# Hot flashes



## danarutan (Mar 13, 2011)

I started having hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings (from no sleep d/t up all night with hot flashes) a few years back and started taking Effexor with good results, but I would like to get off of Effexor and use something more natural and non prescription --- any suggestions ?---


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

If you're done going through menopause you probably won't need to take anything when or if you get off Effexor, since you said it's been a few years back....the symptoms you originally started taking Effexor for are probably over with by now.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Look into red clover extract and see if you think it might help. I can email you my red clover document if you like.


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## danarutan (Mar 13, 2011)

I doubt I'm done because if I miss a dose I wake up with them, I'll look into the red clover thank you.


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Evening Primrose Oil capsules, I take 2-1300 mg/day.

How is your diet? I find if I am eating too much junk, carbs, sugars, I will have hot flashes anyway.

Don't quit the Effexor cold turkey. Talk to your doc about a safe & steady decrease in dose.


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Grape Seed Extract is supposed to work. I have tried the all-natural licorice from the health food store. Supposedly, an inch a day helps. I just eat the whole six inch piece. Love that stuff. Has to be a true licorice, though....no Twizzlers! LOL


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## Mooselover (May 4, 2009)

i'm gonna be going thru this soon so i'm looking forward to all recommendations. i'd prefer something i don't have to take in pill form. is there a salve or oil available? liquid?​


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Can you please described what a 'hot flash' is like......start to finish?
How long does is last?
How often do they occur?
What does it feel like?


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

There is no set way for them to happen. Some people never get them, others get them off and on for years. And some people only get them in the summer when they're too hot to begin with.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> Can you please described what a 'hot flash' is like......start to finish?
> How long does is last?
> How often do they occur?
> What does it feel like?


 
I'm post menopausal now by a year, and for me hot flashes were never intense. Just feeling a little too warm every now and then...they didn't disrupt my life or anything...

Women that eat a lot of processed food, a lot of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, all will make hot flashes much worse...


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Chixarecute said:


> Don't quit the Effexor cold turkey. Talk to your doc about a safe & steady decrease in dose.


 
Yes definitely, you have to taper off Effexor slowly...


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Laura - hotflashes can be pretty sneaky. You can be fine, and it seems like 30 seconds later someone cranked up your internal thermostat. They only seem to last hours, I'm sure in reality a couple of minutes. I hit "surgical" menopause, and at the time, flashes felt like I was dry roasting from the inside out. Frequency varies by person, often times you'll notice them more at night, waking you up when you want to be sleeping...night sweats...lather, rinse and repeat. :/


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Laura: Mine start in the nape of my neck. It goes from warm to H O T * *, as it gets to the HOT stage, other parts of my body get warm as well. Kinda like when someone fires up the woodstove in a room and gets the room warm FAST. Luckily, the only place I "sweat" now with them is in the nape of the neck. I use the herbal tricks I described and they aren't nearly as bad or as frequent as they were. Sometimes, I feel like a glass of wine 'brings them on'. I just drink more so I don't care. ROFL


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Imagine sitting on the couch, minding your own business.....
All the sudden your face and neck flush red. 
It feels like you just opened the oven door in your face.
30 seconds later, a thin layer of sweat covers you.
10 seconds later, you are 'chilled'.....

Imagine yourself in bed, sleeping.
You wake up kicking the covers off, sweating like a beast.
And the next thing you know, your soaked, and FREEZING in your sweat.
You have the fan on high, your room is between 68-70 degrees, so it's cool.
You bundle under the covers cause your cool, then you are roasting like a Thanksgiving turkey....then back to freezing.

Most of this 'hot flashy thing' is from 4pm-5am.
Anywhere from 5x a day to 15.

I drink gallons of water (5-7 water bottles a day)
My only caffeine is my morning coffee (1/2 caff at that).
I stay away from processed / packaged carp food.
No booze (except when I have to sample a new beer on tap, and it's a tiny taste)
Lots of fresh foods.
Scratch cookin'.

I take a 'big B' vitamin (Nutri Calm by Natures Sunshine), Omega 3's and a Calcium/Magneisium vitamin.

They are not super intense.....annoying, but not like I want to strip neked in the middle of the mall...but at night, it's jackin' with my sleep.

Any ideas/Advice?


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Laura - Sounds like you are doing all the things you can...time to check in with the Doc for some advice? The lost sleep is the hardest of all!


