Oopherectomy 3 months ago, increase in hot flashes now??

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fighting4mykids
fighting4mykids Member Posts: 69
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

So i had an oopherectomy 3 months ago and I have been having minimal hot flashes all along and suddenly the past week or so, I am getting them all day long and all night.  Is this normal that the hot flashes increase now?

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2009

    I don't think there really is a "normal". Everyone's estrogen levels are different, so people will react differently and have different responses to ovary removal.  I had my first major hot flash about 48 hours after my surgery (while still in the hospital after TAH/BSO)--gyn explained that it was my body's response to the rapid depletion of estrogen. The first year was rough, then they started to level out. Even after 4.5 years I still have them, but they are much more manageable now. (a friend of mine had hardly any problems at all after her surgery).

    Anne

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  • pk0199
    pk0199 Member Posts: 586
    edited December 2009

    I also had hot flashes starting about 48 hours after my ooph surgery, that was the end of August. By October they were getting pretty bad and were actually making me feel sick. I started acupuncture beginning of November and have gone only 3 times. The acupuncturist also had me cut back on sugar which I have a bit (I am a sugar hound), and to take vitamin B6 and E. Not sure which has helped more or if a combo but I have gone from probably 20 + hotflashes a day to maybe 3 or 4. I am happy with that!

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  • fighting4mykids
    fighting4mykids Member Posts: 69
    edited December 2009

    hmmm... sugar. that might be a culprit. I have been very bad lately with my sweats.  i will try that along with the vitamins.  I have heard accupunture as well but needles make me freak out.

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  • Celtic_Spirit
    Celtic_Spirit Member Posts: 748
    edited December 2009
    I began having hot flashes during chemo. Since my oophorectomy last March, I've had less hot flashes. What's up with that, huh? Coffee and alcohol are often triggers, but I'm not giving either up, thank you very much!Smile
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  • fighting4mykids
    fighting4mykids Member Posts: 69
    edited December 2009

    I have been having hot flashes right along this journey due to just having given birth (and the hormonal swing that causes wicked night sweats), then chemo induced menopause, and then the ooph but I thought i was in the clear on a few hot flashes but NOW this spike.  wow. I literally have a full on sweat going now many times a day.  The past few winters I am usually bundled up in the house but this year short sleeve shirts. 

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited December 2009

    I certainly have triggers too - alcohol, hot drinks, "thinking" about them (I have just triggered one reading this...LOL!)

    Mine do seem to have calmed down a bit with time - I am about 4 months out from my ooph. I also think I have just got used to having them. 

    Have you changed anything else - diet, new meds?? Both my Onc and my Gyn said there were things they could do if they got really bad - low dose anti-depressant works for some people I think. Give it a few weeks, if they are still really bad it may not hurt to try something.

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  • everyminute
    everyminute Member Posts: 1,805
    edited December 2009

    I don't want to say this too loudly but I am one year out from hyst/ooph and have been on tamox since Jan and my hot flashes (which were never debilitating though I did get woken up once during the night at least) are calming down.  I have a few flushes - mostly when I am cold and try to heat up (heat too high in the car with heated seats or sitting too close to fireplace at home) and don't seem to be waking at night anymore.

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited December 2009

    Mine don't wake me up now either....now watch me wake up tonight with one!!

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  • everyminute
    everyminute Member Posts: 1,805
    edited December 2009

    Kerry - 15 hot flashes last night AT LEAST

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited December 2009

    Oh, yeah, me too! LOL!

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  • everyminute
    everyminute Member Posts: 1,805
    edited December 2009

    I am never posting anything again !!!!  That was the worst night sleep every and every time I woke up I was like "really?  why did I post that?"  I will probably gain 20 lbs today and have a full beard by bedtime.

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited December 2009

    The mind is a powerful thing!

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  • AnacortesGirl
    AnacortesGirl Member Posts: 1,758
    edited December 2009

    No oomph yet -- that will happen when it's time for surgery.  But the chemo has started the menopause so I've been getting plenty of hot flashes.  Almost all of them at night and some are so intense.  Had one the other night (they seem to really like 4:00 am) and couldn't strip off my sleeping cap and jammies quick enough.  Feel back asleep on naked on top of the cover so then I woke back up freezing!

