Hot Flashes And Night Sweats

Many women around the menopause experience hot flashes or night sweats or both. They can be occasional or very frequent, and can vary in intensity from being mildly annoying or embarrassing to being very stressful, or even suffocating. Night sweats can be so extreme as to soak your nightclothes. Flashes are totally unpredictable; they feel like a wave of heat surging through the body, often upwards to the face. They tend mostly to affect the upper part of the body. Flashes may start with tingling and be accompanied by redness and sweating. After the flush, which can last anything from a few seconds to a couple of minutes, women often feel chilled. When night sweats happen frequently in the night, a woman's sleep may be seriously affected.

If you suffer from frequent flashes try to wear your clothes in layers, so you can easily remove a jacket or sweater when you feel hot and put another on if you feel chilly. You could carry a fan to elegantly cool yourself during flashes or keep a desk-top fan at work. Although it is important for your estrogen levels that you are not underweight, remember that body fat acts as an insulator and too much of it will slow down the body's cooling mechanisms.

Wear natural fibres where possible, because synthetic ones do not allow the skin to breathe and make sweating worse. In bed, wear an absorbent material like cotton next to your skin and make sure your bedding is cotton.

When you feel a flush coming on, try not to fight it by becoming tense, but relax into it; that way it may ease more quickly. Many women find that tension, caused by panicking about a deadline or rushing about, can actually bring on flashes. Try to avoid stress, sudden changes of temperature, and hot, crowded atmospheres.

Also avoid too many hot drinks, and spicy or fatty foods as they can increase the tendency to overheat. Cut out smoking, alcohol and caffeine as they all help to upset your hormone balance. Many women feel better and have fewer hot flashes if they reduce or cut out meat and dairy produce consumption. It may be that the hormones in these foods upset the hormone balance in women.

Supplements and herbs

Make sure that you drink plenty of liquid and that your diet is high in vitamin E and selenium. These nutrients work well together to control abnormal temperature regulation that causes flashes. Begin with 400 iu of vitamin E daily. Over the next few weeks you can increase the dose by 200 iu in a week to a maximum of 1200 iu daily. Once the flashes cease, gradually reduce the dose. (Avoid vitamin E if you suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease; seek your practitioner's approval first.) Eat plenty of foods containing vitamin C and , bioflavonoids or take a supplement (1-3 grams daily), as together they can strengthen capillary walls and so prevent the dilation that causes flushing. Supplements of B complex, calcium and evening primrose oil will also help to combat the effects of stress on your hormone balance.

TEA FOR HOT FLASHES

• 2 parts sage,
• 2 parts blessed thistle,
• 1 part blue vervain,
• 1/2 part rosemary,
• 2 parts motherwort ,
• 1/4 part ginseng.

Mix herbs together. Add one teaspoon per cup of water that has been boiled. Let steep, covered, for thirty minutes. Strain and drink in small amounts as needed throughout the day-one-fourth cup every hour, for example.

TINCTURE FOR HOT FLASHES

• 2 parts wild yam,
• 1 part ginseng,
• 1 part licorice,
• 1 part false unicorn root,
• 1 part black cohash.

Follow directions for making tinctures. Take one-fourth teaspoon diluted in warm water or tea three times daily or as often as needed.