with it I am sixty four now on the rare occasion I get a hot flush.

Between the age of 50 to 60 I suffered night sweats that we’re horrendous and sleep difficult. Unfortunately the sweats returned around the age of 65, I am now 68 and my sleep pattern is bad. I cannot take HRT due to a heart condition and there seems to be no help available. I take Menopace night but it doesn’t seem to help much. I am constantly tired but seems to be very little I can do about it.

I suffer with my sleep since starting my menopause early after having cancer was I was 40 I had operations to remove my ovaries hence I am now in an early menopause. My sleep is terrible from hot flushes to waking up constantly.

The worst thing for me with the menopause, which was about 20 years ago now was not the hot flushes but the night sweats which I could swear had a certain smell to them too, which I hated. Also having to keep changing sheets was a nightmare. Apart from that I was OK with my sleep because I was put onto HRT which I found was marvellous for the menopause. Unfortunately I was eventually taken off of this for an operation and as soon as I came round from the op, my first words were "can I go back onto HRT now"! I did go straight back onto HRT but was eventually taken off of it as I think at the time there was a worry with HRT and breast cancer. I think the HRT certainly saved me from a lot of problems connected with the menopause and sleep.

I had hot flushes at night time only. Eight years on and my sleep is still poor.

It's definitely had a negative impact on my sleeping pattern, only getting around 5 or 6 hours sleep.

No problems getting off to sleep, but I found I'd often wake too early and have trouble getting back.
Cutting down on caffeine and alcohol help as well as using a meditation app and yoga breathing practices.

Having slept perfectly all my life things then changed dramatically with the menopause. I’m now too hot all night and rarely sleep for more than an hour or so at a time. I’m about to talk to my doctor about HRT as it’s really making my life a misery. I’ve started to dread going to bed.

Some nights it affects my sleep where I wake up in a hot sweat. I usually throw the covers off then get too cold after a few minutes & have to snuggle under them again. It normally doesn't take me long to fall asleep again.

I was bothered by hot flushes which kept me awake when I was going through the menopause but as soon as I started HRT this stopped.

I still wake with hot flushes, although this has subsided over the last 5 years, It certainly was a gamechanger when I had arthritis pain and hot flushes keeping me awake, I did take medication to help me sleep, but they left me feeling groggy the next day, so I take very little medication nowadays.

I take HRT - it just works for me, gives be the boost I need - after 6 months of hot flushes and reading up about the pros and cons - I asked my doctor, and she put me on HRT and I have not looked back.

I feel like I am in the princess and the pea story as the main star. My bedroom and duvet have to be just right, not too hot, not too cold, freshly laundered linen, pillows correct height, mega fussy with mattresses. I often get boiling hot during the night, so the duvet is between my legs and one leg out on top, and the other underneath duvet warm, then every hour or so I rotate, usually when the leg out gets so cold it goes numb. My general aches and pains keep me awake, and regular toilet visits. HRT has helped!

I was very uncomfortable at night and suffered very hot sweats causing me to costantly throw the duvet off which drove my husband crazy!

Menopause was no different to any day I've experienced in the past 30yrs.
I have MS, am heat intolerant and a terrible insomniac, so hot flushes and sleep issues are nothing unusual for me.

Menopause definitely saw a deterioration in my sleep and hot flushes were a particular problem. They still are with me but not as frequent but that ability to sleep really well seems to have deserted me.

I used to sleep like a log pre-menopause - dropped off like a log and woke up the next morning - no breaks.
Now I wake feeling soo hot - throw off the duvet, and try to cool off - I have a Dyson fan next to my bed so turn that on - it's so quiet and gives a gentle breeze to send me back off again.

I have no problems getting to sleep but usually wake through night and lay awake for ages worrying about all sorts. I still get night sweats but not as often thank goodness.

Hot flushes, very little sleep. Total nightmare. I am unable to use HRT.

I had to have a full hysterectomy before I was 30 so it came as a bit of a shock to experience the symptoms of early menopause. In fact I think many of the problems I now have sleeping stem back to this time. I had horrendous hot flushes, dizziness, often everything would ache so much that I felt battered & bruised, like I'd been in a fight or something. My mood swings were extreme (my better half said I was a massive nightmare!), it took about 2 or 3 years of trying different HRT to get anything that sort of helped (tried different pills, patches, think I even had some injections) - finally found one that seemed to suit me. Most symptoms eased but sleep remained problematic. I have very little energy but have complex health problems so it's hard to point to any one thing that is to blame for sleep problems - I think it is the combination of life, stress, illness, medication etc. On another note, in the last few years I've had similar but not as extreme symptoms, and have discussed with my GP if it's possible I could be experiencing something like menopause again now I'm nearer the age it would normally happen - unclear and due to lockdown not been chased up, yet.

I had terrible hot flushes that kept both myself and my husband awake. Thankfully they are not so bad now but I do still find I am often too hot at bedtime.

I was very fortunate to have no problems at all going through the menopause.

I'm not on HRT but do get very hot in my bed due to my age. I don't like the bedroom too hot and am constantly pushing and pulling covers on and off all night.