    I tried using Kerry's mind trick in the opthamlogist chair yesterday.  I'm sitting there waiting for him to come back in and I'm cold (like usual).  So I tried to will a hot flash.  No luck.  If I could just harness this energy!!

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  • everyminute
    everyminute Member Posts: 1,805
    edited December 2009

    I never seem to be able to will them to happen either!

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  • pk0199
    pk0199 Member Posts: 586
    edited December 2009

    Yah, but when you hope and pray that one doesn't come, just for a few minutes, bang, there it is!

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  • fighting4mykids
    fighting4mykids Member Posts: 69
    edited December 2009

    it gets a little embarrassing when I am talking to someone and I get hit with a wicked hot flash and then I realize I have sweat coming off my forehead and my arms are glistening. embarassing and then I feel like i have to explain on top it which is even more embarassing that a 36 year old women is in menopause and suddenly people get this image of a shriveled old lady and everything that movies portray that goes along with menopause.

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  • DCMom
    DCMom Member Posts: 624
    edited December 2009

    Laughing too hard to not at least post!

    Got my period again today (had hoped for menopause) and every time it comes I start questioning to oophrectomy or not to oophrectomy.  This one was almost right on regular schedule from the last after a year period free.  I'm always cold and with the freezing weather outside right now I wonder if I really wouldn't appreciate a hot flash now and then.

    AnacortesGi- if we could harness that energy perhaps we women could be the solution to the energy crisis.  Now that is girl-power.

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited December 2009

    DCMom - you could always try the shots if you don't want to "commit" fully to the ooph.

    It actually still boggles my mind that I will never have another period.

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  • turtle42
    turtle42 Member Posts: 139
    edited December 2009

    I am almost 3 years out from my ooph and it seems that I go in stages. Just when I think the flashes are geting better they take a turn for the worse. Not sure if it is the tamoxifen or what but I thought they would be better by now. The daytime ones dont bother me as much anymore but the night sweats are the worst. I dont take anything other than vitamins as I found effexor or neurontin didnt seem to help.

    Jackie

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  • Everlastpink
    Everlastpink Member Posts: 139
    edited January 2010

    My hot flashes really kicked in about 1 month after my oopher.  I had them every hour, day and night.  My onco prescribed Pristiq (antidepressant similar to Effexor XR) which has really helped and cut them down to about 1 during the day and 1 or 2 at night. For me hot showers and hot drinks trigger the ones during the day. I have no clue about triggers for the night sweats, which is really the bigger problem, but with the antidepressant, it is tolerable.  Took awhile to find the right dose for me though, but once we did, life was much cooler!

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  • karen1956
    karen1956 Member Posts: 6,503
    edited January 2010

    hot flashes and night sweats seem to come and go.....gabapentin really helps with night sweats and joint pain......I had my ooph 10/2006...to think before BC, I couldn't wait to get through menopause.....as I have said since....be careful what you ask for!!!!! 

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited January 2010

    I used to joke to my husband that my daughter and I would be going through Puberty and Menopause at the same time - well, BC put paid to that. What annoys me is friends who think I am so lucky to not get my period anymore. Like, really!! Lucky!!??

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    i am so confused by all this- i haven't had any flashes yet but should I assume I will have the baby and then get the shots until I get the oomph? Or does the tamox give you the flashes.

    When did you guys get your ooomphs after chemo?

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  • karen1956
    karen1956 Member Posts: 6,503
    edited January 2010

    Pure....my sequence of Tx was......bilat, start chemo 3 weeks later (TAC x 6), started rads 3 weeks post chemo....same time as I started AI's (had shot of Lupron and started AI's next day)....had ooph about 6 weeks post rads to give my old body a little time to heal.  I just plowed through everything...did everything as quickly as possible.....bilat was 26 days post Dx..I started each Tx as soon as I could....just wanted to get it over with.....but in retrospect, I wonder if this was wise or not....I don't think I even had time to process what was happening.....Not everyone gets hot flashes....I remember several years ago asking my mother how old she was when she went through menopause and she had to think and said that she never had "those hot flashes".....my night sweats are worse than my hot flashes......

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2010

    I am starting my als the same time I start rads. I still have one breast left b-c they could'nt do both since I was prego.  I want to get it off asap without getting in the way of my chemo schedule. In 2 weeks I start 12 weeks of taxol, then als and rads.   Any suggestions?

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