HELP! HELP! HELP! Somebody! Anybody!

winner

HELP! HELP! HELP! Somebody! Anybody!

winner

Life is good and all is going fabulous!  Then suddenly out of nowhere I have started to get hot flashes. The horrible part is the fact that they appear to be getting worse.  What if anything can I do?????  I hate hotflashes!  My cancer was hormone positive.   

ANYBODY?  SOMEBODY? 

DragonladyTina

HI WINNER!!!!!!

I started taking effexor about a month ago and have seen a noticeable decrease in the amount and intensity of the hot flashes. I was not a fan of effexor for various reasons and really did not want to try it but I was desperate and couldn't stand the flashes any longer, they were driving me crazy.

Hopefully this drug will keep on helping me and I won't become immune to it after a while.

How are you doing Kathy, long time no talk.

hope everything is good for you.

call me sometime, if you don't have the number, PM me.

love Tina

OG56

Well I breezed through menopause with a few "warmings" and was thankful, that was until I started Arimidex! I have found that avoiding hot coffee, keeping my bedroom cold enough that penguins could live there helps too! and if you don't want or cannot take an antidepressant, neurontin(gabapentin) helps me stay cool and really helps me sleep at night. Not much out there for us estrogen+ girls. Hope you find relief soon.

winner

TINA!

 Hey girlfriend how you doing?  Yes, we DO NEED to catch up.  I do still have your number and I will call you.  That is if I don't melt away first!   LOL!!!!

Sherri and OG thanks for your responses.

AND ANOTHER QUESTION?

How long do these things go typically, months, years (gosh typing years ironically gives me chills lol)?  Do they get worse in time or better if you do nothing for them?

gsg

Fans, fans, fans.  I sleep with my window open in the winter AND simultaneously have a fan blowing on my face.   I have fans strategically placed all over the house so I can immediately stand in front of one when I start baking.   While at work, I have a small fan on my desk that is directed at my head and is on the entire time I'm at work. 

 My hot flashes started during chemo, which ended 2 years ago, and have remained pretty constant since then.  I'm on Arimidex.  The ones I had during chemo were just on my head.  The ones I have now go through my whole body.

 

roseg

Think back over what you've been doing or eatting. Red wine is bad for a lot of people.

abbadoodles

Gee, for a minute I thought you had a real emergency. LOL

Hon, learn to dress in layers.  Look for wicking fabrics so you are not left soaking all day in plain cotton.  Yuck.  Avoid, as Rose says, red wine but know that spicy food is a common trigger.  Sleep in the nude on a flannel pad so you can chuck it when it is soaked. 

You are sure to get lots of feedback on this one. 

otter

winner, it does get better.  Really, it does.  We promise.

My hot flashes began a couple of months after my last menstrual period, in early 2003.  They were never horrid, but they were uncomfortable and a nuisance.  I dealt with them by 1) ignoring them; 2) dressing in layers of lighter-weight clothes that I could remove easily; 3) keeping rooms cooler than usual; 4) using multiple layers of lighter-weight blankets (e.g., cotton blankets) on the bed instead of heavy blankets & quilts; 5) figuring out what things triggered my flashes; and 6) laughing about them.

Hot flashes are a natural event for many of us.  Technically, they're called "vasomotor instability", and the real cause is not well understood.  (Weird, huh?  Women have been getting them for hundreds of years, but nobody knows exactly why they occur.)

Here's an older (2002) article from the Mayo Clinic:  http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/inside.asp?AID=213&UID= 

I thought my hot flashes were behind me, but then I was dx'd with BC in January and now I'm on Arimidex.  The flashes are back, although they aren't nearly as frequent or severe as those natural ones were.

otter 

gemsa

Ah yes, the hot flashes. Effexor did help, but also, my mom got me some pajamas that help wisk away the moisture and are very cooling. I wish I could tell you where she got mine, but I don't know. I bet they'd be easy to google up.

southtx

All good things to try here. I had horrendous hot flashes that kept me awake all night long and made me have little bursts of "panic like feelings". Really unpleasant at night...all night...so now I'm on effexor 75 mg daily. Huge change, I started on a lower dose but it quit working after about a month. The 75mg seems to do the trick. I'm also on Tamoxifen.