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## Mooselover (May 4, 2009)

well...moose-carp!!! apparently i'm THERE!!! now i have to dress in layers. well, i live in PNW and i've always had to dress in layers. i guess i get to take off and put on more often...aarrghhh. what's peeving me off is the sleep thang. i can't seem to get more than 4 hrs of solid sleep a night. the next X amount of hours feels like i've been alligator wrestling. sometimes i wonder why i just don't get another job to fill the hours that i don't sleep anyway. definitely time for a trip to the health food store....snarl


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Mooselover said:


> well...moose-carp!!! apparently i'm THERE!!! now i have to dress in layers. well, i live in PNW and i've always had to dress in layers. i guess i get to take off and put on more often...aarrghhh. what's peeving me off is the sleep thang. i can't seem to get more than 4 hrs of solid sleep a night. the next X amount of hours feels like i've been alligator wrestling. sometimes i wonder why i just don't get another job to fill the hours that i don't sleep anyway. definitely time for a trip to the health food store....snarl


Please look into red clover. So many people have had amazing success with it.


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## Esprit (Dec 17, 2011)

My wife swears by Black Cohosh. She was getting the hot flashes really bad. She sees a big improvement after taking the Cohosh.


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## fransean (Dec 21, 2002)

Vitex is helpful to me. (also known as chaste berry). That along with Progesterone cream and an Omega supplement have made a lot of difference in all of my symptoms.

I still have flashes but not all the time.

My "favorite" is when you have already woken up previously and flipped your pillow because it is, at a minimum, damp and realize that there is no dry area left 

I have had a few episodes where I have gotten out of bed completely changed my clothes and the pillow case, washed up at the sink and put down a couple towels to lay back down on. And you guessed it, DH did not even wake up!


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## Mooselover (May 4, 2009)

Sparticle said:


> Please look into red clover. So many people have had amazing success with it.


many many moose-thanks!!! i will be talking to someone about this. i'm tired of being abnormally exhausted due to sleep deprivationgre:


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## bajiay (Apr 8, 2008)

DIM-plus is the best thing EVER!!!
I buy it online through Vitacost-use their brand even. Start with one capsule and work up to three. 
It is an estrogen metabolism formula, as we have good and bad estrogen. It "spits" out what you don't need so to speak. Helps with the flashes, sleep, etc. AWESOME!!!


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## Mooselover (May 4, 2009)

My "favorite" is when you have already woken up previously and flipped your pillow because it is, at a minimum, damp and realize that there is no dry area left 

oh NO!! this carp is gonna get worse? i'm not yet at 'miserable', just slightly uncomfortable. i LOVE my pillow:Bawling:. i'm not so sure it will survive the next X amount of yrs if this is what 'we' have to endure.


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Mooselover said:


> My "favorite" is when you have already woken up previously and flipped your pillow because it is, at a minimum, damp and realize that there is no dry area left
> 
> oh NO!! this carp is gonna get worse? i'm not yet at 'miserable', just slightly uncomfortable. i LOVE my pillow:Bawling:. i'm not so sure it will survive the next X amount of yrs if this is what 'we' have to endure.


 
It won't necessarily get worse, Mooselover. Like I said above in an earlier post my hot flashes were very mild....not every woman experiences bad symptoms.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Just because you eat a lot of processed foods, etc does not mean that you'll get hot flashes. Nor does eating a diet very low in processed foods ensure that you won't get them. 

I honestly don't know if the woman I used to work for knew how to cook or not. (Horse farm) I'd say that the majority of her food came straight out of a box. And, they drank more soda in a week than I drink in a year. She got almost no hot flashes, just an uncomfortable warm feeling a couple of times.

I eat almost no processed foods, can't have large amounts of caffeine (it makes me dizzy) and drink no alcohol and there have been times when I've felt like I was on fire from the inside out.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Mooselover said:


> many many moose-thanks!!! i will be talking to someone about this. i'm tired of being abnormally exhausted due to sleep deprivationgre:


I seriously just gave a class yesterday on sleep deprivation and exhaustion. If you would like my notes, I can email them to you. Also if you'd like my handout on red clover, I can email you that too. Just message me your email address.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

dizzy said:


> Just because you eat a lot of processed foods, etc does not mean that you'll get hot flashes. Nor does eating a diet very low in processed foods ensure that you won't get them.
> 
> I honestly don't know if the woman I used to work for knew how to cook or not. (Horse farm) I'd say that the majority of her food came straight out of a box. And, they drank more soda in a week than I drink in a year. She got almost no hot flashes, just an uncomfortable warm feeling a couple of times.
> 
> I eat almost no processed foods, can't have large amounts of caffeine (it makes me dizzy) and drink no alcohol and there have been times when I've felt like I was on fire from the inside out.


Some of it just has to do with how YOUR liver works.


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Another connection I've made re: tossing and turning and hot flashes...happens more when my back is out of alignment...after a visit to the chiropractor my body returns to normal...


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