Night Sweats – Menopause – Hot Flashes – Sleeping hot

Posts Tagged ‘Sex Hormones’

The period leading to menopause is called perimenopause and the period after menopause  is called post menopause. Perimenopause is the period when most of the women face worst symptoms of menopause. There are thirty-five symptoms to menopause that includes dry vagina, erratic periods, depression, urinary inconsistency, hot flashes  etc.

HOT FLASHES:

Although hot flash is the most common symptom faced by menopausal women, it can also be caused by medication and lifestyle.

·         Occurrence of Hot Flash: Estrogen is the hormone that directly effect’s the part of the brain known as hypothalamus. This part is responsible for controlling appetite, sleep cycles, sex hormones, and body temperature. Decline in estrogen confuses the brain into believing that the body is over-heated. Subsequently the brain signals to heart to pump more blood and to sweat glands to release more sweat. Hence the woman feels a sudden flush of heat and then unpleasant and unnecessary sweating.

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Testosterone is an often overlooked hormone in the grand scheme of menopause but the truth is, it helps with hot flashes, night sweats , bone loss, energy, self-esteem, sexual desire, and orgasm response. For many women, this important hormone decreases with age however for some, it actually increases leading to increased facial hair, acne, and an increased risk for heart disease.

As testosterone levels increase, your insulin sensitivity decreases increasing your risk for blood sugar problems like diabetes. A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that menopausal women with the highest levels are three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease and have greater risk for metabolic syndrome.

So what can you do?

First, get your levels of free and total testosterone checked. Next get your levels of fasting glucose and fasting insulin tested. This can give you important insight into your risk level.

If your glucose and/or insulin is elevated, examine your diet by cutting out sugar, simple carbs, coffee drinks, soda, and other high sugar/high carb sweets. Consider blood sugar balancers such as cinnamon (the spice) or chromium (the supplement).

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Night sweats, or sweating at night so immensely that your sheets turn out to be drenched is a sign that there is something not right. There are many problems signaled by night sweats but could your night sweats be related to a ailment recognized as haemochromatosis?

Haemochromatosis is a ailment that is inherited from family members. Nearly one out of 200 of us hold the gene, which causes the body to suck up too much iron from foodstuff.

The body is unable to deal with this excess of iron, and the build-up causes injury to various organs and tissues, together with the liver, heart as well as joints. The symptoms exist only when the organs are already injured, which is why the illness repeatedly isn’t diagnosed until middle age.

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