  I discovered a really cool thing though. Went off all white foods, especially concentrated sugar for about 6 weeks, and had no break through flashes and generally felt better. I felt like I could stop the effexor, but Halloween came and I fell off the wagon. I have trouble with diets...

  Best thing is a little fan attached to your headboard....I bought a chillow-pillow...kind of fun and nicely cooling, but too much trouble.

iodine

Hi, welcome to your own personal summers.

 Effexor, megace, bellergal, Neurontin,  all are worth a try!  I also have a fan at the foot of the bed and a remote control.

Chillowpillow, ck at walgreens or online.

Ice water at the bedside, and with you at all times.

I have multiple folding fans, all different lengths, for different size purses==ebay is fun for choosing.

lay off any alcohol for a while, it's just not fun.

Hooded sweat shirt, heavy sweat pants, silk longjohns and a extra quilt or electric blanket----not for you--for the rest of the family!!!!  and start buying tshirts and tank tops to wear under shirts and blouses==so you can take off the shirts and blouses!  Then turn down the heat!  Open the windows, and a visit outside on the porch is another good thing.  Never thought I'd love snow so much.  Put your sweaters away for the winter, you likely won't need them.  I wore tshirts year round for 2 years!

My heart goes out to you.  Keep working with your ONC, not your pcp, and trying different meds and you'll find one that works for you.

t9jorda

 

Hi there, well by total fluke I stumbled across a cure for my hot flashes.  I started taking 4000 I.U's of Soft Gel (not the tablets) of Vitamin D, the liquid drops work too.... and the flashes are gone.  I have no idea why this is working, I have never read about it anywhere either... but it's working!  Strange but true.  The brand I have been using is Carlson, I buy them here in Alberta Canada.  The bottle gives their website as www.carlsonlabs.com and phone numbers 888-234-5656 or 847-255-1600, they are out of Arlington Hts. IL

 

Best wishes...  I have no idea if this will work for other people... but I am sleeping like a baby again and loving it.

abbadoodles

You might want to check with your doctor before taking lots of Vit D as it is fat soluble and could possibly be toxic.  It can't hurt to check.

I also forgot to say to stay away from hot foods.  Both hot as in temperature and hot as in spicy.  No Mexican food for a while or hot curries.

checkum

stand naked in front of an open door

wishiwere

Ah, let us not forget the caffeine in sodas, and chocolate   That is my downfall, but you know...I do pretty well till late afternoon, then they start.  Layers, house temp at 61 at night and 64 days when we are home.  Registers are off in the bedroom. Helping family to understand, they just need to wear/bring sweaters/sweatshirts with them to visit or stay here.  Ice water truly does help.  Spicy foods can bring them or hot foods, but....hey, I like my food hot, so I put up with the hotflash for that and chocolate.  Don't do caffeine except for the chocolate and I won't give that up   It does wax and wane for quite some time.  My mother at 80 says she still has them ocassionaly.  I did NOT want to hear that, but then...I've never seen her break out in a sweat, so I'm thinking they are warm flashes I used to get in peri meno times.  Hope so at least!

KAK

Oh, yes, those wonderful "power surges."  My menopausal ones were calming down a lot & then they reared up again when I started on hormonal therapy, but Effexor has been helpful.  Lots of good info here.  Thought I'd pass on a laugh:

spar2

I have been having them since starting arimidex 4 1/2 years ago, citalopram and fans help me.  I bought a chillopillow but it was uncomfortable.  There are several meds to try, hope you find one that works for you.  They can make you pretty miserable.

dreamwriter

At some point you are going to realize that you never get rid of the flashes and then it is best to be prepared.  If you want to do it with class.... I bought a matching facecloth and handtowel set.  I place the towel in a freeze size storage baggie.  I then take a few matching facecloths wet them and place in individual sandwich zip lock baggies and toss into the freezer.  The next day if a flash occurs in public, i pull out a facecloth (which is now cool) dab neatly at my face then pat dry with the towel.  You can even make up little kits to give to your fellow sufferers.

