BTDT Moms....any advice on dealing with the on set of hot flashes

[Sharon in MD]

I know this isn't really a high school thread, but I figure those of us on this board a likely to have a few more miles on us....so here's my question.

I'm starting to get hot flashes at night....not the totally soaking kind, at least not yet,:o, but I wake up feeling this heat spreading across my back. They used to just come during my cycle, but they've been increasing and now it is happening every darned night. I just feel like my internal thermostat is going haywire ....I'm hot, them I'm cold...yada yada yada.

I'm already taking a soy supplement, which does seem to help a little. But, it doesn't work like it used to. I have bumped it up to two a day instead of one, and that helped....I only woke up twice last night instead of innumerable times.

Any suggestions of a gentle, herbal supplement nature would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to cross post on general...but thought I'd ask my cyber friends over here first.

TIA

[percytruffle]

...associated with pre-menopause, I've had good luck taking Vitex (Chaste Tree Berry). I would still be taking it, but after a while it increased my migraines. It is supposed to have a progesterone boosting effect on your body. Progesterone cream gave me headaches too, but I know it works wonders for most folks.:)

[Jean in Wisc]

When I first started having these, I changed my lifestyle--ate better, added the full 8 cups of water we are "suppose" to have, began exercising, and got more sleep. I also eliminated milk (allergy) and substituted soy.

No hot flashes ever again.

But don't ask about memory problems. LOL! (Vit B6 helps.)

FWIW.

[Sharon in MD]

When I first started having these, I changed my lifestyle--ate better, added the full 8 cups of water we are "suppose" to have, began exercising, and got more sleep. I also eliminated milk (allergy) and substituted soy.

No hot flashes ever again.

But don't ask about memory problems. LOL! (Vit B6 helps.)

FWIW.

One of the ladies on the general board said that cutting down on sugar and alcohol can help too and I realized that my sugar intake has definitely been increased over the last couple of months. I had been doing really well with it, but let my old habits creep back in....And, come to think of it my regular exercise has been a slowly falling apart too.

Maybe I should work a bit on getting back to my old routine of workingout 3x a week....goodness knows I need it.

[Sharon in MD]

I think I will look for the chaste berry stuff and someone on the general board recommended the progesterone cream.....I'll see what I can find out.

I will be careful though as I used to be a migraine sufferer. My migraines were directly tied to the low point in my estrogen cycle when I used to take the Pill. Which was why I had started the soy supplement. Then after I quit the Pill, the migraines went away and have only rarely recurred.

[Josie]

I can tell when I have had too much suger because the jacket starts going on and off, on and off.