CBT for hotflashes and night sweats? How sad..

Oh, I'm SURE that my aunt, whose hot flashes/night sweats were so severe she soaked and had to get up and change the wet bed sheets and her nightclothes during the night, would have benefitted from CBT for it. I'm sure it would have made up for her lack of sleep...not...oh by the way, she manages the doctor's office for her brother, the psychiatrist...

I completely agree and thought the exact same thing when I read this. CBT for a physical symptom caused by a drug????

I'll play devil's advocate on this, with the disclaimer that my own side effects have been mild so far. I don't think CBT is intended to make the hot flashes go away, but to help us cope with them enough to stay on the prescription. We're taking these meds because the alternatives is a high risk of recurrence and/or early death. If during a hot flash I can train my thoughts to go in the direction of "This unpleasantness is a sign that the medicine I am taking to prevent cancer is indeed having an effect on my body, and that's a good thing" instead of "this is intolerable and I'd rather take the risk of having cancer again than live with these hot flashes" we're less likely to give up our lifesaving medicine. Just like the meds themselves, CBT probably doesn't work for everyone, but if it can keep someone for whom tamoxifen is likely to be effective from giving up on it, it is a lifesaver for that person.

I get what the original poster is saying - and can completely understand how it could be taken as an insult, especially with the fact of women being hysterical and not being taken as seriously by the medical community for our symptoms and often being written off as "crazy."

My reaction when I read that BCO article was, "Huh! Interesting! I wonder how the study was conducted? I wonder what the sample size group was?" And I read more and saw these answers and then my thoughts went to, "Hmm - well I can say for certain for myself that thanks to Lexapro, my hot flashes have calmed down tremendously, so I can definitely see that there is a connection (for me) to anxiety and hot flashes. So perhaps, CBT would help calm some down anxiety for some women and therefore improve hot flashes."

One thing I know for certain is that the medical world DOES NOT UNDERSTAND fully why hot flashes happen. This to me is very disturbing being that half the world is made up of women and probably a huge percentage of women will experience hot flashes in their lives. As far as I could find, the medical world knows there is some sort of correlation between surges of luteinizing hormone and our nervous system releasing stress hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine...hence the waves of anxiety that come with a hot flash. So what is coming first? The anxiety or the hot flash? And if we can calm the anxiety, perhaps we can calm the hot flash.

Perhaps this is a good option for those who are against trying an SSRI or other pharmaceutical medication for off label purposes such as taming hot flashes?

I was taking generic paxil and it seemed to work on hot flashes.

Marijuana is going to be legal for recreational purposes in our state. It is already legal for medical use. I am sure women will try that, to diminish their med side effects. I can't stand weed, but it may be useful for someone else.

I have a medical marijuana card and honestly, marijuana does not calm my hot flashes. I tend to be on the more anxious end of the spectrum, and one of marijuana’s most known side effects is anxiety, paranoia and can cause panic attacks.

I have spoke with my palliative care oncology doctor and the medical cannabis pharmacist about my anxiety and we did work out a way for me to use medical cannabis that would be the least anxiety inducing. So far it’s been pretty good! I use it for nausea and pain from the aromatase inhibitors. But I don’t think 🤔 it’s calming my hot flashes, although Lexapro CERTAINLY has.

I fought taking an antidepressant for a long time and now that I am on Lexapro I am kicking myself for not starting sooner!!

Also agree with the acupuncture - can help!!

There are programs available in different areas that offer free acupuncture services to people with BC. I know about 3 organizations in Philly where I live. Folks wanting to use acupuncture for a lower price and/or possibly for free may want to check with your oncology social worker (if that exists in your area) about what programs are available.

Having BC sucks but there’s many perks to it too no pun intensse

! Hi Aliceko,

I'm 39 and changed from Wellbutrin to Lexapro when I started tamoxifen. It is working well for me, but I am curious about Brintellix now. I can't tell from your post, it sounds like you tried to take it but the brintellix made you nauseous? Was it very expensive? Did your insurance cover it?