KAK

Dream, you could have different frozen facecloths to go with different outfits!  We could start a fashion trend here...

DiamondJAL

Ahhhh yes, the mini tropical vacations!  lol

I posted this on another thread but the anti-depressants work wonders.  They actually found by accident that they help hot flashes......what my doc said anyhow.  I take Wellbutrin XL -150 mg daily.  They are amazing and no side effects, including no sexual side effects.....oh wow, something for the positive.  We need that right ladies? 

Never thought I'd get out of a hot shower when it's 10 degrees, with snow and ice outside, put on my shorts and t-shirt and go stand outside on the deck in my bare feet.  Always been a cold person but not anymore. Damn, and I have such nice winter sweaters too.  haha

I've been on them for about 3 years, tried to go off of them to see how my body would react, they came back full force so had to go back on them.  Worth their weight in gold though to be able to sleep and not have to get up to change the sheets at night. 

KAK

Judy, I haven't been able to wear any of my turtlenecks in four years!!!

DiamondJAL

LOL, I know what you mean.  Went out with some friends last night, my one friend had a turtleneck on (that's her signature piece of clothing)......I wanted to tear it off of her and put her in a tank top.  Makes me hot just looking at people in thick clothing. 

I lost my job in July but where I worked, I would crank the air conditioning so I wasn't sweating.  Everyone else was walking around with sweaters on and shivering.  They hated me!  lol

KAK

Judy, I used to work at a clinic full of nurses, PT's, doctors & other staff, comprised of mostly women between 45 & 65, plus one poor doctor who was a guy.  We always kept the heat turned down in the winter & this poor doctor had to wear flannel shirts & fleece vests to stay warm.  He used to bust our chops about it, but, hey, he was vastly outnumbered!

DiamondJAL

They say Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned??  They have apparently never seen a group of women that survived breast cancer and now have hot flashes! 

It should read:  HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN WITH MENOPAUSAL HOT FLASHES ENDUCED BY CHEMO!!  

Jorf

For some reason when they started (about a month after being thrown into menopause by chemo) I started calling them "amusing" and have forced myself to continue that attitude. They do seem to was and wane for no apparent reason and I actually went to acupuncture for them this fall since I started waking up every 2 hours again (first to be freezing and piling on the blankets and snuggling up to my furnace of a husband, then kinda falling asleep just in time to throw off all the covers and then kinda falling asleep just in time to be freezing and pulling everything back over me) - now that's NOT amusing.

I take wellbutrin but I didn't think that was doing much until you mentioned it - I just upped the dose a bit for winter and, come to think of it, I think it's better. The best was when I was on prednisone for an ear infection last month! 

Anyway, I figure they're here to stay and I better stay on their good side. Luckily a lot of my patients are menopausal/postmenopausal women and they don't mind when I start frantically looking for a folder or pad of paper to fan myself with while I'm taking off all my layers! The men can just deal!

KAK

All right, never thought I'd see the day any time soon, but it was so freakin' cold here in New England today -- like 10 degrees F. this AM, without the wind chill  -- that I actually wore a turtleneck for the first time in 4 years & didn't have a hot flash all day!  So, what does this mean?  The cure for hot flashes is to live in Canada, perhaps.

Jorf

I got in my car after class today and brrr. Turned on the heat after a few minutes and it was blowing cold!! I forgot I'd had a hot flash just as I was pulling into the university.

Such fun!

dreamwriter

I have hot flashes all the time.  If I drink coffee, water, or eat  or whatever.  I keep wiping my face, pealing any layers I can.  My daughter just shakes her head.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

KAK

Dream, I get hot flashes when I'm thinking hard.  No, I'm not kidding....