Night Sweats – Menopause – Hot Flashes – Sleeping hot

Posts Tagged ‘hotflashes’

Its all bout cooling the body, letting the heat escape when the hot flash occurs. Its no different than the way the Bedfan works at keeping you cool at night. Unlike with the Bedfan ,  night sweats during the day can be stopped with the elimination of the extra heat that is built up on the surface of the body. The fan pushes the hot air out while removing layers allows your body to cool faster. At night while you are sleeping it is rather hard to use this method so the Bedfan might be better for you at night.

Women who add more fat to their bodies as they approach menopause will have a harder time with hot flashes and night sweats.
Fat was perceived to protect women against vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) because it contains hormones that can be converted into oestrogen. However, recent research has shown that women with higher body mass index and more body fat actually suffer more hot flashes.

Gains in body fat are common over the course of midlife and the menopausal transition. To investigate whether these gains might be related to menopausal symptoms, researchers studied 1,659 American women 47 to 59 years old for four years. Every year, they checked women’s hormone levels, percentage of body fat, and frequency of hot flashes and night sweats.

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Q: My mother is 65 and she went through menopause nine years ago. For the last few years, she has been feeling extremely warm internally, even when the weather is cool. She is easily agitated but once the sweat breaks out, she experiences a sense of relief.

Is there any reason for this condition?

A: What you have described is suggestive of symptoms related to menopause which include hot flushes, night sweats, mood changes such as irritability, anxiety or depression, palpitations, insomnia, vaginal dryness and fatigue.

These symptoms may start a couple of years before cessation of the menses (the perimenopausal period), and may persist for a few years after menopause. Their likely cause is related to the reduction in the level of female hormones that accompany menopause.

The duration of these symptoms depends on the individual.

In the majority of cases, the symptoms usually last between two and five years. However, some women may experience symptoms for a longer time. A number will experience hot flushes into their 60s.

However, it is also important to be aware of other underlying medical conditions that may show similar symptoms. For example, thyroid disease may lead to sweating, palpitations and irritability.

Sometimes the mood changes may be due to underlying psychological problems like depression.

You may want to take your mother to a doctor to ensure that the symptoms are not due to other conditions.

If the symptoms are mild and tolerable, treatment may not be necessary. Simple measures such as lowering the ambient temperature may help.

Some exercises may also be beneficial. But if the symptoms are severe and affect her daily activities, medication may be needed.

There are different treatment options. Some of these remedies include black cohosh, red clover, evening primrose oil, dietary soya products and vitamin E supplements.

In some cases, the only effective treatment for menopausal symptoms would be hormone replacement therapy.

You should consult a doctor on the risks and benefits of the various treatment options.

Dr Watt Wing Fong

Learn how to treat the symptoms of male menopause including hot flashes and episodic sweating with expert medical advice from a trained doctor and scientist in this free online health care video clip.

Expert: Dr. Susan Jewell Bio: Dr. Susan Jewell is a trained doctor and scientist in clinical research medicine, as well as a stem cell scientist in oncology and AIDS/HIV. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

The 37.5 percent of women who reported hot flashes and night sweats at the three-month follow-up visit a lower breast cancer recurrence rate than women who didn’t report hot flashes and night sweats (23 percent). The 31.4 percent of women who reported new joint symptoms at the follow-up visit had a 14 percent rate of cancer recurrence, compared to 23 percent for those who didn’t report new joint symptoms.

Hot Flashes, Night Sweats a Good Sign for Breast Cancer Patients – Forbes.com