Why do I get hot flashes as soon as I get horizontal ?

Count me in...get into bed freezing....snuggle onto my side and boom, hot flash! Mine are terrible all the time. Doc tried several things that didnt work. Im on pristiq, an anti-anxiety that is supposed to help. It has cut down on intensity.



We bout a king sized bed recently and I have noticed a big difference at night now that my little heater isn't right next to me.

Sometimes I only have to think about going to bed - I get up off the couch to head into the bedroom and it hits me before I make it out of the living room.  So weird.

Someone on one of the other threads mentioned yesterday that she'd been prescribed gabapentin for the hot flashes. That's a blood pressure med, and the hot flash use is off-label, but apparently it's been studied and found to be effective for some significant number of women.

Anyway, it makes me think that hot flashes could be worse when horizontal for some reason that has to do with blood pressure. Some (most?) people's blood pressure is different when standing than when lying down. 

morose112- my Oncologist prescribed me Effexor for my hot flashes at night. I take 2 effexors in the morning every day. I don't wake up at night with any hot flashes any longer. You might want to check into that.

Just want to chime in here that I experience the same phenomenon-- feel sleepy, get into my favorite position and then, wham-- major hot flash. However, want to add that I am not on any hormonal tx, no chemo. Apparently, this is just what my body seems to want to do now, but it is infuriating. So, not sure how much of this pattern can be attributed to the drugs, since I am not taking them and experience exactly the same thing. I am 55 and so ready for this to end! Oh, and btw, my husband and I have to do that separate comforter thing too, otherwise I wake him up with all the on/off of the covers.

Yes, add me to the list ...  I lay down for a nap after lunch and have several nasty power surges.  But, at night when I get in bed to sleep, they are the worst!  My husband says he can almost see the heat radiating off my body.  I try to avoid all the usual triggers and sleep with the airconditioner on all year round, but nothing helps.  I've been taking Anastrozole for almost two years now and the onc says I can't take anything to counteract the flashes because I am also taking Warfarin which interacts with almost everything ...  My husband is trying to convince me to stop taking Anastrozole because of all the nasty SE's, but so far - I am too scared to stop taking it!!!  The worst thing is waking up because I'm "flashing".  I sure wish I could have a good night's sleep again ...

Hi Ladies,

I just wanted to chime in here as I found this post 5 weeks ago when I was looking for the reason this was happening to me. I'm actually a male but this exact thing was happening, I would be fine all day, then lay down to go to bed and bam instant hot flash and sweating, and I would have mild night sweats throughout the night. every single evening no matter what, as soon as I got horizontal, it hit me. Turned out it was all down to anxiety. Anxiety is a tough thing to quantify to yourself, I had no idea I was so anxious that this particular symptom could happen and I looked for all kinds of other medical answers. I was eventually given diazapam by a doctor for anxiety (unrelated to mentioning anything about the night sweats) and noticed that immediately those flashes and sweats stopped. so then I just realised that it was down to that and it stopped by itself all together. I haven't been taking it since.

I don't know if that "realisation" will work for everyone, but since I can see the ladies in this thread are having a really rough time with this and from the experience of having it myself it is SO scary, I wanted to at least share my experience that hopefully some of you might have it (and be able to get rid of it) for the same reasons I did.

All the best!

So glad to find this, too. Thanks for the bump Lula. I thought I was crazy. Went off HRT with diagnosis 6 months ago. Hot flashes started with a vengance-every night within a minute of laying down. More pronounced flashing with Ai in the last couple months. Yep know the blanket toss and tug back up game well. Already on Wellbutrin before diagnosis so no help there. I appreciate hearing ideas and tactics for trying to manage this to get a good nights rest again. Thanks for previous advice and any new ideas.

I do better in the winter when I can keep my bedroom very cold at night. I also find I stay cooler at night when I don't eat anything but lean protein, colored vegetables, and fruit during the day and go to bed on an empty stomach. Eating ice cream or any other "junk" food during the day means a burning hot night for me.

So I followed up with my doc. She recommended adding 5mg Zoloft (tiny dose) to my Wellbutrin as it should help the hot flashes. Haven’t made it by the pharmacy to pick it up yet. A dr friend of mine gave me a recipe for goldenmilk from epicurious and said it helps a lot if you drink it before bed. I made 2 batches (each batch is 2 servings), one with vanilla almond milk and one with coconut milk. Both taste quite good - I take my meds with it before bed. I’ve drank it for 2 nights now and things are improving but I still get ~4 hot flashes per night. I feel like I’m sleeping better though which she said would also happen. Last night overall was better than the night before. Hoping the Zoloft finishes these hot flashes off! Here’s the link for the recipe:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/golden-milk-turmeric-tea