What You Can Do For Hot Flashes

Hot flashes (or hot flushes) are one of the most frequent symptoms of perimenopause (the time before menopause actually starts) and menopause.
Hot flashes occur when the blood vessels near the skin's surface dilate to cool. They can also come at night along with sweating, known as night sweats. More than half of women in the U.S. and Canada experience hot flashes during perimenopause but not all women going through menopause have hot flashes. Hot flashes last from 30 seconds to several minutes at a time.

They usually subside between the first and second year after menopause, when estrogen levels stabilize in the body at a lower level. They are a normal part of life during perimenopause and after menopause, and are caused by the declining estrogen levels. They don't require medical treatment.
If you are in the public eye, it may be hard to tolerate the perspiration that can come with them. Your Doctor can not tell you how long your hot flashes/night sweats may be with you through this transition.

Every woman's body is different, so what works for one may not have any affect on another person.

Some women eat and drink a lot of soy to even out hot flashes and other perimenopausal symptoms.  Soy products are controversial but Dr Gary Null says, "There have been over 5,000 studies done on soy and 98% of them show it is a safe choice."  To find out more about soy, click here.

Make sure you do your own research. I have read that there is a big difference in the way soy is processed in the US and in other countries.

Dietary changes, such as eating smaller, more frequent meals that include low-fat, high-fiber foods, may help hot flashes beome less frequent.

Black cohosh (20 mg to 60 mg 3 times daily) often provides effective relief of hot flashes, as well as other symptoms of menopause including headaches, heart palpitations, and anxiety.

To sleep without interruption from becoming too hot, check out Cool Jams.

According to a report in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, a review was done on Herbal remdedies such as black cohosh, red clover, Dong quai, evening primrose oil, ginseng,wild yam extract, chaste tree, hops, sage and kava kava.
Here is what they concluded:

The findings "raise several issues for women," the Bulletin's chief editor Dr. Ike Iheanacho in London, UK, told Reuters Health.  Potential problems include "quality issues, whether the product is in fact what it says it is on the box, and whether or not it will be the same product in the next box...There is a lack of standardization of product preparation."
Even if these products are safe, there is a lack of evidence showing they relieve symptoms," he added. 

Have you had any experience with any of these herbal products?  I personally know women who have used some of these and they did work helping to alleviate certain symptoms of perimenopause/menopause.

I disagree!  I sure would try these herbal choices before ever resorting to the conventional HRT.  What is your opinion?

Menopause – what is it exactly? For so many years, it has been referred to our symptoms as if menopause is a dis-ease.  It is not!  It is a natural part of life.
I feel we have been conditioned to dread it and think it is going to be very unpleasant for us and everyone around us. If that is what we are expecting, then that is how it will be.

Menopause is the name given to the time in a woman’s life when she stops menstruating. It is the reverse of puberty. The major physical change is that the ovaries slow down in the production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. This means the ovaries stop releasing eggs, periods stop and she can no longer have children.

Isn't that a blessing when you reach this age? You don't have to worry about getting pregnant, birth control or not being able to be spontaneous.

There is a period of time before menopause starts called perimenopause. This stage usually starts around age 45 and ends around 50 to 52 years of age.
Menopause is when a woman under the age of 50 has no periods for two years, and no periods for one year in a woman over the age of 50.

Post-menopause is the time between the end of fertility and the end of a woman’s life. Of course, these ages are just averages.